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To First Excerpt (“A New Master”)
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[After defeating the extortionists, Cailen ventures into the desert with Master Teek. As part of his trial to become a fully-fledged Jedi Knight, Cailen must venture into a cave filled with the power of the Force. There he encounters terrifying visions, including one of him from the future, should he fall to the Dark Side. He overcomes his Dark Side and constructs a lightsaber of his own. Teek proudly knights him. However, upon their return to Anchorhead, Cailen and his master make a troubling discovery…]
“I sense… a former student…” Teek said, hopping off of Cailen’s back. “Be prepared to defend yourself, Cailen.”
Cailen’s hand instantly went to his lightsaber. His fingers drummed against the hilt nervously.
A former student… one of Teek’s Padawans who’s fallen to the Dark Side…
Cailen swallowed the rising lump in his throat. Trust in the Force. “There is no emotion; there is peace…”
“I’m ready, Master.”
Together, they entered Anchorhead. The Exchange thugs Cailen had scared off before were here. In the center of the marketplace was a single Sith, radiating with the power of the Dark Side. The Sith simply stood there, his back to Cailen and Teek, his hands behind him, as if meditating.
“There he is!” The familiar voice of the leader of the ‘protection’ fee collectors yelled. “Told you he’d come out if we torched the place.”
“Finally…” The Sith said, in Quarren. He turned to the thugs. “You’ve proven yourselves useful at last.”
“Hey, we gave the information to the Empire. We didn’t say the Jedi was still going to be he-” The gang member started choking. He was lifted into the air by his throat by the Force.
“The Empire thanks you for your service by providing you with a quick death.” The Quarren Sith said, his power lifting the other Exchange gang members by the throat as well.
“Release them, Crayus!” Master Teek yelled.
“We meet again, Teek. And, I see you’ve taken my Master’s rightful apprentice as your own.” The Sith said. “I am Darth Occlus now, Teek. You will address me as such. Now, get that through your tiny, Ja–”
As Occlus was mid-sentence, Cailen raised his hand, quickly sending out a pulse to Force-Push the Quarren. …I might regret this in a minute.
Occlus was suddenly pushed back off his feet and into the air. Caught by surprise, he landed several feet back on his back. The gang members were released and they fled as fast as they could, gasping for air.
“Ha! Good one!” Teek said, holding up his hand for a high five.
Cailen high-fived his master. Well, I’m not regretting it yet… He turned to Occlus. “Leave this place. Our fight is not with you,” he said boldly. That seems like a Jedi Knight sort of thing to say, right? Even as he spoke, however, Cailen was reaching for his lightsaber once more.
The Sith got to his feet, pounding a fist into the ground. The Dark Side energy radiating from him intensified slightly. “I see you’ve adopted my former Master’s brand of humor.”
“Surrender yourself, Crayus. I don’t want to hurt you.” Teek said, pulling out his own lightsabers.
“On Nar Shaddaa, you could barely protect yourself against my assault. Now will be no different. A Padawan and a Jawa are no match for me!” He said, igniting his double-bladed lightsaber.
Teek ignited his own sabers and said to Cailen, “We can take him. Together. Remember, Cailen: a Jedi avoids taking the life of another if they can. Try to make him back down, not kill him!”
“Yes, Master Teek.” Cailen ignited his own lightsaber, shifting into the Shii-Cho stance. “And you’re not facing a Padawan and a Jawa.
“You’re facing a Battlemaster and a Jedi Knight.”
“Ah. So you have created your own lightsaber.” Occlus said. “Your skills are complete. Indeed you are powerful, as my Master has foreseen. After I kill Teek, I will bring you back to my Master to begin your training as a Sith.”
Cailen tightened his fingers around the hilt of his new lightsaber, just as fear began to tighten around his throat. What if we DON’T handle this? What if I’m not ready?
But I’ve already come so far… The lightsaber was proof enough of that–all the trials he’d just survived, all the things he’d seen and learned these past two weeks…
“I ‘began’ it once. I don’t care for it,” Cailen replied calmly. “You can tell your master that.”
“You can tell him yourself when I bring you to him on your knees!” Occlus said, charging forward.
Teek dashed ahead suddenly, the Force flowing through his body. Teek’s acrobatic assault began and the lightsaber duel commenced!
Cailen raced toward the duel–though not nearly as quick as Master Teek–annnnd his first swing of his first real lightsaber duel went very, very wide. At least no one lost a limb in the process.
Occlus retaliated, sweeping his saber to strike both Cailen and Teek, but Teek leaped over it. Cailen barely managed to block the blow.
Suddenly, Cailen felt his body get pulled back as he was ripped away from the melee through the Force.
Cailen landed hard on his back, the wind knocked out of his lungs for a moment. As he struggled to rise, his mind spun. That wasn’t… Occlus, was it? Master Teek? But why would he…?
“Your protection of your student is touching, Teek, but ultimately useless.” Occlus said, standing his ground.
Teek leaped up and bonked Cailen in the head with the hilt of his lightsaber! “Why you charge in!” he yelled. “You are Consular! Consulars are weak in lightsaber duels! Do… Consular things!”
“Right! Sorry! I’ve got it now!” Cailen shouted as he rubbed his head with his free hand.
Quickly, Cailen glanced around the marketplace-turned-battlefield. A stack of crates rested beside one of the abandoned vendor’s stalls, and Cailen reached for them with the Force. After pushing an entire living body earlier, this was nothing. He flung a crate at Occlus… who sliced through it neatly. “Aw, parsecs!”
“Calm down.” Teek said telepathically. “Look at his form. It is the last of the 7: Juyo, the Ferocity Form, Way of the Vornskyr. The most deadly of all the forms, it is chaotic and highly offensive, seeking to overwhelm targets. Very few Jedi know this Form because it utilizes controlled passion as its source of power. If you were to fight him now, in close combat, you would fall, Cailen. Remember that.”
Teek dashed forward and engaged Occlus. As he fought, he said, “Juyo is vulnerable to attacks by the Force! I will create an opening! Then blast him with the power of the Force!”
Right, right… Cailen was trying to keep calm, but that information had rocked his confidence more than a little. It was a harsh reminder that just because he’d learned a few things and built a lightsaber, he was still far out of his league.
He feebly tried to throw another crate at Occlus as he waited for the aforementioned opening, but his nerves were starting to affect him. He barely even lifted the crate.
It’ll be fine… We can handle this… Cailen tried to reassure himself. But that was going about as well as his crate-tossing. We’ll be just fine! Cailen’s pulse spiked. I’m not going back to Nox!
“You are powerful in the Force, Cailen! Believe in that! As a Consular, your power relies on the Force! Not in your martial skill with a lightsaber!” Teek yelled in Cailen’s mind as he continued his acrobatic assault.
“Use the Force to bind him! Slow him! There is much more you can do than throw things at him or push him down!”
Cailen forced the air out of his lungs and focused, focused as he had never had before.
And just as all the times before, he felt the Force flow through him. Something clicked into place in his mind and body, as if finally they were working as one. Maybe they were, thanks to him surrendering to the Force.
He held out an open palm toward Occlus and felt… something strange and new happen between the two of them. He couldn’t explain it. Something like… power leaving him? But not quite. It was a very different sensation than when he manipulated a physical object with the Force.
Cailen glanced at his hand, wiggling his fingers. But what did I just…?
No, stay focused! Cailen shook his head and turned back toward the battle.
Occlus’ movements slowed, but he was still able to keep up. In anger, he slammed his fist into a ground, sending out a pulse wave of Force energy that sent Teek into the air, but the Jawa landed on his feet gracefully next to Cailen.
“Nice work! High five!” Teek said, holding out his hand (after turning off one of his sabers).
“Cute. But, not good enough!” Occlus said as counteracted Cailen’s new power with his own to restore his body to its original peak. “The Force can do so much more than that, Cailen. That Jawa could never show you its true power!”
“You are the only student to know of my dark past.” Teek said. “He doesn’t know I can use the Dark Side too.”
In response, Cailen Force-Pushed Occlus one more time. “Go back to your master! I already told you, no!”
Occlus was pushed back several feet, but with a roar of anger, he slammed his feet into the ground, cutting lines into the rock as his feet acted like brakes against Cailen’s shove. “If you will not face me in lightsaber combat, then I will show you my power in the Force!” Occlus yelled, sending out bolts of lightning at Cailen!
“Quickly, block with your lightsaber or the Force!”
Time seemed to slow.
Cailen raised his hands to intercept the attack. He felt the rage, the anger, the raw destruction of the lightning coming toward him…
But he was too late.
It hit him square in the chest. He barely felt his body flying backward–it almost felt as if his heart had stopped. Searing, crackling energy burned through him before it numbed his whole body.
Then he hit the ground. His body twitched, an eerie involuntary feeling. Then the pain began to ache.
Cailen groaned in agony.
Teek ran to Cailen’s side, placing his hands on the young Jedi. “Are you alright?!”
Occlus just laughed. “A little lightning and you’re down for the count? And you believed that throwing a crate at me or pushing me down would make me run away in fright? You are nothing!”
“I’m f-fine,” Cailen insisted with a grunt. He gently tried to nudge Teek aside. Then he gingerly clutched his chest where the lightning had impacted. “He just… caught me by surprise. I’m sorry, Master.”
Cailen’s fingers wrapped back around his lightsaber as he struggled back to his feet. “I guess it’s… a little early for either of us to be gloating, Occlus.” He staggered, but finally stood straight.
“For you, perhaps. I believe I’ve already proved that I am stronger than you in both my lightsaber skills and my mastery of the Force!” Occlus said.
“Do not listen to him!” Teek said. “It is a Sith tactic called Dun Moch. Psychological warfare! He’s trying to break your concentration by belittling you, making you doubt yourself!”
“Mastery of the Force…ha!” Cailen could hear a dark voice say in the back of his head. “We’ll show him true mastery…give him a dose of his own medicine!”
Oh no… Not you again.. Cailen winced, struggling to block out the two voices shouting him down and focus on Master Teek’s. Master… he tried to reach out telepathically, as Master Teek did. I… I can’t fight them both…
Force… help me. Guide me. I can’t do this on my own! Sweat dripped down his temples, and his legs were shaking beneath him.
“Relax, Cailen.” Teek said. “I feel your struggle. The Dark Side is calling to you. Once you have stepped past that boundary, it never goes away. You have a choice: spend the rest of your life suppressing it or balance its power with your own.”
“Or, we can just give in, Cailen. Become one with me and unleash all of that pent-up emotion. Reduce that Quarren squid to ashes!” Cailen’s Dark Side said.
Cailen glanced from one voice to the other. He knew the right choice, but… the temptation was getting so strong. How else was he going to be able to help Master Teek but to gain the kind of power Occlus was using against them?
But if I go down that path again…
Images flashed in his mind of Master Teek. Of his own face, aged and distorted by the Dark Side, contorted in anger as he cut down the very master who had instructed him.
“What must I do, Master? How do I balance it? He’s… so much stronger than I am!”
“Enough stalling…I will bring you to my master now!” Occlus said, sending out more lightning.
Teek, however, ignited his sabers and caught the bolts with them. He kept them blocked as he telepathically said, “To balance the Force is to control your emotions, not suppress or give in to them! Search your feelings and channel them with the Force, but do not give in! You can do it! You will be my first student to learn true balance!”
Control my emotions? But what does that mean? How is that any different from suppressing them!
Think, Cailen! Think! No–wait, don’t think. You always fail when you do that. Focus! Concentrate! Do something!
Master!
Cailen was frozen in place, watching uselessly. He had to do something!
My feelings… I feel… terrified! And… desperate. And–angry. Angry at Occlus, for the things he’s said, for the things he’s trying to do to my Master! For… for trying to take me back to Nox!
I WON’T GO BACK!
The force of his emotions almost hit him like the lightning. Cailen stepped back a half-pace.
“Use your anger!” Cailen’s Dark Side yelled at him. “Give into it and blast him away!”
“Observe.” Teek said, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. In Cailen’s Force Sight vision, Teek’s color shift from blue to red. Teek opened his eyes, and Cailen could feel the Dark Side in him.
“W-what is this!?” Occlus exclaimed as his lightning was literally thrown aside with a sweep of Teek’s sabers. Occlus stopped his assault. “This darkness… has this always been inside you, Master Teek?” He said, almost like a whisper.
With another deep breath, Teek turned off his sabers and closed his eyes. Clasping his hands together, he began to meditate.
Cailen watched as Teek’s blue energy began to force out the red until Teek was half and half, vertically down the middle of his body. With a release of his held breath, Teek’s color changed to grey. In place of the anger, Teek was now… calm. More calm than Cailen had ever felt from any Jedi.
“Return to Nox, Occlus.” Teek said, all hint of his playfulness gone. “I will not attack you, but I will defend myself and my friend.” Teek ignited both of his lightsabers.
“All that power… wasted! You can feel the call of the Dark Side, yet you suppress it with the Light! That is the final insult! You will die!” Occlus yelled, using the Force to speed at Teek with blinding rage.
Calmly, Teek held up his hand. As if a hurricane had suddenly come, a blast of wind hit Occlus with such force that he flew back and smashed into a wall over fifteen meters away, cracking it. Occlus fell, slamming into the ground. Teek turned his hand into a ‘lifting’ motion, lifting Occlus into the air.
“I… WILL… KILL… YOU!” Occlus yelled, struggling to break free.
“Here is the power you covet so much.” Teek said, firing bolts of lightning at him.
Occlus screamed in pain until the lightning had rendered him unconscious. With a flick of the wrist, Teek flung Occlus’s body to the side.
Finally, Teek took a deep breath. From grey to blue, Teek returned, and he cheerfully said, “Well, that was something! We should probably get going before he wakes up.”
All Cailen could do was stare at the crater Occlus’s body had smashed in the wall. “Uhhhhhhhh… mhm…” He bobbed his head feebly. Master Teek is far more terrifying than Occlus.
Maybe even more than Nox. Cailen followed Master Teek, still in a numb shock.
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Adapted from writing by Kaze and me. Used with permission.
Star Wars and all related names and terms property of LucasFilm and Walt Disney Studios. And, unfortunately, I am not affiliated with them.
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