TRIPLE RELEASE TODAY GO BACK TO CH 33
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Corvus had sheathed his lightsaber, then held out a hand to help Keira up.
The green Mirialan looked at it for a second, and then took it.
Her grasp was firm. This only confirmed to him that he would have been rolled if she was allowed to come at him full throttle.
Keira was at the pinnacle of martial techniques when it came to Jedi Knights. It wouldn't surprise him if she surpassed some Masters. She was definitely on the Mace Windu track to badassery. Hypocrite he may be, but Mace Windu knew how to throw hands, and so did Keira.
Leaning in close, Keira whispered into his ear.
"I see what kind of man you are, Corvus. When you stray, or suggest a radical plan of action, I shall be here to guide you back to the Light. While your actions are unorthodox, I am not so obtuse that I cannot recognize that these are extraordinary times. Do not corrupt Linyin." After Keira said that last part, she squeezed Corvus's hand.
Grimacing, Corvus somewhat wanted to resume the duel at such a provocation, but he settled for a smug smile to hide his pain.
"So you do care." Corvus chuckled at the 'student' of Windu's School of Jedi hypocrisy.
Keira folded her arms, and raised an eyebrow, as if to say 'I do not consent to your childish games.'
Corvus was going to tease her some more, but Zork had taken him up on his earlier offer, and was waving his hand around eager to ask a question.
"Yes?"
"H-How did you know the snow wouldn't clump? If the snow was more solid, your act of obfuscation would be moot, and Knight Keira would have closed the distance." Zork asked in a curious tone.
"That…is a good question, Zork. All I can say is experience, but I knew as soon as I left the Falcon, and I felt the consistency with my boots. We'll have to find some time for environmental training, thank you for bringing this to my attention." Corvus smiled encouragingly, then searched their faces for any more questions.
Jax, Yon, and Linyin didn't seem to have anything to say, but Zork was waving his hand so much, it reminded Corvus of when he was a kid and sat at the front of the class. Man, he must've driven his teacher and fellow classmates mad.
"Yes?"
"Actually, this one is for Knight Keira. Ahem, why did you follow through with your slash at the wooden piece? S-Surely a push or saber throw would be more optimal at the moment? By forcing Master Corvus to dodge, you would guarantee your knowledge of his next location, and place him at a disadvantage, correct?" Zork eagerly asked Keira, and had taken out a dataslate at some point to take notes.
Keira, for her credit, did not become flustered, but answered in an academic tone.
"Leveraging my superior speed, I did not want to break focus, or give Corvus a chance to respond. It may not seem like it from an observer's perspective, but my intuition told me Corvus was already off balance. Perhaps I had underestimated him, but if I moved slightly faster, the duel would have ended in my victory. By using push or a saber throw, it would have slowed me down, and broken my concentration. I gambled, and I lost." Keira succinctly answered, and said in the kind of neutral tone one would have if they were teaching a student about the periodic table.
"I s-see, I see!" Zork happily nodded as he typed something up.
"Combat is not my forte, but do not be fooled by this victory, Padawans. It truly could have gone either way. Knights, I have criticism if you would hear it?" Paratus interjected himself into the conversation, and in Corvus's estimation, was sounding much more sane than he was yesterday.
Siphoning the darkside energy out of the tiny Jedi Master had evidently done wonders for his psyche. As for his opinion?
"Please, Master Paratus, I would like to improve." Corvus slightly inclined his head.
"As I said, I am no battle expert, but I am a creator, an innovator of sorts, and what I saw in your style was focused chaos. Juyo certainly suits you. That said, Keira noticed that you yourself are not quite confident in this method of attack, and almost overwhelmed you despite the curse you had landed on her. Doubtlessly you are aware that your saber style requires improvement, and this is not my criticism.
Mine is a warning, to not become over reliant on fancy tricks, and distractions. After losing to General Grievous, I came to the understanding that sometimes one could possess all the creativity in the world, but absolute power-strength-is not to be underestimated. I encourage you to strengthen your fundamentals. As for you Keira, you suffer the exact opposite problem. A lack of creativity will inevitably lead to your demise." Paratus said at length, and stared both Corvus and Keira in the eyes as he shared his wisdom.
Corvus was somewhat stunned. It was simple, obvious information, but sometimes you needed an outsider to point out the obvious for it to make sense.
2+2 was 4, every child knew that, but when they were introduced to multiplication, sometimes the jump to 2x2 = 4 could be confusing. It was simple information, but not something a child would inherently know unless someone pointed it out.
"Thank you, Master Paratus." Corvus lightly bowed.
"I shall take your words into consideration." Keira briefly frowned, yet her expression was quick to return to stereotypical 'Jedi neutral.'
"Let this be a lesson to you Padawans. Searching out the extreme of one path can lead to monumental power, but it also leaves one weak in other areas. Do not hesitate to come to me with questions regarding Force abilities, and I am sure Keira would be happy to shore up your saber skills." Corvus looked each of the Padawans in the eye, and then held Keira in a stare as he had basically volunteered her into a part-time sensei role.
Keira eventually broke eye-contact and nodded.
"So the fight's over, now what? Zork said something about a ritual, but all we're doing is standing around! Let's hurry to Tython already, all this talk of balance is making me sick!" Yon complained.
As if in agreement with the short, black haired teen boy's tantrum, a cold wind began to whip up, and a thick snowfall began to descend upon them.
"Blizzard!" Linyin shouted, and pointed off the mountainside where a raw, unending storm of icy sleet was barreling towards them.
"Inside. Now!" Keira demanded.
Everyone started running towards the gate, everyone except Corvus that is.
Narrowing his eyes, Corvus did not see a blizzard, and in fact, it was a sunny, moderate day. At first he thought he was under the effects of [Mind Trick], but then he recalled he still had [Force Barrier] up. He was protected from Force related attacks.
Which meant!
Entering Pause, Corvus began to search his surroundings. He was on the look out for a Dark Acolyte, or maybe even an object that could be causing this. Afterall, this was an ancient Jedi pilgrim world. Maybe some artifact was driving the Jedi to enter the temple…maybe an ambush awaited them inside!
Paranoia kicking in, Corvus searched this snowy mountainside, and flexed his Awareness as he basically played a game of 'Where's Waldo.'
After an hour of tedious searching, Corvus felt like he was going to give up, when he noticed an white colored animal blending in with the snow, and resting above the gates. It was no larger than 1-2ft in height, and appeared to be an owl-like avian creature.
Wracking his brains, Corvus eventually recognized it as a native of Ilum.
It was the snowfeather bird! An animal species capable of using the Force, they were famed for their abilities to cast illusions. This blizzard was a hoax!
Leaving Pause, Corvus cast [Force Barrier] on the group, and they suddenly all came to a halt.
"It was a trick!" Yon exclaimed, and was the first to ignite his lightsaber.
"Master?" Jax questioned, and also ignited his lightsaber.
"Directly above you is a snowfeather bird. It is a relatively harmless creature, and casts illusions to deter predators." Corvus explained.
The Padawans cluelessly looked around, but nothing was evident.
"I see it. The bird is directly above us." Jax said a moment later, proving once again that he possessed keen observational skills.
Linyin cupped her hands, and made some sort of bird call.
"As if some bird would-" Yon began to say tauntingly, but halted mid sentence as the owl-like bird fluttered down from its perch, and landed on Linyin's shoulder.
"Why, aren't you cute?" Linyin cooed, then reached into her pocket to feed it some granola.
Corvus ignored the heartwarming scene, and turned to Zork. He was about to ask about the ancient text, when the Force screamed at him in warning.
Emerging from under the snow, a pack of Asharl panthers lunged at them. The snowfeather wasn't casting the illusion to deter them, it was mainly directed at these big space-cats!
Covered in white spotted fur, these alien creatures were coated in muscle, and were the size of a rhino yet possessed speed and agility comparable to a sports car!
With their backs to the gate, the other Jedi survivors were in a more defensible position. Meanwhile, Corvus was surrounded on all sides, and had about 4 panthers lunging at him, whilst 6 more were attacking the rest of the group.
Corvus-still under the effects of his buffs-took to the offensive to escape this encirclement. He ran straight at the big cat that was directly in front of him. This monstrous beast almost matched him in speed, and was swiping its massive paw down at him as he drew near.
Sliding on the snow, Corvus raised his lightsaber, and dragged it along the Ashral panther's underbelly. Hot organs spilled up onto the snow, and some disgusting purple blood splattered his face, but by the time he had slid out from under its legs, the panther was dead.
Sliding into a roll, Corvus backflip jumped over another swipe, and felt the air whoosh underneath his belly as the panther barely missed by less than an inch. Corvus retaliated by crossing his blades-the same position Anakin did when he decapitated Dooku-and he lopped off both of the big cat's front paws.
Quickly dashing backwards so as to avoid the falling panther's ravenous jaws, the other two big cats ran at him from his left and right, and were closing fast.
Corvus let loose with a double handed [Force Lightning]. Yelping at the pain, the remaining two big cats growled fiercely, but ultimately retreated, disappearing into the horizon.
Finishing off the crippled panther, Corvus turned to the rest, and saw that Keira & Paratus had taken on 4 of them, whilst the Padawans had teamed up to take the remaining 2 down.
[+0exp] floated up as if to taunt him for his efforts but he ignored it.
Approaching the group, Corvus cast [Heal] & [Valor] on everyone just to be safe. This had the added benefit of cleaning the blood off of him as well.
"This is most unusual activity. Asharl panthers are not common at this location. Something wrong must have occurred for them to be here." Paratus shook his head, and had a look of consternation on his face.
"Maybe bird brain knows." Yon huffed.
"Good idea, Yon!" Linyin cheerfully took his sarcasm literally, and started whistling at the snowfeather bird. "It's hard to tell, but she said something about a dark presence?"
"Perhaps it was that overwhelming hatred we all felt a day ago? It was so overwhelming, perhaps it spooked the wild life, and they sought the Lightside energies of the Jedi Temple?" Keira suggested.
Corvus stroked his chin. That could be the case. A dark presence was felt by everyone on the ship. Palpatine must've been malding hard for them to feel his anger lightyears away. However, Corvus couldn't help but wonder if there was something more. That explanation almost felt…too easy.
"Hrm, in any case, let us proceed with the mission. Zork, what would you have us do?" Corvus questioned.
"W-well, Master Corvus, the t-text is quite clear. We must travel to the l-largest crystal chamber, and mimic this hymn whilst holding hands, and imagine where we would like to go. Th-this ritual requires four Jedi to enter a trance-like concentration, and can take up to f-five hours." Zork explained.
"Thank you, my studious friend. Now, let's do as Zork said." Corvus clapped to get everyone's attention, and then turned to the gate.
"Tython awaits!"
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