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Yavin IV; Abandoned Temple
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Dryas Quy'teff
Space Jawa


Joined: 30 Sep 2009
Posts: 120

 Post Posted: Wed, October 21st 2009 05:10am    Post subject: Yavin IV; Abandoned Temple
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His eyes closed, Dryas began his last session of concentration upon the practically completed piece of machinery before him. A device that, for its size, had taken quite some time to assemble, but for what it was, what it represented, it was time well spent.

Reaching out through the Force, he gave the device what could be called a ‘scan’ for anything he might have missed during the construction process. Anything that would render the device worthless, or worse, deadly. Not deadly in the usual sense, for an assembled Lightsaber was always deadly. Rather, for anything that would render it more of a danger to himself than to others.

It would be his second, once he knew it was finished. He had constructed his first years ago, same as any other Jedi might have as a part of the training. This blade, however, was different; it represented something more. It was a sign of his focus on the training of the art of lightsaber combat, but beyond that, it was a sign of his dedication to learn and train in a form that could not be truly learned with a standard hilt.

He had spent months researching the style, through all the recovered holocrons he could get his hands on which could give him the details he needed; inquiring of those who might have any knowledge that might provide a clearer picture. It had taken him nearly as long to assemble the initial designs and gather the parts he would need to put it all together. And then had come the actual construction.

All along, questions had come as to why he was taking so long with the process, and more than once he had put actual thought into trying to rush the process. But that would have spoiled it, and perhaps rendered the whole thing worthless.

As he finished searching for anything within the hilt of his new weapon which might render it worthless, he smiled as it came out clean. The weapon was ready. Standing, he walked over to the newly constructed device and picked it up, letting the curved shape rest in his hands, letting his fingers get used to the shape.

It was a strange sensation, but odder still was the way it almost felt natural, more so than the weapon he had been carrying all these years, one that, despite the new blade, he would still need.

Lighting it up for the first time, a shiver went down his spine as the snap-hiss revealed a glowing blade of deep orange, which almost showed hints of a light crimson hue within the deepest core of its glow. A start contrast to his first weapon, which had come out blue.

He wasn’t sure how long he stood there examining the product of months of work, but he could sense that he was taking far too long. He would have plenty of time to examine his new weapon later, and he was certain that his master would be happy to see that he had finally finished.
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Dryas Quy'teff
Space Jawa


Joined: 30 Sep 2009
Posts: 120

 Post Posted: Sun, October 25th 2009 04:36am    Post subject:
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As Dryas emerged from the inner sanctums of the ancient Massassi, he was not surprised to find his master, Norran Homm, waiting for him, though facing away the entrance towards what remained of the one-time lead open-air architecture of the temple. From where Dryas stood, he could see the older Jedi sitting on the ground in what appeared to be some kind of transitive state, though what he might have been thinking about the Bothan could only guess.

“And so, you have finally completed your task?” Homm asked, not once moving his body.
“I have.” Dryas said, coming within only a few meters of his masters position and lowering himself to his knees.
“Show me.”

Norran then stood and turned, and his student stood with him, and held out his new hilt in front of him, facing upwards, and activated it. The man said nothing, but simply looked it over. Then, he held out his hand, palm up and empty, a non-verbal request to examine it closer. Dryas turned off the weapon and handed it over.

Examining the details, the Master then attempted to hold it in both hands, but quickly went back to just using one. He then reactivated it, and certain that his apprentice was a safe distance away, held it out in front of himself and swung it around a little before brining it back and turning it off again.

“Interesting.” He commented. “I’ve read about such sabers, but never seen one in person before.”

He then returned the weapon to Dryas.

“Let’s see how you fight with it.”
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Dryas Quy'teff
Space Jawa


Joined: 30 Sep 2009
Posts: 120

 Post Posted: Tue, October 27th 2009 01:45am    Post subject:
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Taking several steps away from his student, Norran drew his own saber and activated it, then held it in front of him in preparation for combat. In turn Dryas held his new saber out and re-activated it, pointing it downward as he took his opening stance. A moment of tension followed, during which he breathed in deeply.

The exhale came much quicker, as Norran surprised Dryas and make his first strike, a downward swing that Dryas knocked aside with little difficulty. Another brief moment passed, and two more strikes came, the first of which Dryas simply stopped and the second of which he turned into an opening, which he used to force his master back a step. But it in turn was pulled off in a manner that allowed the older Jedi to attempt a counter attack of his own, allowing him to move forward and force Dryas to retreat himself.

They were basic moves, really, but the Bothan could tell what they were for – Norran was testing his defenses, and so far, he hadn’t done a terrible job, but he had performed a major slip-up. Had this been a true foe, he would likely be on the defensive at the moment.

“You seem uneasy.” Norran said.
“I imagine it’s a result of my style.” Dryas said. “This IS my first time attempting the style with the correct hilt style.”
“Don’t create excuses.” Norran said, advancing forward, but refraining from swinging. Yet, he still forced Dryas to take a step back all the same. “Create results.”

With that, the master struck again, but did not stop after one or two swings. With deadly precision, Norran attacked with light, rapid strikes that forced Dryas completely on the defensive to block the attacks, and soon began to move backwards to give himself more room to operate in. Knowing he could not keep it up for long, he abandoned attempting to fight the match simply using his new combat style.

Taking the hilt fully into both hands, he tried to adapt the blades curve to the style he was most knowledgeable at – the “medium” style that his master, having trained in the lightsaber styles of the new Jedi Order, had passed on to him first. While he had since moved on to focus on the old Order styles rather than continuing to learn more than the bare basics about the fast and heavy types his master was trained in, he had always kept the medium in his training regimen.

“What’s wrong, Dryas? You’re better than this!”
“Didn’t want to make you look bad.” He replied, making an attempt to jest about the situation.

Taking greater comfort in ability to fight at this point, he knocked away Norrans latest swing with an extra ‘oomph’ and leapt backward to catch a quick breather. Knowing he didn’t have long, Dryas made it as quick a break as he could and advanced back towards his master, though after succeeding into turning a couple blocks into pair of counter-attacks, Norran slowed his approach to re-examine the situation. The two separated again, and began to circle one another as each looked for an opening.
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Dryas Quy'teff
Space Jawa


Joined: 30 Sep 2009
Posts: 120

 Post Posted: Thu, October 29th 2009 03:48pm    Post subject:
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It was as Dryas found himself between his master and the temple’s entrance stairway, a wide upward path leading to the plateau in front of the main entrance, that Norran struck again. Coming at the Bothan with a strike from the side, he followed with what looked like it would be an attack from above. The sword stopped mid-swing, however, revealing it to be a feint as the Jedi instead hit his pupil with a force push, sending him backwards off the steps.

Using the force to guide and slow him, Dryas hit the mid-way landing with a roll and came up in time to block another attack from Norran as he followed through a leap. Dryas attempted to circled around as he struck back to position his back towards the temple, but each maneuver was carefully guided away as his blows were deflected.

With his plan of action defeated, Dryas instead began to retreat backwards down the second stairway to the ground level, which simultaneously allowed him an easier job of blocking his masters attacks.
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Dryas Quy'teff
Space Jawa


Joined: 30 Sep 2009
Posts: 120

 Post Posted: Mon, November 09th 2009 06:27am    Post subject:
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With a leap through the air, Norran moved ahead of Dryas and landed on the other side of him, striking forward with a quick stab that the Bothan easily stepped aside from. He jumped forward in summersault as the blade continued to move in a slice across where he had been standing only moments ago.

There was curious thing about lightsaber combat against an ally, training matches designed to test the skill of each individual without ending it in the death or loss of limb for either. To some degree, such fights were more challenging than duals against true foes, as there was an additional level of control required. A level of knowing how far one could go without putting either in life-threatening danger, and of being able to stop the blade before it penetrated the other duelist’s skin.

Having overseen Dryas’ training since he had advanced to the level of Padawan, Norran had a rather thorough knowledge of what the Bothan was capable of, though he still found himself surprised at what moves his pupil was capable of pulling off. Likewise, Dryas had over time learned a great deal about the way his master fought. Together, it allowed them a great deal of leeway in how far they could go before either of them ran a serious risk of injury.

As he landed, Dryas brought the blade toward a blocking position to his side, stopping the path that Norran had swung his blade around him after his swing had been evaded. Pushing the blue blade of Norran’s saber away from his body, he twirled his own weapon in an attempt to strike at the legs, but was promptly denied the avenue of attack.

The two continued to clash their blades for a time that Dryas began to loose track of, and moved further towards the crater that inhabited the landscape once occupied by the temples courtyard. With a more level terrain and Dryas fighting with a style of combat he was well accustomed to, he fought with a great contract to his early showing, and soon, both master and apprentice found themselves near evenly-matched. Blow was met with counter-attack, slice met with block, and it was one of the closest duals the Bothan could ever recall competing in against his master. Not to say that he had never beaten his master in combat before, but most of the time these days it seemed that one of them would quickly emerged as the likely victor.

He needed to find the weakness in his masters approach, and he was pretty sure he was seeing a pattern in his masters approach. It was subtle, but it was there, and Dryas was near certain he could use it to strike a finishing maneuver. The question was if it was genuine, or if he was being baited for a larger attack strategy.

He couldn’t debate the issue with himself for long, though. It was an opportunity that could vanish at any moment, but he couldn’t simply rush into a trap. No, Dryas needed a way to use the opening to his advantage while providing himself an out, preferably one that could turn the tables in his favor if things were not quite as they seemed.

Another blow came from Norrans saber, and Dryas acted upon it. Carefully choosing the angle at which he blocked the attack, he tried to maneuver the direction the blades would follow through at so that the elder Jedi would be unable to stop the inevitable follow-up strike. But as he suspected, it was a move that the master was prepared for, and instead turned it into a disarming maneuver, swinging both blades around so that Dryas could not maintain the grip on his hilt. Rather than resist the effort, Dryas moved with it, letting the hilt fall loose in his hands and fly free much easier than it should have to set his master off balance. Then, reaching through the force, he called his other saber to his hands. With an opening right in front of him, he activated the blade and swung it across a path towards his masters lower mid-section, stopping just shy of his clothing without another blade to answer it.

However, as he pulled off the trick, he had failed to notice both the sound of saber deactivating and the feel of a lightsaber hilt again his clothing, the emitter end pointing directly towards his shoulder. It was not possible for either of them to determine which blow would have hit its intended target first, but one thing was clear, that had it not been a friendly training match, both would undoubtedly be mortally wounded or dead – the duel had come out a draw.
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Dryas Quy'teff
Space Jawa


Joined: 30 Sep 2009
Posts: 120

 Post Posted: Tue, November 10th 2009 06:54am    Post subject:
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The session of meditation that followed the battle should have been more peaceful than this. It was the kind of process that Norran usually had them go through after their duels, a process of clearing the mind and expanding the mind from the small and local to the galaxy at large. Since it was an area that Dryas still found himself challenged by, it was also another opportunity that his master would use to try to help him focus the area of skills – sensing that which was yet to come, reaching out to other Jedi great distances away.

However, Dryas could easily sense that his master was not at ease. For someone who he was so used to seeing find ways to take things in stride as they happened, finding the good and how it could used to turn situations to their best, it was a discomforting feeling.

“I’ve never felt such restlessness in you before, master.”
“Trust me, it’s been there.” Said Norran. “I’ve just been making an effort to hide it. To put it out of my mind, until I know that it can be properly addressed.”
“Why would you do that? Why would you not seek to address the issue as soon as possible?”
“Because until I know how to address it, making the effort to do so would only be a waste of my time. Dryas, I want you to open your mind. Clear your head.”

Dryas pushed back the urge to ask further questions and took a deep breath. Controlling his breathing, he attempted to put away all the assorted thoughts traveling through his head and let his mind be free to whatever would come.

“Tell me, Dryas, do you not sense anything?”
“I do, but…it’s faint. It’s hard to make out anything.”
“Tell me, what can you make out? How do you interpret it?”
“I sense…conflict. An uncertain future.”
“All the future is uncertain.” Norran said. “I want you to dig deeper.”

Dryas took another deep breath and refocused himself, re-finding what he had sensed before and focusing on it.

“Now…what do you sense?”
“A darkness….threats…to the future that everyone sees as bright. But it’s difficult to tell anything beyond that. For me, probably impossible.”
“Impossible is not a word to use lightly. But I realize this is not your strength, so I can understand if you are having trouble making out much. So I shall share with you what I am sensing – tell me of what you can see.”

At first, Dryas felt a sense of hesitation, not receiving anything. But it was not something he had to anticipate for long before he felt it rolling over him – the sense of reaching out the likes of which he could not know on his own. It was clearer, the visions, the feelings, and he could better make out what it was.

“Now, what do you sense?” Norran asked.
“I sense…conflict. Great violence by an unknown foe…and former allies turning on one another.”
“Yes, that is a much clearer picture.”
“But it still tells me nothing.”
“What do you expect? We’re not fortune tellers, Dryas. Do not expect to see clearly something that insists on constantly changing form.”
“Always in motion is the future.” Dryas said, quoting one of the many, many lessons that was common knowledge among Jedi.
“Exactly.” Said Norran. “Difficult to see. It is for this reason that what I sense, what you have seen, can not be acted upon.”
“We can’t do anything about it.” Dryas said, recalling lessons he had learned on the matter in times past.
“Again, correct.”
“So why does it make you so uneasy?” Dryas asked.
“Because it’s something I’ve sensed for some time now, and it’s gotten progressively stronger.”
“You think it may be immanent?” Dryas said with hesitant anticipation.
“It’s possible, but we have no way of knowing for certain. It could be a statement about tomorrow, a week from now, years on down the road. It may even be something neither of us live to see come to pass.”
“Then what’s the point?” Dryas said, feeling like he should have known the answer but was not making strong enough an effort to remember when it had been taught to him.
“The point,” Norran said, “Is that when it happens, whatever it may be, we will not be caught completely unaware. We may not know what will come to pass, but even if we did, of what use would it be? We could try to stop the future from happening, but without knowing every single detail about the series of events, we would run the risk of causing the very thing we sought to put a stop to. The point is that when it happens, we will have seen it coming, and while everyone else is trying to figure out what’s going on, we will be ready to take action. While others are panicking, we will have overcome the initial shock, help others to do the same, and be ready to do our part to ensure the best possible future.”

There was a pause as Norran stopped talking. Dryas waited to see if he would say anything else, but when he didn’t, he once again tried to clear his mind and begin the process once again.

“But I believe that is enough for today.” Norran said before he could get very far. “I believe it is time we returned to the Praxium. If we start on our way there now, I think we may be able to make it back before nightfall.”

(Click Here to Continue the Story.)
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