[IC] You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

[freedomliveson]

"Even if they had known, do you honestly think they would've told us?!" Yerbol exclaimed angrily, collapsing to a seated position, back against the tree.
"They're not about communicating every little detail, rather let you find out about certain things on their own." He shook his head.
"Sometimes, Aria, sometimes...I don't think this whole 'Jedi Knight' thing was the best choice in the world." He flinched at the thought, but knew that he was giving voice to thoughts that had come through his mind at many a time.
"Using the Force is a gift, yes, but what has it actually done for anyone else? We sit on our pedestals and proclaim that the Way of the Light is true enlightenment, but that doesn't help a Republic trooper staving off a Sandworm on Tattoine or hungry urchins on Nar Shaddaa." Wiping some sweat off his forehead, he continued:
"And you know, you're right, it doesn't seem possible. To use the Force without alignment, but who's to say it can't be done? Who's to say that maybe the way to end this sickening war between Force users is to challenge the very way we think about utilizing the gifts we have." He blew out a sigh.
"I'm getting way too philosophical for the kind of heat we're in." He chuckled, resting his head against the trunk.
"I've never wanted water more than right at this very moment. Never going to take those small water fountains outside the training rooms for granted again." The ground rumbled, spurts of orange red launching itself from the volcanoes in the far horizon, magma careening down the sides.
"Well maybe I'd take this heat over instant death. Thank the Force those volcanoes are over there and not here." He thought for a brief second, due to the luck they've had recently, that a volcano would open up beneath the tree and swallow them alive. At least it would be quick...

Realizing that the heat was scrambling his thoughts, he refocused, eyes closing to center his mind. They just needed to keep moving forward, just keep putting one foot in front of the other. But he had to ask:
"If you didn't have to walk this path, not have to put up with the politics of the Sith academy and the power hungry acolytes...what do you think you'd do with your life?" He smirked.
"You'd be a phenomenal lawyer. You're feisty, intelligent and if you didn't win your case, you could just electrocute the other guy."

[The Elvenqueen]

Aria snorted softly, her gaze flickering towards the volcanoes in the distance for a moment before her focus returned to Yerbol. His words taking such a philosophical turn was hardly surprising. The Knight gave her the impression of the kind of guy that over-thought everything. To hear him doubting himself would have perhaps comforted her on any other day, if she had been sure of her own standing.

But since confronting Yerbol in Shadow's tomb some weeks ago, Aria's confidence had been shaken and she wasn't so sure she wanted to be part of either side of the conflict anymore. She pushed those theories aside as quickly as they made an appearance. That kind of thinking would get her killed, her father would be keeping tabs on her progress and she couldn't afford to have him listening in with thoughts like that flitting through her mind. She put it down to the heat getting to both their heads.

Aria was glad the volcanoes were far away, too, and grunted softly in agreement. His next question took a little consideration before she could answer.
"Yeah, I probably would have ended up in politics. My mother was a Senator, before-" Aria broke off mid-sentence, the words sticking in her throat and choking her up. She shook her head abruptly as if she were trying to dislodge bad memories associated with her mother that kept resurfacing, "Before she died." She finished, regaining her composure.

She hoped the slip up hadn't been as painfully obvious as it seemed and that he wouldn't ask. Maybe she could pass it off as her throat being so damn dry, neither of them had had water since leaving the ship. "Probably would have taken after her instead if I hadn't ended up at the academy." The acolyte's shoulders sagged, she was far too tired to even shrug. "What about you? I mean, smuggling's off the table, you're too noble for that so, I dunno, maybe you'd make a good doctor?"

[freedomliveson]

A politician for a mother. That must've been an interesting home life. He could envision Aria trying to bludgeon her way through her mothers discipline with rebellion only to be sentenced to her room with sharp rhetoric. It was amusing, which was a welcome distraction from the incessant inferno. And to see, no, to feel how much Aria cared for her mother was touching(it was hard to hide emotion from a Jedi, especially one who was emotional himself). When she directed the conversation back to him, he answered:
"Oh man, I've thought about this a lot. I got it narrowed down to two choices: a professor at a university on Coruscant or something related to the SIS. Always was a sucker for spy books." He chuckled.
"Honestly, there are times where being a fisherman on Alderaan sounds wonderful. Just anything to get away from all this." He shifted his back on the trunk to make sure his lower back didn't fall asleep. Cause that's what he would need right now.
"And I'm sorry about your mother. Be happy you got to know her, though. The Jedi aren't very accommodating when it comes to informing us about our parents. It was a miracle that Lysa and I weren't separated, to be honest. Normally they don't let siblings train together." He cleared his throat, fully aware the subject of Lysa might still prove to be a bit...awkward. Sometime soon they would clear the air about Lysa permanently, but now wouldn't be the time.

Speaking of time...

"We should probably keep moving."

-------

And that they did, but not for as long as Yerbol expected. The duo had trekked another few hundred yards when they encountered an extremely tall rock face that jutted into the air in an endless ascension. There was an entrance in the wall, a square portal that led into a dark recess reminiscent of the tombs of Korriban. Enshrined above the doorway was the carving of a light saber blade pointed to the earth. On the blade was an inscription that Yerbol had read aloud:

"The final path. Ascend, conquer, overcome and you will be a member of the reverered Order."

There was a chill coming from the entrance, wafting invitingly towards the duo. Of course, there were some negative connotations with the cold, but at least they could fight spindly corpse looking monstrosities. Couldn't fight a volcano.

The Knight looked to Aria with a nod.
"Let's go become true Sith."

[The Elvenqueen]

Aria chuckled, forming an image of Yerbol decked out in full special agent gear, patrolling the streets of the known dodgy spaceports like Nar Shaddaa and Taris, busting criminals left right and center. Yeah, that was entirely believable.
"Could see you doing that." She smirked, shrugging.

Sometimes she wondered if it was lucky she had known her mother. Maybe it would have been better if she hadn't. She would never know. The acolyte sprang back to her feet, shifting restlessly. It didn't take long for the conversation to start feeling awkward again.
"Guess I was lucky." She nodded a little. "Didn't make it any easier to lose her though." Aria left out the part about how her father had sent her to kill her mother, not entirely sure how she would explain that to him. Maybe he would understand but now wasn't the time for it. "Maybe later I'll...explain, it's uh, it's complicated. For now we should get going." She cleared her throat again, managing to smile. "For what it's worth, I'm...sorry about Lysa too." She added, for once soundoing like she meant it.

---

She was glad he suggested moving on, it still felt strange for her to hear him talk about Lysa the way he did. She'd have to get used to it eventually.
Stopping beside him, Aria craned her head up to try and peer towards the top of the rocky cliffside, but it disappeared into the sky before it showed any signs of flattening out.

Another heavy breath out. "Well...I guess they want us to climb it huh?" Aria muttered, drawing both sabers. She hesitated for a moment, eyeing the dark opening warily as the chill crept back into the air. More ice beasts, hooray.
But it was so damn hot out here that she was actually willing to charge headfirst in there if it meant the air cooling down for a while.

Aria nodded in Yerbol's direction, straightening her posture and walking through the portal'a archway. It didn't take long for the last bit of natural light to vanish again. Spitting anot angry curse under her breath, the Sith acolyte activated her sabers and held them out at arm's length to illuminate the ground before them.
"Don't these people know what torches are?" She griped, snorting with laughter nonetheless. Trying to include some humor might at least keep them sane through this.

Her heart was hammering against her ribcage and Aria found herself subconsciously inching closer to Yerbol as they progressed. Getting separated in here would be bad. Very bad.
"You see anything yet?" She asked the young Knight, her own senses on high alert for company.

A howl sounded again, but it seemed further off, like the creatures were hanging back and waiting for something.
"Those ice demon things must be guardians left here by the True Sith." Aria muttered, her breath starting to mist as the air got thinner and colder again. She remembered Yerbol thinking something similar when they'd come upon the temple earlier on. "It's like they're waiting for us to get further up, or something..."
She wished they would just attack them again and get it over with. She hated these watch and wait games.

[freedomliveson]

He chuckled at her mention of torches.
"Maybe it's something about being 'one with the Dark side' or some crap like that." Yerbol raised his right hand, the familiar pale blue light that guided him in the previous challenges now aiding both of them as they proceeded into the chilled hallway. There weren't any furnishings, idols or even a hint of where they needed to go up until they could see beams of sunlight cascading into an opening up ahead. As Yerbol lowered his right hand, he let out a whistle.
"Well...this is going to get confusing in a hurry." Staircases. So many staircases. They wound around each other and separated at various intervals, some of terminating after a few steps while others snaked far above them. Looking above, he spotted a wide stone platform that one of the staircases led to, the platform leading to a doorway further into the rock wall that this was etched into. Above the platform was a natural opening, the brunt of the sun's fierce rays blunted by the cliffs on either side.
"Ascend was the first order of business, so we just need to figure out how to get up there, right? Easy." A clicking noise came from behind, Yerbol turning his head. The once open passageway was now sealed by a heavy block of stone. No way to turn back, no way to escape on the ground level. He had to give credit to these True Sith for designing ways to ensure their acolytes couldn't evade the trials.
"Right then, so should we just obliterate the staircases that don't lead upward and start from there?" Yerbol shot his right hand out at a staircase only two steps high, the thing crumbling with ease. A sudden gust of chilly air flew down at them, then an all too familiar shriek.

Their movements were jerky and uncoordinated, but they ambled down from the opening, mouths open to display sharp teeth, their noseless faces glaring down at the duo. Yerbol's lightsaber crackled to life.
"If there's one thing we know about them, it's that they can be killed." There were five of them, using the staircases as platforms by which they could lower themselves.
"Let's show these beasts what Conquering means, eh?"

[The Elvenqueen]

" 'One with the Dark side'," Aria echoed in a somewhat mocking tone, scoffing. "Bah, well I don't like this one bit. This whole set up makes my skin crawl and I grew up with the bloody Dark side." Her eyes moved from one staircase to the other. Yerbol had hit the nail on the head with his observations as far as she was concerned.

Aria sucked in a sharp breath, spinning on her heels as the block slammed into place behind them. No going back that way, then. That meant they could only do one thing; systematically climb every other staircase until they found the one that got to the top.

Yerbol used the Force to pull down a measly two step high staircase, aiming her own hand at another the Sith acolyte dragged it down alongside its sibling. The debris had barely touched the ground before the icy wind whipped through the chamber and the emaciated creatures dropped through one of the holes in the ceiling.

Aria activated her lightsabers, pressing her back to Yerbol's she watched the creatures leap nimbly from stair to stair as they worked their way down towards the pair of initiates below.
"Finally, something to kill." She growled, hopping from foot to foot as she waited tensely for the right moment to push forward.

In her mind, Aria worked out a plan of sorts. As the last of the five creatures dropped out of the ceiling, she nodded towards the opening they had entered through.
"I say we make for that hole there, it's gotta go out and up a few levels at least if not all the way to the top...we cut down anything that tries to stop us." Aria breathed, glancing over her shoulder at Yerbol looking for some kind of confirmation. "Stay close, back to back, and then they can't creep up on either of us."

The acolyte's red sabers hummed loudly as she twirled them in tight circles, dropping her weight into her legs and settling into a ready stance. Another bellow from the pack ripped through the air as the creatures lunged forward.

The two in the front dropped onto the ground level and ran straight towards them, while a third got halfway down and had a different strategy in mind, launching itself from the two foot or so stairway to drop down on the duo from above.

Aria's attention snapped from the two on the ground as the third creature's claws sent a shower of small rocks tumbling to the floor, giving away it's position.
"DUCK!" She hollered out to her companion, dropping down into a crouch
The creature sailed over their heads, twisting around in midair, it managed to catch the Sith acolyte across the neck with the tips of its claws while the head darted forward to snap it's teeth towards Yerbol. For something that was just flailing clumsily in the hopes of hitting something, the strikes were frighteningly precise. Fear dropped into her gut like a heavy stone.
"Karkin hell, these things are faster than they look!" Aria hissed, rolling sideways to create some distance she righted herself and threw one lightsaber towards the creature. The Force guided the weapon to slice cleanly through its middle before it could clamp down on the Jedi Knight's throat, before returning to Aria's hand.

They had no time to celebrate yet. There were still two of the beasts approaching imminently and the other two would be close to the ground level in a few more seconds.
"One down." She grimaced.

[freedomliveson]

They seemed more agile and tactful this time around, Yerbol shouting a "THANKS!" as he obeyed Aria's warning and ducked out of the way from what could have been his final moments of life. One had gotten Aria, but it paid the price swiftly, prompting the others to howl in protest. One of the creatures that had hit the ground was bounding towards him from his left flank, outstretched claws ready to tear his chest to ribbons. The Knight fell back, extending his saber above him as the creature flung itself through the weapon, gore and viscera splattering to the ground close to Yerbol's head. He jumped to his feet, spotting the other ground dweller and thrust his hand out in attempt to slam it against the rock face.

Nothing.

He tried again. The creature let out a throaty cackle as it skittered across the wall, legs whirling chaotically before launching itself at the young Knight. Yerbol dodged, trying to connect with his saber, but the creature had anticipated the move, stopping right in front of the Knight and slamming one of it's spindly legs into his abdomen, Yerbol pushed back several feet towards the hole Aria had made mention of. He wanted to stay and fight, but they had to make it up to the top. If "conquering" meant slicing the beasts down when they ascended, fine, but he didn't like the notion of combating the beasts on the ground floor. Doing anything out of order or wrong in these trials could spell death for the both of them. They had to keep moving.
"Come!" Sprinting through the opening, Yerbol spotted a passageway to their left that featured a staircase winding upwards. He bounded towards it, the assumed guardians of the trials chasing them ferociously, snapping their razor sharp teeth as they moved. Clambering up the stairs, Yerbol spotted square openings to their left overlooking the chamber they had departed from. A couple of the monsters were still there, watching their progress.

Wait...

Yerbol spun around on one stair, smirking before throwing his lightsaber in a downward arc, catching both creatures by surprise. Their lifeless, severed bodies rolled down the stairs as the saber came back to it's owner.
"These narrow corridors are perfect for us. Without room to navigate, their agility is stunted. Even they know it." He motioned to the creatures below, prowling the ground floor with strident, violent motions.
"If we can keep to these interior staircases, then maybe we can avoid them altogether...or at least, for the time being." Yerbol brushed past his companion, walking a few steps up to a landing. There was a heavy wooden door to their left with two more staircases to their left and right, both of which led upwards. He turned his head towards Aria, telling her:
"Hey, before we go on...thanks for, you know, saving my life. I could've been food for those things if it wasn't for you."

[The Elvenqueen]

Yerbol took out one of the ground dwellers, but before either of them could take out the second the creature had scaled the wall and was for all intents and purposes out of their reach.
"They're Force resistant as well?" Aria groaned, throwing up her hands in a gesture of exasperation. "Figures." The acolyte scoffed, taking a Force-propelled jump over the ice demon's head as Yerbol was pushed towards the gap in the ceiling.

She broke into a sprint up the stairs to keep up with the Knight. He was understandably able to take longer strides than she was, and Aria had to use the Force to keep herself level with Yerbol but she managed it.
Glancing to her side, she glimpsed the pacing creatures through the gaps in the wall, slowing her pace again as Yerbol's saber eliminated two more of the creatures down below them while the others eyed the duo expectantly.

"They're watching us again..." The Sith acolyte huffed, slowing to a temporary stop. Now that they weren't being actively pursued, they had time to breathe again and think this through together. Yerbol moved past her to scrutinise the doors they had been presented with next, so she shuffled to turn to face him again. It took a moment for the thought to register in her mind. "Are you seriously thinking that there's a specific order to this crap? Ascend, then conquer?" She echoed, perplexed by the idea herself. "Surely as long as we do all three it shouldn't matter so long as we do as they ask?"

Aria snorted, doubling over to brace her hands against her knees as she tried to catch her breath back. She managed to grin back at his offer of gratitude. She didn't fancy trying to tackle these trials alone. They were difficult enough with Yerbol at her side supporting her, Aria knew not to throw away an advantage presented to you carelessly and if that meant helping out a Jedi for now then so be it, as far as she was concerned.
"Sure, it was nothing...just next time you're gonna take off at a damn breakneck sprint like that, warn me first...your legs are about two foot bloody longer than mine!" She quipped at him sharply, punching him in the ribs with just enough force to make her point, but not enough to give him any kind of lasting injury. They had more than enough things trying to kill them in here, they didn't need to be hurting each other and making the job easier for these True Sith.

Now they would have to figure out which route to take. Presumably one was a false start, and could very likely lead to a sheer drop that would dump them back on the ground level with the chilly custodians.
"So...how do we know which one goes ALL the way up? Without risking falling back down or landing into another trap if we take the wrong way by accident." Aria posed the question to Yerbol as she finally recovered enough to straighten up and join him at the intersection.

[freedomliveson]

He snickered at her comment and subsequent playful punch, not full realizing how much shorter she was than him until she brought it to light. She was probably not a hair over five foot two. Then again, it was hard for the Knight to gauge others height. Being six foot three had its downsides.

"I've been thinking the same thing." He pointed at the door to their left.
"That HAS to be some kind of passageway back down or maybe it leads to a steep fall into the main area we just left, so that's a definite no." A thoughtful sigh came and went as the Knight examined both staircases, looking up each ascending corridor to find nothing but continuing stairs and lighting from above.
"I don't like the idea of splitting up, if you were thinking that. We can't risk one of us ending up in some molten lava pit while the other dies by the hands of those ice creatures." Yerbols jaw jutted out in curiosity.
"Well, well..." His eyes were cast downward at the bottom of the left staircase, kneeling to confirm what he had found.
"There are notches in the stairs..." He extended a hand forward to barely touch the grooves on the lowest step when the entire set blazed with a fierce crimson light that illuminated the path up. He walked to the other and did the same, his stomach tightening into a knot as the staircase crumbled to the ground in a heap of rubble.
"Well, I suppose they wanted their acolytes to be very observant?" Returning to the intact stairwell, he took an initial step forward. Seemed fine.
"Let's keep moving. Don't need those monsters down below to get any ideas."

The staircase wound around the first chamber in a circular pattern, the duo climbing ever upwards away from their initial pursuers that seemed to not be interesting in watching their former prey escape. In fact, after several minutes minutes of stair climbing, Yerbol looked out one of the carved openings to find that they had disappeared.
"Something tells me that they'll be back...or maybe I can't just accept a gift when it comes to us." Another few minutes had them arrive at another landing with one door ahead. After opening the door, they found themselves at the platform Yerbol had seen from the ground.
"That can't be it." He looked at Aria incredulously when he spotted across the way a door with a slit below.
"Might be the platform to get across. Mind helping me get it out?" He held his arms out, palms up as he focused his energies. He didn't feel the momentary rumbling above, the slight hissing of something being unsealed and the very, very soft cackle that gently wafted through the air...

[The Elvenqueen]

The notches in the stairs had completely escaped Aria's notice. Man, was she glad Yerbol was here now or she might have fallen victim to that trap if she'd been on her own. They stopped when the staircase came to an end, finding themselves on the platform that Yerbol had picked out from below.

The Sith acolyte grumbled some kind of expletive under her breath, turning around in a full circle a few times as she tried to search around them for a way up the walls or something like that. But there were no grooves they could use as hand or footholds.
Yerbol was looking across at another platform opposite them, where a door (presumably leading upwards to the next level), loomed towards them. It was almost like it was mocking them, if inanimate objects were capable of such a feat. Bet you can't get over here.

"Bah!" Aria snorted. She hated losing. Extending her hands, she slowed her breathing and focused on helping Yerbol to pull the other platform out of the rock towards them. The sound of stone grinding on stone as it shifted was so loud that she didn't hear the catch releasing or the cackle echoing towards them until it was too late.

The ceiling above the pair opened up and Aria shouted out as a weight dropped down on them from above. Three massive clawed fingers, joined by a membrane that led her to believe they were attached to wings of some sort, grasped around her torso. She rolled over to find herself staring into a completely eyeless face, only the slightest indentations in the bald wrinkled skin to indicate where eye sockets might have once been at some point in its early evolution. A long dog-like snout ended in massive slitted nostrils protected from ash and dust particles by another flap of bare skin, rows of inward angling serrated teeth grinned back at them as the creature's head darted towards the two Force sensitives it clasped tightly against its chest in its winged forearms.

Aria grimaced uncomfortably at the sight of the beast that almost resembled some kind of entirely bald bat, frantically trying to twist free before the creature could chomp through them both. She didn't want to give it the chance to sink those teeth in, they looked like they were made for one thing: stripping flesh clean off bones.

Just above the beast's jawline, Aria could see the skin pock marked with small pinhead sized dents. Sensory pits, they had to be. How else was this totally blind monster going to find its bearings? Deciding to take the chance, Aria kicked out aiming for the indentations, the beast screaming out as her foot hit it's mark. It dropped both Aria and Yerbol, the Sith acolyte rolling dangerously close to the edge of the platform. Aria gritted her teeth, teetering over the edge of the precipice despite her best efforts to use the Force to slow her momentum.

She desperately grasped at the rock face with her hands, scrambling to try and find a groove that would give her enough purchase that she could pull herself back up.
Up ahead, the bat monster thudded onto the platform, claws scraping on the stone as it advanced towards them again.

"Oh, shit! Shit! Yerbol!" She squealed, hoping he had at least landed a little better than she had...

[freedomliveson]

Time accelerated rapidly after the platforms locked together. He found himself standing next to his companion one moment and the next struggling to get himself free from the grasp of one of the horrific looking creatures he had ever laid eyes on. When the creature dropped him, Yerbol looked up and examined the scale free skin of its underbelly, it's imposing wings with barbs poking out of them. It was like a dragon and a bat had decided to create a child of massively uglier proportions than either creature could have summoned on their own.

Right, he was falling.

He wasn't able to tell how far in the air the winged demon had taken them, but he knew that the now much larger platform just blurred past his vision. Some of the formerly solid staircases had been severed to pieces, more than likely by the ice creature descent. At the speed he was going, it would be difficult to attach himself to any of the intact staircases, seeing as most wound closer to the rock face while he was almost dead center in the chamber. He would need to slow his velocity.

Palms pointed down, the young Knight took a deep breath, purposefully combatting the adrenaline rush his body was producing and focusing, forehead crinkling. He shifted his weight to the left, descent slowing considerably. Spotting the top of a staircase, he contorted his body mid-air, which allowed him to get closer to the stair. When his feet touched the stone step, the Jedi blew out a sigh of short lived relief. Now he had to get back up.

Yerbol glanced upward, whistling softly. It was at least by his estimation sixty feet up, maybe more. He knew he could jump using the Force, but that high? He scanned the other staircases, noting that the top of each terminating staircase seemed to form a zigzag pattern in the chamber. He smirked.

Leaping from step to step, he finally managed to get back up into the makeshift battleground. The creature was charging towards Aria, head down, body reared up in preparation for a pounce. Yerbol ignited his saber before throwing it, aiming it at the abnormally smooth legs. The saber knocked one leg, but it slashed the front right leg deeply, a roar of pain accompanying the slash. Yerbol ran forward, saber returning to his right hand before jumping and delivering an overhead slash to the right rear leg, which connected, but at a price: that leg was already poised to deliver a strong kick to the chest. He flew backwards, body slamming to the cold cement floor.
"Go for its legs!"

[The Elvenqueen]

There was a telltale 'whoosh' of air as Yerbol fell past her, she craned her head back for the briefest of moments to try and see where he landed but the Knight was already too far down. Hopefully he could get himself back up on his own.

She had other things to worry about with the hideous creature stomping straight towards her. Summoning all her strength, the acolyte hauled herself back over the rocky outcrop, scrambling to get her feet back underneath her just as Yerbol's lightsaber flew over her head towards the thing's legs.

Yerbol was beside her again moments later, hollering out. "Go for its legs!"
Nodding, Aria kicked off the ground and leapt towards the beast, sabers slashing downwards towards its legs. She was almost knocked clear by Yerbol as it pushed him backwards but he missed colliding with her by a hair's breadth.

One saber blade missed, but the second sliced into the creature's foot before it could pull it back from kicking Yerbol in the chest. It reeled back in a flurry of wings, claws and teeth, thick black blood oozing from the wounds inflicted by the duo.

"Don't just stand there, run!" Aria shouted, grabbing hold of Yerbol's arm she dragged him towards the next door. "This thing is too big to kill, let's get the hell outta here!"
If it had been a possibility, she would have suggested crawling into a small opening where the large dragon-bat couldn't follow.

The doorway would have to do. She doubted it could fit through there.

[freedomliveson]

They barreled through the door before Yerbol slammed it closed with a burst from his right palm. There was a deafening, furious cry that rattled his bones, jarred his mental faculties so much that he had to slump against the nearby wall, closing his eyes to try and recenter. Thankfully, nothing else occurred. No talons slicing through the door to grab and throw them to their dooms, no wicked laugh that emitted from an eyeless beast. Just silence.

And it scared him.

His eyes opened, now coherent enough to take in their surroundings. The room they were in now was almost a perfect square, the furnishings sparse except for an open air doorway that displayed sheets of rains coming down mercilessly on the once bleak and arid clearings they had complained about on their journey here. There was a path that extended outward in the distance, but the weather was providing little chance of spotting what was ahead of them. In the center of the room was a pedestal with a bust that looked familiar...
"Aria, isn't that the alien we saw earlier in the chamber? The one who wanted us to interrogate the prisoners?" He approached the bust and examined it closer. Even in stone, Yerbol could feel the mystifying gaze of the True Sith piercing him.
"He might have been the one to design the whole system of trials." He mused, bending down to look at the inscription beneath:
"Before you is the last step. Conquer." Standing up fully, he commented:
"So we must have done the other two, right? We definitely ascended and conquering must have been-" The room shook as the earth under their feet quaked, the rain crystallizing mid-air as that signature soft, wicked cackle floated through the room. Accompanied by the cackle was a voice, harsh yet lilting in an almost melodious way:
"It has been too long since the Acolytes have tested my strength. Why flee?" Crunching some of the frozen rain, the beast stepped forward from the surreal picture, snout knocking more of the crystallized liquid away. It's jaws didn't move, but the voice continued:
"You don't smell of Sith blood. Odd. They do not normally send humans." Yerbol cast a wary glance at his companion before he stepped forward, responding:
"And what DO you know of the True Sith?"
"That I was created by them, that I was to ensure that none as weak as you would ever enter their fold."
"You assume we are weak?" The creature drew closer.
"I assume nothing. I know all." Yerbol muttered to Aria:
"We're going to have to kill it. Any ideas besides plunging onto a stone path elevated hundreds of feet above ground to fight a crazed creature that can manipulate weather? Cause I got nothing."

[The Elvenqueen]

She winced, clapping her hands over her ears in an attempt to block out the terrible shriek that seemed to rattle the very walls. She stood slumped against the door, waiting for the monster to rip down the door and swallow them whole; but when it never came the Sith acolyte gulped down a few breaths to recenter herself. The next doorway along appeared to lead outside again, so they must have reached the top. That was good...right? They weren't dead yet, and as far as she was concerned that was something to be proud of.

Aria inched forward towards the pedestal as Yerbol spoke, nodding her head in agreement. It was definitely the same alien as the one from the chamber, there was no doubt about that. Yerbol couldn't finish his latest musings before the weather drastically changed as the strange bat beast returned, it's eerie laugh floating towards them alongside the shards of frozen rain.

Then it spoke to them, the voice sending cold shivers down her spine; it was far too pleasant in tone for something so horrifying to look at.
Great, it talks... she kept the snide thought to herself, thinking she would have been used to hearing nasty beasts speaking back at her by now from previous experiences. But this was different, it was flowing, eloquent speech, not the grating fragments of broken Basic that most creatures barely managed to conjure up.

Aria bristled indignantly as it called them weak, stepping forward to glare across at the beast crunching on the ice crystals as casually as if they were having an afternoon snack and a chat.
"Hey! We're NOT weak!" She snarled back at it, her grip on the hilts of her sabers tightening as her fury began to brew. "We killed all your little ice gremlins on our way up here, and we hardly broke a sweat!" Maybe that was a slight exaggeration of the truth, but she bet they could take this thing between the two of them. For that insinuation alone it deserved to have its ass kicked into oblivion. I'll show you weak!

Lifting her chin in a further show of defiance against this apparent 'protector' of the True Sith's domain, Aria sneered. "Why don't you come over here and see how 'weak' we are? Or are you afraid that I'll finish the job I started?" She taunted it, noting that it held its right rear foot awkwardly above the ground as if it were painful to put pressure on the wounds left by the pair's saber blades during their previous escape.

Her gaze flicked from the monster to meet Yerbol's as he asked her for ideas dropping her voice to a low whisper she told him. "Sensory overload. No eyes, means it's hearing and those pits on its jaw will be super-sensitive...make enough loud noise and it won't be able to tell left from right. Then we just hope those pits sense vibrations rather than heat or we're karked because we won't be able to get in close enough without it still being able to find us. If it works, we dash in while its disoriented and hack the ugly son of a Rancor to bits before it knows what hit it."

A typically Sith hack-and-slash approach to dealing with problems, but perhaps that's what these True Sith wanted, after all...

[freedomliveson]

He wanted so desperately to object, but knew that Aria’s plan to overwhelm the beast’s senses would be the only viable course of action. As his lightsaber crackled to life, he told Aria:

“You’re much more nimble than I am. Go for the weak spot. I’ll make sure that it’s distracted.” The beast emitted a throaty chuckle after Yerbol finished.

“Come then!”

The beast uttered a thundering roar, the Knight charging ahead and throwing his saber out in front of him towards its legs. Dodging to its left, it opened its massive jaws and aimed a steady stream of blueish-white energy that sliced through the chamber they had previously been in, reducing the entire structure to rubble. Yerbol ran past the creature, saber returning to his hand as he leaped into the air and attempted to plunge his blade into the monster’s back. Instead of a successful stab, a heavy wing swatted him towards the other end of the path, the Jedi careening backwards until he thudded against the rock wall opposite where they began the battle, frozen shards of rain chattering in protest as Yerbol’s body broke through the curtain of ice. Shaking his head to clear the mental fog threatening to envelop him, he got to his feet just as the creature turned its head, ambling towards him with the appearance of a toothy grin. He thrust his left hand forward, a surge of wind pushing the beast back several feet. It snorted, flummoxed by the gesture, before it continued. Yerbol tried again, pouring more energy into the gesture. This time the creature was blown back, wings askew from the blast.

“Aria, now!” The creature was recovered fully and sped towards Yerbol with a vicious tenacity. He looked up, cursing at the frozen wilderness for the limited visibility. He could only hope that Aria could hit one of the sensory glands she mentioned. With no chance of dodging, he was in a serious bind.

Unless-

He waited for the creature to come within a few hundred feet of him before he suddenly ran forward, slicing downward as he leaped up past the head, connecting with the monster's face. A howl of pain rang through the air.
"Ok, now would be a better time! Go!"

[The Elvenqueen]

Aria gave Yerbol a brief nod as the beast let loose another ear-splitting scream and charged for the pair. Force-propelled acrobatics were her specialty, she'd leave the distractions and suchlike to Yerbol. Both of them could scarcely dodge to either side in time to avoid the unexpected energy beam that spewed from the dragon-bat's jaws.

There was a resounding thud as the creature swatted Yerbol aside, she righted herself in time to witness the Knight push it back in retaliation.
She faltered mid-step as Yerbol shouted out for her to make a move, but the creature was faster and it had almost closed the distance between itself and the young Jedi Knight before she could even kick her feet off the ground.

Shaking off the nerves, Aria darted between the giant monster's legs as it reared up into the air and screamed in pain. Cursing under her breath, she had to divert her course momentarily, using the chamber's wall as a spring board of sorts to lift her clear of the flailing limbs as it stumbled back and forth clumsily. The head swung to and fro, trying in vain to locate its quarry.

Propelling herself upwards, Aria struck quickly before it had a chance to recover its balance and take one of them out with a wing or a clawed foot. One saber blade plunged into the hollows along the bottom jaw, extending the wide open gash that Yerbol's assault had left. Another agonised bellow ripped from the toothed jaws. Its jugular pulsed almost invitingly through the skin at the monster's neck as it drew in each pained breath.

This was it. Entirely blind and helpless, the dragon-bat mutant could no longer distinguish Yerbol and Aria from their surroundings in order to retaliate and defend itself.
Exchanging a glance with Yerbol, Aria gave him the slightest of nods and launched for their opponent again. Her lightsabers arced downwards as she dropped towards the ground again, severing the blood vessel that was caught between them where the two energy blades crossed over. Black blood sprayed from the open wound, splattering throughout the chamber, the duo not managing to esape the 'splash zone' entirely.

The screaming stopped abruptly, replaced by the stench of singed flesh as the lifeless corpse thudded to the floor.

Aria skidded as her feet connected with solid ground again, stumbling backwards towards Yerbol for a moment before she managed to catch herself. Panting, the Sith acolyte looked from the monster's corpse to her companion and broke into a giddy grin.
"How's that for 'weak'?!" She cheered triumphantly.

[freedomliveson]

Yerbol clapped a heavy hand on his companion's shoulder, laughing in sheer relief.
"Don't think that ugly thing expected a supposed 'acolyte' to bring it down, huh?" The smile that had formed from the laugh disappeared when the Knight walked forward a few steps, looking down at the beast with a furrowed brow.
"To think that a monster like that could survive as long as it did without being discovered, let alone breed and produce offspring that could have found it's way off planet..." He looked back to Aria.
"I'm mainly thinking about the Sith. I mean, think about it: this monstrosity would be a fantastic weapon on Korriban, against the Republic. Couple this with those ice creatures...think that the True Sith cross-bred creatures for the specific purpose of weaponizing them?" He turned fully, walking to the opposite end of the bridge, brushing aside flecks of still-frozen rain.
"If they did, then how..." He shook his head, knowing he needed to focus.
"Right, so we conquered, now we need to ascend. But where to..." Yerbol looked up at the tower that jutted upward, the structure even more imposing when one looked down to see the gigantic drop on either side.
"There don't seem to be any windows to clamber into or platforms..." He threw his saber upwards to cut through the frozen rain, flecks of water dropping onto his upturned face as the saber returned to his hand.
"Nothing that I can see. Maybe we can leap upward, see what happens?" He chuckled.
"At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if a platform jutted out of the tower and slammed me in the ribs." He looked at the base of the tower, which had no entrance...or one that was visible.
"Hey, Aria, maybe..." He walked forward, running his hands across the warm brick and-

Warm?

"Feel the wall. It's warm." As he uttered the phrase, his breath crystallized into vapor in front of him, emphasizing the warmth of the structure.
"We can try to crack the code and play their way...or we can blast the wall. Your choice."

[The Elvenqueen]

The magnitude of what they had just faced had yet to sink in, and it took a moment for Yerbol's insinuations to break through her euphoria. Aria shuddered uncomfortably as she realised he had a very good point, if anything they had encountered so far on this planet made its way into the known galaxy....well, the Jedi would never be able to stop the Sith from taking over. She pushed the thought to the back of her mind, she could process that later, for now they had to complete the last part of this task so they could get the hell off this nasty rock.

'Ascend', the pillar at the bottom had said. Of course, this was vague and incredibly helpful, not. While Yerbol looked upwards and threw his saber as if trying to find the ceiling of this chamber, Aria peered downwards to see if she could locate the pillar they had read the instructions from. But at this height, all she could see was a yawning blackness below them. She had to stumble backwards into the middle of the platform to combat the wave of dizzying nausea that followed after looking down such a steep drop.
"Well..." she cleared her throat, "There's no going back down that way unless you want to risk breaking our necks." the acolyte swallowed, turning to face Yerbol again.

"Maybe we can leap upwards, and see what happens?" Yerbol suggested, and for a moment her jaw nearly hit the floor because she thought he was being serious, until he laughed too and made some kind of snide remark about being smacked in the ribs with another platform.
Aria trailed behind her companion as he moved forward again, peeking warily over his shoulder as if she expected some other horrific creature to jump out at them from around the next corner.
"Warm?" she repeated, frowning as Yerbol looked back at her over his shoulder. "You've got to be kidding, how is it...?"
If she hadn't been able to see the vapor forming in clouds in front of them, evidence of each breath they took, she wouldn't have believed it.

"I wouldn't kark with the way they want us to do this, if I were you!" the Sith acolyte blurted out all-too-quickly, before he could even finish suggesting that they just break the wall down to progress further, staring at the young Knight with wide eyes. Her gaze shifted downward towards his feet, and she cleared her throat in embarrassment, trying to shrug off the outburst as if it hadn't been all that important.
"Trust me, you...you don't wanna do this the wrong way." Aria repeated, a little firmer in her tone. "It could kill us. And I dunno about you, but I don't want to die out here." she snorted, reaching out to run her hand along the wall herself, searching for some kind of groove or carving that could point them in the right direction. "There must be a platform or a staircase hidden in this damn rock somewhere. Maybe we have to pull it out again, like the other one." she grumbled eventually. Force, she didn't want to have to risk jumping all the way up there, it was a LONG way down.

"Hell, I'd even be willing to risk pulling up a platform or staircase from further down between the two of us and bringing it up here to give us a boost up before I'd entertain the thought of a blind jump several feet into the air from here!" Aria snorted. Neither option before them was a simple one, whatever they decided, it would be tricky to pull off...

[freedomliveson]

"That stair idea of yours would work beautifully if we had some kind of debris." After a quick scan of the all too silent frozen surroundings, he grunted in disapproval.
"Nothing. I do have to believe though that if the bricks are warm, there's a purpose for that. Maybe we do have to feel our way past them..." He started from the bit of the tower he could reach with his hands, then ran them down the edifice, feeling for any kind of a switch. A moment later, he stumbled forward, his torso hitting brick while his upper half was seemingly trapped inside the tower. He looked at his new context and whistled softly.
"This...this is impressive." Shaking his head, he pulled himself out of the false part of the wall and motioned for Aria to follow him.
"You've got to see what's on the other side."

After the duo hopped through the illusion, they found themselves at the base of a winding staircase consisting solely of ornate, shimmering marble that snaked up through the tower to the very top. The interior walls were made of a near-white granite that had flecks of some kind of sparkling substance that contrasted with the obsidian colored granite floor they were standing on. Torches were mounted at various points on the staircase, viridian colored flames dancing on their mounts. There were no doors or platforms save one, which was located at the top of the tower. The door was ajar, allowing Yerbol to see rays of light streaming in from the outside.
"To think that the True Sith were so...extravagant in their choice of decor."
"Extravagant or tactful?" A few feet above the beginning of the staircase stood the same tendril bearing alien that they had encountered in the temple. A disarming smile was on his lips as he descended, telling the duo:
"It has been far too long since we have seen acolytes perform so well. Alas, the last acolyte to pass the trials left here long ago."
"How long?"
"It does not matter; what is of import now is your continued success." He motioned to the interior of the tower with a grand sweep of his left arm.
"You see this? The finest materials were used to construct our temples, our homes, our places of government. It was a matter of showing our power."
"Power? Through wealth?"
"Of course, acolyte. Wealth breeds desire, which in turn breeds weakness. We exploited them for as long as could."
"What happened to you all?" The Sith sighed.
"Many decided that our code was too weak, too ineffectual. Those in the highest order of government rebelled, drunk with the greed for power. Our own wealth corrupted us and turned us against each other." He cast a glare at Aria.
"I sense their teachings in you, young one. Tell me: why do you seek the path of the Sith?"

[The Elvenqueen]

Another illusion, of course. It seemed to be a reoccuring theme in this temple at least. Slipping through the barrier after her companion, Aria was surprised by the ornately gilded decor they found on the other side. In fact, given what she knew of the Sith from her time on Korriban, this was the last thing she had expected to find at all. But perhaps the tombs of the Sith Lords there HAD looked like this once, before the salvagers and the sand stripped them bare and left them to ruin. They would never know for certain.

The acolyte turned her head upwards as the alien began to speak to them, taking in his words with a careful frown knitted into her brow as she tried to decipher their meaning. So the True Sith had not intended for the Order that came out of their government to become so ingrained in the kill-or-be-killed mentality...she wanted to ask the question out loud but the alien's glare cut into her like a vibroblade and so she held her tongue, out of instinct dropping her gaze to the floor and not looking him directly in the eye. Perhaps the True Sith had different expectations of etiquette for their acolytes, but it was safer, Aria thought, to play by the rules she knew rather than to risk being too bold in case it angered the tentacled man.

She would have been lying if she had said that it wasn't difficult for her to answer his question. Sometimes she wondered why herself, but it was never a good idea to admit that where any of the Sith Lords could hear the thoughts, because it was a sign of the weakness they so terribly despised. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Aria glanced up just slightly, and kept her voice as steady and even as she could.
"It's all I have ever known, sir." she had considered lying and making up something about seeking the way to true strength, but if the True Sith were as powerful as it seemed then he would likely see straight through it. "But at least there is some kind of honesty in it, even if it's brutal. The Jedi preach peace and pacifism but would readily sacrifice others to keep themselves safe and hide it behind the delusion that it was 'the right thing to do'. At least with the Sith I know to watch my back, and trust no-one but myself."