A Darkened Gathering - Part Five

CW: Character death.

« Next ›

•┈┈┈∘┈┈┈❃┈┈┈⚘┈┈┈❃┈┈┈∘┈┈┈•

Katyra lay still for a few more moments, catching her breath before she tried to sit up. She looked back at the fissure to see it had been shattered wide open, rock splintered as though it were merely wood. Her head was spinning, and she pressed a palm to her temple to find blood.

“I can’t do this,” she sobbed, curling in on herself. She felt alone, more alone than she had ever felt, and the darkness only made the loneliness worse. She wasn’t strong enough in the light to shatter rock – but it had been a favourite strength-building exercise in her earlier tuition, in her “dark” tuition. She wasn’t welcome among the Jedi, she knew that – but she had been stupid enough to think that this would prove them wrong, that she could show them that she did belong, that she was one of them.

She was wrong. So wrong. She would never be part of them, because she would always have her dark affinity, and fall back on her dark abilities.

Katyra slowly got to her feet, brushing the icy fragments from her coat. She had tried not to allow herself to recall her earlier memories, but one had stuck with her for as long as she’d been among the Jedi.

“Go with the Jedi. Let them train you. And always the importance of comion. who shows it today.”

Comion was supposed to be central to a Jedi’s life.

They hardly show you comion. They judge you without knowing you, and turn from you as soon as they can. They abandon you where they see an opportunity to do so. They don’t even follow their own teachings.

Katyra closed her eyes, trying to will the voice away, but the other girl spoke the truth. She would never be one of the Jedi, no matter how hard she tried. She was too close to Darkness for their liking.

Katyra looked around herself at the space she had fallen into. Aside from the fissure by which she had entered, there were no other exits. She investigated the broken rock, finding that her destructive force had made this part wider – but further back, it had narrowed.

Use the Force and find another path.

“Get out of my head!” Katyra snapped, turning around as if she could see the other voice. Had something happened when she fell? This was a new experience - was this what people with concussions experienced?

My only goal is to help you leave this place.

“Then show me where to go!”

It was almost as if she had issued a challenge. Katyra spun around again, but couldn’t see a source for the voice. However, she felt… something.

All around her, something seemed to be converging. She realised that it was the Force – Darkness and Light, combining together as she drew it in. She wasn’t even trying actively to do so, it was just… acting alone? No, the Force didn’t work like that. Did it?

She allowed herself to be swept up in it, though. At first, she tried to push aside the Darker side, the Force that was drawing on her more negative emotions, but as she realised, she may as well just embrace it. It would make getting out of here easier. To her surprise, the moment she decided this, it began to flow through her more readily, pushing aside the Light.

She could sense it. Part of the rock wall was not stone – it was only ice. Thick, certainly, but not so thick that she couldn’t rend it apart.

Katyra lashed out, the heel of her palm striking the ice wall with all the strength the Force lent her behind it. Cracks spiralled outwards from the point of impact, and she struck again in the same place. The positive energy was hardly anything for her to use here, not when she had the strength she needed fuelled by darkness.

One more time, she struck the wall, and the ice cracked, splintering. Shards and pieces rained down around her, but Katyra drew on the Force to divert the pieces, protecting her as she stumbled awkwardly through the opening and falling to her hands and knees.

To her surprise, she was back in the grand hall.

“What did you just do?”

Katyra looked up from where she had fallen onto her knees, staring up at Q’taran, Traxos, and the other younglings. They had all drawn back, and were staring at her in horror.

“I was trapped,” she told them, “I used the Force to help me break out—”

“You used the dark side!” Q’taran snapped, “We all felt it! You polluted this place with your evil!”

“I used whatever was necessary for survival!” Katyra cried indignantly. She stood up, brushing herself off. “I needed to get out of there, and the ice was stopping me from escaping!”

They will never understand.

“You dare to stand here, in this sacred home of the Jedi,” Q’taran strode forward, a hand dropping to his lightsaber, “And summon darkness to your aid? You will never be a Jedi!”

The fear gave way to her anger, and Katyra stood her ground. She felt the Force around her, strengthening her. If Q’taran dared to attack, she decided that she would defend – not attack, just defend.

“Maybe I don’t want to be a Jedi!” She snapped, “Since I’ve arrived, all any of the Jedi have done is treat me like a stain, all because of where I came from. Maybe I want to forge my own path – and that is for me to decide, not you or anyone else!”

Q’taran swung suddenly, lightsaber igniting as it sliced in an upward angle. Katyra dived beneath the attack, her body moving before her brain had time to fully process what was happening. She felt a surge of power around herself, saw the sharp pieces of ice scattered across the floor, and before she was fully aware of what she was even doing, the shards had all begun rising off the floor, points all angled at Q’taran.

She felt a sickening horror as the shards, directed by her hand, sped towards their target. Q’taran was fast with his lightsaber, but not fast enough. The shards pierced him, thrown with such force that many of them ed directly through him.

For a few moments, he stood frozen, staring at Katyra as she stared back, before his knees gave way and he collapsed to the ground.

•┈┈┈∘┈┈┈❃┈┈┈⚘┈┈┈❃┈┈┈∘┈┈┈•

« Next ›