Earning my Lightsabre – “Force, Knowledge and Self-Discipline”
By JH Itshim (Krath)/ Battle Team Inmortuae of Clan Tarentum [#14229]
Master Pel stood before me: “It will be a hard life, one without reward, without remorse, without regret. A path will be placed before you. The choice is yours alone. Do what you think you cannot do. It will be a hard life, but you will find out who you are.” - And I’m pretty sure he quoted Qui-Gon Jinn here.
Itshim made a choice and let his Master place a path before him, the path to Knighthood. Ever since joining the Brotherhood he’s been looking forward to the day he can wield his own Lightsabre. But he’s not there yet.
BeepBeep - An incoming call on the holo-communicator.
“Itshim… Training time!”
“On my way Pel.”
Itshim immediately puts away his holo-com and rushes to his Master. On his way there, he stumbles upon a Padawan, caught between two hungry creatures. They seem to have had a go on his leg already. Blood is pouring out.
“HELP! Help me stranger… please…”
“What the…”
At this point, the creatures also noticed Itshim. They came at him in a rage. Itshim grabbed his ryyk blade and raised his hand, pushing one of the animals aside. It seems that training had started before reaching his Master.
One of the creatures got slammed into a tree, breaking it in half and leaving the animal unconscious. The other, even bigger, species slammed his tail into Itshim’s side. “Ouch!” In response the Cathar sliced his blade in the direction of the beast’s legs, dealing a serious cut right above its knee. The opponent fell to the ground, smashing his tail at Itshim once more. It felt like a hammer striking the Jedi Hunter’s back, forcing him on his knees. His weapon flew through the air and landed too far away from him to get It back. Out of anger he punched his claws towards his opponent, slashing of its tail. Not much left for the creature to do now, was there. Itshim landed his sharp claws between the eyes of the animal, making it one with the Force.
Itshim got up, removing the green stuff that spattered in his face.
“Thank you stranger!.. Oow thank you a lot… now please help me…”
Itshim walked towards his ryyk blade, picked it up and walked back towards the injured Padawan.
“Help me… please stranger…”
Itshim grabbed his blade and separated the Padawan’s head from his body.
“Glad to be of assistance.”
The Cathar sat down and focused on his wounds for a while.
…
The door to the place where Pel was waiting swung open.
“Ah Itshim, what took you so long?”
“Some hold up along the way, no biggy.”
“Now let’s get to it! Grab your Trainingsabre.”
Pel pushes a button and some training remotes appear. In no time, with some horizontal and vertical strokes, the training remotes were no more.
“Easy huh?” Pel said while pushing another button. By pushing the button a training droid activated and moved towards Pel’s Apprentice.
“Are you serious Master?.. Wait for it… wait for it… BOOOM!”
Itshim threw his Trainingsabre, penetrating the droids Power Core, which caused it to explode.
“That’s what I was thinking,… you’re ready for this.” Pel laughed.
“Ready for what Master?”
“Ready to take the next step and get yourself an appropriate weapon.”
“You mean…”
“Yes my Apprentice, a Lightsabre, you’ve earned that right. Now of you go, get back to me tomorrow.”
Itshim returns to his quarters and before going to sleep he meditates, a thing he’s been doing a lot lately. He kneels down in front of the small altar he has in the far left corner of his quarters, closes his eyes… and immediately seems to be in some sort of trance. As peaceful as the Cathar may look from the outside his inner self is undergoing some mayor activity.
A dark mist is guiding Itshim’s mind over a hot and sandy surface and a freezing cold plain of ice, through a dense forest to a tower unknown to the Cathar. The dark mist leaves Itshim behind in front of the tower and he snaps out of meditation. To bed now… his Master expects him the next day.
…
“Apprentice, a journey to the Forge is awaiting you. That’s the place where you’ll be assembling your very own lightsaber.”
Now Itshim remembers yesterday. That tower, it must have been the Forge.
“You’ll be tested along the way and need to gather three crystals before reaching the Forge.”
“Desert, ice and woods.” Itshim mumbled.
“Get going and return ‘a Lightsabre-wielder’.”
Itshim received coordinates from his Master, to the start of his journey. He immediately boarded a ship and headed there.
Landing his ship on made the sand rise up and create a giant cloud. Itshim stepped out an could taste the grains of sand between his teeth. The place looked exactly the same as the place he saw during meditation. Nothing more but sand.
Itshim closed his eyes, calling upon the Force for directions. Left, that’s the direction in which he’ll be heading. The Cathar started walking… and walking… and walking… It seemed like there was no end to this. Itshim had been walking for days now and everything still looked the same around him. The canister with water, he grabbed before exiting the ship, was empty and Itshim was getting thirsty. He was tired and wanted to just lay down in the sand. The moment he lowered himself to do so his eyes fell wide open.
A small pound surrounded with four palm trees. Itshim rushed to it.
Getting there made the pound disappear in thin air, there was no water at all. Out of anger Itshim released a Forcewave, sand flew all around him. This revealed an ancient building, something pyramid-like, that had been buried under the sand. Opening the thick wooden door gave Itshim passage into the structure. It was a maze of hallways leading to one central room. With the guidance of the Force Itshim reached that room. Some sort of altar in the middle of the room held a small green crystal.
“Yeah baby! One down, two more to go.”
The moment Ithim took the crystal, a bright flash blinded him. Once he could see clearly again, he was no longer in ‘the tomb’ but he stood on an icy plain. Nothing but frozen water around him. In the distance he could see a red shimmering light. That must be the next crystal. Taking his first step forward already made the Cathar fall and hit the ice. Not easy walking on ice is it. Itshim got back up, moving forward a few meters and falling down again. Every time Itshim fell he got back up, and he fell a lot. But he eventually made his way to the place where the light was coming from… a glacier.
On top of that glacier, buried deep in the ice, a red crystal seemed to be smiling at him. Now to get up there. The Cathar used his claws to easily make his way to the top. He punched them into the ice and climbed like a pro. Standing on top of the glacier he started punching his claws at the ice over and over again, thinking he could get to the crystal. But there was simply too much ice. It was time for plan B. Itshim closed his eyes, focusing on every bit of Force within him, directing it to his hands, which by doing so started glowing and giving of heat. Laying his hands on the ice was enough to make it melt and create a way to the crystal.
“Here we go again.” Itshim said when grabbing his second crystal.
Forest… his last stop on his way to the Forge. Damn lucky he’s got those claws, which now he used to cut himself a way through the dense green. Mosquitos sting and some plants gave him a rash but Itshim kept going forward. He ended up in front of a giant stairs… the Forge.
But did Master Pel not say: “… gather three crystals before reaching the Forge.”
Whatever… Itshim started walking up the stairs and by each step he took, the planet started shaking, harder and harder. Reaching the top made a lightning bolt strike down at the bottom of the stairs and a giant, hairy bull-like creature appeared. It was something Itshim had never seen before but instead of looking at the entire beast, his eyes got pinned on its left ear. There the third and last crystal hang like an earring. He needed to get that crystal and grabbed his neuronic whip. With a swift move, the whip swung at the beasts ear. Bowing his head it made his horns block the path of the whip. “Hnn… A little bit more action than.”
Itshim dropped his neuronic whip and got hold of his blaster. He shot at the knees of the beast which was able to block the first two shots with its hooves. The third and fourth shot hit Itshim’s enemy right underneath both knees, making the creature kneel down. Itshim grabbed his ryyk blade and sliced at beast’s throat, making its head fall of.
“I’m getting good at this.”
With the creature gone Itshim took the remaining crystal and climbed the stairs again. Ending up in front of a strange altar. He inserted the crystals in the three sockets and took a step back. The sky turned black, the altar shined bright, thunder and lightning lighted up the sky. A lightning strike hit the altar, blowing Itshim back a meter. As he got back up a Lightsabre was hovering the altar. The Cathar raised his hand and the Lightsabre swung into it.
A deep dark voice resounded over the planet:
“Ranarr Kul! This is your Lightsabre!”
The Cathar looked at his new weapon, eyes wide open,…
Ranarr Kul…THAT’S ME!
