Jedi Councilor Lynn Hanis clutched the burning wound on her side; but she didn't show a sign of pain. She was tired because of all the fighting and that Sith assassin had caught her by surprise.
The assassin grinned and raised his lightsaber to land another blow. Lynn sensed that he underestimated her because of the lucky blow he got. She quickly parried the attack with her blue lightsaber and stabbed the assassin in the chest before he had the chance to raise his defense.
Lynn moaned in pain. The room was full with dead bodies of Sith assassins, and the bodies of her fellow jedi. It was a sudden assault which nobody expected.
She would meditate and heal her wound, but she thought that the enclave was no longer safe. She needed to get out of here immediately and warn the jedi temple in Coruscant about the attack.
The door opened and Lynn slipped out of her thoughts. A figure in white robes entered the chamber. He had long white hair and wore a gray solid mask on his face.
"So all your jedi friends are dead.", said the man; a cold voice devoid of emotion. The man was powerful with the dark side and Lynn could sense it. She raised her lightsaber and charged to the man.
The man in white activated his red lightsaber and started to parry all of the attacks the jedi landed on him without any effort, with one of his hands resting behind his back. Lynn kept attacking and tried to get an opening but there wasn't any.
The lightsabers got locked. Lynn used all of her strength the push the man, and the man still used one hand and showed no sign of effort. "This is getting boring.", said the man after a few seconds and Lynn screamed in pain as another lightsaber got activated through her stomach. She dropped to the ground and lost her grip on her lightsaber. The man walked to her with his two lightsabers in his hands.
"Even the councilors are this weak?", asked the man with slight amusement. "Wiping you from the galaxy will be much easier than I thought."
He struck her with the final blow which killed her.
---
"Wake up, boy."
Keelan realized he had fallen asleep through the cruise in hyperspace. The old man near him was Ben Chass, a jedi archeologist and Keelan has been traveling with him the last 3 years, exploring different ruins in different planets.
But all the ruins were the same for Keelan, he knew that archeology wasn't for him. Almost everyday in his last three years were full of boredom and Keelan cursed the day he asked his master Xen for a "quiet assignment which didn't involve any fighting."
"I just got a message from the jedi temple in Coruscant.", said the archeologist and Keelan started to pay attention, this looked like important. The man continued; "The Sith have recently taken direct action, attacking the Jedi Enclave in Corellia. Many Jedi were killed in the incident, as well as councilor Lynn Hanis. The council ordered all Jedi to return to the temple or enclaves to get new assignments."
The last sentence actually made Keelan feel good; he now would be able to get away from those damn ruins. But Ben continued; "But I told that I was on the way of a great exploration and got the permission to examine those ruins in Tatooine." He saw Keelan frowning with that sentence and said, "I know that you don't like it, kid; but these ruins are remnants of an old Sith academy and we may find something useful there."
Keelan didn't care a bit about the ruins or anything they would find there. He cursed as they got out of hyperspace and saw the desert planet in front of them. The small starship started to descend.
---
"I've got a bad feeling about this.", said Keelan as they saw the entrance to the ruins disguised between some rocks.
"It's normal that you get bad feelings, since this ruin was a place connected with the dark side.", explained the archeologist.
They entered the ruin and walked down some stairs. Then, they were surprised to find a circular chamber well lit by archaic torches on the walls.
"The flames can't stay lit for centuries.", said Keelan, studying the place. "Someone has been here recently."
"That's right, jedi." Keelan turned around to see Tessar with his lightsaber activated standing by the corpse of Ben. "Bastard!", he swore to the Sith as he activated his own lightsaber.
"Was he a friend of yours?", asked the twi'lek and laughed. His arms were replaced with mechanical ones but they didn't have synthetic flesh on them, the metal skeletons were covered with steel. "Too bad that he's dead now."
Keelan felt the rage growing inside him but he tried to resist it. The twi'lek leapt towards him and attacked, Keelan was quick to dodge the strike. His skills were slightly dulled the last years because of not getting used. But he felt that the skills returned as he parried the twi'lek's attacks. He was actually having fun while fighting.
Keelan blocked another attacked and started to get aggressive. The lightsabers started clashing more fiercely in an unpredictable pattern. He looked at the face of the twi'lek and saw that he was also having fun.
He realized that the twi'lek had improved himself in the last three years. The thought of defeat flashed up in his mind and his reaction time slowed. Tessar, who understood this, laughed and started to strike more fiercely. Keelan was walking backwards as he tried to block all the attacks and he was shocked for a second when his back hit the wall.
The twi'lek used this second to strike him, but Keelan barely dodged the attack and he backed up walking by the wall and put some meters between him ant his opponent.
He realized that he was getting tired, his muscles aching. Thoughts of defeat appeared again and he desperately realized that he had only one chance to win this fight; releasing his anger.
The morals, the teachings or the risk of falling into the dark side didn't matter to him at that moment. He just needed win this duel and survive.
"Getting tired, jedi?" asked the twi'lek, teasing him. He wasn't tired yet and he looked like he was having much more fun than before.
"Not yet!", said Keelan as he ran the few meters to the twi'lek and started landing fast blows. But he slowed down as the ache in his muscles increased and he unintentionally left an opening. Tessar used this opening and swung his blade upwards from the ground, striking Keelan's hip.
The pain was the only thing Keelan needed to burst in rage. He growled and forgot the pain on his hip and his aching body. He started attacking fiercely and the tw'lek was surely shocked with his opponent's sudden uprising.
"How is it now, bastard?", Keelan roared as he crouched and landed a low strike on the twi'lek's leg. Keelan struck him again as he fell down and the twi'lek screamed in pain. And he finally stabbed his opponent who was lying on the floor through the throat.
"How do you like that?" , he yelled with anger and amusement as he stabbed the corpse of the twi'lek again, and again. He finally stopped stabbing the corpse, feeling his rage slightly fading away.
He then walked back into the corridor and up the stairs and outside. Just as he passed through the large doors, he saw that someone was waiting there; obviously waiting for him.
The man was dark skinned, with black dreadlocks touching his waist and a black robe on his body. He slowly raised his head and Keelan saw the light of the suns getting reflected by the metal piece covering a half of the man's face.
The man grinned. "At last, I get to see you, my son."
