Typhon

The orb of Typhon was a beautiful maelstrom of both the dark and light sides of the Force. Both sides existed in harmony, though the dark was in domination over the light. Just like Scourge was, but on a much grander scale. Xelina could feel an exhilarating electricity in the air, the type one felt right before a thunderstorm, as the Meditation Sphere's boarding ramp made contact with the grassy ground.

The clouds were dark, almost black, but there was sunlight burning through. It glinted off the side of a massive structure that vaguely resembled a destroyer droid. It had three legs supporting a round, central hub. Finger-like structures protruded from the tops of the legs, almost meeting above the hub.

"What you see, off in the distance, is the temple of Anil Kesh," Scourge explained. The Red Man took her hand, as though to lead her to this structure. "It used to belong to an order which existed long before the Jedi. They called themselves the Je'daii, and tried to find balance between the two sides of the Force. The Je'daii were so close to the truth, but they failed to recognize that the dark side is supreme, and allowed the light to blind them.

"Typhon was attacked by a race called the Rakata. They were powerful in the dark side, but had refused to accept that the light side had its own value. As a result they were defeated. Many of the Je'daii 'learned' to fear the dark side, and thus rejected it as evil. This is how the Jedi eventually came into being." Xelina could feel a profound sadness in this man's soul. It caused him such pain to see how lost an order of such promise had become.

"Their fear of the dark side has made the Jedi weak, unwilling to do what is necessary," Scourge continued. "To them it is a sin to impose their will on the galaxy, and so chaos reins. But the Sith, also, are lost. Like the Rakata, they do not understand that it is possible to use the light without becoming corrupted.

"Without the light, one cannot fully understand the concept of true unity. For so many years the Sith Order was at war with itself, and made nearly ineffectual due to petty infighting. They killed each other for the sake of advancement. They had all become fools!

"And as though they were not foolish enough, one of them instituted the Rule of Two. Darth Bane was his name, and he had fallen victim to the delusion that a single pair of Sith could run the galaxy. A single blasted pair! He was, in a sense, the bane of the Sith." He chuckled at his joke. "But about a century ago, I saw that they had begun to overcome this, when Darth Krayt instituted the One Sith. They discarded that detrimental Rule of Two. They had come to understand that many Sith were needed. And there was to be one master over all of them." Xelina had rarely heard, or felt, someone speak with such passion.

The conversation turned to less consequential things as they continued onward to Anil Kesh. Xelina soon began to feel a peculiar sort of interference. It grew ever stronger the closer the pair came. Her copper eyes widened in surprise when she saw that this ancient temple stood over an enormous hole in the ground. This was the source of the interference. "This is the Chasm," Scourge noted. "The Je'daii were so creative in naming things." Xelina was surprised to hear herself laughing.

"It seems like an awfully strange place for the Je'daii to build a temple," Xelina commented, as Scourge led her to the nearest foot of the Anil Kesh.

"The temple of Anil Kesh was largely devoted to the study of science. According to the logs I found, the Je'daii were studying the Chasm. Venturing into it was forbidden, because the interference you sense drove mad some of the people who went there. And oddly, the more powerful in the Force one is, the stronger the effect seems to be." The Red Man walked up to a pair of massive double doors and, after a surge of dark side energy, pushed them open.

Her mind feeling uncomfortably fuzzy, Xelina quietly followed Scourge into Anil Kesh. She found herself a bit surprised, as the two walked up a rather long series of stairs, by how many rooms seemed to be crammed into this 'leg' of the temple. "How many people lived in this place?"

Scourge shrugged. "I am not quit four thousand years old. Anil Kesh was constructed over thirty seven thousand years ago."

"It does feel quite ancient, now that you mention it," Xelina commented, as she and Scourge made it into the hub of the temple. Her red eyebrows furrowed upon finding that she could sense Scourge's presence in two places. He walked beside her, yet he also seemed to exist elsewhere in the temple. "Reach deeper,'" Scourge gently prompted, as the two approached a doorway.

Xelina did as instructed, and was puzzled to find that this other presence appeared to lack any sort of consciousness. The young woman's eyes widened in astonishment and mild horror as Scourge led her into the room. In the center sat... an amorphous mass of red flesh. Flaps of skin like those hanging from Scourge's chin adorned... whatever this thing was. A dozen or so red eyes moved about but gazed outward at nothing, as though they were blind. Whatever this strange thing was rested on several chitinous claws that appeared to be made out of a fingernail-like material. And there was something else attached to it. It resembled some sort of hand. Flesh stretched tightly over bone and tendons. Claws, like smaller versions of what this... creature rested upon, extended from six appendages. "What is that?" she asked, looking up at... her master.

"It is, in a sense, a part of me," Scourge responded. "I created it from my own flesh and bone. To what end I don't know. I learned of this sort of thing from the temple's archives. Many of the Je'daii had created things such as what you see before you. Though I highly doubt they managed to create anything quite like this. You find it disturbing."

"I do," the redhead confessed.

"As most people would. My many centuries of solitude have made me a bit... eccentric," Scourge explained.

Xelina walked over to the giant 'hand'. It was big enough for a person to stand in. She cautiously touched one of the fingers. And jumped back, somewhat startled, as it bent at one of its joints. She heard Scourge chuckling.

"That is called the Embrace of Pain," Scourge said.

Xelina frowned. "That sounds very unpleasant."

"For most beings it is, though it has no effect on me. I have experienced pain on the order of magnitudes worse than anything the Embrace can inflict."

Xelina had a sinking feeling inside, and nervously backed away from the creature. "You aren't going to make me use that thing, I hope."

"Make you? No. But I would recommend it."

"And what would be the purpose?" she asked slowly.

Scourge smiled somewhat dementedly. "The purpose would be to discover the purpose."

Xelina could not help but roll her eyes. She looked at Scourge's torture device and sighed.

"I will be there to comfort you after it is over," the Red Man promised.

"Alright," Xelina said nervously. She walked over to the Embrace of Pain, and stepped into the contraption. She put her arms above her head, allowing a chitinous claw to clamp down tightly upon each of her wrists. The four remaining claws closed around her upper and lower legs. The 'hand' suddenly flexed, arching her back to a very uncomfortable extent. It began pulling on her limbs. It was quite painful, but she had a very high... She suddenly screamed as the Embrace jerked violently. It tightened, and then jerked again. Xelina tried to grab hold of the Force, but encountered a seemingly impenetrable wall. She wanted to stop, but she didn't want to disappoint her master. She kept screaming, for what seemed like... a very long time.

The claws finally released Xelina. She tumbled forward, barely managing to catch herself on all fours, so that her head didn't slam into the floor. She fell onto her side, and started sobbing. She tried to sit up, but she was too weak. And so she just lay there, her light brown skin soaked with sweat.


Scourge found the sound of Xelina's screaming to be quite... disruptive. The Red Man was surprised at this; had all his time alone truly made him so easily distracted? He was a bit annoyed with himself for telling the girl that she didn't have to do this, and then manipulating her into doing just that. He was tempted to stop the Embrace's work and tell this young woman that she didn't have to endure this suffering. Because the screaming was so annoying. But no, she had to pass through this fire. She needed to learn the purpose of pain for herself. It just wouldn't be enough to simply hear it from someone else.

The screaming eventually stopped, and was replaced by sobbing. Scourge would have sighed with relief, had he remembered how to breathe, after hundreds of years of not doing it. The Red Man allowed his apprentice to sense him in the Force again, and rushed over to Xelina. "I'm so sorry," he said, putting a touch of guilt into his voice. "If you don't want to do this again-"

"I don't want to," Xelina interrupted. "But you recommended it, so it's important."


Xelina knew what to expect from the Embrace of Pain this time, and braced herself for it. She began to whimper as the cursed thing jerked back and forth. She bit down on her tongue, down on a scream which threatened to loose itself from her agony. Beads of sweat wept down from her pores. It stung her eyes, causing them to water.

Xelina tightened her teeth's grip on her tongue, and was about to start screaming when the Embrace let her go. She fell to her hands and knees. She tried to stand up, but she was too exhausted. Xelina settled for just sitting. She was starting to understand the purpose of this exercise; to endure pain. Alone, without the Force. Yet she knew there was more to it.

Scourge placed an arm around Xelina's shoulders, finding them damp with sweat. Damp? He'd seen the beads of sweat on her skin, so of course it would be damp. But no, that wasn't it. He experimentally stroked her hair; it was... soft. The Red Man could feel textures, and yet he did not feel the fires of hell slicing through his body.

This should not have been possible, and yet it was happening. It had to have something to do with Xelina. She was very attractive. But Scourge had been around attractive women after becoming immortal, and this had never happened. Perhaps he had some sort of infatuation with Xelina that he wasn't fully aware of? He was intrigued to find out what transpired as he spent more time with her. Scourge drew Xelina into his embrace, and kissed her sweat-soaked forehead. The girl already owed him her life, but to have true loyalty she needed to believe he loved her.


Xelina looked defiantly at her adversary, the Embrace of Pain. She stepped into it, and allowed it to clamp onto her. Xelina longed to be done with this Void vaping exercise. Longed to understand the point of it. It made her angry, and she wanted to fight back. As her pain increased, so did her rage. She screamed, feeding her rage into the Force. Breaking through that Force forsaken wall of interference. An unseen darkness fell upon her, filling her. It exploded from her fingertips as pink lightning. Xelina focused her anger upon the claws imprisoning her, and they were viciously torn open.

Xelina stumbled forward, but used the Force to steady herself. She turned, trembling a bit, to face her tormentor. She lifted her hands toward it, letting arcs of pink fire fall upon it. Xelina could see the red skin darkening, and could smell burning flesh. She clenched one of her fists; there was a cracking sound as bones broke, and the Embrace was crushed.

Xelina turned her attention to the rest of her master's creation. She forced herself to lower her hands; her rage had freed her, but she refused to be its slave. She felt Scourge approaching from behind, and found him with a rather proud smile on his face. "Through your rage and pain, you have gained strength. Through this strength, you have gained power. Through this power, you have gained victory. Through victory, your chains have been broken. The Force has set you free."