Mineshaft, Second Fork, Right-hand Path Vic continued to wander down the dark tunnel that appeared to lead back around into the mines, trying to catch up with the apparition that only he could see. The other Jedi, confused and cautious, followed after him. Taking advantage of her hypnotised comrade's slow pace, Kara managed to maneuver herself physically into his way, but Vic just pushed on past. His touch was not rough but it was firm- clearly his mind was set and outside distractions barely entered his consideration. Anengy and Kimara also attempted to halt the relentless march of their fellow Jedi, but to no avail. It was looking as if they would need to use the Force to stop him. Before they could take such measures, the Jedi realised that they had quite unexpectedly arrived at the end of the tunnel. The path had stopped very suddenly, and in the darkness they had almost not noticed. They were overlooking an enormous underground chamber, a huge circular pit with several levels constructed with wood and metal. The strange arena-like setting was lit by wall-mounted torches. It had clearly been an important part of the mine- a complex system of pulleys and lifts still seemed to be intact around the sides. No doubt to Vic's disappointment, there was no sign of his departed wife. There were, however, two very real and very alive figures that would be of immense interest to all the Jedi. Down below in the very centre of the chamber, looking directly up at the Jedi with strangely calm and expressionless faces, were Sydney Losstarot and his right hand man John Hardin. Tag: Xan, Trimaj, Despised, Nemisis
"See who?" Kara said, her voice displaying her confusion. Vic did not pay any attention to her as he continued to move slowly down the path. Kara rushed in front of Vic, halting his progress. He looked at her, his eyes emanating the same emotions that he was through the Force, desperation, guilt, fear. A new one entered as the younger Jedi stepped in front of him: anger. "Vic, there's no one there!" "Get out of the way," Vic said desperately, attempting to move past her. He did not want to resort to using physical harm, but he would not hesitate to do so if necessary. "There isn't anything there," he heard Anengy say from behind him. "Use the Force Vic, feel! Whoever it is, isn't really there." They were obviously blind. Not only with their eyes but with their minds as well. Vic did not need to feel, he saw her, she was real. He would continue on no matter what. "I must see, Kelia," he said, finally maneuvering his way past Kara. Almost suddenly, the path ended and they came into a large chamber lit simply by torches; technology from thousands and thousands of years ago. Vic was thoroughly confused. He looked below him and saw no signs of his dear beloved. He did, however, see two individuals that he had not expected to see. Sydney Losstarot and his follower, John Hardin. Suddenly, it all made sense. The Sith had manipulated Vic with a simple illusion. Vic felt ashamed that he had so easily fallen for it. Though, he did not falter through the Force. His feelings of fear, desperation and longing to see Kelia were replaced with anger and a determination to make the Sith pay for what they did to him. Brining Kelia "alive" like that was painful, but they did not know the meaning of pain. Vic ignited both his lightsabers, and began a slow decent down to the two men standing in the center of the chamber.
Vic had simply pushed past them again, and that really left exactly one option if they wanted to stop him. Sighing, unwilling to go that extra distance quite yet, she fell into step behind him muttering to herself about stupidty. She was still exceedingly uptight due to the claustrophobia, but she was also learning to deal with it quickly. Being stuck down here made it a necessity. In a rather surprising development the path ended in an arena. Blinking at the sudden shift of venue, Anengy found herself wondering who would build an arena in this type of place. It felt old, far older than the city itself. What didn't help the sudden shift was the two individuals who stood non-challantly in the center of the pit. Sydney and John Hardin stood there completely silently, unmoving. The sight of them changed all of the emotions that Vic had been feeling into a raging river of anger. He started down towards the floor, while Kara called for him to wait as it was obviously a trap. Anengy had had more than enough by this point, and reaching out with the Force literally picked Vic up into the air. Her voice took on a vaguely regal tone as she decided that she take the role of senior Jedi more seriously. "That's quite enough of that." Hopefully it would give Vic enough time to think about what he was doing rather than simply reacting. It was oddly similar to her own breakdown in the cave. I wonder who this place will attack next. Turning to look into Losstarot's gleaming blue eyes, there was something decidedly odd about this situation. The two men registered in the Force, but after the not there Kelia this could still be something other than what it appeared. Deciding to try a somewhat direct approach, "Losstarot, where's Joshua?" Odds were this wouldn't really get them anywhere, but if they responded it was likely that they were, in fact, really there. And then what? That would greatly depend on the response. Somehow she felt a request of some sort was about to come.
The Arena, Mineshaft Vic Horkin descended, brimming with anger and fierce determination, both lightsabers in hand and ignited. "Vic, no!" cried Kara loudly, keeping at a safe distance, along with Kimara. "It's a trap, it has to be!" Anengy decided to take the matter into her own hands, reaching out with the Force and attempting to stop her comrade by lifting him off his feet. "That's quite enough of that," she said. Sydney and Hardin watched impassively, apparently unfazed by the reactions of the Jedi before them. "Losstarot, where's Joshua?" demanded Anengy of the two cultists. "Where indeed is young Joshua?" replied Sydney, smiling. His voice was soft, melodious...almost hypnotic. "You are strange creatures. Closed off to your emotions, blind to your own hearts...body and soul are one, yet yours are separate, like the child and the knight in his storybook. Is this Jedi training? Or do you shut away your souls out of fear?" The cultist leader took a step back, and suddenly rose into the air, hovering a few feet above the arena. "This is my game," he announced. "I run, you give chase. I am the hart, and you the hunters. But this hart has laid a few snares of his own..." He raised his eyes to the ceiling, and began chanting something in a strange, arcane language. On the ground below, Hardin sent a Force Push of surprising strength slamming into all four of the Jedi. Battle had begun. Tag: nemisis, Xan, Trimaj, despised
"Vic, no!" Kara yelled as Vic moved forward towards the two Sith in the middle of the arena. "It's a trap, it has to be!" She was right, and Vic was only flooded with more emotions as the realization dawned on him. He felt disgusted at himself for falling for this trap so easily. He had felt the Dark presence as he continued to follow Kelia, but he ignored it, too consumed with hope and desire to think about the consequences. Vic halted his progress, but felt a wave of energy enclose around his body, almost like a fist, lightly lifting him into the air. He almost tried to fight it, but felt no immediate danger from the invisible fist, and realized it was one of his companions who was doing lifting him. "That's quite enough of that," he heard Anengy say. She did not set him down, as Sydney began to speak. "Where indeed is young Joshua?" Sydney said in response to Anengy's direct question. The question was foolish, there was no way that Sydney would directly come out and say where the young boy was. "You are strange creatures," he continued. "Closed off to your emotions, blind to your own hearts...body and soul are one, yet yours are separate, like the child and the knight in his storybook. Is this Jedi training? Or do you shut away your souls out of fear?" The cultist stepped backwards and, to a non-Force user, it would appear as if he began to fly, as he used the Force to lift him into the air. "This is my game. I run, you give chase. I am the hart, and you the hunters. But this hart has laid a few snares of his own..." Vic, still up in the air because of Anengy - he decided not to let himself free as he was too enthralled with what Syndey was saying - was not sure exactly what the man was speaking about. He certainly did not understand what Sydney was saying as the man looked to the ceiling and began speaking in some language that sounded very old, almost ancient. Vic felt a surge through the Force as Hardin gathered the Force energy around him and sent it sailing towards the Jedi. Luckily, Vic was unaffected, now using his own Force powers to help keep him hoisted into the air, almost mirroring Sydney's current position. It appeared that the battle had begun. It was a bit sooner than Vic had expected, but he knew it was inevitable.
Anengy was almost surprised when Sydney started speaking, expecting some other deception. Thus far that was what the Sith had been so good at after all. Another surprise was the smoothness of his voice, the almost hynotic effect. Thankfully she'd heard it a few times on her home planet by people who played confidence games. It gave her an advantage, even though this seemed to have a touch of the Force behind it. His words cause her danger sense to rise, but having no clue as to what was going to happen she dared not break the situation in anyway, which meant Vic remained in the air a short distance away from the rest of the Jedi. Losstarot's words were insulting, slimy and very intriguing. But that was what a Sith did, and rising to the top of that heap meant he was only better at it than most. The fact that he called himself the hart in this instance sent chills down her spine. More like a kraty dragon. Then he rose into the air, parodying the position of Vic. Hardin finally made his presence known as he gathered energy about himself. Vic took control of his own levitation, which allowed Anengy to grab her saber off of her belt, where she had placed it. The Force push came at them with the power of a wave. The Balosar ignited her saber and brought it up from the ground, imbuing it with the power of the Force she cut through the wave causing it to pass to either side of her. At the same time, since it was effectively the same power being used, she sent a wave of her own. This one's purpose was two fold: To launch Vic at Sydney so that he might be distracted from whatever nefarious thing he had planned as well as keeping Hardin from being able to do anything to Vic while he was in mid-flight. It was up to Vic to control where he went though, as Anengy had other things to deal with. Immediately following her slash/push she leapt down to the sand and charged John Hardin, hoping to draw his completely and undivided attention. An overhand slash of her purple blade at his neck should take care of that. She could feel the dark energy of this place pushing her towards being aggressive, which at the moment was exactly what the Balosar wanted.
Vic could feel through the Force - or perhaps it was just the connection he shared with his fellow Jedi - that Anengy had something planned. He felt the fist around him loosen and he braced himself, aware of what was to come. The wave of energy hit him like a hammer, but he was ready for it. In fact, he aided with a push of his own that lessened the hit from Anengy. The two pushes added together made for a powerful throw that sent Vic flying through the air directly at Sydney, who was in the act of performing some ritual. At least, that is what it appeared he was doing. As the Jedi Knight sailed towards his nemesis, he held out one of his lightsabers, as if in a stabbing position, and held the other one back in case he needed it for defense. If he felt no immediate danger, he would use it as a means for slashing and, hopefully, killing his opponent. It felt weird for him to think these thoughts of killing, but this was a necessary death, one that would tip the scale of this mission into the Jedi's favor. If all went according to plan, Vic would hit the unsuspecting Sydney. Hopefully he was too caught up in his trance to feel the Jedi flying towards him. Even if he did see Vic coming, it would distract him from whatever it was he was doing. Hopefully the Sith wasn't aware already and ready to counter this trick into a killing blow. And, perhaps of even more concern, hopefully this was not just another illusion.
The Arena, Mineshaft Vic braced himself, and just about kept hovering in response to Hardin's Force push. A moment later, he felt the touch of his fellow Jedi propel him forwards, and he strengthened it with a driving push of his own to send himself soaring forwards at an immense speed, directly towards the levitating Sydney. Vic held out one of his lightsabers as he sped through the air, intending to stab straight through his foe, ready to bring his other saber up defensively if need be. But as he approached, merely a few inches from contact, his target vanished. There was no sign, no smoke, no flash. Sydney simply disappeared. And Vic continued his trajectory, gathering speed and now heading directly towards the unpleasantly rocky wall... Meanwhile on the ground, Hardin's feet scraped along the dirt as he tried to keep his balance in the face of Anengy's counterattack Push. Barely a moment later he had to deal with the Balosar at close quarters, only just bringing up his crimson saber to meet the aggressive overhand slash of her purple blade. He allowed Anengy to battle him slowly backwards, making no attempt to attack but instead displaying an impressive talent for the defensive maneuvers of Form III. In the air, high above the conflict, gazing down with piercing blue eyes, Sydney re-appeared, floating near the ceiling. He began to chant, his voice loud and terrible. "GYLDA-MEUNTES-HAATIS-MOTA-FEHRTES-RATIS-ALPA-KILMOTA, Emperor of the Shade, descend from the Dark, honor sin-soaked contracts of kinship, lend your beast unto me!" A black mist began to seep into the arena... Tag: Xan, Trimaj, Despised, Nemisis
Vic was ready to collide with Sydney as he rapidly approached the Sith. However, to his surprise, Sydney vanished out of thin air. He did not move out of the way. He did not duck. He vanished! It was unbelievable. However, Vic had no time to look back and see if what had just occurred was real; he was headed straight towards the sharp, rocky wall. With the velocity he was traveling at, there would be no way of avoiding the wall. Though, he would be able to lessen the impact with the aid of the Force. The Jedi Knight attempted to slow his flight down as quickly as possible by using the Force. And, at the last second, he thrust his arms forward, both of which were still holding his sabers, and threw a Force Push outward. He was hoping that this would accomplish at least one of a couple of things. The first, the force of the forward push would cause Vic's body to slow down. Secondly, he hoped it would shard off any sharp rocks that could penetrate his body on impact that would kill him instantly. All of this happened within moments and Vic hit the rock wall, the sound of the impact echoing throughout the arena. Blazing pain shot throughout his body as he fell to the floor meters below. The fall to the ground was nothing compared to the impact he had taken moments before, but it still hurt nonetheless. He attempted to stand, and was met with yet more searing pain. He was, however, able to stand without aid. He immediately set to work on healing his wounds, as blood poured from his side, which took most of the impact. This would most certainly put him at a disadvantage, but he hoped the Force would provide sufficient healing for him to perform fully in combat. While these events occurred, Vic remained oblivious, not only to his other Jedi companions who were battling it out with Hardin, but to Sydney as well. He had appeared out of thin air high above and mumbled more unrecognizable words before he spoke in Basic. "Emperor of the Shade, descend from the Dark, honor sin-soaked contracts of kinship, lend your beast unto me!" Suddenly, a black mist began to appear, coming from seemingly nowhere. Vic, still deep in his trance of healing, was unaware of the mist until it washed over him. He stood, feeling a little better than he had before entering the healing trance, and held his sabers out in front of him, ready for what was to come.
Anengy couldn't tell how things had worked out with Vic, but she had felt a sudden blaring of pain into the Force. That could have been from either Kara or him, however. Neither one of them concerned her at that moment, as John Hardin was holding everything she threw at him at bay with a display of brilliant defensive swordsmanship. [i[At least I'm driving him back.[/i] It would have been immeasurably embaressing if he could have just stood there. The ferocity with which she attacked increased, the aggression she had allowed in starting to take on a mind of it's own. The darkness was seeping in through her, and it had completely removed all fears of the enclosed spaces. She knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that blasting a hole in the ceiling could be accomplished with little difficulty... ascending it would be a minor inconvieniance, so onward she fought, pushing Hardin towards the wall behind him. It was due to the intensity of the duel that she completely missed Sydney starting to chant again in a language of some ancient species. Sith, most likely. However his sudden call to some allie or another did get through her aggressive haze. Suddenly, she Force sprang away from him, nearly to the other side of the Arena, and tried to see what might be coming for them. The black mist was not what she'd been expecting, and she had no clue what to make of it. I sure as hell don't want it touching me though. Unfortunately, that was when she noticed Vic rising from it right after it had immersed him in it's foul feeling fetidness. "Vic! Get out of that stuff, we don't know what it does." Hopefully nothing, immediately, and hopefully Hardin wouldn't attack the wounded Jedi. Thankfully they would have Kara to help them now, but Sydney could attack whenever he wanted as well. All in all, this was turning into a nightmare situation.
The Arena, Mineshaft Vic had managed to make his way back into the Arena despite his injuries, and both Kara and Kimara now stood beside him. Anengy also joined her fellow Jedi, using a Force-assisted leap to spring away from her duel with Hardin. The mist gathered in the north of the arena, concentrating itself around one particular spot. Slowly, as if rising from hidden depths below, a creature began to emerge from the ground. First came its head, enormous, reptilian and yellow-eyed. Then its wings, scaly and black, fully unfurled and outstretched towards the ceiling. Its arms were long and thin, with foot-long talons at the end of them. Its legs were squat but strong, and were further supported by a huge, hideous tail that seemed to slither along the ground of its own free will. Dark, fierce and magnificent, a wyvern stood in the arena. If the Jedi were to look up, they would see that Sydney had disappeared altogether. Hardin remained, and in one simple jump he soared into the air and landed atop the dragon, his arms and legs draped around its scaled neck. It did not seem to mind his presence. Indeed, at his apparent behest (for he was whispering into its ear), the dragon breathed a gigantic fireball directly at the assembled Jedi. Tag: Xan, Trimaj, Despised, Nemisis
"Vic!" he heard Anengy cry. "Get out of that stuff, we don't know what it does." She had a point. The mist was probably some sort of Sith Alchemy that Sydney performed that could have severe consequences when it contacted the lungs. He wasn't going to take any chances, and immediately got as far away from it as possible, walking as fast as he could - which wasn't as fast as possible due to his injuries. Soon, the other Jedi joined him and they watched as the mist rose in the north area of the arena. Suddenly, as if spawning from the rocks and dust on the ground, a beast appeared, and it did not look friendly. It looked like a true monster, a dragon of sorts with wings, talons and a tail that slithered like a snake. "This is not good," Vic said. He had no idea how they were going to handle this, especially with the Sith to deal with as well. However, upon looking up, he saw Sydney was gone while Hardin lunged on top of the giant beast, reminding Vic of the ancient beastriders that he had read about during his studies. Vic returned one of his lightsabers to his belt, realizing two would have no use against an animal this size. One could be used to deflect anything that may be sent his way, while has open hand was free to use the Force at his will. Vic looked to the other Jedi. "We have to work together on this one," he said, devising a plan that would lead to the demise of this dragonlike creature. If they stood together, as a group, the creature could easily kill them all at once. They needed to split up, use any form cover as they could, and use meld with one another in order to kill this thing. Perhaps, if they killed the beast, they cold take Hardin with it.
