(1 year and six months after the destruction of the black hole generator)(Ezra Pov)
I was in my room in front of the mirror with my clothes off, Admiring my body with a huge smile on my face. Those months of sweat and suffering did wonder to my body. I'm much stronger now than I am last year. My biceps are huge and I can finally my abs clearly. I can even move my pecs up and down didn't even know it was possible. I'm really proud of my body. I wonder what would Sabine think of me if she saw me now Maybe she would find me more attraction now.
Yeah... I still miss her even though I haven't seen her for a year and a half, my love hasn't diminished. I still love her as much as I love her the first time I saw her. I hope for the day I could finally see her again.
After finishing admiring my body, I turn around and grab my new clothes from my bed. Since I grew up for the last year, My clothes became too small for me. The Ardelan gave me their yellow robe with yellow pants to wears. Those clothes feel great on my skin, there are lighter and smoother than my original clothes. After putting on my robe, I look up to the mirror to see my new appearance. But what I see send chill all over my body. My right arm is fading away."WTF! WHAT'S HAPPENING" I try to grab it with my other hand but it through like air. I start to panic, I didn't what was happening. But after a few seconds, my arm is perfectly fine. I touch it to make sure this is real. I was panting while leaning myself against the wall. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe I was just imagining stuff. Since I didn't what just happen, I decided to brush it off and leave my room. My sensei want to meet me at the training court. Ever since the day, I was introduced to the art of stealth. I have been practicing every day at midnight, learning on how to use the shadow to your advantage. He would always say"a ninja best friend is the shadow." I learned different techniques on how to kill a man in the shadows. I don't like the idea of killing someone, but if I want to fight off the Tengu followers to protect the ones that I love, then I needed to do this. I need to learn how to kill them. There are demons from another world which mean that you can't defeat them without bloodshed. You can't just knock them out and hope that they will not raise up again and try to kill you.
As I exit the temple and enter the training court, I see James talking to himself. The floor was completely covered with broken glass. But what caught my attention was his left hand, It was twitching severely like if he got a shock or something. His veins were turning black around his hand.
"Relax James. You can do this, you only have to endure this until he finishes his training and takes your place" I heard him mumble under his breath. He was breathing hard, trying to calm himself up.
"Sensei," I said in which James immediately turn around, surprise to see me this early. He immediately tried to compose himself, like I didn't see anything.
With a worried tone in my voice I ask "Are you okay Sensei? You look shook up"
"Yes, I'm fine. It's just old men problems. A million years old man problem" We both laugh at his joke even though I was still worried about him. I decided to drop the subject, It's not business to know if he has health problem or not.
"So... What is it will all of the broken glass all around you. What are we doing today" I ask.
"Simple, What is one of the most important parts of stealth." He asks
"Making less noise possible" I shrugged my shoulder. I took a wild guess, I didn't know where this was going.
"You're right, which means that if you want to sneak behind your enemy, then you will need to make absolutely no sound. This is what the next exercise serve for. I will need to tag me without making any noise. If you make a sound, I will throw knives at you" He said with a mischevious smile.
"WHAT..? How the hell am I suppose to cross this field of glasses without making any sound" I was shocked?
"Easy...don't step on it," he said. How the fuck a may suppose to cross this field without stepping on it.
James took a blindfold from his pocket and put over his eyes. While doing this, I remove the robe that I wore, leaving shirtless with my pants still on. I look around the field of broke glasses, trying to figure out what is the best approach to get close from my teacher without making any sound. With hesitation I took a first step toward the field. I put the tip of my foot between the small space of two shard glass. After looking around for a few seconds to find another spot where I could rest my another foot, I put my second foot on the floor where it was glass-free. I was on my tiptoes, I was struggling to keep my balance. "It will take forever" I thought. I raise my right foot to take another step toward a small space without a broken glass. While moving, I lost my balance on my left foot making me drop my entire foot on the ground.
Crack* "Karabast"
I look up at my teacher who had a smile on his face before taking out three ninja stars from his belt.
I gulp with fear. I jump high into the air, spinning around while avoiding his knives. One of them grazed my shoulder, leaving a small mark with a burning sensation. I land in the glass field. My heart was pounding fast. "Fuck, How am I suppose to do it" I was getting frustrated.
I look at the distance between us and realize that I could jump over there with the Force assistance. I take a few steps back, just enough to get the momentum I need to jump over the glass field. When my Zori(Japanese sandal) left the ground, it made a small sound because of the soil friction. The noise was small but it loud enough for a ninja master like James to hear it. He jumps and gives me two kicks at my stomach in mid-air. One kick to stop my trajectory and the second to send me flying across the court. I roll over into the ground as I put my hands on the floor, using the momentum to put myself back on my feet. I have been using to being thrown into the air that I can now recover my fall quickly.
"Well my plan fails. Maybe I looking at it the wrong way. He said that my goal is to tag him. What if he meant for me to tag him with the Force and not physically. He always likes to do wordplays during my training, just to put me off."
I extend my hand and focus on the Force around him. I try to force push him but there is something blocking my way. He has some kind of Force shield around him, blocking me for grabbing him with the Force.
"Nice try Ezra, but this is not what I meant when I said that you need to tag me. You will have to physically do it." He was smiling, amused by my attempt to tag him with the Force. "Just take my advice. Walk across the field without touching the glass with your feet" He said while smiling at me confused and annoyed face.
WTF does he mean by walking across the field without touching the glass. It practically impossible. I can even grab him with the Force because of his stupid shield... Wait a minute, he uses the force shield to block me. Maybe this the clue that he wanted to tell me. If I create a Force shield around my feet, then I wouldn't technically touch the glasses. Which means that there would be no sound since there is no friction between my Kori and the glass.
I close my eyes and focus on the Force. I gather all the Force energy around me, creating a Force shield on my feet. I take a big breath "The moment of truth" I thought. I take a step forward... and nothing. I step on a broken glass and it didn't make any sound. I'm so relieved and content with myself. I understand now about what he meant by ' not touching the glass'. I slowly start to walk up toward my teacher without making any sounds by maintaining the Force shield around my feet. When I reach him a mischevious thought appear in my head. I decided that I wanted to take revenge on him for sending me flying across the court. With a smirk on my face, I raise my feet to do a sidekick to his chest.
To my horror he saw this coming and grab my foot before it hit him. A smile appears on his face while I look up at him with fear in my eyes as I cleared my throat. He sweeps my leg off the ground before kicking me on chest while my body is horizontal in mid-air. I flew across the court but this time I didn't have time to recover from my fall.
"HAHAHAHAHA" I heard James laugh while I was struggling to breathe. "Good job Ezra, you finally figure out. But it doesn't mean that you could take me out easily." he was still laughing at me. I stand up and wipe away the dust, from the ground, off my chest. I felt humiliated. I should have known that couldn't just kick him by surprise.
"What do we do now" I ask while walking up to him. I was still recovering from the humiliated beaten that I got
"packs your stuff. We're going on a trip" he said before walking away
"Wait...what? Where are we going" I ask
" I will tell you later. Meet me here in one hour, Understand?
"Hai sensei" I said as he enters the temple, I follow him.
I was in my room packing my stuff in a backpack that one of the Ardelan gave it to me. While gathering up the essentials things for the trip like water, a few protein bars, a first-aid kit... I saw the painting of Sabine that I drew last month. I was bored during that day, James thought that it will be good for my body and mind to take a day off. Since there wasn't anything to do except for training and reading books from the library, I decided to change hobbies by drawing. The only inspiration that I had was Sabine. It helped me to keep her out of my mind. While looking at the drawing I cringe. "She was right. I really need to improve my drawing skills. I'm completely awful at this. The only I'm good at is drawing stick figures. Maybe I could ask her to teach me how to draw. Speaking of drawing, I still Wonder what was the secret painting that Sabine didn't want me to see. I hope that one day I will know. I always love admiring her work, I find them peaceful to watch"
After a few seconds in my thought I decided to bring the drawing with me. Maybe it could bring luck for whatever task is waiting for me.
We were walking through the forest for four hours now, at least my body isn't as exhausted as before. My ninja training really helps me improve my stamina. I feel like I could walk for another four hours.
While walking I spoke up "Where are we going exactly? " I ask while ducked my head, avoiding one of those two-headed flying squirrels. Those creatures are really annoying. They are always trying to steal your food.
"It has been a year and a half that you been training in the art of ninjitsu. During those months, I saw you put all of your effort in your training in which rewarded it you. Your abilities have improved, but not just your combat skills. Your connection through the Force had increased and you have a better sense of your surrounding. You also have a better control of the Demon's blood. It's not perfect but sufficient enough. Overall, I judge that you're ready for your first real challenge for becoming a master ninja." He said while still continuing to walk forward. He was in front of me.
"The first challenge" I raise my eyebrow "So those months of training were not real challenge"
"No, there were small task in which they served to prepare yourself for your trial" He said
"Trial? What type of trial"
"Trials that will push you to your limit, physically and mentally. Your first trial is the trial of strength which it's located on the mountain of rock trolls."
"The mountain of rock troll? Why is it call like that" I ask?
"You will understand eventually" He said while turning his head to look at me with a smirk on his face.
"What would happen if I succeed the challenge"
"You will gain the right to possess a weapon of your choosing" he said.
As we kept walking, I try to pry more information on this challenge. I wanted to know exactly what was I suppose to do and how to accomplish it. But James kept ignoring me or changing the subject So I decided to let it drop.
While walking, I decided to read to pass the time. I took a book out of my backpack and start to read it. The book in particular is grammar book on the Ardelan language;Japanese. I asked James a few months ago, if he could teach his language. He immediately accepted my offer. He was eager to teach me the language of the people who accepted him as a family. For him languages are more than just words, it is how you transfer the culture of your people for the generations to come. So with me, learning the Japanese language, I will learn more about their culture.
Now I better understand what the Ardelan are saying during a conversation between them. Not all of the conversation but enough to understand the general subject. I even heard one of the female Ardelan that if I was above eighteen, she will immediately try to get inside of my pants. I immediately blushed when I heard it and left, not wanting to hear any further on how they will try to make me sleep with them.
As I was reading James's spoke up "Koko ni ita"(we're here)
I look up from my book and see that we arrived at the mountain of rock troll.
I look at him "Soo... How are we supposed to climb up there? The is no staircase and with don't have any tools like ropes to help us scale the mountain."
With a smirk on his face he said "Easy you just use our hand" He said while waving his hand in front of my face.
"Wait...What? Are you serious? What if we fall or something, we don't have a rope or pickaxe to catch our fall" I was a bit scare to climb the mountain since it like as if the wall were smooth. Without a lot of places Climbable.
James ignores me and starts to climb the mountain without me. I follow him and start to climb the mountain.
As I climb the mountain I could see the beautiful sight of the Nexus. The purple sky, the wind singing across the walls of the mountain, the vast territory covered with trees and grass. Everything looks so peaceful and beautiful. Now I can understand how James could have spent a million year in this dimension, It's absolutely mesmerizing. As I was distracted by the few I fail to realize that one the grips were too fragile for me to put my weigh on it. The piece of rock broke, making me lose my balance and fall.
"AAAAHHHHH" I scream as I was falling. Luckily I managed to catch myself up with my right hand before I hit the ground. Unfortunately, The weigh of my body caused my right arm to stretch which send a shockwave of pain. I was breathing fast and my adrenaline was pumping through my vein."If I didn't catch the edge then I will be dead by now"I was ten feet below than my original position which means that I needed to double my effort to catch up with my sensei.
"Watch your step, You can't die right now. You haven't started your challenge yet." He chuckled to himself while gritted my teeth.
Finally, we managed to reach the top. I lie down dead from exhaustion because of the climb. My arms and legs are hurting and sore. It even worse than to climb the temple, at least you a staircase to climb. Here, you have to use all of your body to climb this fucking mountain.
"Come Ezra, stand up. It's not that bad" I raise an eyebrow at him meaning 'Really?'
After a few seconds of me lying on the ground resting, I finally decide to stand up. Once I'm up I look around and realize there is a small cave in front of me. It Isn't really deep since I could see the end of the cave where he was a strange source of light.
"What's that" I said pointing with my finger the light source.
"This is your reward if complete the trial"
"I thought you said that I will get a weapon of my choosing" I was confused.
" The light source that you see is a kyber crystal, but this one is different than your standard crystal. For this one you can build a lightsaber with it. But you could melt it and use its liquid form to forge any weapon of your choosing. Once you will forge your weapon, you will need to build a connection with it or else you wouldn't able to wield it properly."
"Wow... It didn't know that this type of kyber crystal exists. Does it exist elsewhere or is it only locate it in the Nexus." I ask
"No, they are few that exist in our world, mostly located in the unknown region. If I remember right, I think that the Chiss has one." He said while scratching his chin.
"And what do you call those crystal"I ask
" They are called ghost kyber crystal"
"Ghost kyber crystal?" I raise my eyebrow
"Those crystals are transparent compared to your green,blue or red kyber crystal" he said.
"Alright then" I said as start walking toward the Kyber crystal. I wonder what is the challenge. He said that the Kyber crystal is my reward for completing the trial but I what is the trial. I see nothing in front of me except for a few rocks lying around the cave.
While walking I feel the ground shaking underneath my feet, the spikes on the ceiling are shaking"What's going on" I thought. The rocks started to move in front of me. They are piling up with each other, creating a giant monster made of rocks.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING" I said while looking at my sensei for an answer, only to find him seating on the ground, legs crossed with a huge smile on his face
"This is the trial of strength. You will have to defeat the rock troll to reach the Kyber crystal." he said
"How am I supposed to defeat it. I don't have a weapon" I panicked. The troll was getting closer to me. he was literally made of rock. He didn't have any facial features, no mouth, no nose, no ears, no nothing. His head was a giant piece of rock. He even didn't have any fingers, just fists made of rock
"Easy use your fists" He smiles while I look at him as if he was crazy.
I look back at the giant creature, seeing him standing motionless in front of me. "Let's go Ezra, you can do it. He can't even see you since he doesn't have eyes"
I take small step and yelp. The troll ran at me before jumping toward me. It tools me a few seconds to realize what's happening. Once the initial shock is gone, I jump to the side, avoiding his fist. The impact of the push managed to fracture the ground below, sending a shock wave around the cave which causes me to lose my balance after I recovered from my roll and fall on the ground. I look up at the ceiling and see the spikes shaking. I gulp"That will a problem if the ceiling starts to crash down on me".
I stand up and look around for anything for me to use to take down this giant rock monster. While thinking the troll ran at me at full speed. He went to crush me with his foot but unfortunately for him, I managed to slide between his leg. But I didn't have time to dodge his next attack when he turns around toward me. His fist went straight to my stomach, sending me flying across the cave, crashing down into the wall.
I tried to stand up but the pain from my chest is stopping me from moving off the ground. The rock troll started to walk up to me. With every step he did, the cave shook, making the spikes up the ceiling shaken uncontrollably. I could see a fracture forming on the spike's base above me. When he reached me, he put his foot on my chest, cutting my air supply. I feel the pain shot through my body. It felt like every bone of my body are breaking apart into millions of pieces.
As the pain in body increases, My rage is also raising. My veins start to turn black and the blue of my eyes are now gone, replaces by the darkness of the Demon's blood with a small spark of flame inside. The flame of rage that is consuming my body. Just like I learned with James, I focus all of my body energy toward my hands. With a roar I grab the foot of the creature and push him off of my body. The impact of his fall caused the fracture of the spike above me to open up more which gave me an idea.
The troll crawls toward me while trying to hit me. I dodged all his swing, taunting him to come closer to me. Just enough so that he was above the spike. Once he fell to trap, I crouch down with one knee and push the ground beneath me, causing the cave spike to break. I roll away before it crashes into the rock troll through his chest, breaking him in pieces.
"Fuck yeah, I did it you fuckong piece of shit" I yell while kicking his remains on the ground. I was so happy that I managed to destroy him. "Now to claim my price" I thought.
Suddenly the ground starts to shake again "What is it this time" I groaned. All of the rocks lying around the cave are gathering in front of me, except for the rocks of the now dead troll. the rocks split into two piles, revealing two other rock troll who was waiting patiently for me in case I managed to destroy their brother.
"Are you kidding me" I yell frustrated and angry at the same time. I was really had enough of this bullshit. The first one almost managed to crush me to death
Now his buddies are here to finish the job for him. But this time I won't let myself be tossed around like a piece of meat. I will show them both that you don't mess with Ezra Bridger or else there will be consequences.
The troll from my right launched at me, followed by his friend. I dodge the push from the troll by rolling to my left. Then I jump into the air, dodging the push from the other monster. I land on his arm and ran across it toward his head. I transferred all of my body energy toward my feet this time while still keeping enough energy spread around my body to keep my it moving. I delivered a powerful kick to his face, sending the pieces of his head flying across the cave.
crack* I turn my head toward the strange sound above my head. The spike from the ceiling just broke because of the shockwave sent by the decapitated troll when he fell on the ground. I jump behind while doing a backflip, avoiding the sharp rock.
The last troll standing tried to crush me by using both of his hands. I use our body height difference, If you can call his as a body, to slide between his sliding, I grabbed one of his legs, dragging it with me. The creature lost his balance and fell on his knee. While he is pinned down, I jump on his back and ran across it. Once I reached his head I jumped into the air, uniting my hands together into a fist before falling toward his head. But before I could break his head the troll recovered from his fall and swang his arm toward me, sending me crashing into the wall behind him. But this time, It didn't hurt at all. It wasn't because of my rage from the Demon's blood that kept me from feeling any pain. In fact, I was too concentrated and determined on completing this trial to care or to feel any pain that my brain was telling me about. All wanted to do is to prove my sensei that I am ready to move to the next step on becoming a master ninja. To which I will be one step closer to being ready to defend my friends and family against the evil force of this world who wanted to do harm to them. I wasn't even using the Demon's blood anymore. I didn't use to since I destroyed the first rock troll. I didn't need to use the Demon's blood anymore to enhancement my abilities, all I needed to do is to use everything I learned about managing my body energy to defeat challengers.
The last troll ran toward me at full speed. I jumped on the wall next to me and projected myself toward it. With one last blow, I pierced through his chest. My entire body went through it, destroying every rock on him that was blocking my way. The rock troll stood still for a second with a giant hole for om his chest before he fell on his knees and collapsed on the floor in pieces.
"I did it. I managed to destroy every troll in this cave. Now to claim my price." I was ready to finish this trial and go back to the temple, in where I could patch my injuring cause by these rock monster.
But it seems that I spoke too soon since the rocks gathered themselves against each other, resurrecting the guardians of the ghost Kyber crystal. Even the first guardian that I thought I killed, rose from the dead. They were all around, trapping me in-betweens each other. The troll from me left went to strike me. I grabbed his fist, stopping him from hitting my face and throw it toward his buddy to my right.
In the background, James was impressed by Ezra performance. He managed to control the Demon's blood without using. its help to defeat the rock trolls. He didn't inspect Ezra to do this well. Normally for this type of trial, the Ardelan would send a group of students to complete the trial since it will be almost impossible to do it alone. But Ezra was special, his connection with the force was grand. In which it took almost three years for James to be ready to face this trial, It took Ezra only one year and a half to be ready. And deserved to be ready, among all of his students that he trained during all of his time in the living, he never seen someone so devoted becoming the best of all the best. He wanted to learn everything about how to become a ninja. Every day, he will read ninjitsu books and learned every technics and advice in it. Then he will practice those technics with the training dummies. We will sometimes spend hours meditating in his room or outside near the lake, so that I could reinforce his connection with the force. I even saw him break a tree truck in half before levitating it up into the air. It took him all of his energy to do it but he succeeded. But Ezra was angry at himself for struggling to lift the tree without using all of his Force energy. Unknown to him, the Force is less concentrated in the Nexus than in our world. Since the Nexus is between our word and the world of chaos, the Demon's blood occupies half of the Nexus and the Force occupy another half. Once he will return to his world, he will realize that his force abilities had increased drastically. I decided to keep this piece of information from him. I wanted to this secret from him so that he will have a nice surprise for his return to our world. I believe that he will be ready one day to return from his world to protect it. I saw that type of look on Ezra's eyes before. It's the look of determination, but not just any kind determination. The determination to protect the ones that he loves. I know for a fact that for everyone he wants to protect from the Tengu, his love for Sabine is greater. He will do absolutely anything to protect her just like me with my beautiful Maria. She will be the last person that Ezra will allow anyone to hurt her, even himself. If it comes to it, he will sacrifice himself to protect her. Which it's good, You need something in your life to fight for or else your life is meaningless. He will need that love to defeat the Tengu or... me...
I managed to dodge a rock that one of the trolls throw it at me. I look around to find anything that I could use to defeat those trolls for good. Punching them in millions of pieces isn't enough to beat them. I need to find another way. While I was looking around the cave, my eyes were glued to the view from the mountain of the Nexus's environment "The edge. I can pull them toward the edge and toggle them out of the mountain. They wouldn't be able to block my way to the Kyber crystal, unless they could climb the mountain in less than one minute." I thought.
"Hey you! Yes, I'm talking you, you big ugly trolls. Why don't you come get me." I taunted them while dodging pieces of rock coming toward. "Your mama is just a pile of sand" I know this is not the best insult but at least it got their attention. Making fun of someone mothers always does the trick to anger your opponent.
I was walking back toward the edge in case one of them try to surprise me with a punch. While I was moving closer to the edge, I was rolling and jumping in the air, trying to avoid the many projectiles throw at me. Once I reached the edge of the mountain I raised my hand while doing "Come here" signal with it. I had a mischevious smile on my face, hoping that they will fall into my trap by charging at me. I will use the momentum of their run to toss them off the mountain.
One of them ran at me, I did side step to my left, avoiding his fist. Then I rolled toward one of his legs before kicking it. Which resulted for the beast to fall on his knee. Once his head was within my reach, I grabbed onto it and throw him over my shoulder, sending falling off the mountain.
"One down, two to go" I said out loud while swapping my hands together for removing the dirt from the rock troll. I pretty proud of myself for being able to 12 feet creature over my head.
I sensed danger coming behind me. I turn around only to see a piece of rock flying toward me. I broke it by connecting my fist with it. The two of them were running toward me at full speed. I can jump through the leg of the rock troll on my left. The momentum of his run made him lose his balance and roll on the ground until he went over the edge. "One last troll to send it over the edge."
I picked up a rock next to me and throw it at the troll's face. It took a few steps back. His face was crack but not broken. I launched at him, sending him a powerful kick to his chest. He sliced backward until he was over the edge, balancing on one foot while wiggling his other one and his arms to keep himself from falling to his demise. I slowly walk up to him and push him off the mountain with two fingers. I watch him fall to the ground until I could barely see him. The echo sound of the impact could be even heard from the top of the mountain.
clap* *clap* *clap*
I turn around to see James clapping his hands together with a smile on his face. "Good job ezra, you did it. It's time to claim your price" He said referring to the the Kyber crystal at the end of the cave.
"I can't believe that I did it. Does every member of the Koto clan have to do this trial?." James started to laugh at my question. I completely confused by his laughter. Apparently I said something funny but I don't know what.
"What's so funny." I ask while scratching my head.
"I forgot to tell you that normally, the Ardelan will send three people for completing a trial like this one. To make sure that they wouldn't" He said as he started to laugh again
"WHAT!" I yell, I was now furious. I was supposed to do this trial with two other people but he decided to send alone, facing off against those rock trolls. "Why did you send me to do this alone then." I said
His laughter immediately died down and he had a serious look on his face. "Because I want you to become the best of the best. I'm not only training you to become a master ninja, I'm training you to become a Purotekutā. Your duty will be to defend your world against the Tengu which means which means I will push you to your limits until I see that you are ready to take my role. And for that you will need to defeat me. Understood?"
"Hai sensei" I said while bowing. He was right, I needed to be the best if I wanted to protect my world even if it means to come close to die during those trials. I will defeat the Tengu's followers.
My sensei and I walk up toward the crystal. Since I'm no more fighting I could concentrate on the Kyber crystal Force's signature. The crystal is really strong with the Force, even more so than the kyber crystal from my now destroyed lightsaber. I can feel it calling my name. As I approached I extended my arm toward it. When I reached it, I tried to pull it toward me but it is stuck against the wall holding it. I tried harder with both hands but still it wouldn't budge.
" You can't pick up the Kyber crystal because it hasn't chosen you as its owner. You will need to form a force connection with it, for you to be able to use it." James said.
I kneel down on the ground with my eyes closed. I focus on the Force flowing inside of the crystal. It emitting a bright light through the Force. It's making a strange sound around. Sound that I don't understand. I think those sound are trying to form words but I can't decipher their meaning.
Then I start to see something bright coming towards. Images start to appear in my vision. I see the nexus from the high ground. Everything is moving really fast. The animals are running like crazies, the Nexus is getting dark and clear with every second's passing. "I think that the time is moving fast" The ground underneath me starts to raise up bit by bit until a mountain was created. "It's the mountain of rock troll." I see the cave is formed. Among all of the rocks inside the cave, my vision is concentrating on one particular. It differs from the others, it's brighter than the others one. I can see the Force pouring itself inside this rock. Bit by bit as the Force is pouring itself inside of the rock, it's losing is skin, revealing a Kyber crystal that was transparent. "It the same ghost Kyber crystal than the one in front of me"
Then I see three creatures walking toward the crystal. They are the rock trolls who were protecting it. They seem to study it, probably wondering what was the crystal.
Time passed and I see the trolls around the crystal, protecting it from anyone who will try to steal it from them. Suddenly time slowed down and I was shocked at what I was seeing. It was me in front of myself. The past me was fighting off against the trolls. It was the exact same fight that I did a few minutes ago. I can see the Demon's blood consuming my body as I push away the rock troll who had me pinned down on the ground before destroying it. I see the other two raising from the ground, attacking me. I destroyed both of them but it wasn't enough. They rose again, so I decided to throw them over the edge one by one
After my past me finished tossing the creatures off the mountain he walks up to the Kyber crystal stuck on the wall. He tried to remove, but instead of being stuck against the wall, he managed to remove "What" I was confused by this. How did he remove it? My past self kneeled down on the ground with the Kyber crystal on his head and closed his eyes, focusing on it. Suddenly I feel myself being pulled toward the crystal. I heard it calling my name as its brightness was blinding my vision
"Ezra"
I open my eyes to see the Kyber crystal on my hands. "How?" I was confused by what happened. I stood up while still looking at the Kyber crystal.
"It chose you" I heard James's voice behind my back.
I turned around, facing him. "I saw it. I saw everything, Its past, Its creation, the discovery of the crystal by the rock trolls, the fight I had against them and finally me holding the Kyber crystal in my hand. I managed to build a connection with it. I can sense the Force inside of it, It's like if it was meant to be held by me." I was completely mesmerized by this rock.
As I was admiring the beauty of the crystal, I felt something strange. Something dangerous coming toward us. I look back at James and sense that he felt it too, a disturbance in the Force. But he wasn't as worried as me. I think he knew what was this danger coming toward us.
I look at James and see a group of black figures standing in the front of the cave entrance. They were lined up side by side with their head tilted down and arms extended down, crossed. In front of them there were two guys wearing a kasa hat on their head. They had a red cape behind them with a red scarf hiding their mouth. I lool closed at their waist and see a claw symbol. It was the foot clan "How did they find us" I thought
"Here" James told me before pulling out his sword from his belt and tossed to me. "Ready?" He sais as I catch his sword.
I nod I knew exactly what he had in mind.
We grabbed kunai from our waist throws it at them. They disperse while avoiding our knives. Five of them came running toward me with swords in their hand. I extended my arm, reaching for the rock behind them with the Force. Once grabbed, I Force to pull it toward me, hitting behind the head of a foot soldier, rendering him unconscious. A foot soldier jumped into the air to strike me from as another one came bellow me to strike at my legs. Jumps and the deflect the strike from the ninja above me as I dodged the sword underneath. While in mid-air I spun around and sliced his hand off, making him scream in agony. I cringed at the sight of blood pouring down his arm. Usually with the lightsaber, there wasn't any blood since it will burn the cut, stopping it from leaking out of the body. But with a normal sword I could see the blood coming out of the body. It was disgusting but I know it was necessary to survive. James told me so many time that you couldn't fight off the forces of evil without bloodshed. I know that one day I will need to kill one of them but I hope it wouldn't be today. The thought of killing someone made me want to vomit.
As I landed on the ground, I sensed two-foot soldier behind me, charging at me. I turn around and blocked their attack with difficulting this time. It's been a year and a half since I didn't use a lightsaber. I'm rusting But I still remember the forms that Kanan and Ashoka taught me. I use all of the knowledge that they taught me to defend myself against the foot soldiers.
One of them went to strike me at my back. I sidestep while raised my left arm. The sword went my ribs and my arm. I closed, trapping the sword between my armpit before spinning around to disarm him. As I spun I raise my leg and kick him with the heel of my foot to the side of his face. He fell to the ground unconscious.
James for his part was doing fine. Two soldiers from his side went to strike him with their sword. He grabbed both of them with his hand locking himself in this position. The soldiers were trying to penetrate his hand but were unsuccessful. It seems as if his hands were made of concrete. As he was holding their sword, Two foot soldier ran at him, one to his front and then another one from his back. A fifth one jumped into the air to strike him from above. James's closed his eyes and focus on his body energy. He opens his eyes with determination to defeat his enemies. He crossed his arm together, sending the two soldiers from his side to crash into each other, head first. Then he flips into the air, kicking the ninja up there at his face before the ninjas from the ground could attack him. While in the air, he grabbed the ninja's sword with one hand and kunai from his belt with the other one. He throws the kunai at the ninja's neck who try to attack him to his front. Then he landed on the soldier below him as he pierced through his chest with his friend's sword. James turned around, sensing someone coming toward him. He ducked his head down, avoiding the sword from an elite foot soldier.
As for me(Ezra) I force pushed a guy against the wall, making it collapse on him while I was blocking the sword strike from his buddy with my other hand. I pinned around the ninja, elbowing him to the ribs. He let out a gasp while clutching his ribs to endure the pain. I throw my sword at him in which he blocked it, sending it up into the air. As he was distracted for a few seconds for block my sword, I ran up to him, sending a powerful uppercut. Making him fall on his back. I look up and grabbed James's sword before it fell to the ground. "I did it" I thought excitedly. I managed to take down all five of them. I turn around to see James's fighting off an elite foot soldier. "wait a minute, where is the other foot elite." I thought.
Before I could look around to find the other foot elite, I felt someone foot connecting to my back. I was launched forward, rolling on the rocks. I managed to recover quickly before his double-bladed sword went through my chest. I took a step back, keeping a safe distance with him. "Come on Ezra, It just like Darth-maul. You face him once, you can do it with him. Okay... In reality, I barely stood up my own against him but still I have some kind of experience how to defend yourself against a double-bladed sword." I try to reassure myself.
He launched at me, doing multiple strikes at me. I was blocking and dodging every strike he did on me. But he was way faster than me. I have a hard time keeping track of his movement. "I need to create distance with him" As I was dodging a strike to my head by taking a step back, I push him away with the Force. Giving me a few seconds to recover myself.
I was taking a few breaths to calm my beating hard while tightening my hold on my sword. All the sudden, the feeling of the sword in my hand is gone and was replaced by the feeling of emptiness. I look at my hand and gasp in shock. "Not now. What's happening to me" My hand was fading was glitching, fading away from existence. I look up to see his sword coming toward me.
I closed my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest to form some kind of protection on it. I wait as time goes by but I don't feel anything. The pain that I was ready to feel, didn't come for some reasons. I open my eyes to see my entire body fading. The sword was inside me but it was floating in the air. He looked back at the foot elite and see that he had the same confused look on his face "How is that possible" He probably thought the same thing as me. Slowly my body starts to get its form back, starting with my hands. Without giving my opponent any seconds to think, I grab him by his collar and did a hook punch from above his head, sending him crashing to the ground, unconscious. "Well that was lucky" I thought.
I picked James's sword from the ground before running towards him to fight assist him. Fortunately, he already killed the foot elite by decapitating his head with his own sword. Blood was everywhere, I felt my lunch raising inside my esophagus. But I managed to keep it down.
"How the hell did they find us?" I ask
"They must have followed us from the temple. Do you still have the kyber crystal with you" He asks while I gave him back his sword?
"Yes, of course. I said taking out the crystal from my pocket to show it.
" Wait a minute, you said that they follow us from the temple,right?" He nods his head for confirmation "Which means that they know where the temple is located." again he nods with his head "Then why did wait so long to attack us. They could have done it while we were in the temple."
" No, they couldn't attack us back at the temple." He said with a smile like as if he's hiding something from me.
"And why not" I ask
"Because of the statue in front of the gate" he said amused my confused look on my face.
" You mean the two dragons that you taught me about in front the gate? how the hell to them protect us against an army of assassins." I ask.
"You will know one day but not today." He chuckled to himself, leaving me confused by the situation. "How many secrets does this guy has?" I thought to myself.
We were inside the temple, in the armory room. You could hear the sound of metal hitting each other. I was hitting the heated blade with a hammer forging it into Katana blade. I decided to forge this weapon since I was more familiar with it. The others didn't feel right as this one. The sais was too short, the bo-staff was difficult to balance your footing, the nunchucks are just hard to fight with it and so on. I will learn how to use all of those different weapons eventually. But for now l, the Katana blade will be my main weapon.
After finishing forging the blade, I put it in cold water, solidifying the blade completely. Once the blade had finally cooled down, I attach it inside a handle in which I designed. Okay... In reality I ask James if could do it for me. Also ask him to show how to forge "my artist" on the sword referring to Sabine. I wanted her name on it to remind me why I'm doing all of this. To protect my world but also the most important thing for me personally, protecting my mando-girl.
After putting the blade inside the handle, I could see the word appearing on the sword it read "私のアーティスト" (Watashi no ātisuto) *my artist*.
I swing the sword around to test it. It's lighter than my original lightsaber. I feel more comfortable with it, It seems as if the sword was destinated to be held by me.
"You finally finish" I turn around to see James's standing near the door entrance if the armory room.
" Yes I did. I feel like this weapon was always meant to be held by me." I said
" Of course it feels like it belongs to you. You created a Force connection with it. The sword is a part of you now. The more you learn how to use it. The more it will reveal its secrets to you." he said
" What kind of secret?" I ask.
" Only you can find out about its secret" He said with a small smile.
" So what do we do now" I ask with a smile, already knowing the answer to that question. I just wanted to ask it.
His smile grew while chuckling to himself "You already know the answer to it"
"I know, I was just hoping that you will say we could skip practice for tonight, giving me a break for completing this trial alone" I emphasize on the alone part. "You know as a reward"
He snorted "In your dream" he said while leaving the armory room with a smile on his face.
I shake my head "Of course, it was too much to hope for" I still had a smile on my face.
Before continuing my training I went to change my bandages. Once done I went to the training with my sword in my hand. I saw James with his sword in his hand
"Are you ready?" He said with a smile
I smile back while taking a fighting stance with my sword "Ready" I said
"Time to gain more knowledge from my ninja training."
Author's note:
Thank you guys for reading. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter.
The next chapter will be another trial for Ezra to complete. I let you guy figure out the theme for his next trial.
PS: Leave any thought, suggestion or questions that you may have for me in the comments.