Delusions of the Mind

Posted on Thu Jan 31st, 2013 @ 3:48am by Thane & Axion

1,984 words; about a 10 minute read

Chapter: Chapter III: Relics
Location: Ancient Temple, Tython
Timeline: Day Eleven

OLD

It was only a few short images that flooded his mind momentarily, but he saw this being - clearly a source of dread - holding a datapad. Something obscured his eyes, but he knew already from where this thing came: Velusia... and so knew that it was Bería now in trouble.

"They need our help!" He stated to Kip and Sev, not waiting around to explain himself to two men he knew wished him dead before he launched himself out of the room, and back towards the way he believed they had come, that peculiar mist engulfing him and leaving the mismatched pair together alone, the sound of Thane's footfalls becoming more and more distant.

"Thane, wait...!", Sev said. "Krif! We can't go running around in the dark!", the Mandalorian said, pacing around him. He forgot Kip totally as he briskly followed Thane, leaving the Flamewalker alone in the shadows.

NEW

“Where are you guys?”

The extreme franticness of the thought made it bellow about Thane's mind, causing his half-run to stall momentarily as more panic flooded from Berry into the young former Jedi, unfamiliar fears of loss and anguish over failure pummelling at his psyche.

The Human paused to compose himself for a moment, finding the sudden surge overpowering and dangerous. The experience had left him feeling on edge as he struggled to quell the part-Aquar's emotional flurry. Whilst he had felt a few twinges from her since their Force bond apparently came to be, he nevertheless had never experienced anything on this scale. He even felt physically weakened by the ordeal.

Thane thought his eyes were also stinging, forcing him to blink to try and clear the minor pain, as well as rubbing his reddening eyes with his free hand. It was only as he pulled his hand away that he noticed the moisture on them.

He was crying.

That fact was more startling than the rest, but his concerns were quickly washed away as he suddenly heard a cackling down the darked corridor. Immediately, he raised his lightsaber, filling the path with a violet glow but revealing nothing. Thane took a few tentative steps forward, trying to remain quiet as his sore eyes narrowed to examine whatever threat may be lurking before him.

The cackling then came again louder, but this time behind him. Shifting his feet quickly, Thane dropped into a Makashi posture and aimed his blade back towards the way he had come. This place, he thought to himself, grimacing angrily, is twisted.

Very quickly, the traumatic negative emotions fed to him by his informal apprentice had turned into a focused anger, particularly with this threat now appearing nearby. A thousand and one thoughts slid through his mind - was a Force shade? A survivor of those corpses from earlier? The one who killed those corpses from earlier?

"Oh, not quite, Son of Wulhart," came a distinctive, educated and cultured voice, dripping with irony and malice, as well as a hint of good humour.

Axion's voice, Thane instantly knew, the voice coming from behind him. He gritted his teeth together, but did yet turn to face the Dark Jedi Master. Closing his eyes, he tried to reach out with the Force to find where the murderer was - but found his mind oddly blank. It was not just Axion he was struggling to find, but indeed anything.

The grip of his readied lightsaber grew tighter, anger building at not being able to pinpoint his foe. It would not matter: the powers Darth Bane's holocron had been cultivating in him would equalise the odds in this battle. The last time they had fought, even if it was not all too long ago, he had been confused, blinded by Axion's taunts and conflicted over his feelings. This time, whilst not a certainty, he could call upon the dark side, focusing his power and ending this menace before it went any further.

Axion's loudening cackles further incensed him, making him well more and more with an iron fury. As he heard a lightsaber ignite some yards away, Thane let all of the focused and refined hate flow into his clenched fists, suddenly turning around and roaring with a passion as he directed it at Axion.

Only to have nothing happen.

Thane's eyes opened wider in bewilderment, feeling of course the rage in him, but nothing flowing. No power coursed through his body. In fact, he felt weaker - tired. His joints ached and it was though he was almost blind. The distance was slightly foggy, only made worse by the tears that had burned his eyes just moments ago. His anger was still there, but it had subsided in its own way, feeling like a pathetic frustration.

Axion continued to cackle as he advanced on Thane, swishing his lightsaber this way and that as one would a toy. The former Jedi Guardian tried again to launch a barrage of lightning on the man who had once done the same to him before, but was again left standing, hands outstretched like a fool - which, of course, only made Axion laugh more, and Thane angrier.

He knew he cut a pitiful sight, and he could almost feel fresh tears developing to replace the old, this time for his loss of dignity and sheer frustration, a frustration he tried to turn towards power, but it was no use. The Force had abandoned him - the one thing that made him unique, that justified his intentions, and allowed him to do what he had to do - to serve the galaxy... and his friends.

Thane thought of Bería as Axion came even closer, of the fact his last connection to her had been one of sorrow and despair, and that she was undoubtedly suffering away in the temple, a place that he had brought her and then failed her. Failed himself.

The Caanan then steeled himself, his face becoming stony and his grimace firm as he brought his blade forward, which itself even felt clunky in his hands, as if never wielded before, but he pressed forward, getting ready to slice at the Dark Jedi.

When close enough he took a heavy swipe. "For Ventul!" He roared, and clumsily lunged at Axion, who quickly spun his own red blade with an artistic twirl, sending Thane's own hilt flying off into the darkness. His eyes grew wide in alarm and panic as Axion's pearly white teeth seemed to gleam in the light of his evil blade, but instead of plunging it into the disarmed Thane, he threw him backwards with a mighty thrust of the Force.

He landed with a thud, pain he had not known existed so easily shooting through his back and elbows, vision barely focusing on Axion. "I respect your spirit," the Dark Master said with a wide smile, walking slowly towards him, "but honour is for the dead... I suppose it's a Verus trait." Axion chuckled evilly. "Be sure to ask the others when you reach the other side, boy."

Stabbing memories of his beloved mother and brother zapped through his mind like shards of glass, reopening wounds he long thought had healed. One of the few things he prided himself on - and even the Council had applauded - was how he had overcome that triviality. Certainly, he had always loathed the injustice, but he had come to terms with their loss; there were more important things in the galaxy - to being a Force user - than the loss of family.

But now, now a fury had come back. It was almost as if he could see their corpses hanging from the stony ceiling above and behind Axion. Thane's fists clenched, his teeth gritted together tightly - painfully so - and he felt himself begin to shake. Again, he saw Axion impaling Dora-Sul with his own magnificent white blade. He saw his broken and grief-stricken father, sickly and frail in his room. He saw the empty room of his brother, and the space Amica Verus had left in all Caanans' hearts.

And he saw everything.

All at once, as he trembled with unrefined fury, as did the stonework beneath him. Dust rippled and wafted, and his fingers began to burn, the skin splitting as crackles of blue electricity began to ripples up and down his digits, but the pain only made him tremble more - only made him more powerful.

Axion stopped immediately, for the first time, Thane saw horror and fear in the Dark Jedi's eyes, and although he raised his blade, it was too late. With a roar mightier than anything he had released, he threw his arms forward with a mighty thrust, and a great barrage of hate-fuelled Force lightening smashed into Axion.

And then the Dark Jedi was no more.

Thane panted heavily, not pleased with simply obliterating the man who had ruined his life - had destroyed his family. His lightsaber shot with incredible speed to his hand as his whole body continued to suffer from the tremors caused by the extreme use of the dark side. It had felt good, but he remained unfulfilled, as if this was just a mere annoyance. Something else had been calling to him. Something else was bothering him... and through all of the murk and mire that were his thoughts at this point, he remembered what he had been thinking before.

They don't trust you. His reddened eyes narrowed, furious. Bomoor doesn't trust you.

"No," he hissed to himself, his head twitching slightly as he saw the corpses of his family once more, "he doesn't." Indeed, Bomoor had only been sent along to spy on him... to kill him! Why else had he not told him what the Jedi High Council had spoken to him in private about?

They knew he was growing more powerful - that he saw through their hypocrisy and beyond their pathetic powers. Even Master Sotah, his own mentor, had wanted him dead. Another shocking realisation came to him: it could be why Berry had been panicking - Bomoor had tried to harm her!

No friend of mine. He is truly pathetic. The traitor - the man he had called friend and brother, who pretended to understand and sympathise with what he said and did - had to die!

With his lightsaber in his hand, Thane wasted no time in calling upon his rediscovered and amplified Force powers, increasing his speed exponentially as he followed the route perfectly to where the others were. He felt Morgo Le'Shaad, a so-called duchess who murdered for fun and lived simply for herself with no care for others, so certain she was right over others, thinking herself cultured, and he could still feel Berry, tormented and lost, but nearby and alive. He still had time.

But neither female registered any more than a blip on his radar, as he darted into the room and sighted Bomoor, the Ithorian poised in a combat stance, his viridian lightsaber ignited and his manner alarmed. As Thane entered, seeing Bomoor's stance and anticipation, he knew his worst fears had been realised, and that his friend meant for him to die.

He would not give him the chance.

But that was the last thing he thought before the Ithorian let out a Force-fuelled bellow, sending the Human hurtling backwards into a stone wall.

"You traitor!" Thane roared, recovering recovering from the blast as he locked his fury-filled eyes upon the Jedi Consular, a burning desire to destroy the Ithorian's very being consuming his entire visage. He brought his blade out to his side, and used every fibre of his passion-gorged being to call the Force unto him, building himself up magnificently with destructive potential.

And then he leapt at Bomoor.

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