It was time for the apprentice to show what she was capable of, only minutes laid in between her biggest fight and opportunity yet. The small room around her was dark, the air smelled wet with a scent of copper hanging in it as if a thunderstorm was about to arise from out of nowhere. Somewhere from deep within the bowels of the arena, the regular splashing of water drops hitting the floor echoed off the walls. It was distant but Adora could hear the drops as if it was just next to her, her senses sharpened by the meditation. She could feel every single bug inside the moldy walls, all the soldiers patrolling the upper decks and a faint but familiar presence somewhere nearby. She knew there was going to be a great challenge ahead, so the girl concentrated and let her fear bottle up inside her guts, let her anger flow through every inch of her very being as her master had taught her to harness the girl's inner strength.
"We will make the Sith proud again," Shadow Weaver had always said with her mask not being able to cover up her excitement, "With your help, we will annihilate the Jedi order."
Adora had always felt the same sting in the pits of her stomach when her master talked about finally achieving revenge and taking the land the Jedi had unrighteously ripped out of the Sith's hands. The galaxy was theirs to take, theirs to lead with their strong empire, not the weaklings of the galactic republic. Years had gone by as the Emperor had remained hidden in the deep regions of space to set up his great plan. He had founded Dromund Kaas, the greatest capital in the galaxy, Adora's home, the place her new family would crush the republic from. Since her birth she had been raised to fulfill this one sole purpose, to fight alongside her brothers and sisters to reclaim what was theirs.
Ready yourself, a voice called out from somewhere inside the apprentice's head, a call through the force that connected all living beings. With a small but accurate movement, Adora picked up the cold hilt of her weapon. Elegant curves of coils wrapped around a kyber crystal, connected to power conductors that were ready to shoot a beam of destructive bundled energy smoothed to her sweaty palm as she found a better grip on it. The engravings in the metal clutched in her fists reminded her of her parents, the people she had lost because of the republic. Never again would anyone make her suffer, it was her turn to make them suffer in her place. It was finally time to get revenge for not only the Sith but herself, slaughtering the Jedi as they had slaughtered her family. And this was the last challenge she had to face for finally living her dreams of vengeance.
Like a lit torch, her anger flared up once more and with a fluid motion her finger pressed a button located just underneath her fingers. Red light flooded the room, the humming sound drowning her sensitive ears as the red lightsaber unfolded. Adora knew she had a few minutes left so she remembered to warm up by getting into a loose combat stance. This fight would not be an easy one, especially not against who she expected to meet in the arena.
"You've got this Adora, use your inner strength and you will prevail," she whispered and swung the sword at an invisible contestant. Quick parades followed aggressive strikes towards the imaginary threat, the whirring of the energy beam growing louder and louder as the speed of the strikes increased. Within seconds all there remained of the blade was a thin red whir that seemed to cover the young girl in a cobweb of surging protective energy.
"You looking at me, Jedi?" With one last strike, she held out her hand towards the moldy wall, channeling all of her anger until her eyesight went red. Dust rained from the ceiling as a gigantic crack appeared in the stone, slowly making its way above her head. Small chunks of concrete rained on Adora's blonde hair and the dust settled on her red jacket.
"Well that could have gone wrong," she mumbled to herself and brushed off the debris from her clothes and readjusted her hair poof everyone kept mocking her about. Now she was ready, ready to strike down every threat her master was about to throw at her in the arena. There was no stopping for the glowing sphere of hatred in her guts, no stopping for the heated blade of her lightsaber. With every slash, she would come closer to avenging her family and her anger fueled her strength as she tapped into the dark side of the force. Once again, the faintest noises grew almost unbearable, the faint pumping of hearts in the chests of the spectators was as loud as sledgehammers. Adora's fear was suddenly thrown into the mix and the Sith apprentice remembered one of her first lectures:
"Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate to total domination."
This was the path of the Sith and today, she would show how much of a part of the empire she was.
There was a slight rumble that alerted her when the big door finally started to be lifted. Light, as well as a fresh breeze, replaced the creeping shadows and the stale air inside the room, making Adora gasp as she started to adapt to the new environment.
Huge crystal spires lined the way to an open space surrounded by small towers that looked like they would survive the next few hundred years without any human or other species' intervention. The emblem of the Sith Empire was brandished all over them, the red hexagon with its seemingly trapped beams of darkness was the pride of everyone in the Empire and especially in the order itself. Between the spires long streaks of ivy grew up the shining surface of the gems, potentially hiding unknown threats. Little bushes and trees threw their shadows on the lifeless rock ground underneath the apprentice's feet, making it almost impossible to spot any enemies. Almost.
Adora held her lightsaber in a defensive stance as she felt the presence of multiple troopers around her. It was as if the light around some of the green spots seemed to be sucked into their bowels, making the work of guessing easier. The girl had worked with these people all of her life, she knew how to sense they were nearby. It was hard to pinpoint their exact location but she knew there were at least seven of them. The air was tensed as the girl heard the distinctive click of an energy cell being loaded into a mag well. There was a little pause as if time had stopped around Adora, the leaves of ivy slowly rocking back and forth in unison with the slight breeze rustling through the empty yard upfront.
Then suddenly, without any louder sound that might have predicted it, blaster fire emerged from the green undergrowth. Hot bolts of red energy raced past her, scorching the plants where ever they hit. With the loud whirring of the Sith's blade, Adora rushed into battle. Even though this training course was new, she had a basic idea of the terrain. The heat of one of the shots stung in her eyes as she deflected one of the bolts back to its owner, making him yell out in pain as the energy hit him square in the chest. The black armor of the trooper was tossed backward with the soldier still inside, being swatted against a nearby wall. Soon, another count of two soldiers followed his involuntary example and hit the wall with a loud crack. But right next to the fallen comrades, another trooper exchanged fire with her opponent, not willing to give up the fight. Swinging her lightsaber towards the incoming blaster fire from all sides, Adora broke into a run. Faster and faster her blade spun all around her body, the immense kinetic force of the shots being tossed aside like children's toys.
She could sense the fear in her old comrade as the Sith jumped over a fallen tree in her way and kicked the soldier in the helmet, the user letting out a squeal of pain as her nose broke underneath the covers without any apparent facial features. The female trooper would have risen to fire once more, hadn't Adora spun around to cut into the soldier's shins, earning a louder cry of pain immediately as the hot saber blade smoldered the soft flesh underneath. Now that she was down for good, the apprentice felt triumph rising in her throat. A grim smile parted her lips while the battle around her continued.
Feeling triumphant was her first fault. Being overconfident was her second. And her third and final fault was not to immediately move on to the fight. Just a few moments passed as Adora stood there, lightsaber glowing red in her hand, staring down at her prey. But it was enough time for one of the blaster bolts to strafe her shoulder. Burning pain surged through her body as she held her shoulder, letting her guard down only for another shot to hit her in the knee, forcing the young woman to stagger. Although the amount of energy in the bolts had been reduced for the training, the hit was still as if she had been stabbed with a Vibro blade. With one weak arm Adora deflected the next shot to her side, spraying some of the pulverized stone in her face.
The pain became unbearable, stinging in her eyes, burning in her shoulder and leg, exhaustion trying to push past her focused mind. She closed her eyes, fists clenched and teeth biting against each other as a wave of even greater rage made the youngling rise to her feet. Her eyesight went red as she pulled her fists in front of her chest until she suddenly jerked them outwards, a cry of pure hatred leaving her throat.
"I... have... had... enough!"
Small stone particles around her started floating as the force surrounding her and all of her foes were bent to her will, grabbing the last three soldiers across the room. Their shocked yells pitched in screams as their floating bodies were pulled towards the Sith apprentice with high speeds. After that, it was just a series of three quick slashes in midair to end the fight. With the clattering of armor against the stone floor, the limp bodies of the troopers fell, small twitches still running down their now unmovable muscles.
"Fuck you," Adora said and spat down on one of her victims before she continued her way towards the yard in the center of the arena.
Intuitively she knew this was her goal. But the sight of the still abandoned towers standing around made her nervous. Even though the soldiers were out of the game, something wasn't right. The Sith apprentice looked around, observing the static shadows, waiting for something to jump out of them and try to strike her down. But nothing happened. Every step she took was louder than she expected, her sudden deep tap into the dark side still sharpening her senses to a high degree. The floor beneath her feet seemed to grow colder as her wandering eyes met the small shrine standing in the middle of the open space. Red light, way colder than her saber's one, seemed to flow down the steps of the stone construct as if it was smoke coming out of the broken catalytic converter of a racer engine.
Her heart seemed to follow an irresistible pull towards the small triangular object residing amid the red fog. Something told her this was what she needed to become a full Sith, to unravel the deepest natures of the force to avenge what had been taken from her by the republic. As if attached to an invisible rope she stepped forward, mesmerized by the glowing beauty of the pyramid.
Adora was so mesmerized in fact that she forgot the feeling of uneasiness she had been feeling since she had set foot on the square. One of the seemingly static shadows began to move, sharp claws silently scraped the ground as the unseen foe started their secret approach. Jumping from tower to tower the enemy closed their distance with Adora. Last was completely awed by the sight in front of her that she noticed the shadow a bit too late. A low growl sounded before the sharp sound of two lightsabers unleashing their power in unison ripped the air apart.
Adora ripped her blade up in the last second when two beams of red rushed down at her, striking her saber and almost ripping her out of balance. With a short stagger, the girl regained her stance and threw her attacker a look full of anger until her eyes widened as a voice said,
"Hey Adora..."