The crash was intense. The ship was sucked in by the planet's gravity, the engines too weak to control the descent. Liao and Master Ei both clung to handles above the pilot and copilot seats as the ship shook and plummeted through the atmosphere. Liao was faintly aware that it was snowing, right before they hit the ground.
The cold wrapped around him like a blanket. Liao looked around the cockpit. It was wrecked, the droid runaway destroyed. There was no sign of Master EI. Liao crawled, coughing hard, out of the crashed cargo ship. Smoke covered the area, rising up while the snow fell down. Red leafed, snow covered trees pressed in all around him, shadowing the crash.
Once he was away from the wreckage, he called out. "Master! Master Ei! Are you out here?" Weakly, Liao stood. His legs shook from the strain. He tried to toggle his communicator but it was busted. Overhead, the sky became overcast and twin suns were blocked out by storm clouds. Icy snow whipped at his face as he walked forward, legs aching. A set of tracks went into the forests, through the red trees. He followed it.
But soon, Liao was cold. Too cold. His ribs felt frozen, like he had icicles for bones. He wandered deeper and deeper into the forest of Kiirakaar, searching the Force for hope. But here, among the wastes of the planet, the Force seemed distant, untouchable. Liao didn't like feeling so… disconnected. It made the cold harder to ignore.
He also began to worry for Master Ei. The Kel Dor man could take care of himself, Liao knew. He had taught Liao everything he knew, made him the Jedi he was. But to think of him alone, in the storm without even the Force to guide him? Liao quickened his steps.
But the further he went, the more obscured the trail became by snow and foliage. Eventually, there was no sign of Master Ei, not even on the whispering wind of Kiirikaar. As Liao grew colder, he began to worry for himself as much as Master Ei. He needed to find shelter, something more substantial then the red leafed trees.
There was a mountain nearby, a towering thing of black rock that screamed forebodence to Liao. But it would likely have caves, some crevice for him to hunker in. He headed that way, hunching his shoulders against the assaulting blizzard. Nearer and nearer the mountain grew, until he had to look straight up to see the sky. He walked along its base, searching for any cave he could find. It took him upwards, a walk of deep, pervading cold. Finally, he found a cave. His entire body either ached or was numb to all feeling.
Inside, he found something akin to warmth. He sat down, slumping against the cave wall and breathing out a foggy breath. He pulled out the cube he'd gotten from the droid, holding it in his hand. It was translucent, showing a faint, pulsing glow from within. He turned it over in his hands, searching for an activator. Finally, he thought of the Force.
Liao sat up, crossing his legs. He closed his eyes against the dark dryness of the cave and began to clear his mind, focussing singularly on the cube. The Force, so far away, came to him slowly, finally. He embraced its peace and channelled its divine focus. The cube clicked and slid, turning into a shape like a stylized star. It projected a hologram of man, cloaked and hooded, speaking to a crowd of shadowed individuals.
"Brothers, sisters. Are you not tired of the oppression? Of the heavy weight of the Codes on your backs at all time? No love, no passion, no attachment. Are we to live our lives without any fulfillment?" The crowd cheered the man on. "Let it be now, now that we turn the tide. A change is coming to this Order, a change like never before. We are the change." The figure turned, pointing at Liao. "Will you be part of the change?"
The hologram ended. Liao didn't know what to make of it. But he'd seen lightsabers on the belts of the figures in the hologram. Jedi? He didn't like the thought. Not with the way they were speaking of the Code. But then what, Sith? No, impossible.
A shadow passed by the cave entrance. Liao looked up to see the storm had lessened, snow falling gently now. Liao stood and walked slowly outside, looking to where the shadow had gone. He saw a fresh set of boot prints, leading out of the cave and back into the forest, away from the smoking crash site.
Again, he followed. Into the trees, amongst the white blanketed underbrush, deeper, and deeper. Then the forest turned into knotted, twisted trees. A clearing opened up before Liao, a gaping hole in the trees. At its center, an ancient, massive, twisted thing of a tree. It leaves were heavy and black, almost like rock.
"Welcome." A figure stepped out from behind a tree, a man. He removed his hood, revealing a purple skinned Twi'lek with golden eyes. "I've wanted to talk to you for some time."
"Who are you?" Liao opened his hand, pulling his lightsaber to it, thumb on the activator. "What are you doing in a place like this?"
"Meeting with you." The stranger approached, drawing his own lightsaber. It was black and the blade it emitted was red. He held it in both hands, in a defensive stance. Soresu Form. "I wanted to… get to know you, in a way. I find that dueling someone is a good way to take stock of them, to-"
Liao attacked. He knew all he needed to. His opponent was a Sith, using Soresu Form. He came in from the right Ataru Form. His attacks were like rapid water; fluid and swift. The Twi'lek blocked them all, deflecting them away with ease. Liao tried again and again; overhead, underhand, from the left, a kick, an elbow, a thrust. Nothing worked. The Twi'lek doged, paried, reposted.
Liao broke away, throwing his lightsaber. The Twi'lek ducked it, but as it flew over his opponent's head, Liao thrusted his hands out with the force. A wave rippled forth, disrupting the thick snow on the ground throwing it up like a mist, and slamming into the Twi'lek. The man was lifted off his feet and thrown into the ancient tree. But when the snow settled, he was gone.
Liao stood, staring at the tree. He approached slowly, cautiously. But there was nothing left but the imprint of a body. Then the snow crunched behind him.
He turned, lashing out. His lightsaber met with another, cracking against it. They exchanged more blows, the Twi'lek pushing him backwards towards the tree. With a groan, Liao kicked out, forcing the Twi'lek to retreat. With the Force, Liao jumped high, throwing snow into the air. He saw the Twi'lek cover his eyes, and came down hard on top of him, slashing fiercely.
The Force rose like a tidal wave, knocking Liao upwards. Then it fell like a hammer, smashing him into the ground. His lightsaber landed feet away. The Twi'lek approached. "I am disappointed. You show promise, especially with the Force, but you are not ready." He raised his crimson saber. "This is over."