[FIC] Glad To Leave

[Weave]

I wrote this short fic for Unofficial KotOR Fan Media but it takes a while before they publish... so, here it is...

 

GLAD TO LEAVE

 

 

 

Blood and saliva splattered the cold stone floor. I watched as my victim crumpled to the ground. More fluids oozed from the slit neck belonging to my dead opponent. Proving ones worth here wasn't complicated, but no one said it was easy. I silenced my hissing red lightsaber and wiped the blood from my knife. My "Master" lay dead in front of me. I suppose that makes me the Master now. The other students were still dining at the dinner tables. Death was common to Malachor, but dinner and entertainment was a rarity here at the academy.

 

I am fairly well known to my peers, my prowess with a lightsaber nearly unmatched except to the Lord of Pain himself. Darth Sion arrived here a few days ago, which was unusual. He rarely visited the academy. Then again, we all felt the Lord of Hunger perish... perhaps Sion does have fear within him. I smirked at the thought. Whoever defeated Nihilus must be powerful indeed, I welcome the chance to meet this individual in battle. I slowly walk back to my seat at the table and proceed to eat my fill.

 

"It's about time you murdered that idiot,"

 

I looked up and saw Roan grinning at me, a stray piece of blonde hair fell loosely in front of her delicate but malevolent face.

 

"Patience is a potent weapon, Roan. His time to die was now, not at any other moment," I remarked coolly.

 

"And too much 'patience' makes you a Jedi," she remarked, still smirking at me.

 

I smiled slightly, "I suppose it does. But patience is one thing, cowardice is another,"

 

She laughed at my remark. Then she looked into my eyes with a much more serious expression written on her face, "I intercepted a transmission this morning,"

 

I raised an eyebrow, "Out here? Who was it from?"

 

She took a sip from her glass and then directed her attention back to me, "Is it your desire to know?"

 

My face remained stone cold, "Could you please elaborate," My teeth clenched slightly.

 

Roan smiled slightly, "Very well," She hushed her voice and leaned closer to me from across the table. I edged closer to her in order to preserve the secrecy of our conversation. "It seems that Sion's old master is coming back to Malachor,"

 

My eyes widened, "Traya? Lady of Betrayal? I thought Sion and Nihilus stripped her of her power and exiled her,"

 

She grinned, "Sion and Nihilus did a lot of things and I'm guessing that these things have decided to have their revenge,"

 

"Are you sure?"

 

"Without a doubt,” She lowered her voice even further, "Sometimes, at night, I can hear the Force pushing us closer to an epic climax. And for a moment, I can almost hear the entire galaxy, desperation, oppression, reformation. And then I hear another sound, rising out of the feedback of this galaxy. It get's louder and louder, spreading outwards... then, it's gone. Like a voice that carries through a series of mountains, and can either leave them untouched, or cause an avalanche. An echo, a wound in the Force,"

 

I leaned back in my chair. Roan seemed relatively frightened. That too, was rare. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen her this worried. Her face remained unmoved and serious, but I could sense her growing distress. My curiosity roused. I stretched out, trying to figure out the source of her fear, so that I may exploit it. I could hear her surface thoughts but I wasn't as subtle as I should have been. She narrowed her glare and curled her lips into a dark smile, obviously figuring out what I was trying to do.

 

"Pretty good Kent… but we both know that the only way you can get me to share my feelings is if you torture me to the point of insanity or if we..."

 

"Enough," I interrupted in a stern but steady voice. I had no time for her taunts.

 

She simply laughed heartlessly, reveling in her small victory and letting me bask in my failure. She stopped laughing but was still grinning. Her face then changed to another serious expression. She leaned back thoughtfully and closed her eyes. I sat there, still staring at her, trying to decipher her reactions without using the Force... to no avail of course.

 

"But I am tired and I need my rest," she said sleepily, eventually opening her eyes.

 

"Very well, I hope Malachor is merciful to your dreams,"

 

"Isn't it always?" she said sarcastically.

 

She rose from her chair and walked slowly towards the massive door.

 

"Good night Kent," she called back in an annoying tone. I heard her giggle faintly. I gritted my teeth slightly in an annoyed rage.

 

I noticed the other men at the table watching her leave the room. Part of me couldn't blame them, she liked to keep her black robes tight and her skirt short, revealing a pair of perfect legs connected to the rest of her curvy body. It was almost impossible not to lust after her, but my will was too strong to be broken so easily. The other male Sith at the academy however, found it difficult to fight her because they were too busy scanning her body. Clever was her tactic and it led to the deaths of many Sith. Not me though. I was twice what they were. And she was nothing more than a rival. Just another obstacle. Her playfulness was just an act too. Deep down, she was just like me... pursuing power without hesitation. Strength without mercy or meekness. Strength devoid of weakness.

 

I crossed my arms and shut my eyes. I silently recited the code in my head.

 

Peace is a lie, there is only passion.

 

Through passion I gain strength

 

Through strength I gain power

 

Through power I gain victory

 

Through victory my chains are broken.

 

The Force......

 

I clenched my fists.

 

The Force shall set me free.

 

I opened my eyes. I have trouble believing that last part.

 

---------

 

I sat at the edge of my bed. I suppose Malachor wants me to stay awake this night. Sleep wasn't rest, it was constant struggle. An unending battle. A horrific dimension that one must traverse through in the seemingly endless nigh, every night. Nightmares haunted everyone, but some nights were far more horrific than others. I shuddered slightly; cold sweat covered my tense body. I rose from my bed with only a single thought in my head.

 

I hate this place.

 

I suppose all of us do, and that the weak ones are glad to die. I scratch my head, my red hair falling into my eyes. I stand up and put on my robes. My robes resemble a Sith Assassin's even though my specialty is in lightsaber combat... the way of the Sith Marauders. But I have found that these robes provide me with more mobility in battle. I can't stand bulky capes. And of course, I customized it with a thin fiber mesh plating on my chest. Good, in case a stray lightsaber or blaster bolt should come too close to my heart. I reach instinctively for my lightsaber, and begin to caress the cold metal cylinder. It gives me a form of comfort, no matter how small and insignificant. I repelled my hand away from it and scoffed at my lowly desire. I was angry with this weakness. I mustn't be so reluctant to face this world. It is strength to do so. But I couldn't help but feel slightly apathetic and reluctant. Do I really want to exist this way?

 

I scrunched up my nose in disgust, "Of course I do!" I shouted aloud. My voice echoed in my vacant room.

 

Ask too many questions, and you begin to question yourself.

 

I sighed. My thoughts were racing. I closed my eyes, "Silence them," I tell myself quietly. It felt odd though. There was something behind my restless thoughts. A sound, that seemed to be growing. I listened closely, trying to make out the strains over the background ripples and whirlpools of the galaxy. It grew louder and louder, like an approaching chorus. Like an orchestra, building momentum, until...

 

I collapsed to my knees and pressed my hands against my ears. It was a high-pitched screech in my ears, a pitch of unintelligible distortion. It came wave after wave. It crawled into my mind and ripped at my darkness, wanting me to let go. I fell over in agony.

 

"NO!" I hissed.

 

Then it stopped. I lay motionless for a few moments, then rose to my feet.

 

What the hell was that!?!

 

I was breathing heavily; icy sweat covered my body. I decided to get out of my room. I had to get out. I sped out of the room frantically, only to be swarmed with panicking apprentices and furious masters. One unlucky imbecile collided into me as I was struggling to regain my composure from my previous ordeal. I plunged my knife into the base of his cranium in frustration, and watched as his eyes rolled into the back of his head and his jaw slack. I wiped the blood from my weapon. My head, however, was still spinning and I didn't know what they hell was going on. My body lurched as I felt a hand grab my collar and pull me aside. I stumbled slightly, trying to regain my balance. I looked up to who it was. It was Roan.

 

"Where the hell have you been!?!" she demanded. "The academy has been infiltrated by the damn Jedi and you're getting your beauty sleep and screwing with apprentices!"

 

"The academy has been infiltrated?" I asked, still breathing heavily.

 

She looked at me in disbelief, "Where the hell have you been? I swear Kent, I don't know why I even..."

 

I had enough of her insults. My right hand wrapped around her throat. I slammed her body against the wall and lifted her of her feet. She tried to gasp for breath but I simply squeezed harder, my rage coursing through my veins. "Tell me what is going on," I said in a steady but vile voice, "Or I'll continue to crush your neck," I looked into her eyes, the light was starting to fade and her squirming was decreasing, "Ech... Echo," She barely managed to say those words. I looked at her in bewilderment. But before I could ask here something, she raised her left hand and my body shot across the hall. I slammed into the opposite wall with a sickening thud. I groaned and used one of the statues in the hall for support as I rose to my feet. She was kneeling on all fours, coughing and gasping for air. I closed my eyes, and rubbed my temples, feeling slightly light-headed. When I shut my eyes, at first, everything was dark, but then, I could see a dark blue light in the distance. And then a sea of red around it. The blue light seemed to be fighting back all the red around it. And the red lights were diminishing rather quickly. And then I heard it again, that echo. This time, however, I learned of its source.

 

The Jedi! The one who killed Nihilus! At last...

 

I opened my eyes to the hiss of a lightsaber. Roan charged at me with a bloodthirsty vengeance in her eyes. I activated my red saber and deflected a horizontal slash that was aimed at my neck.

 

"I will see you dead for what you did to me!" she snarled through gritted teeth, her yellow eyes swirling with hatred.

 

I parried her next slash and flipped over her. I twirled my saber trying to overpower her defense, spinning after each alternating twirl with a dance like motion. But her Soresu form was too disciplined. Our crimson blades continued to clash at an extremely fast pace, white glittering light seemed to fall off of our weapons and surround us as we continued the exceedingly fast duel. I flipped over her again and struck at her in a downward motion. She dodged it and raised her left hand. I was blown off my feet once more. I recovered from the push in mid-air, landing on my feet like normal. She stretched out her hand and lightning exploded from her fingertips. Focusing on my rage, I raised my blade against the blue storm and deflected it back at her. She rolled to her left just in time, the lightning whipped wildly around the chair, frying it. The charred smell of burnt stone filled my nostrils.

 

"Enough!" I shouted at her, "The Jedi is coming,"

 

"The Jedi will kill us anyway. I'd like to see how powerful you actually are Kent!" she yelled back.

 

"I would rather die fighting a worthier opponent than you, Roan! Wouldn't you like to fight the Jedi as well? Together, we stand more of a chance."

 

She continued to stare at me menacingly. She looked down at her lightsaber and scowled reluctantly as she de-activated it. She raised her attention to me again, "Fine," she whispered, her voice cold and as sharp as a double-edged sword, "I'll play along... for now,"

 

"Then let's go," I said, turning off my own lightsaber. The Jedi was getting very close. I could feel it.

 

---------

 

I stood there, fixated on the door, the blaster fire growing louder. The Jedi was clearly getting closer.

 

"It was a mistake," I heard Roan say, finally. I looked at her in confusion. Her eyes were still focused on the door.

 

"It was a mistake to come here, to this place. I've wasted my entire life and spent most of it here, constantly fearful, constantly on guard," she gritted her teeth in frustration, "I wanted power, and all I have achieved is death. I hate this place, I never should have come. It was just a horrible waste of time, a horrific existence that all of us dwelled in everyday. This place deceives you, it steals from you until you have nothing left, and then it finally kills you. This place is hell. I never should have came... it turned my life into a complete waste of time," She was still glaring at the door, bitter regret infected every word and every breath she made.

 

She was right though. Coming here, to Malachor, to the academy, was the biggest mistake any of us had ever made, any of the Dark Jedi here have ever made. I turned towards the door, hearing a body hit the wall of the room in front of us. I narrowed my eyes at the door, the black and red stone taunting me.

 

"Yeah..." I said after hearing the last blaster rifle being silenced, "...a complete waste of time,"

 

The stone door slid open. The room filled with an eerie, mysterious presence. A figure stepped though the doorway. A female Jedi, in dark gray and brown robes appeared before us. Her blonde hair was in an Alderaanian design, braided tightly in a complex fashion. Her face was beautiful and unlike the rest of her... it wasn't covered in blood. She wasn't very tall, maybe as tall as my shoulders but not much more than that. Her eyes were closed and her blue lightsaber was ignited and held out to her side. She seemed like she was carrying Malachor V on her back, a planet's worth of pain... burned into her soul. But she had a brilliant glow around her. Not a glow really, but it looked as if she had found her center... and nothing in the galaxy was going to push her from it.

 

I put my speculations aside, however. Roan and I flourished our crimson red lightsabers and waited for the Jedi's next move.

 

The blonde-haired woman jumped towards us, flipping diagonally several times before coming down with her lightsaber. I blocked the powerful strike. As soon as the Jedi's feet touched the ground, she quickly slashed at Roan. Roan parried it. She then flipped over the both of us and set forth a flurry of lightning fast slashes and stabs.

 

Finally!

 

Roan jumped over the Jedi. She parried mine and Roan's thrusts in a single spinning motion, then she jumped and kicked off my chest, using the momentum to push herself over Roan. She slashed horizontally at Roan's waist right as she landed. Roan barely blocked the fluid motion. The Jedi still had a look of pure serenity and calmness on her beautiful face, even in a place as dark and tainted as this. Her eyes were still closed, even as she was battling two of the most revered Dark Jedi at the academy. I quickly got to my feet and ran towards her. The Jedi easily blocked Roan's vain attempt to stab her lightsaber through the woman's heart. Just as I was about to strike, the Jedi held up her right hand. A pulse of wind swept me and Roan off of our feet. We fell crashing to the ground on the other side of the room. We got to our feet and held our lightsabers out in front of us in a Neutral stance. The Jedi held hers close to her right hip, directed outwards in a Juyo form. Her stance wasn't as frightening as her stare though. Her grayish-hazel eyes staring into mine and Roan's souls. Roan twitched nervously. Roan held her hand out towards the nearby table, lifting it. I sped towards the Jedi, my movements increased tenfold. I jumped and attempted to come down with a powerful slash, however, the Jedi once again pushed me with a powerful pulse of Force energy. I flipped in mid-air a few times before crashing through Roan's table, the one she was going to throw at the Jedi. Roan lost concentration and dropped the table as I hit the wall. I had been Force pushed through a stone table, into the black stone wall.

 

Incredible.

 

I felt dizzy, my head spinning slightly. My eyes wandered over to Roan and the Jedi. They were still standing there, glaring at each other. My body felt numb, but it wasn't from my impact. I think the Jedi was somehow keeping me stunned and helpless.

 

How clever.

 

The Jedi jumped up into the air towards Roan, spinning her lightsaber in her left hand elaborately. She came down hard with an overhead strike, but Roan managed to block it horizontally. The Jedi seemed to float a little above Roan as she let loose a series of lightning fast thrusts. It looked like fifteen lightsabers stabbing at her, one after the other. Roan managed to parry the majority, but a few slipped past her defense, one nicked the top of her shoulder and another stab pierced part of her waist. Roan hissed in agony and flipped over the Jedi. Roan raised her hand in an attempt to Force Push the Jedi away, but the Jedi seemed to shrug it off. Roan opened her mouth, and an ear-shattering scream escaped it. I winced. But the Jedi simply ran towards her. Roan sent a flurry of debris at the Jedi, telekinetically. The Jedi held up her hand, and the shower of rubble and rock was deflected in different directions. Roan stopped the assault and switched back to her lightsaber. She ran towards the Jedi, her lightsaber raised. The Jedi waited for her. Roan attacked with a wildly aggressive horizontal slash, but the blonde-haired woman simply jumped over her.

 

Time slowed, and I watched as the Jedi landed, raised her lightsaber, and then thrusted it through Roan's back. The blue blade emerged from below Roan's chest, right in between the lower part of her rib cage, her spinal chord was the obvious target. Roan's face instantly got pale, her eyelids weakened, and her mouth barely open as the blade was pulled from her body. She dropped to her knees and looked at me before falling over on her side. All of this occurred in slow motion, the way she was defeated and the look of regret she gave me before collapsing. She wasn't dead, yet... but she wasn't going to survive or live for much longer. The numb feeling over my body was replaced with an unstoppable fury which washed over me completely. I broke free of the Jedi's power and ran at her. The Jedi raised her hand but I was ready. I raised mine, letting loose a sickening affliction. The Jedi looked at me in surprise; I had clouded her thoughts with a debilitating sickness. The Jedi struggled to raise her lightsaber against me, her health being washed away by my Force Plague. She managed to block all of my attempts to strike her down. I rolled to the left and raised my own hand. The Jedi was tumbled off her feet. She caught herself in mid-air and landed gracefully on her feet.

 

She looked at me. And the 'glow' around her intensified. I looked at her in awe. She looked like she had been completely enlightened by the Light Side itself.

 

Raina Salar

 

That was her name.

 

She exploded towards me in an unmatched speed. She tucked her shoulders slightly and spun three times before her next strike. I parried it, only to find myself parrying another and another. Raina began jumping in all directions, attacking me as I tried to counter. One moment she was in front of me, the next she was behind me, stabbing at me several times, and the next, she was at my right, trying to cut me in half. I could barely keep up with her acrobatics, let alone guard against them. Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity of endless fighting, she kicked off of my chest and as I stumbled backwards, she threw her lightsaber, overhand, at my chest. I dropped the last thing that gave me comfort, my lightsaber. I looked down at the blade that was impaled though the middle of my chest. I shuddered with icy cold pain and dropped to my knees. My eyes stared back up at Raina Salar. She had a look of remorse on her face as she telekinetically pulled the lightsaber from my chest. The blue lightsaber made it's way back into her right hand and she de-activated it. She only said one thing to me as my body began to loose its strength.

 

"Forgive me," she whispered sadly.

 

I continued to look at her. I tried to say something, but I lacked breath. Instead, adrenaline carried one last message to my brain, which carried one last message through the Force.

 

I have already done that, Exile.

 

She continued to stare at me for a little while longer, before turning towards the door, and exiting the room.

 

I fell on my side. The room was starting to darken. I looked over at Roan, she was breathing in a short, quick, rhythm. She was very pale and shivering intensely. Roan looked over at me, as if about to say something, but I stopped her.

 

"Enough, Roan," I whispered hoarsely, "Sleep. Your nightmares won't trouble you any longer,"

 

She stared at me, and I watched her as she slowly closed her eyes. Her breathing slowed, until her chest didn't rise or fall anymore. And peace swept over her face.

 

---------

 

I lay there alone, for quite sometime before I felt the Lord of Pain fall, and not rise again. He, too, was glad to die. I suppose we all are. Glad to be away from this constant agony, this constant misery. I hate this place, more than anything. It was the source of all my rage, all my anger, all the poison inside my veins. I regret the day I came here. I regret so much. I suppose this is the destiny of the Dark Side… pain, regret, destruction. It is all I have ever accomplished. I am not Sith. I'm too weak, too timid, too... human. Even though it is my title, it isn't who I am. I never believed that the Force would save me. Especially when it was what condemned me, it's so hard to ignore it's power. No, it didn't save me. The Exile did.

 

I think we all secretly thank her in the end. We thanked her for helping us to have the courage to leave this place. Exile. That is her title. But it isn't who she is. No, she is the True Jedi, the true protector of the galaxy.

 

My eyes began to slack, my mind ready to let go. I only had one last thought in my head before the world died around me.

 

The rest I go to now is far better... than anything I have ever known, for I am so glad to leave this place. We all are.

[Empress Padme]

WOW, this is really good.Look forward to more of your writings . You have a lot of talent.

[Weave]

Thanks!

 

It's a tad bit too long to be a short story... oh well.