|
Post by Admin on Feb 13, 2015 7:03:16 GMT
A Surrogate Student and a Temporary Teacher: Opening A Mind
***
05-15-2011, 10:56 PM Invictus
An ebon statue set in solemn solace amidst the artifacts and literary store that adorned the cavernous suite of Lord Talus Vargas. Green eyes wide, in unblinking stare that perceived nothing and all in unfocused gaze, the Arbiter rested his well-groomed, geometric chin upon a massive fist while sitting upon a great high-backed cathedra behind a massive oaken bureau.
How long he had sat as such, none save the Lord could tell. How long he would have remained, the same response could be given; however, how long he did remain was answered by the entry of a Droid, grey in hue, HK in series.
"Lord Vargas, a message from the Prince," The tinny voice of the mechanical man interrupted the stillness of his meditation.
A blink. The only response the black-skinned colossus gave at first. Followed, moments later, by the chin rising from clenched fist, and the massive hand unfurling to beckon the interloper near.
Without hesitation the soulless sentient stepped forward, placing a simple paper note upon the deep brown, flat service of the imposing man's desk. Then with the unnatural lurch of manufactured joints, the droid straightened in silent attention, as green eyes peered down to decipher the scripted marks upon the parchment.
Talus,
I write you to beg a boon.
A new face has been covered by our mask. I have claimed her, but my duties as Prince have called me away. She requires instruction to unlock her gift, I trust you are up to this task.
Her name is Niesara. Her mask is Crescendo. She is yours to command.
Your Prince,
Jasik
Removing a pen and a piece of paper from his desk, the Arbiter scrawled a note.
Crescendo,
Your training begins tonight. Meet me in the Hall of Annunciation in the Chateau at 9. Wear a hooded robe and bring your mask. Lock the doors behind you.
Invictus
He folded the note in two and without looking up to acknowledge the droid, raised the correspondence up to be delivered.
"Be sure Niesara receives this promptly," The Arbiter's deep baritone whispered.
The droid reached out with metallic talons and snatched the note, placing it into a compartment within its chest. With nary a sound it turned and left whence it came.
The Arbiter then returned to his purposeless gaze.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Feb 13, 2015 7:09:05 GMT
05-16-2011, 02:53 AM Niesara
She had been sitting in the library when her room maid came to her with a letter. After a quick nod of thanks, the woman was gone again. Making sure she was alone, she slowly opened the letter and read the contents. Her long digits absently caressing the parchment as she read. Her lips moving in silence to match the words beheld on the letterhead.
Crescendo,
Your training begins tonight. Meet me in the Hall of Annunciation in the Chateau at 9. Wear a hooded robe and bring your mask. Lock the doors behind you.
Invictus
This was it... the training. Someone had answered her prayers for a mentor... but who? She knew she didn't have much time. Glancing at the chrono on the wall, she hopped off the window ledge where she had been reading and headed for her room. The letter clutched like a lifeline in her hand to her bosom.
Rounding the corner she entered her room and closed the door. Setting the lock she moved first to her desk. She used the wick lighter for her candles to set the paper on fire. Letting it burn in the dish leftover from her evening meal, she moved to her wardrobe and removed her training clothes. There was tight pair of breeches and a matching ebony colored top. No frills or ruffles, hardly distinguishable as female save that the cut was perfect to her body. She slid her stocking feet into knee high black boots and looked at herself in the mirror. Reaching for the brush, she made her hair shine before she easily and swiftly plated it down her back. Some told her the tail of the braid was an easy handle for someone to grasp hold of. But she had learned long ago that the makeshift whip was also a useful tool in close quarters. Leaving it free to sway against her back, she then went to the hook on the back of her door.
There the midnight colored cloak hung. It was perfect with hardly a notice of its seems without looking closely. The edging was chased in fine silver needlework she had done herself. A hodge-podge of characters and symbols made of the eclectic design. They had all come from books she had read or glanced thru in the library. Words of protection, safety, stealth, secrecy, warding, healing, even some symbols from tombs so ancient she couldn't read them. But they had flowed well enough in the pattern. While the design full chased over the edging of the hood, it only ran halfway down both sides of the cloak's opening. There was room to grow, to learn...
Draping it about her shoulders, she turned once more to the desk. Reaching for the small dagger there she had procured, she slid it into the special sheath inside the right boot on the inside of her leg. It fit perfectly, having been mated to its home against her inner thigh. Swift accessibility for a quick draw, but undetectable from anyone scanning for weapons along the usual outside line of her body.
Then the final piece of the masquerade....
She moved once more to the wardrobe and the silver chased black velvet box that sat almost in obscurity above it. Reaching up she pulled down the treasure box and opened it on the bed. Inside, nestled in matching colored velvet, was her mask. She tucked it under her arm and headed for the hall. She made no move to hide her rush, but was silent none the less. Her mind raced, but she tried desperately to keep the focus on a blank wall. No point in yelling as she had done her first morning in these corridors.
She rounded the corner and entered the Hall of Annunciation without even lingering to be sure she was welcomed. She had been told to come in and lock the doors. Stepping inside, she closed first the left, then the right right and dropped down the short bar that sealed them in. Tossing one corner of her robe over her shoulder, she held her mask like an officer cradling a dress uniform cap and moved towards the center of the room. Her soft boots thudded on the marble floor and she took in every design and layout detail. From chairs to tables, from windows to columns. She tried to guess where the secret door was that would admit her mentor in some glamorous entrance meant to raise and inspire awe and set her off guard. “Not likely,” she grinned and whispered to the empty room. She strained her ears for the slightest sound that would betray the opening of that elusive secret door.
***
05-16-2011, 10:30 PM Invictus
The Hall of Annunciation was a cathedral without pews. Vaulted ceilings dripping with stalactites of fine Kadrillian crystals that glowed with a prismatic rainbow of light. Upon the walls, an illustrated retelling of the myths of the planet bled in impressionist oils from the plaster.
Crescendo's shimmering twin stared up at her from the polished marble floors. The rest of the hall was as empty as a looted tomb and twice as silent.
But there was more to the silence than the absence of sound. There was a complete absence of any presence whatsoever. The room was perfectly still, even the Force seemed as calm as the unbroken surface of a pool.
And so it remained as seconds passed into minutes and minutes passed into nearly an hour.
Finally, a voice broke the silence. A baritone that seemed to resonate from every curve, from every rafter, from every wall and then no where at all.
"What is it you desire?"
***
05-17-2011, 12:47 AM Nisa
As curious eyes looked around, she noticed the calm within the closed arena. It settled something deep inside her she didn't even know was in turmoil. Her voice, softer and more melodious than one would expect to come from her, began to rise as a nameless tune that soon became a mumbling and after a moment more a soft song was falling from her lips as if inspired by what was around her.
“Glittering painted gardens... pale and dark pillars of stone.... reflections of nameless faces... round and round they go... Story board pictures painted on walls... beautiful crystals bedecking the halls... light plays like phantoms calling to me... And still my mind wanders... where can he be....”
She seemed about to sing another verse when the voice echoed in the silence between thoughts of more stanzas.
“What is it you desire?” The rich, deep, clear staccato filled the hall as if from nowhere and everywhere all at once.
Nisa had been dragging her ebony clad foot across the floor beneath her, watching the reflected self mirror the motions when it rang thru her ears.
Her head rose slightly startled. For the first time she took notice of the light in the room. Time had passed. It was hard to tell how much, but she knew it had been close to a candlemark. Even without light leading her senses, she would know. Even her mother had mentioned she had an uncanny grasp on time and its flow.
Her mother... the thought flitted a moment longer than necessary... No, the woman had not been her true mother...
But that was a thought for another day. She repositioned the mask in her arm and looked for the location of the voice, though something inside her said it was a pointless mission till the speaker wished to be found. She didn't have to think of the answer. It was there, ever present in her mind... ever present in her thoughts. She had whispered it to the roses in the garden, spoken of it to her new friend Dreks... had even hinted at it to Lord Haemon when she had met him. She had no reason to reconsider that single thought... she merely spoke it...
“Purpose...”
Once the word left her lips, bidden to the audible level by someone who truly wished to know, something within her snapped into place. The first step, admitting she wanted to start the journey, had been taken. She knew now, no matter what else happened... she would no longer be alone. For even if these people suddenly turned her out tomorrow, she knew what she wanted and would find it one way or another....
***
05-17-2011, 08:52 PM Invictus
Silence returned to the hall for a moment before the voice replied.
"Purpose requires power. To give you one, you must learn to unlock the other."
Suddenly the Neophyte felt a buzzing in her head and pressure filling her skull.
First you must learn how to call upon your gift. Close your eyes and focus on your most painful memory...
The voice was only in her head. Her ears felt not even the slightest vibration. However, even if there had been a sound, her mind would have never been able to sense it over the deafening roar of the mental voice within her psyche.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Feb 13, 2015 7:24:43 GMT
05-17-2011, 09:26 PM Nisa
Nisa nodded and looked around trying to discern where the thought voice was coming from. Speaking out loud, unsure how else to reply, her voice rose in desire and cracked on near desperation. “Then help me... show m...”
Her final word was cut off as the buzz began. At first she thought her ears were ringing. But the buzzing grew and it was as if something in her skull was trying to break free. She shook her head once trying to clear it. One hand rose then to press on her temple as her eyes narrowed in concern. When it became too much, the words only added to it...
First you must learn how to call upon your gift. Closer your eyes and focus on your most painful memory...
Metal grating... the voice sounded like metal grating...
As she struggled the urge to go to her knees, her body shook. Releasing her mask and grasping her skull, she never heard the plas face bounce and settle at her feet, hollow, nothing eyes staring up at the troubled girl.
Grating metal... like....
An image of a transport, her parents in front, her brother at her side in the back. He was teasing her again about... something. Then the sound... metal grating on metal and screams. Tears welled from her eyes as she felt her knees begin to give way. The scream was her brother's... Arbenies...
As the thought began to overwhelm her, she realized it had been several weeks since the accident, not mere moments as the sound in her head had caused her to relive. Once that realization clicked into place, she realized that meant the metal grating sound couldn't be real. Gritting her teeth she rose and slowly imagined a shell within her mind, growing and growing as it pressed the sound away from her thoughts and out of her head.
Several moments, probably near half a candle mark later, she was standing in the middle of the room, fists balled at her side, tears on her cheeks and turning in a circle like a lost child seeking a missing parent. “Why... tell me!” The final words screamed with mind and vocal cords as her own mind suddenly wished to cause pain. She put not the grating of metal behind her words, but the needle sharp pain of being stabbed with that same metal. She wanted him to feel some of the pain he had conjoured to her thoughts.
It had not been pretty, but it had worked. The mind now presented to the faceless voice would be one of sharp clarity and concrete determination. Her body still shook slightly with the effort to maintain it, but it was a start.
***
05-17-2011, 10:31 PM Invictus
The Dark Side demands its pound of flesh...
The buzz passed much more quickly this time. Suddenly the windows and chandeliers rattled violently. The earth trembled and shuddered.
"This is what you get in return."
Silence returned again until the voice returned to Niesara's mind.
Continue to focus on your loss, until the pain is all you feel. Do not question why...
***
05-17-2011, 11:11 PM Nisa
She did as she was told though staggered slightly as the whole Hall shook.
“Yes, Teacher...” She whispered half under her breath. The respect was there, she just didn't want him to hear it. Not thinking that her thoughts were heard, thusly he would hear that as well.
She closed her eyes tight and breathed thru the pain. She remembered seeing him lieing dead in her arms. Then waking in the hospital and being told it wasn't a dream, she was alone.
When she opened her eyes a few heartbeats later, the pain filled her so completely that the tears flowed without hindrance and her mind was flooded with it as if it were some tangible thing. She turned slowly to let the person see and feel what she felt. She opened herself completely and hoped to hear more. Surely there was more to her new life than reliving this moment over and over again. If there wasn't...
… she ignored the rest of the thought and focused once more till her breathing slowed and only pain remained. Even her fists relaxed as she relegated herself to the helplessness of it all.
***
05-18-2011, 11:08 PM Invictus
Now, remain focused on the pain and only the pain. Clear your mind of the memories, but hold on to the pain...
The voice no longer was overwhelming her mind as she began to sharpen her mental senses. The ability to focus all her attention on a single emotion would give her the wedge she needed to break through the barrier between the Force and her psyche.
***
05-19-2011, 08:36 PM Nisa
Nisa closed her eyes and clenched her fists a moment more. Then after a couple deep breaths she was able to sort pain emotion from memory emotion. One by one she envisioned the memories being peeled away and the pain being the only thing left behind.
Every time she got close, the final layer was her brother... here she would falter. Grinding her teeth she tried again.
On the third try, she unclenched her fists as she made a realization. Stop removing the easy ones first, remove the hard ones. She removed the image of her brother first, then her parents. After that she went down the list... the wreck, the hospital notification, and the emptiness. It surprised her that the feeling of being all alone in the Universe was the easiest to deal with.
It was some time, perhaps nearly three quarters of an hour, but she finally opened her eyes and the darkness there was more alive. It was as if she held a ball of electricity within her. A small leer of a smile touched her lips as she breathed in and felt the energy course thru her. “Does it always feel like this? Like there is an 'aliveness' to the senses that wasn't there before?” She asked the disembodied voice.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Feb 13, 2015 7:28:25 GMT
05-19-2011, 09:22 PM Invictus
"Yes," The voice said, as if it were right behind her.
It wasn't. A presence moved through the hall. Something, someone, was clearly close, but the Neophyte's eyes couldn't detect whatever it was.
What you feel is the Dark Side, the buzz is the maelstrom of emotion that surrounds it. You are at the precipice, you can sense its power, now you must immerse yourself...
Suddenly, the presence disappeared from her physical senses. But the electric chill she was experience was amplified.
"You must open your mind fully to this feeling now. Allow your pain to flow out and this feeling to take its place."
***
05-19-2011, 09:53 PM Nisa
Nisa felt herself open up from the inside out and slowly energy began to become almost a visible thing. She felt the difference of the air around her and she took in her surroundings as if for the first time. The stalactites at the top of the hall pulsated with a different energy than the marble pillars. And she could see the lines between walls and floors.
Slowly she turned in a circle and took in the room and the flow of what was around her. As she glanced over the spot where her mentor was standing, she initially passed right by him. Then something caught her eye. “I....” She tilted her eyes and opened her eyes a bit wider. Something wasn't right. She could see a ripple, like a stone thrown in water and the ripples permanently frozen on a vertical surface.
“Something isn't right....” she murmured, unaware it was as audible as it was mental. She never moved, but she raised her hand slightly and reached towards the difference. Taking a deep breath she tried to see past the ripple... but nothing happened.
***
05-19-2011, 10:42 PM Invictus
The illusion fell away and there standing, clear as day, was a large figure in a grey robe, with a smooth durasteel mask cover the features of his face.
"Well done, Crescendo." The figure said with a bow. "I am Lord Invictus. Your master thinks highly enough of you to ask me to help you, that speaks bounds for your potential."
Invictus stepped forward.
"You have learned the basics of Force Sense, how to tap into your power and use it to feel out those around you. What we will learn next will require even greater concentration. Refocus your mind."
***
05-19-2011, 11:00 PM Nisa
A small sound akin to a squeak escaped her crimson lips as the man appeared. She watched with ebon orbs, the color indiscernible beneath her equally dark hood, as the metallic masked man approached. She noticed that not only was he masked but that his steps did not echo as harshly as her own clodding about had earlier. Realization suddenly hit as she saw his mask for the beauty that it was. Without a sound, a question, or, had he listened, a thought, she ducked an obedient head and lifted the mask swiftly from the floor. A moment later her dark eyes and hair were completely masked behind the black identity she had chosen as her own moniker.
As he spoke, her mind was not even close to shielded as thoughts became a maelstrom within her head. Master... Potential... Had Lord Jasik spoken to this man about her potential? Was bending cups to so much grotesqueness and withering roses to ask a 'potential' divining rod? She had a moment of fear at what her true power and potential would be one day. Then as swiftly as he crossed those few steps to her vicinity she blanked her mind and embraced the emotion of pain and loss that had served her well thus far.
Taking one final breath, she looked Invictus in his eyes as he came towards her and settled her mind on the feel of the power within her and gazed up and down her new teacher as she committed his 'pattern' to memory. She doubted he would be able to hide again from her so easily... she hoped.
As he got close enough to her, she spoke aloud and inclined her head in a show of respect. “I learn from a good instructor. Thank you for the lesson and I hope I continue to learn as swiftly the other lessons you place before me.” As she finished speaking, she was settled enough in mind and body to be ready for nearly anything he had in mind.
… She hoped...
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Feb 13, 2015 7:33:59 GMT
05-20-2011, 11:58 PM Invictus
"The basics of Force Sense are simple. Learn how to tap into your connection to the Dark Side and then immerse yourself in its power. Once you've down that, all things that are connected to the Force will be accessible to you," The Arbiter said calmly. "This is why you could see me, because I was only using the Force to bend your perception, I was not bending your perception of the Force as well, which in time, you'll learn how to defend against as well."
Invictus motioned for her to take a seat on the hard marble floor and joined her as she did.
"With Force Sense, you'll be able to penetrate minds, read thoughts, perceive the future in ways you can only imagine. The first step, however, is to detect emotions, to be able to sense a person's feelings. It seems a little thing, but with proper observation and this knowledge, you gain an edge over one who can not penetrate the walls people build around their thoughts."
Invictus took a deep calming breath and then continued.
"To sense an emotion, you must channel your connection with the Force toward the object you are trying to read. We'll start with me, tonight, in time you should attempt this on non-Force users in your day-to-day life. Once you've emerged yourself in the Force and sought me out, begin to open yourself to the emotions that swirl from me," The Arbiter instructed. "At first, you'll only sense the powerful emotion of anger or rage, that fuels my connection to the Dark Side, but with time, you'll be able to separate those feelings from the more subtle ones that are interwoven."
***
05-22-2011, 02:12 AM Nisa
Nisa nodded and tried to focus on Invictus. As she watched his aura, something inside her opened up. She gasped and stood up taller, as if she had been hit by a large gust of wind. “What....” She clenched her fists and grit her teeth. She felt herself still, the power of her own pain and anger. But she felt something more. Like an amplification of those emotions plus rage.
She exhaled and shook her head as if trying to clear it. “I … I sense my pain. But I can also feel your rage... I... I can't tell them apart.” She shook her head again, closing her eyes then opening them as if trying to separate the emotions like images. His aura, so powerful, so strong. She looked down at her own hands. They paled in comparison. Looking back at him she took one step closer then paused.
Stepping back two paces she shook her head again as if in defeat. “I don't understand. It's just emotions. I mean, I can tell where you are. The aura, it's so powerful. But I can't tell what it is made from. I mean.... I know it's more than pure rage. It has to be... right? But,” she growled like a lioness unable to see the prey she senses is there. “But I can't separate it.” She stopped looking at him and moved her gaze to his eyes. “How do I calm what's in me and tell what is in you without sacrificing my abilities?” She doubted the words made sense. But the overload to her senses was something she hadn't been prepared for. It was taking all she had just to keep her knees from shaking from the effort of trying to sort her own emotions from his... and then to break his down even further.
And it didn't help that as she grew frustrated, so did her embarrassment, and pain and therefore the difficulty seemed to grow exponentially
***
05-22-2011, 05:59 PM Invictus
"Embrace the frustration," Invictus said sternly. "Allow it to replace the pain."
Invictus paced around the young woman. Remaining silent for a few moments.
"Frustration simmers. It burns slow, always ready to flame up as rage or anger, the emotions that grant the greatest power. With this power, accept the rage you feel from me and set it aside. The emotions attached will begin to peel away. Revealing them to you."
***
05-22-2011, 11:10 PM Nisa
Niesara felt the difference of her pain and his rage. She coiled her mind around the pain and made his rage a physical block she could push away. As she stood seeming to do nothing more than stare, she managed to imagine her simmering power like a light barely lit. A fire ready to blaze at the first real hint of oxygen. Once she had those images fixed, it seemed forever, she looked to the 'block' of emotions that she had come to realize was Invictus.
She inhaled and exhaled slowly, fists clenching and unclenching as she tried to discern.... Something.
"Colors..." She murmured as if to herself but not from herself. "I wonder...." Tilting her head slightly she began to smile. Each emotion had a 'hue'... a color. She tried to relax and feed her fire of power as a way to light up Invictus' emotions so she could see them all.
As her flame roared to life, its Force Sense grew till she could discern several colors of emotions swirling around her mentor. "I can see them." Her voice seemed almost disconnected, unbelieving. Her eyes shifted focus slightly and she looked him in the face directly for the first time in nearly an hour. "Is it always like that? Seeing multitudes of emotions in a single moment? How can so many emotions occur and be used as power at once?"
***
05-24-2011, 02:07 PM Invictus
"We each see the Force in different ways. For it may be color," Invictus replied. "Tell me what is the dominant color you see?"
***
05-24-2011, 04:42 PM Nisa
She tilted her head this way and that, almost like a predator trying to discern if the prey was going to be a threat or not. After a moment she spoke, but it was low. She opened her mind to him hopeing that the connection was still there. "I see blue... mostly blue... but red and black, too. It's hard to tell them apart." To herself, though he would probably hear, Like an incandescent malaestrom.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Feb 13, 2015 7:39:31 GMT
05-25-2011, 08:38 AM Invictus
The Arbiter was in tune with his own emotions and new which ones were flowing into the Force. It was interesting to hear her talk about seeing the Force in colors. He had never experienced that before with any student he'd taught.
"Blue then is ambition. My ambition fuels my frustration, which in turn fuels my anger. Black would then signify frustration, as it burns under the surface, ready to ignite into anger at my whim."
Invictus then focused on his dreams of a Pax Galactica and allowed hope to spill out.
"Tell me, what do my emotions look like now?"
***
05-26-2011, 12:27 AM Nisa
Nisa smiled as she watched the ebb and flow of his aura. It was like a shuffling of cards, or a dance of several choreographed people. Each one tied in some way to the other, but each gaining the upper hand at the whim of the composer, Invictus.
“I see the same colors as before, but this time I also see a lighter hue. Something more akin to a deep yellow, almost golden....” She tried to use the reasoning of his other colors and emotions to figure it out. Smiling she refocused her eyes and looked back at him. “Hope... you yearn and hope for something?”
She was panting slightly from the exertion but was feeling not a bit tired. Her fists were clenched tight in response to the concentration. As she relaxed her 'vision' she felt her fingers begin to ache from the tightness as they uncurled. She flexed her digits a moment then tried to reason it out loud. “So you can draw on the emotion foremost in your mind, then upgrade and gain power by sliding to darker emotions. Hope for something could leave you blind to an attack. But as it happens, you can feel despair at the hope fleeing, then anger at it being taken from you, then rage as you draw deep on the Force to call your power to you. Is that right? Even if the thought process isn't true, it will lead to the next logically dark emotion.”
She paced a bit as she thought it out and upon finishing paused in her place back before her Mentor.
***
05-27-2011, 08:51 AM Invictus
"Exactly," Invictus replied.
He then removed his mask, showing his stoic black face and fierce green eyes.
"Well done Niesara," He said breaking into a bright smile. "You've learned the basics of Force sense and how to read emotions. It's a power that will, with time, allow you to attack your opponents mind and even manipulate people into seeing, hearing, or feeling things that are not there."
Invictus waived his hand and the Force elevated a pair of chairs from the corner and brought them to he and Niesara. He took a seat and motioned for her to do the same.
"You've also learned an important lesson about how you can keep the Dark Side close, without letting it consume you. All emotions can bring calm or rage if you know how to manipulate them within yourself. Practice this, you do not want to tap into your pain all the time or you will pay a price for it."
***
05-29-2011, 01:38 PM Nisa
Niesara's face lit up as she watched him bring the chairs to their location without any obvious effort. 'I want to learn to do that' she thought to herself as she sat down after he did. Nisa slid her mask off and laid it in her lap. Absently playing with the leather ties, she listened as Invictus spoke of the Force and its power. “You say using pain will have a cost... so what is a better emotion to draw on? I know the Jedi use good emotions, but I just don't have that many to draw from. Is it better to use something darker and back off from it? Or something brighter and turn it darker?”
She sat in the chair almost ramrod straight as if to slouch or relax would insult the guidance she was receiving. She wanted her teacher to know that everything he was saying was connecting. She would practice, fanatically if she must, to prove herself worthy of the praise Invictus and the Prince had hinted at. “And you said I should practice reading emotions in others. But how do I know if I am reading them right without asking them? Or is that the point? To match what I already know with what I see?” She glanced down at her charcoal mask and continued to reason it out as if thinking out loud. “So if I know that an aura of calm is one sight, and yet the person speaks of calm, but doesn't feel that way, then they are lieing. Like knowing what truth looks like,” she looked up smiling with hopes that she had found out something elusive, “and realizing that what is spoken and what is seen are not the same. So I would learn who is hiding behind words and when someone is out right lieing?” She hoped with all her might that the reasoning in her mind was true to the teachings. She knew that people lied, all the time. She also knew that sometimes she could tell when they were lieing. Now she understood that something deep inside her was always seeing the Force and just not understanding what it saw.
***
06-01-2011, 10:36 PM Invictus
"Any emotion that is used to call upon the dark side has a price, but that price comes with a powerful reward. The Dark Side gives you an intense connection to the Force that is unmatched by few Jedi, yet the longer you stay connected the more it feeds from you," Invictus replied.
He rubbed his temples slowly, massaging away the headache that was forming. He could feel the lines begin to form at his eyes from the stress of using the Dark Side. Soon it would be time to take another Kolto Bath.
"Being able to know when your opponent is lying and when they are telling the truth is a powerful weapon. You can use it to lay traps for them, layered deeply so that they'll never perceive it until you've sprung the trigger. In this way, you will learn to defeat your opponent without ever fighting them."
Invictus smiled. He reached out his right hand and levitated a small metal coin from his hand.
"Tell me Niesara, can you see the Force at play. Not the physical manifestation, but the actual Force?"
***
06-09-2011, 11:43 PM Nisa
Nisa tilted her head as she saw the coin levitate. “It is almost like magnetic lines. Like from primary learning. Though it acts like magnetic lines, it 'looks' more like water. I can see it flow from the chairs, the marble flooring, even from you and me...” She looked back up at him. “You can draw the Force from those around you as well? And I didn't even know. How can you do that?” She watched as part of her own aura, a slight part though it was, seemed to flow with the rest. The energy around her all seemed to co-mingle so sometimes it was hard to tell where one entity's power began and another one ended. She absently reached her hand out and watched the play of her own controlled Force as she tried to move the coin just ahead of her physical finger. She bit her lip absently as she concentrated trying to make the water like material solidify a bit more and push at the coin.
She didn't realize her thoughts were audible to him as she concentrated. “He works too hard. Perhaps teaching me isn't what he needs to be doing... I should not be a bother... Wish I could help... wish I was more powerful....” her mind laughed softly, “wish I was a lot of things.”
As she pulled back she looked at him. “I will work on it. I promise. If we need to stop today we can. I mean, I can practice...” she really wasn't sure what she would practice, but she would manage something. “If you need to go....” As she looked at him, her mind reached for his wanting to soothe it. She had no idea that the 'push' was possible... much less untrained. “I don't want to be a bother...”
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Feb 13, 2015 7:53:45 GMT
06-15-2011, 09:48 AM Invictus
"You get ahead of yourself student," Invictus laughed. "This is a mere parlor trick and is not the source of my strain. Do not trouble yourself with my problems, when you are ready you will understand them just as I do."
Invictus then levitated Niesara's seat and her with it, floating the pair across the room.
"The Force flows through all things and into all things. To say I draw the Force from others is to misunderstand the Force. I could do nothing with you using the Force if it was not a part of you, in essence all creation is a manifestation of the Force and therefore when any of us draw upon its power, we are drawing from the essence of all things."
He lowered her to the ground.
"Now tell me, Niesara, what have you learned today?"
***
06-17-2011, 09:20 PM Nisa
Nisa gripped the side of her seat as it rose from the floor. As she listened, she watched the Force flow around her, the chair, the room. It was indeed something he merely directed. Not so much as drew from. As he settled her back down, she watched the spike in pain at his temple. When he asked what she had learned, she tilted her head slightly and watched the color of pain play along the edge of his temple... something...
“I have learned I need to find you a chrono keeper for one. You left me waiting nearly a full hour.” She laughed as she spoke then grew more solemn. “Seriously, I learned there is an energy to all things, including ourselves, that can be drawn upon, manipulated and used to accomplish things that perhaps man made contraptions cannot. Or at least in a more timely and precise manner than it can be otherwise.” She tilted her head the other way as his headache seemed to spark something in her. “And I learned that auras have meaning. They can tell the emotions someone is most involved in and can therefor manipulate the situation to alter that or...” she reached a hand towards him slowly, “in some cases...” she moved her gaze from his eyes to his temple and set her index finger right on the spot that pained him, “can tell you where someone is perhaps a bit weaker than elsewhere.” She then locked eyes with him and withdrew swiftly. “I can tell with pinpoint accuracy where the pain in your temple is, Invictus. Something tells me if I pressed with just enough Force, the outcome would not be pleasant. It is like a small dark spot, almost black like rage, but a deeper red like anguish multiplied.” She glanced to his temple once more then back to him. “I won't press... but something tells me if I used that knowledge in a fight, I would be able to use a small pain spot to amplify an enemy's pain and make it detrimental.”
She watched his reaction. Something told her she had discovered something either not many had, or perhaps no one had thought to use as advantage. She hoped it wasn't a wrong assumption. She would have to try it sometime. But here, on him, was not that time.
Then she had an idea. Standing up, she looked at him dead in the eyes with a sudden seriousness she hadn't had a moment ago. “Invictus, may I try something please? Will you pinch your hand and make a small spot that hurts. Not severely, but just enough to catch your attention.” She bit her lip. If this worked, something told her she had maybe found why she had become a Dark Jedi student.
***
06-17-2011, 09:44 PM Invictus
Invictus locked eyes with Niesara. His charcoal orbs seemed to come alive with hate, simmering red around the edges. His face was still stoic and stony. Without any hint of what was coming, Niesara felt steel tendrils begin to wrap tightly around her neck. As the invisible noose tightened, Invictus spoke slowly and lowly.
"You see shatterpoints? Interesting. You would be wise to never mention this talent to any you don't trust implicitly with your life."
He released her from the hold. He then put his left hand before her and stretched his fingers. He reached his right hand down and took a pinch of skin between his forefinger and thumb and squeezed until he felt a sharp prick.
"Is this adequate apprentice?"
***
06-17-2011, 10:00 PM Nisa
She had been smiling one moment and the next her hands flew to her own throat and clawed at invisible bonds. When he mentioned that no one else should know, she managed a wide eyed panicked nod. As he released her, she coughed and fell on her backside into her chair once more.
She bit her lip and fought back the tears. She hadn't realized that in discovering something like that, the reaction would be as it had. She had thought he may be impressed, or at worst, tell her it was a basic every Jedi knew, and therefore be nonplussed by it.
But this... his actual reaction, she hadn't been prepared for. Her mind reeled suddenly at what she had discovered.
“Is this adequate, apprentice?” he spoke as he pinched himself.
She knew the pain was minimal, it was his own doing of course. But none the less, she saw the anger rage within the Force at the site of the pinch and she tentatively reached towards the site and watched the Force move around her hand like water. When she was just over the dark coloring, she bit her lip to concentrate and tried to force more rage from herself into him. If it worked, the pain would amplify. She wanted to see if she could make more pain from less.
When the colors failed to change more than a tint, she frowned. Maybe she was scared. She knew she didn't truly want to harm him, so maybe that was it.
She withdrew her hand swiftly and clasped them almost white knuckled tight in her lap. She didn't look back up at him. “I am sorry... I guess I was wrong, Master.” She swallowed hard and looked back up at him with almost defiant courage in her eyes. “I will not fail you again. I will study as I am told and reveal nothing more.” She had mistaken her discovery as something good. She now felt what she had learned was either grotesquely wrong, or something she wasn't supposed to know. After a brief moment to show her defiance and resolve, that strength started to melt, so she swiftly looked back at her hands. “How could you have been so stupid, Nisa? Shut your mouth and learn your lessons.” She mentally berated herself, forgetting he would hear her. She had failed. The idea was there. The concept had seemed sound. But the execution... she resolved to learn her lessons and excel to make him proud of her once more...
… make him forget this moment of failing.
***
06-17-2011, 10:19 PM Invictus
"There is nothing wrong in your failure," Invictus said calmly. "Shatterpoints are a rare and powerful gift, that gives you the ability to strike where your enemy is weakest, only the truly unique have this gift. But if your enemy knows you have this talent they can use it to crush you by making their strength appear as weakness and deceive you into making yourself vulnerable."
He laughed as he felt the pinched spot tremble as she tried her best to affect it.
"Very good Niesara, it shows a great understanding of how the Force works, it just takes time to untap your talents to their fullest."
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Feb 13, 2015 7:56:05 GMT
06-17-2011, 10:51 PM Nisa
Nisa looked up as he spoke. He had been proud of her? But...
“I understand. And I will remember that. So there is a truth then, to what I discovered I mean. I had thought, well because I couldn't do it, that maybe I was wrong in my thinking.” She looked up and managed the barest of smiles. “I guess I assume because it 'can' be done, that I can do it. I will practice.” She nodded and looked properly chastised. “I have learned that while all knowledge is power, some power can be crudely turned against you.” She smiled a bit warmer than and added as she nodded to him respectfully, “And that when I am strong enough you won't have any more headaches if I can help it.” She laughed softly though there was still a shudder and restraint to her that wasn't there earlier in the lessons.
“Invictus, may I ask you... when I mentioned I could see the Force, the colors, the manipulation of it, you seemed overly surprised. Is it not how every Jedi sees the Force? I mean, I had thought that this was how it always was, with everyone.” She hadn't understood his reaction back then, what seemed days ago, but had been merely hours. She had thought him not impressed she had taken so long to realize it. But in the past few moments, she had begun to doubt that her sight was something to simply brush aside as a commonality. "I guess what I am asking is should I keep that ability a secret, for the most part, as well?"
***
06-18-2011, 09:35 AM Invictus
Invictus laughed at the student's concern for his headache. He had sought the same connection and approval of a master when he was beginning as well, before realizing that Masters were the failed Gods that the new generation were to surpass and brush aside.
"By the time you can help," Invictus said with a chuckle. "You'll have your own headaches."
He rose and motioned for her to do the same. As they paced through the hall, Invictus answered he r other questions.
"It is unusual, yes, but all see the Force in a different way. I see the Force as cords, bunched together like a rope. The stronger the connection, the greater number of cords I see. I learned with time that emotions and thoughts create a different amount of cords. And I learned how to control these cords without snapping them." Invictus then stopped and put a large hand on Niesara's shoulder. "You should keep as much of your powers secret as possible Niesara. Your enemies are all around, and the less anyone knows of you the less they will have to use against you. Do you understand?"
***
10-14-2011, 12:23 AM Nisa
Nisa nodded as he spoke and even laughed at the mention of her own headaches. But when he paused and placed a hand on her should, telling her to keep her gifts and realizations a secret, she looked solemnly at him and nodded with sincerity. “I will remember, Master. Tell me please... how do I practice? Besides studying others and matching emotions, to Force Sense to words and actions?”
She wanted to learn, to grow, to better herself... she wanted to be the best. But the only thing she had realized is that her knowledge base was far surpassing her abilities. She had learned bits and pieces that would put her far ahead of the curve as far as techniques went, she still hadn't masters the ability part of the Force.
|
|