Basics

[Bubák]

Doing what Master Volitu tasked him to made him very busy lately. The Togruta Sith witch certainly liked to put her Hands to good use, leaving Avreet with little time for his apprentice’s training. Ever after visiting her and completing her three tests, the Mon Calamari found himself too occupied to focus on anything else than work. Except that one time with Ghenna when the two went hunting to catch up and learn how to effectively work together. That also left Vyrzen with only self-training, resulting in his average skills. It was time to put him back to shape and test his abilities a bit, possibly repeat the more basic Force powers so the young Zabrak would not stay behind his fellow Acolytes! The boy was told to wait for his teacher on Korriban. It took a while, considering Avreet had left his ship to Ghenna and Grima to use however they see fit as long as they did not damage it. So while Ghenna was carrying out Master Volitu’s will in Avreet’s ship, the young Mon Calamari had to settle to the simplest of ways to travel; public transportation.

After finally getting to Korriban and taking several hours to rest after such a journey, he reached out through the Force and looked for a familiar presence in the sea of signatures. Even after all this time, he had little trouble distinguishing Vyrzen’s presence. The young Zabrak already awaited him, patiently meditating in one of the training rooms. Avreet was not even surprised the presence grew stronger since the last time he felt it; the Zabrak would become a Crusader soon if the Force wished so. The Mon Cal quickly made his way to the training room, not wanting to keep Vyrzen waiting any longer. The metal door automatically opened and there he was, meditating on the floor. Avreet’s eyes glared at him, remembering the Zabrak as a young kid. The Acolyte in front of him was not a kid though; he was a young man close to becoming a true Sith.

“So you wish to continue your training, apprentice,” said the Mon Cal, his chin whisker wriggling, “You have grown powerful in the Force, so I shall test your abilities a bit. You will give me your lightsaber and go to the desert. Kill five Tuk’atas using only your Force powers and come back here…” The task was to test if the young apprentice knew how to combine and use his Force abilities to destroy his enemies and survive.

 

[Negative Blessing]

Vyrzen had spent his time on Korriban while his Master had been called away on personal business. In his Master's absence, he trained hard everyday on his lightsaber techniques. Through his vicious practices, he smoothed out the flaws of the Juyo form, his chosen form. For the first part of the months he dueled other Acolytes and practiced with the training droids on different skill levels. Growing bored with the droids, he ventured out into the dunes with other Acolytes, and some times alone, to test their skills against the predators that stalked the red sands of Korriban.

Feeling more than confident in his skill with the Sith tool, he began to focus on what powers he had learned from his Master. He found a cluster of rock formations that he used as obstacle courses, enhancing his Art of Movement skills. When he ventured out into the dunes alone, he practiced to near exhaustion his skill known as Force Cloak and on other occasions, he would stalk a single prey, usually another Acolyte, working on the power Force Stealth.

For hours he would use his mind or Telekinesis to move several objects of size around in his room, in the training rooms, and out in the dunes of Korriban; strengthening and conditioning his mind. He met a female Sith who was working on her Telepathy. The two formed a temporary bond only to increase their knowledge of the ability. His main failure was trying to use Force Weapon. He was growing strong in the Force but he was not powerful enough to have any success.

Now he was siting in the training room in a meditation trance, his palms out in front him bearing the burned marks on his fingertips of using and practicing Force Lightning. He could feel the familiar strong presence of his Master as he first approached then entered the training room. Hearing the words of his Master, he opened his eyes and his ears to what his Master was saying.

"Indeed I do Master. I have grown more powerful in your absence but I can always grow more with your guidance and teachings Master. Removing the hilt from his belt, Vyrzen used the Force to glide his weapon to his Master then rose to his feet. "I shall return with what you have tasked me with complete."

It didn't take long for the young Zabrak to discover two of the beasts. Making his presence known to them, he watched and calculated them as they charged him with snapping jaws. Extending his hands out in front of him, he lifted both beasts up, struggling a bit with their combined weight, then slammed them together. When the beats were on the ground, he unleashed his lightning, feeling the pain and burning sensations in his fingertips. When he at last lowered his hands, both beasts lied dead and his fingertips smoldering.

As he walked under the blistering sun, he saw another pair of the beasts eating the carcass of some dead creature. He slowly disappeared, using Force Cloak and silently moved toward the beasts. When he was upon them, he called to his hand a sharp thigh bone and plunged it into the neck of one of the beasts, killing it. The other beast turned and saw the Zabrak materialize before its hungry eyes and he to charged. Catching the beast with the Force, he flung the body against a sharp and pointing rock, impaling the creature.

Moving back toward the Temple, the last beast attacked him but Vyrzen was in the zone. Not wasting any time with the beast, he unleashed his lightning once again engulfing the furry beast in blue and white energy. When the beast was lying on the ground dying, Vyrzen knelt next to it, gripped its neck in his hands, and snapped them.

Returning back to his Master, he said, "It is done Master."

 

[Bubák]

Practicing his ability to sense through the Force, Avreet followed Vyrzen's movements and actions. The young Zabrak did well and survived, even without his lightsaber, but that was expected. The Mon Calamati Sith Crusader awaited the kid in the very same room, but the apprentice would see several bottles had appeared, silently sitting on the floor. No doubt another test of sorts. Avreet nodded at his apprentice when he came and announced his success. The Mon Cal allowed the young Acolyte to rest for a while and regain his strength. There was no rush, patience was a virtue, something the Hand of Order knew very well. It was obvious Master Volitu's influence had a positive effect on the young Mon Cal.

Several minutes passed in silence before Avreet spoke, "As you no doubt already know, telekinesis is one of the most basic and useful powers. You can move objects without touching them, push your enemies into walls or pull their weapons out of their hands to disarm them. You can do these things, but can you perform more delicate tasks?" Avreet rose from his kneeling position, his webbed hand motioning towards the bottles on the floor. All bottles had different shapes and sizes, all filled with different liquid. Only one bottle was empty.

"Your task is to change the contents of the bottles so the heaviest bottle will contain the liquid that weights the most, the second lightest bottle containing the lightest liquid. The lightest bottle will be empty when you're done. Use telekinesis to do the task, do not spill a drop. And be careful when opening the bottles, they are fragile..."

This would test Vyrzen's ability to use the Force with his brain trying to figure out something else while needing to be careful and precise. Sometimes, he'd have to take out the stopped, while in other cases the cap had to be unscrewed. In order to measure the weights of all bottles and liquids, Vyrzen needed to be careful and remember the weights. The task was not as hard as it was long. Avreet offered the Zabrak one final advice, something the young boy couldn't possibly have known until now. "Your emotions make you more powerful. They strengthen your connection to the Dark Side, but they also blind you if you overuse them. Every Sith has to find the right ... balance." With that, Avreet watched his young apprentice perform the task.

 

[Negative Blessing]

Seeing the several bottles on the floor in the training room, Vyrzen wondered what sort of test his Master had in store for him know. But before the test was to commence, the young Zabrak was given time to restore his Force energy and physical and mental strengths. Kneeling on the floor, he closed his eyes and allowed the energies within the room and all those around him to enter into him, calming his muscles and resting his mind; while at the same time restoring his spent Force energy. After some time had passed, he opened his eyes and rose to his feet just as his Master began to speak.

Vyrzen's eyes followed his Master's hands as he began to address the nature of the bottles while discussing the ability Telekinesis. Vyrzen, under his Master, learned how to effectively use it to the best of his ability, but his Master was speaking now on using it in a delicate way. Vyrzen was interested. But he was surprised when he heard what the task was. He took one final look at the bottles, then nodded his head in understanding. "I shall do as you teach Master."

Vyrzen first began to investigate the bottles for their density, seeing which bottle was less fragile and which bottle would break easily. After he finished his inspection, he began to use the Force to determine the individual weight of the liquids. After his investigation was complete, he was ready to begin.

Gripping one of the bottles that contained blue liquid that was only half full, he began to unscrew the top and then gently placed the cap on the bottom. Turning his attention to another bottle, he carefully removed the stopper and began to transfer the green liquid from the bottle to the bottle with the blue liquid. The two liquids were of equal weight but together they were still not as heavy as the red liquid and yellow liquid in the other two bottles. But now he had at least one empty bottle to work with, the sturdier of the four.

Weighing the red and yellow liquid in his mind, he came to the conclusion that if both of the liquids combined would be to heavy for the single bottle; but mixing half of each would give him the right weight for the bottle, making it the heaviest. So using his mind, he transferred half of the red and half of the yellow liquid into the bottle, turning the liquid orange. Now the first part of the test was complete, he now had the heavy bottle. Now to work on the lighter bottle

Now he had three bottles remaining, one with the red liquid, one with the yellow liquid, and one with a mixture of the blue and green liquid. During his examination of the liquids, he found that when the blue liquid and green liquid were mixed, then added with the yellow liquid somehow changed the weight of the combined liquids making them in essence, the lightest in terms of weight. With his mind, he began to transfer the yellow liquid to the bottle with the green and blue liquid. With all three liquids combined, they were now the lightest in terms of weight.

Also, by doing this he now had an empty bottle. "I have done what you have asked Master. The orange liquid is the heaviest bottle, the bottle with the mixture of yellow, blue, and green is the lightest, and I have one bottle that is empty," Vyrzen said after replacing the stoppers and caps back on the bottle. Using his mind again, he called the bottle with the remaining liquid in to his hands, and after taking hold of it, he took a swig from the bottle.

"I have always enjoyed Frisian Ale," the Zabrak said with a smile on his face.

 

[Bubák]

“No!” Avreet ripped the bottle of alcohol from the young Zabrak’s hands, giving him an annoyed look. “As long as you’re my apprentice, you won’t drink alcohol.” Being a strict teetotaler, the Mon Calamari did not take kindly to his apprentice drinking alcohol. It’d dull his senses and make him useless. What to do with a drunken Sith? Only pure body could effectively command the Force.

They still had much to do, so the Crusader quickly led the Zabrak out of the Temple. The dark energy of the Force swirled inside the Academy; the ancient walls have witnessed so many Sith rise through the hierarchy of the orders and now silently watched the Mon Calamari and his apprentice walking through the mighty halls, their boots tapping on the stone floor. One could literally feel the Dark Side everywhere, letting the Sith know they were at home. Avreet did not feel like that though; his home lied elsewhere. Several Acolytes greeted the amphibious Crusader as he walked past them, occasionally nodding in response. When they reached the entrance, Avreet put the hood of his heavy cloak over his large domed head to protect himself from the unforgiving sun of Korriban. His amber eyes goggled around, watching the desert. The endless sea of sand radiated heat, one of many reasons Avreet disliked the planet, but he was a Sith and had to endure it, be strong.

The true Sith stepped into the hot sand, followed by his apprentice, the two heading towards the famous tombs. The Dark Side in there was even stronger than in the Temple, the reason why Avreet took his apprentice there. Vyrzen could see many ancient structures, broken and buried in the sand, only rocks and a few columns remaining. Once a proud Empire, now nothing more than a reminder that Sith are not gods, they die and everything they have built becomes nothing nothing but a forgotten past. Avreet hoped this wouldn’t happen to this Empire, but the history of the previous great Empires left him uncertain. They had to remain vigilant, as even Darth Sidious himself had fallen to his arrogance with complete galactic dominance at hand.

Avreet placed Vyrzen on a rock in the middle of the Valley of the Dark Lords. This test would be fun to watch. “Apprentice, from now on, you are not allowed to touch the sand until the test is over. Your task is to retrieve five books I have placed around the valley. To do that, you must open your mind to the Force and distinguish their signature from the many presences around. The Dark Side in here is very thick, but do not worry. I have enchanted all of those books, making them emit my Force signature a bit. Oh, and you have five minutes to find them all…” Avreet said with a smirk and took out his datapad to time it. Vyrzen would have to combine Force sense with Art of movement in order to find all of the books without touching the sand. None of the items was actually in a tomb, making it easier for the young Zabrak, as he wouldn’t be able to feel Avreet’s signature in presence of something much darker. Naturally, the apprentice might encounter a wild animal or two…

 

[Negative Blessing]

Vyrzen walked in stride with his Master and though several Acolytes greeted the Mon Calamari Crusader, they remained silent when they looked upon the Zabrak. With each scene, Vyrzen let a brief smile show on his face alerting the Acolytes that he was more than aware of their jealousy that he was being taught by Crusader Zatarus and that they had not been chosen. Also, the Zabrak had made many rivals here on Korriban when he was younger. Though he was past that drama and matured through the teachings of his Master; it seemed others were not ready to let go of the past, hence why they were still walking the halls of the Korriban Temple and not Apprenticed to a Crusader or Master or Lord/Lady.

Just before stepping out into the red sand dunes of Korriban, he too donned on his cloak's hood to protect his head from the unforgiving sun. He didn't fear the heat like his Master did, since they were two different species, his Master a Mon Calamari and from a water world and Vyrzen himself a Zabrak from the dark and gray covered world of Dathomir. But only a fool would dare to remain under the Korriban sun for long periods of time. Now he listened to his Master lay out the lesson for him as he watched the swirling sands dance between the ruins and statues inside the Valley of the Dark Lords. "I understand, Master," Vyrzen said pulling back the hood of his cloak.

Standing there for a brief moment, he scanned the area for what he could use to avoid the sands and at the same time, began to get a fix on the books that now bore his Master's Force signature. The Zabrak lept onto a set of broken stones then using the Force, leaped high into the air landing atop of one the ruined statues of an ancient Sith Lord, a name nobody cared to remember or recall. From his vantage pointe, he spotted the first of the five books sitting in a crevice between two stones. Using the Force, he called the book to himself then tossed it to his Master. Turning his head to the left, he felt another book close by. Force Jumping from the tops of several pillars, he came to the next book resting atop of one of the pillars. Using the Force again, he moved the second book to his Master.

The third book and fourth book were near the same vicinity but he was picking up a couple of presences there as well. Tukatas! Jumping down onto some abandoned mining equipment left over from the Empire's attempts to locate hidden treasures in the sand, he removed his lightsaber hilt and launched himself toward the animals. With one quick slash, from left to right, he felled one of the beasts. Using the Force again, he pushed the other beast backwards where it fell into one of the holes left over from one the of mining expeditions. Sitting on top of what appeared to be some sort of landmine was books three and four. He Force Sped across several rocks and scooped up the books and was out of harm's way when the landmine exploded.

Stashing the books inside his cloak, he moved through the air again, aided by the Force, leap frogging from statue to statue until he was face-to-face with the entrance to the tomb of Ajunta Pall. The same tomb his Master brought him to when he was a young boy where he was to confront and defeat his fears, turning him into a True Sith. With time running out, he did a quick mental scan and found that the book was hidden in the sand at the foot of the tomb's doors. But the problem was there were no stones, no statues, or anything to leap on without touching the sand to retrieve the book.

Then a thought struck him. Using his mind, he opened the tomb's door through the Force and lying at the entrance was a small stone table. He hoped the table was still there from the last time he was there. Feeling his Force energy depleting, he took a deep breath and was ready. Calling on the Force yet again, he flung a massive stone, he gripped with his mind, and as it flew between him and the table inside the tomb, he used Force Leap and jumped first onto the stone, then catapulted himself to the table. Reaching down he grabbed the last book.

With all five books, two with his Master and three in his possession, he stepped off the table onto the red sands of Korriban and walked back to Master Zatarus. "Of all your lessons Master, I believe this one was the most difficult to accomplish."

 

[Bubák]

"Do you truly think so? Perhaps I should prepare such a course for you more often then." Avreet said, handed his apprentice all the books and started walking away, expecting his apprentice to follow. "You might wonder why I wanted you to practice such basic Force powers. I did want you to get a deeper understanding of them by doing something unusual, true, but my main reason was different." The Mon Cal did not look at the young Acolyte as they walked through the inhospitable red desert, the Sith Temple growing bigger as they neared it. "In fact, despite practicing your basic Force powers, the test is not complete yet...." croaked the amphibian, pulling the hood further down to shield his eyes, the sun shining directly into his face.

"Take those books into the library and meet me in training room 94 in two hours. I strongly suggest you to rest. You will duel me in a friendly sparring match..." Pulling Vyrzen's long lightsaber hilt from under his black cloak, Avreet extended his hand to the right, offering the weapon to Vyrzen. "I will be waiting, apprentice..." Vyrzen yet had to know the point of these exercises, but all in due time. As they reached the Temple’s main entrance, the Mon Cal disappeared into the bowels of the sinister structure, getting swallowed among the Sith of all ranks and ages. The Master and his apprentice would be meeting soon though, and Avreet would finally lift the veil and reveal the point of all those tests. Not to mention he really wanted to have a nice duel with his apprentice and offer him an advice or two about lightsaber dueling...

 

[Negative Blessing]

Vyrzen took the books and left his Master toward the library. After returning the books, he went to his temporary quarters to rest and meditate. Soon he would be meeting his master in two hours for a one-on-one duel.