The Shadow and the Flame
Posted on Fri May 25th, 2018 @ 7:10am by Amare
3,132 words; about a 16 minute read
Chapter:
Chapter V: Unbound
Location: Hidden Sith Cove, Irrikut
Timeline: Continues from "Alone in the Dark"
Tags: Shadrak, Irrikut dungeon
OLD
There was a long, heavy moment between burning shadow and tortured nautolan. And then, in an echoing baritone voice, the shadow said, “The Force is with you, little Wolph…but you are not a Sith yet.”
And now the conclusion...
NEW
“I have waited a long time for this moment,” the dark ghost said. “Through you as a conduit, I have gained more power from this wretched place. You did well coming here, kiddo. I am most impressed.”
“’Kiddo…’” Coda quietly echoed the word. It had a familiarity to it in spite of the fact that she never heard anyone call her such before, or so she thought. “Who are you, spirit?” Coda asked him with a pleading expression, apprehensive and disturbed by the shadow's fearsome appearance and cloak of flames. “How do you know so much about me?”
“Once, I was a vigorous young man and a student of the mysteries of the Force,” the shadow answered. “In those days, I was called...Shadrak. Hmm, it has been so long since I last shared my name with someone. It sounds almost like a foreign word now.”
“What...happened to you? Are you in...?”
“Pain? Spare me your pity. Your capricious displays of kindness sicken me. I, like your master, Thane, plumbed the depths of the dark side and dared to push the limits of my talents. There is no room for compassion or caution in the pursuit of power. But...there came a day when it was the will of the Force that I fell gravely ill with an incurable genetic disease which pushed me to desperately attempt a dangerous means to escape death. The magick I cast to save myself was ancient and forbidden, my execution was flawed, and its power was such that it overwhelmed me. I should have perished that day. Instead, the Force saw fit to preserve me in this ethereal form…and tethered me to you.”
“Tethered…to me?”
“It is so,” Shadrak affirmed. “I have been like this for twenty years now, never far from you. I am like a kite drifting in the squalls of an invisible storm, and your soul holds the string that binds me from falling into oblivion. I have watched over you since the day you were born. I witnessed your hatching from your mother’s egg, saw you swim your first strokes and take your first steps on land, and delighted in seeing you wound a man with a blaster for the first time right before I urged you to run.”
Coda was shocked upon the ghost’s mention of running away. “That…that was you? I-I didn’t know what came over me. But...I didn't hear your voice.”
“No, you felt it,” the shadow clarified.
“That was enough to keep you alive. Were you more powerful that night, I would have let you have your fun. Oh, how you wished you could’ve killed those men. Your feelings were burning like these flames!” The fires around Shadrak momentarily blazed and kicked up with enhanced ferocity. “Your brief thirst for murder was electric that night. Sadly, the time was not quite right for you to go unhinged. Someday, perhaps, when you are ready.”
“I…wanted to fight them,” Coda said somberly as her eyes fell to the ground, “but I ran. It felt like the right thing to do.”
“Of course,” Shadrak agreed, almost sounding as if he was comforting her if not for the deep rumbling tone of his distorted echoing voice. “You didn’t want to die so soon after being set free. The path to supremacy sometimes requires a wise retreat. Live to avenge another day. By following your instincts, and my guidance, you may yet go far in this galaxy.”
“I don’t understand why it happened…”
“Why what happened?”
“Why they all chased me after me. What did I do wrong?”
There was a long silence from Shadrak, but he decided the little seed of truth he was saving for this moment would be enough to set her down the proper path she needed to follow. “It was Saucy. She betrayed you.”
“What?! Saucy…sent those men? That makes no sense! She cared about me for over three years. Protected me! I worked so hard for her. I gave her all the secrets I stole from those men that visited the club. I did everything I was supposed to.”
“Exactly,” Shadrak said. “You were her obedient slave. You possessed a rare talent she exploited. You aided in growing the size of her bank accounts and received little in return. She even stole the vast majority of the credits you earned on that slicing job a year ago. She used you, lied to you when she set you free, and set her attack dogs loose on you to save her own skin. You knew too much and that represented a threat to her after you fought with that fool, Chesto. When she killed him, she inherited ownership of the club and all its debts owed to the Hutts and the local mercenary companies. Your bounty represented the first of those debts.”
Coda was starting to sob before Shadrak finished. “No…it’s not true. It can’t be…”
Watching the nautolan break and start crying sickened the spectre. “You ignorant fool!” The fires around him surged out and stopped dangerously short of incinerating Coda. “Do you want to die in this place?! There is no room for weakness here. Did you not hear those jealous voices around you when you crawled to the pool? The air itself is alive with malevolence. It is attracted to weak Force-sensitives like you. The tormented spirits of those sacrificed here long ago feed off suffering and hopelessness. You must be strong. You cannot waver for one second. You must control your fear when facing the dark side. It will destroy you if you show weakness in its midst. Do you understand?”
Coda almost gave in to another fit of sobs as she hesitated to answer.
“DO YOU?!”
Coda nodded vigorously and rubbed her arms over eyes to wipe the tears. “I…I do master. I understand.”
“Know this: I am not your master. I am no Sith. I am your…guide, and as such, you will heed my words: You will go forth from this place and follow your real master, Thane of Caanus. Learn all that you can from him. Unravel the secrets of the Force and partake in its wondrous bounties by his side. Use the power you acquire to serve the dark and grow stronger as you discover your true potential. Do all of this by any means: defend him from all threats; mend his wounds; bond with him if you must. And then, when the time comes—and it will—you must direct all your power at vanquishing him.”
Coda was stunned. “Vanquish…you’re saying I have to kill him? How can you say that? He has been nothing but good to me. He is a good man!”
Shadrak’s laughter stung at Coda’s hearing, its guttural bellowing sound of amusement was dripping with bile and scorn. “Goodness is only a façade to him. He has embarked on a quest to become a true Sith lord. There is no room for compassion among the Sith. In time, you will learn this. If you hesitate—if you waste your potential at remaining loyal to him for too long—he will kill you. Such is their way. It will be your way soon, as well. If you fail to cast aside your ridiculous fits of compassion and kindness, the galaxy will devour you. Remember the creature you fought in the water to get here? Remember the way you battled past your own weakness to destroy it? That is how you will prevail in the days to come. You must grow and learn to be the cunning survivor that thinks like an assassin and unleashes her hate from the shadows as a sorceress.”
“A sorceress…me? You mean…?”
“Sith magick, yes,” Shadrak replied. “That is your gift. Not clever little mind tricks or prestidigitation—real unbridled power! I have seen it in you from the very beginning. I believe the Force bound me to you to ensure you live long enough to reach the zenith of your potential. When that day comes, you will be able to do anything you wish, achieve your greatest aspirations, and fulfill your destiny. Together, with our combined strength, we can overcome all obstacles, make a difference in the galaxy...even save your beloved brother Capo.”
The mere mention of saving her brother was enough to captivate her attention, to finally accept the words of this dark entity.
“Ah, there it is,” Shadrak noted. “Your prime motivation. You still love what’s left of your family. A pack of Wolphs you failed to save when you were weak. Perhaps you can still save him. Your journey to freeing Capo begins here at this wellspring. Are you prepared to walk the true path towards power?”
“Yes,” Coda answered with anxious nodding. “Please, I’ll do whatever it takes to save him.”
“Good…” Shadrek said with pernicious satisfaction, “…good. Soon, your master will give you your first real lesson as his apprentice. Be patient and endure the elements; there is a purpose to his silence. I sense he will reveal what you need to know in time. But for that to happen, you must first escape this place. Now, listen carefully. Seat yourself in a kneeling meditative position.”
Coda did as she was told and took a deep breath whilst imagining herself in Capo’s warm embrace after pulling him free out of a cage. She held back the smile from the comforting thought of such a wonderful reunion.
“Close your eyes,” Shadrak continued. “Now, whatever fear or foolishness you have in your head right now…expel it! I want you to focus on that which burns your soul. I want you to remember Saucy’s betrayal. Think back to how those mercenaries made you feel. Go back further and remember those pirates that made you sh—” he stopped himself and quickly corrected his error before Coda noticed, “—watch as they slaughtered your parents. Dwell on those memories. How do they make you feel?”
“I…don’t want to think about—”
“You said you were prepared! Were you lying to me?”
“N-no! I…it just makes me sad. You said not to be weak. I just want to save my brother.”
“And if he’s dead?”
“What? No! How can you say that?!”
“It is very likely in the slave trade. Few survive for long. There are not many that were as fortunate as you.”
“It’s not true. I sense he lives!”
“Notions that I put into your head.”
“Now who’s lying?! He lives. I know it. Don’t tell me otherwise!”
“You are weak and prattling like the child you’ve always been. You are nothing. You don’t deserve to save him.”
“Shut up! I don’t care anymore about you, or your stupid flames or this place. I will save my brother. To hell with you and the dark side!”
Coda was up on her feet, clenching her fists tight, fearless in the face of power. Suddenly a flash of memory struck her mind.
How could you do it, Zara? Why? Why?!
Her brother Capo was angry with her and crying. Why is this happening? she wondered. Stay out of my head, Shadrak! Get…OUT!
Another stray thought from out of nowhere lashed like a barbed bull whip at her brain…
Sorry darlin’…had to do it...
There was a memory of Shadrak spying on Saucy, and there was indeed a computer screen revealing the bounty placed on Coda’s head.
“No! Ahhh!” Coda cried grabbing her head from the stabbing pain of forced memories ruthlessly flowing into her.
“How does it make you feel, kiddo?”
“It…makes me sad. It hurts so much...”
“Go deeper…how does it really make you feel?”
“Angry…it...it makes me angry! I hate all of it. I hate her…I hate YOU! I HATE YOU!” she screamed, and saw the flames consume Shadrak's ghostly form until he vanished. Seconds later, the flames died down until there was nothing but a small plume remaining of that golden energy that violently struck her before.
“I hate you…” she repeated much more quietly as the golden light slowly approached her.
“I spared you from death the first time that raw Force power touched you,” Shadrak said, his voice in her mind now as clear as when he was speaking to her from above the pool in his wraith form.
“I thought the fire got you,” Coda said disdainfully.
“No…I can only die when you die,” Shadrak confessed. “The dark side bows to your hatred now. Before, when you crawled into the water, you were weak. Now you approach the little remaining Force energy I left for you here from a position of strength. Take it. Drain the wellspring dry of its power. Use it to escape this place. It is not much, but it will suffice for now.”
Coda held out her hands palms-up to the hovering font of energy, and it calmly drifted to her beckoning. The apple-sized collection of golden particles settled on her hands, and she cupped it and could feel its warmth and its power tingling her skin.
“This…this is the Force?” she asked her dark invisible companion.
”An aspect of it when it is enflamed with the influence of the dark side,” Shadrak replied. “ This is just one of an almost infinite numbers of ways the Force can manifest. There is more of this energy elsewhere in this dungeon, but even I am unable to sense where it is exactly, or how to reach it. Perhaps we shall return here someday to search for it. For now, absorb this little gift I leave to you. It will not hurt you like the first time. You are in control now.”
Coda nervously brought the ball of energy close to her face, gazed at its unearthly beauty for a short moment, and closed her eyes as she plunged it at her chest. The impact made her gasp as she half-expected another wave of grievous agony. Instead, she felt a fleeting surge that jarred her intensely, but in a pleasing way. It filled her body with a feeling of strength and wakefulness she didn’t have until since before she and her new ex-Jedi friends arrived on Irrikut. She was still ridiculously famished from starvation, however.
“It feels…good,” Coda remarked with a nervous smile.
“It should. It is in your nature to feast on the presence of the Force, especially in rare concentrations like this. You are only doing what comes natural to a sorceress hungering for power.”
“You said you took the rest of the energy from this wellspring? What will you do with it?”
“I have used some of it to strengthen my mental connection to you. The rest I shall keep for myself…for now. I will use it to its full effect when the moment is right. Now, there is little time to waste. You cannot swim out to the lake; there are more of those mutant apparitions lurking out there, and they will slay you. Instead, there is a path ahead behind the pool leading to another part of the caverns with an obstacle at the end that will require all your new strength. Now go, or you will be trapped here forever.”
Coda’s harrowing path of escape had forced her to scale a slippery cliff-face, wander through winding subterranean corridors, dodge frightened bat-like creatures, and balance herself across a long thin narrow rocky beam near a large underground waterfall that promised a long drop to her doom had she fallen. Her entire path had been lit most of the way by more of those strange colorful glowing crystals; she wondered what exactly they were, and why their glow seemed to brighten when she drew close to them. Along the way, Shadrak saved her twice from ancient traps that would have triggered had she stepped on the hidden pressure plates they were attached to (she made a mental note to be more mindful of such things in the future).
When she arrived at the end, Coda encountered what appeared to be a dead end. Shadrak had instructed her to use the Force to feel for a way forward; she would sense what needed to be done. She summoned all that she had obtained from the wellspring, its temporary boost to her ability to Force push barely enough to slowly budge what was a cleverly designed sliding rock wall. She struggled and groaned, and, when near the edge of her nerves, screamed as she pushed the wall aside just enough to squeeze past before it sealed itself up behind her.
When it was done, she found herself back in the small cave where she started. Catching her breath, she felt exhaustion quickly overcome her as the last of the wellspring’s remaining bit of power had been expended. She was beginning to feel exactly as she did before her dungeon crawling adventure as a small gust of Irrikut’s frigid air blasted at her face; a broken forgotten planet’s way of congratulating her for making it back to its cold embrace in one piece.
She looked around and found no sign of Thane, or that female nautolan spectre that attacked and goaded her earlier. The illusion covering the entrance of the Sith cathedral hall had returned as well. There was a serene, if uncomfortable stillness in the cave, and there was also the large oversized brown cloak that she borrowed from Bomoor laid on the ground exactly where she left it.
“Bless you, Master Bomoor,” Coda said with deep grateful relief in her voice. She went over to it, laid back down, and happily bundled herself in its warm embrace. It started to feel like her sojourn in the dungeon was all just a dream, but the memories, the cuts, and bruises were real, and so was her fear that Thane may have chosen to leave her behind.
But he didn’t. What felt like only minutes to Coda, Thane had returned to the cave and woke her from her restless slumber. It was time to resume their journey. Onwards to her first lesson as his Sith apprentice…
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