Forced into a new life...(Training of Ksilas)

[Horizon]

The Force was like healing agent that could be felt running through his veins.
It was like the fresh water of a waterfall falling gently over his eye.
The damage was irrepreable but at least the size of the scar went down
in size from one that ran down his cheek to a slit that ran over the eye.

"That will be enough."

Rish then took his hand and placed it on Ksilas's and removed it from his eye.
He then stood up and adjusted his robes to look neat and not wrinkled from sitting down...

"Now we shall move back to melee training. This is absolutely core to your training."

 

[Celestialvortex]

"Are you completely sure about this? Is there some way we could bypass it altogether? Especially regarding my arm condition!"

But even as she said t, she knew it would happen anyway. These people relied on anger, let it fuel them; fights were envietable. And Rish seemed scarily persistant in training her to fight, even regarding her missing appendage.
But learning to fight wasn't the hard thing. The hardnpart was controling the urges that came when she saw a weapon, the bloodlust that consumed her mind when she held one. No she wasn't afraid of fighting, not anymore.

She was afraid of losing her sanity...

 

[Horizon]

"Your arm condition should make for a challenge for both of us.
After all you will have to conform to it for now anyways.

Let us go to the sparring room..."

Walking over to the sparring room wasint a long trip. Infact it only
took minutes. Rish then disposed the top of his robes and flexed
his arm muscles for a moment and stretched for a moment.

Taking one of the short blades off the racks, Rish took a couple
practice swings at the air and assumed the Ferocity form.
He relaxed his body and thought of the reward that only the body
could give after tremendous hours of training. This would be an excerisise
and a lesson in one. The excersise was for Rish and the lesson for Ksilas.

Rish took note of the fact that Ksilas had problems with violence. But she only had to think of it as a wild animal and tame it. Rish then picked up and held it out by the handle for Ksilas to take hold of.

"I will teach you the basics of Form two. This style is superb with dealing in lightsaber combat. You can be skilled opponet if you master this form.
You will be able to launch the offense and dig yourself in for the defense."

Rish then awaited for her to take the blade...

 

[Celestialvortex]

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked, eyeing over the blade. She seriously had hoped she would never have to come back into this room. Yet here they were. Again. already she could feel herself wish for the double blade which had been so effective before. And when that part of her realized it would be impossible one handed, feeling with a brief control of the Force smaller blades, perhaps the one Rish was holding out for her. Oh, how she wanted to grab that blade, feeling the hilt in her claws, and disembowel the prey in front of her...
NO!!! she screamed in her head. But the feral nature just skunk further into her heart and laughed. She shuddered.

 

[Horizon]

Pressing the blade into her palm, Rish closed Ksilas's hand around the blade
and merely backed away. He then assumed Form two so that he might show the basics. Rish then opend himself to what seemed to be an area of weakness. He held the blade in his right hand low as he held it tight.
Pointing the blade to the floor and keeping his feet at shoulder length.

"This next part is up to you. You might turn your self to the point of where your shoulder faces the enemy and the blade still pointed at the ground but also in the direction. This is the open stance of Form two. You also need to
hold yourvthumb pointing down the length of the blade to allow for smaller, tighter, more accurate movements of the saber."

Rish then gave a complete example of the open stance...

"See? It isint that hard. But without the basics you fall victim to any saber wielder. Now assum the Form."

 

[Celestialvortex]

Seeing him assume the form, she knew there was no way he was going to end this for Her sake. She created a firmer hold, and turned her right side to him, at an angle, and flipped the sword around. The small display gave her a hint of a smile, bUt it wasn't dangerous. The sword would easily bounce off her scales If she caught the blade. But as soon as the hilt was in her grasp, she felt terrible, and the feral nature caught right back up with her. She tried to put on a smile to hide the war which kept her sane as she waited for further direcctions.

 

[Horizon]

Rish then brought his saber up vertically to the point where the blade's end was in line with Ksilas's face. Rish then drew an X within the air and returned to the blade back the open stance...

"The action I had just performed is known as the Makashi salute.
This is a challenge to your opponet and nothing more. Now watch
as I teach you a rather important technique. First you must strike
at me so I may give you a first hand experience..."

Rish wanted to see how much Ksilas could control herself under such conditions such as these. This style could control her deep seated animalistic
rage. It was clean and could be learned by any beginner. Even those with one arm.

 

[Celestialvortex]

Even as he spoke she felt the rage begin to overwhelm her, and she struggled to keep it at bay. When he had finished, she gave him a grim nod, literly quavering with fear and exaustion from holding in her animal self. Leanig back as to balance herself, she lashed out with Her right hand for a strike that would hit his blade; although perhaps a little too hard, the feral anger taking a brief second of control, as could be seen through the fear of her amber eyes.

 

[Horizon]

As the blade came down on Rish's blade he then slightly altered the angle of Ksilas's blade by pulling his own blade up under her own. Pushing the blade away, Rish then took a swing at Ksilas's ribs but then stopped the blade a half foot away...

"The Makashi Riposte is a clever technique. It can save your life and most likely turn the course of a battle if performed correctly and at the right time.

Are you following all of this?"

Said RIsh as he lowered his saber to the floor...

 

[Celestialvortex]

Ksilas stared down blankly at the blade mere inches from her belly. It all went sofast, but somehow she understood. It was hard to remember what he said during her mental struggle, but her predetor gaze caught every movement with pinpoint detail, filing it away for future note, ready to unleash it back at her prey...
Her prey? No, Rish. He had no name. He was no friend, no master, no enemy, no prey. She didn't know what he was.
Amazing how your mind can wander when you are on the edge of sanity.
Looking up, she gave a weak nod to Rish, half of her wanting to throw the weapon as far away as possible, the other wantiing to dice Rish into bitesized pieces and watch the blood flow. She looked down at her arm. She still had an elbow, which was weird, trying to flex her arm and moving a bulbous growth instead. But it had grown, and at it's rate, it would be grown in another full week. Amazing how your mind can wander...

 

[Horizon]

Rish flipped off his lightsaber and placed his left hand on Ksilas's shoulder and
gave off a slight laugh. He was glad to see that the session had gone well.
No incident. No tearing off his mask. Nothing at all...

"You did good Ksilas. Soon you will be able to progress to the rank
of crusader. A true warrior of the Bogan. Tommorow you will make
your own lightsaber. The model will be tailored to the style I have taught you."

Rish then pulled out a small holocron copy of the Makashi basics.

"Practice with this tonight before you turn in for sleep.
For tommorow will be one of your last trials."

Rish then let go of Ksilas's shoulder and clipped his lightsaber to his belt.

 

[Celestialvortex]

Ksilas felt small pleasure from the praise, but was slightly dismayed that he had not noted her struggle during the practice. But at the mention of her being a crusader, she felt uncomfortable. She had not joined, yet, and did not see her place in this faction. She was no warrior. Or at least not in her normal state of mind. She was about to ask About this when he handed her a a small copy of the fighting forme. Realilizing that he meant for her to go to bed, she took it, gave a polite half bow, and left.

When she arrived her room, she pulled out the blade, and began to practice. It was somewhat difficult, but eventually she was able to keep her instincts and her mind in balance, for a good part of the night. However, she was exausted from the work of the day, and the balance se had fought so hard to preserve was finally broken.

Lashing out at the walls, she became a flurry of combat, and several long scratches cut the Stone. With no prey, there was just uncontroled anger as she jumped and leapt fromwall to wall, much like a deranged prisoner. With delacate movements she sliced the small table, throwing it up in the air with her Force powers and leaving nothing but hand held rubble when it finally fell to the ground.

But when she turned to make short work of her bed, the bloodthirsty daze fell from her, and she instead fell back onto the bed. As her eyes scanned the room, free from the blood red haze which clouded her vision when she fell, she saw the tremendous amount of scratches upon the wall and celing, claw like, yet the precise cuts had almost cut artistically in the patterns that were scored. Well, she thought grimly, At least one part of me understood the lesson. She sighed, and kicked the rubble under her bed before getting some rest.

 

[Horizon]

Morning rose early on Ando Prime. And Rish was up with the early birds.
He went through his daily work out routines and grabbed himself a bite to
eat from the mess hall. He then returned to his room and grabbed a small wooden chest with symbols of the bogan carved on the sides. Inside this chest laid the parts of a curved hilt lightsaber. Rish then grabbed a small
folded scroll with the instructions on how to build the saber itsself.

Knock Knock! Was all that could be heared in the hallway outside.
Most of the acolytes were already out training but Rish decided to try
and capture her off guard with this next test...

"Ksilas I hope you are up!"

Said Rish as he waited by the day with the chest in hand...

 

[Celestialvortex]

The knocks rapped on the door startled Ksilas, and she shot up in bed. A wave of nausia instantly hit her, and she lowered herself down as he waited for it to pass. Then she got up groggily from bed and walked to the door. Rush was there, as usual. She hoped he didn't notice the scratches on the walls or the blade lying on the ground.

But when she saw him holding a chest with strange inscriptions on it, she looked at him quizically. She hoped this had nothing to do with violence...

 

[Horizon]

"Today you build your future. Get a shower or something to freshen up.
Your mind will need to be in full swing for this test."

Said Rish as he concealed the chest under his robes...

"You are nearing the end and I wont see you fail at this point."

He gave small smile to her as he stepped to the side and awaited Ksilas
to freshen up or whatever trandoshans did in the moring.
Rish also thought about he had recently received a new master for his specilization training. It was a woman who was known to be rather brutal.
But those were only the rumors. But if she was a Bogan...There was bound
to be cruelty unlike any other...

 

[Celestialvortex]

Ksilas just simply leaned against one side of the doorway. She didn't have anything to do besides warm up. She looked at Rish and told him: I'm ready.
She was confused, however, to hear that he wouldn't be doing any more with her. She both hated him and liked him, but she was going to miss yelling at him. But the problem was, she still didn't know why she was here, and why she should stay here. This place made her have problems, like what happened in her room. It was a place where people fought and grew in their anger, how could a pacifist like herself fit in? And why would she want to? She continued to await Rish in his in his challenge, contemplating the dilema inside her head. ..
Wait a moment! He was still her gabrahowsk! She had to stay by him until he died or could repay the debt! Shoot! And she'd have to tell him that too.

 

[Horizon]

"For this trial you will make yourself your own lightsaber.
But there is a catch. You will be building it by using the Force."

Rish smiled for a moment before handing the chest to her...

"Follow me back to the library where you will be able to build in peace."

Rish turned his back and motioned her as usual while the walked back to
the library. Once again no one was present but them. The rest of the acolytes were training in the sparring rooms. Rish then took a seat in the
same place he had last time...

"Sit on the floor and begin..."

 

[Celestialvortex]

Ksilas, once in the library, felt queasy. Couldn't he figure out that she didn't want to fight!
Rish, haven't you figured out by now that I may not want this? I am obligated to stay by you, but I still have my own personal issues to deal with as well. I do not feel comfortable with this.

Even the thought of wielding a blade was starting to provoke her animal side. She could feel the bloodlust starting to build in her head and the red mist creep into her eyes. She shook her head and sent those thoughts back.

 

[Horizon]

"Im not sure If I ever remember you saying my name before Ksilas.
But on a more serious note..."

Rish stood up slowly and sat down next to her.

"You have to do this Ksilas. I know you are afraid of something but I can assure you. It wont hurt me, you or anyone else."

Said Rish as he reached his arm around Ksilas's shoulder and pulled lightly to get her to move closer. He then only gave a small smile to her. He wanted beat this fear and move on
through it. She would have to beat it. The Jedi would of made her done it.

 

[Celestialvortex]

He was strange. Somehow he seemed as if you could never tell if he would smile or frown, when he wanted you to fght or when he wanted you to rest. But the reason she put up with him... Well, at this moment of time, he was family. Joshua seemed like that a little, and that was why she had such a hard time letting go of the Jedi. Bit Joshua was gone, and all the remaining masters were, well, masters. But Joshua, and Rish, as she now saw, were more than masters, although Rish literally was hers until the day either died, Were friends and companions. And with a sudden revelation, she realized why she would stay. Not to harness her anger, but to be in a place where someone cared about her. Kailiak did, but she hadn't seen her indays... Where was she again?... And it was different, although she had no doubt she was at least mostly sentient. Ksilas smiled and opened the box.
It was amazing. She had always hated weapons, but she could hear her heart pound as she looked at the pieces. She looked to her master in excitement.