Vergence

Posted on Thu Aug 2nd, 2018 @ 12:40am by Bomoor Thort & Thane

1,773 words; about a 9 minute read

Chapter: Chapter V: Unbound
Location: Ossus, Jedi Temple Ruins
Timeline: Two days after "The Power of Princes"
Tags: Ossus, Nexus, Vergence, Thane, Bomoor, Jedi, Ashla

OLD

Rising with the same weary pace as his friend, Bomoor nodded, “I have placed Darth Krayt’s holocron in the vault room, alongside Bane’s. I am not sure what experience Krayt had with Force Bonds, given how his philosophy was not to be attached to any particular acolyte, but it may be worth asking that his gatekeeper as well.”

Moving to pick up a fallen box, but then feeling himself lose balance slightly, the Ithorian resigned to follow Thane’s approach of tidying up later and moved towards the doorway as well, “Let us rest for now though. You need your strength for starting our new companion’s training, since you volunteered to teach her first yourself.”

He added in a dry, resonant tone, “There will be time enough for bending the will of the Force later.”

NEW

Thane and Bomoor walked with muted steps across the ancient Jedi world of Ossus, the verdant graveyard of forgotten philosophies and failed contrivances.

Both former Knights could feel the bombastic, swashing power of the Force coursing through every fibre of the planet, bathed as Ossus was in light side energy from the legions of Jedi that had trained there throughout the millennia. Although the sweeping vegetation was verdurous, having overcome the cataclysms of the planet's traumatic past, the scars of that history were also deeply apparent.

Beyond the physical realm, where the scattered ruins of temples, monoliths and totems poked up from the ground in muddled and disorganised manners, the pair could feel the sorrow and pain of the last conflict that had befallen Ossus, when Emperor Krayt's One Sith had crushed the New Jedi Order during the final days of the Second Republic, the deaths of each and every valiant Jedi poignant within the Force.

Oddly, Thane felt a sensation of acceptance from the fallen warriors, despite the decisions he had made in recent times and the intentions he had for the future. With his black robe flowing behind him as he and Bomoor kept apace with one another, the Caanan mused on how the Reborn Jedi Order had made no attempt to resurrect the iconic tombworld of their forebears. Whilst there were chapters within the Jedi Archives that detailed much of what was known of Ossus' history, there was little mention as to why Grand Master Junuun Waay and his successor's had never rekindled that particular Forceful flame.

Cynically, he deduced it was a matter of misplaced shame for them; that this was where the Jedi Order that immediately preceded Waay's had fallen to the last generation of Sith that had blighted the galaxy. Glancing across the surprisingly lively surface surrounding them, Thane also spotted distinctly angular and quite aggressive-looking fauna, which had not blended visibly well with what was clearly the native wildlife.

Whilst most of it had been overtaken by individual worlds' natural ecosystems or incorporated in some remarkable display of rapid evolution, Thane recognised Yuuzhan Vong biology when he saw it. On Ossus, the site of the infamous and appropriately-named Ossus Project, it appeared the effects of rampant Vongforming were far from spent. Another reason, alongside the shame of a Sith victory, he presumed the Reborn Order had not descended upon the world.

They were embarrassing notions, but Thane could well believe them.

The pair had set out in no particular direction, with the Force as their only guide. They had left the ship at a small outpost on the planet; the locals were a peculiar but hardy people. There were likely some Force-sensitive genetics still within them, tempered over the years without nurturing but not forgotten, much like the planet itself.

Many of the ruins began to cluster together and soon they were walking on partially-sunken pavestones, which became more solid with each passing step on their journey. They were now unmistakably in the courtyard of one of the great temples as they weaved between collapsing archways and broken statues that had long since surrendered their form to the wind and the rain.

“It must be close by,” Bomoor stated aloud, breaking the peaceful silence of their journey thus far, “The Force is converging on this place like a whirlpool.”

The Ithorian slowly sat down on the uneven stone ground and closed his eyes, “Give me a moment,” he requested.

Coming to Ossus today had been the culmination of a month’s research into the nature of Force Bonds. Even after millennia, they were not fully understood, much like the will of the Force itself. However, there were a number of factors that tended to correlate when one was formed or broken: strong focal points of Force power, an emotional or mindful alignment between individuals and a trigger of some sort. Their discussions had led them both to the conclusion that the current planet might hold the key to at least one of those factors.

No longer seeing with the light of the system’s sun, Bomoor was free to follow the threads of the Force back to their source. As he thought, it was extremely close and centred around some sort of large object. Opening his eyes again, he looked up to see Thane already peering in the right direction: the courtyard continued on, with pillars widening into open areas that were perhaps once training grounds for the Jedi of Orders long past. Beyond them was a large temple, collapsed and decaying. However, one section at the centre of the training grounds seemed immune to the curse of time that choked the surrounding structures and it was here that the Force converged.

The pillars were spaced out evenly, although a few had lost much of their height to the planet's ground beneath, accepting their defeat in the war against time as much of the ancient Jedi ruins had. Admittedly, the fact so many structures still existed at all in the face of both the aeons and countless crusading barbarians was a testament to both their creators and their legacy.

A legacy so deeply squandered and betrayed by their successors, Thane thought without shame, as he and Bomoor walked towards those pillars.

There had been artwork carved into them, but unlike the structures themselves, they had lost in the struggle against the ages, and neither Thane nor Bomoor could appropriately decipher the tales being told by the decayed murals. Between the pillars and stretching along for many feet, the layout clearly designed for Force and melee sparring, it was plain to the pair that there had been some form of mosaic that had been encrusted within the ground based on the shapes etched into the sunken dirt and cracked stonework. Presumably, pillagers and warfare had long seen to the end of that display long before either Bomoor or Thane had heard of the planet Ossus.

The notable piece that they had spotted at a distance and were undeniably drawn to, however, was a floating obelisk, angular and made of material entirely alien to Ossus and disparate from the other designs and stonework scattered about the terrain. Its base was small, with a narrow gap of space separating it from the main bulk of the object, which was rotating upon an invisible axis ever so slowly, almost imperceptibly unless one was patient. Lining its edges was fine Aurebesh script, whilst an ethereal light with no discernibly source shone with a sun's glean close to the centre.

Feeling the flow of the Force from the artefact, Thane knelt at its base, and ran a hand over the grooves of a symbol pitted into the plinth that invisibly suspended its larger companion piece just above. It was a symbol he had encountered on numerous occasions, usually in ageing Jedi texts. In the centre of the symbol was yet another image, and one he had become more familiar with since his Sith training, albeit in a different rendition. Although it was not an exact match, the smaller relief echoed a symbol that would be adopted by the fallen Jedi who later declared themselves the Dark Lords of the Sith.

And now, an aspirant Sith Lord stood among the ruins of their adversaries, but certainly as no conqueror or antipathetic foe. He came with his friend, as students of the Force - as he hoped it would remain.

"Here," Thane said simply to Bomoor, knowing he would be feeling the same nexus of ebbing power he was.

Creeping closer, it seemed as though the obelisk rose higher as the pair drew near. While invisible to the eye, their own strong Force currents were now deeply intermingled with the raw ethereal energy that was being channelled to this spot. The object may have once been crafted by the hands of wise Jedi, but it was their very spirits that had turned this object into a nexus point for the Force.

Bomoor wondered how many years and how many generations of Force imprinting had led to the creation of this vergence in the Force. Had it happened suddenly, like a spontaneous wormhole opening, or had it been slower, like a deep well being dug bit by bit? Regardless, this one point was the strongest and most-tangible link to the living network of the Force that he had ever encountered during his time studying these mystical ways.

Lifting up a hand, Bomoor reached his mind out to that point; that bright centre of the floating wonder, “What a tremendous power,” Bomoor commented, “Born of the Light, but linked into everything.”

The sensation was not unlike that of the pair’s childhood, meeting trained Jedi for the first time: for Thane, meeting the Rift Jedi Dora-Sul, who was pledged to house Verus, and, for Bomoor, meeting Master Brogue in Mooko City at the request of his own father, who was a leading Republic Liaison. It was that feeling of meeting someone who was able to hold and channel that innate Force connection within them into something palpable. Now powerful Force-users in their own right, it was rare to relive that overwhelming awe for the Force they experienced as children.

Yet, here was that same great power, surrounding this ancient stone. It was what they had been seeking; a counterbalance to the mysterious hold of the Force Bond that still existed between Thane and the now-absent Bería. It was here that they would set about to break that bond and release the mismatched pair from their ties.

After several minutes of simply admiring the raw, unwavering energy of the Force, Bomoor turned to his old friend, “Are you ready to begin?”

TBC

 

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