Hello everyone, and welcome to chapter 4 of Star Wars: Twilight Blade! This is the last chapter I start before the New Year and New Decade begins (literally under two hours) so, let's just get into it!
Creativity: Let's start with the reviews:
FallenAssassin9: Thanks for your words on the challenges. I thought I'd lean more into the mystic side of things for a couple of the trials. And yeah, I was a bit concerned about the trial solutions, but in the end I think they were no more obvious than the solutions that the younglings in TCW and Ezra from Rebels had. As for the Forge, well, it won't take that long for us to get to that, so look forward to it.
Creativity: Well, relatively. We're going to be publishing less stuff now since we're getting back into College and we've got a bunch of other projects.
Author: And that's the reviews covered!
Oh, and one more thing I've decided to start doing is a story recommendation on a per-chapter basis! How this will work is I pick a story in the same category as the story that I'm updating and recommend it. Nice and Simple! So, this week's recommendation is Will of the Empire By: CzarZelinsky. I won't spoil the premise or anything here, but I can say that so far it's got me hooked like a fish. The dialog is a treat, the premise is intriguing and overall it's really well put together so far. Go check it out.
Well, not much else to say until the end, so let's just provide the Discord password and begin: xtydzBf
And now, without further ado, allow us to proudly present chapter 4 of Star Wars: Twilight Blade!
Arvos maintained his steady stare as he slowly circled, his unsettling black lightsaber clutched in both hands and held just to the right of his head. Across from him was Tala Mair, her own blade in a similar position to Arvos'. The different between them was that Arvos' blade was perpendicular to the ground while Tala's was parallel to it. It was a more aggressive stance than Arvos' own, but still offering plenty of defensive options.
Like himself and the rest of their group, Tala was sixteen now and had changed a bit in the four years since the Gathering. She was now five feet five inches tall and had more defined muscle from her training. As was mandatory by the pact the Zabraki of the Republic had made with the Jedi Order, she returned to her homeworld of Iridonia once her horns had grown in properly to undergo the Zabraki rite of passage and receive her facial tattoos. Additionally, she'd grown her hair out a little bit, adding two stripes of hair to her head the ran from her forehead to the back of her head that joined the main stripe that was tied back in the same wolf's tail that she'd always had, only longer. She'd also changed her normal outfit from the standard dress of Jedi younglings to a form-fitting black shirt with sleeves just an inch shy of her elbows, a brown sleeveless vest over her shirt, tight dark brown leggings, black fingerless gloves, brown boots and a light brown belt with a silver buckle. She'd also mellowed out a bit as time had gone on, though she still was the best duelist of the group.
Arvos had changed too, though perhaps more subtly. He stood five feet six inches tall and had maintained the same haircut from four years ago. He too had opted for a more personalized wardrobe in the form of a dark gray shirt that went down about an inch past his elbows, a short-sleeved light gray tunic over the shirt, pants the same color as the tunic, black boots and a black belt with a silver buckle.
The two Jedi hopefuls continued to circle each other, waiting for the other to make a move. The spar had been going on for a few minutes now, and both were tiring out. These next moments would decide the match.
Tala made the first move, lunged forward and going for a thrust that Arvos sidestepped before going to strike at Tala's exposed back, only for her to roll out of the way and whirl around, going for a slash at Arvos' legs. He performed a sideways cartwheel before returning to a high-guard position as Tala rushed him. The two engaged in a flurry of strikes before engaging in a saber lock. The two never broke eye contact throughout the whole engagement as they tried to push the other off balance. Suddenly, Arvos sensed a small imbalance in their saber lock. Unfortunately, it seemed Tala had noticed it too, and was swifter to capitalize on it. She applied new pressure, tailored towards the imbalance, allowing her to take control of the engagement and shove Arvos' blade to the side before going for the finishing blow! Arvos risked it and leapt into the air, straight over Tala and rolled away, knowing better than to try and go for a strike of his own. It was a good thing too, as he heard Tala's saber narrowly miss him, striking the ground a few inches away from his ankles. After he recovered, he blocked Tala's next attack with a high guard and pressed forward, shoving her blade up and going for a strike at her chest. She blocked and now it was Arvos forcing her back with a string of strikes. However, Tala had a smirk on her face. Too late, Arvos realized she'd won as she grabbed his arm and dragged her foot back, which knocked his foot out from under him and sent him tumbling onto his rear, with a blue lightsaber blade held in front of his face.
"Well done! The spar is over."
Tala shut off her lightsaber and helped Arvos to his feet.
"You did good there. You might have actually beaten me if you hadn't handicapped yourself back there." Tala told him as they walked out of the sparring ring and back to the seats.
"Does that mean you didn't actually win?" He jabbed, leading to a Tala responding with a jab of her own, that being a jab of her elbow to Arvos' ribs.
"I've beaten you plenty of times before when you had both and you know it." She reminded him. Arvos rolled his eyes.
"And I've also beaten you plenty of times. Score's still 22 to 24" Arvos countered, only for Tala to scoff.
"Yeah. In my favor." She gloated, though it was all in good fun. As they returned to their seats, Alvya gestured to them as she held up a lightsaber identical to Arvos' own. Arvos raised his hand and used the Force to call it back to him before he belted it opposite its twin.
"I thought you had her right up until the end." Alvya commented as the human and Zabrak sat down in between Alvya and Garo, the latter of which had his eyes fixed on the next pair heading down to the ring for their sparring match.
"Look, if I'm being honest… he kind of did." Tala admitted, causing Tala's, Arvos' and Garo's eyes all to turn to her in surprise.
"Wait, what?! I thought you'd been baiting me into that from the start!" Arvos exclaimed in a hushed tone as the next pair went up to spar.
"That was entirely improvised. I realized you were about to overwhelm me halfway through the exchange and had to completely change my footwork to be able to get a trip in like that." Tala explained.
"You were saying about a handicap?" Arvos prodded, only to earn himself another elbow in the ribs. Perhaps Tala hadn't quite mellowed out all that much after all. They'd changed all changed in subtle ways since the Gathering, though it was a little less subtle with Garo.
The male twi-lek had grown considerably taller and burlier to boot, standing five feet nine inches tall. He'd stuck to the traditional Jedi garb of beige tunic and pants for his usual wear, though he had added a pair of bracelets to his left wrist. They were made of wooden beads that, according to him, came from the world he was born on, though not necessarily of twi-lek origin. He also now sported a spattering of scars on his left arm, courtesy of… the bombing. Garo had experienced a great deal of mixed fortune that day. He'd been close enough to the explosion to be caught up in the carnage, but he'd been far enough away to get away relatively unscathed, save for the scarring on his left arm from a window that had shattered and caused numerous lacerations. The event had changed him in ways that had the rest of the group worried for quite some time. He became more withdrawn, quiet.
Alvya had undergone perhaps the most dramatic change of all of them in terms of attire. She wore a black undershirt with sleeves down to her wrists as well as black leggings, a loose brown tunic that only had one shoulder and a sleeve that came down to just above her elbow, and brown pants to match. She also occasionally wore a light gray robe with long, billowing sleeves that reached down to just a little past the black undershirt, though she wasn't wearing it now. She only wore it when they had to leave the temple or for formal situations within the temple. She'd received as a gift from an older padawan she'd known for quite some time and had passed their trials a little over one standard year ago as a gesture of good luck.
Additionally, she'd done her long hair up in a braid to keep it out of her face when they were doing physical training.
They watched the remaining pairs duel, occasionally answering questions when called upon before the class was over and they had to leave. Arvos thought he heard whispers for a moment but dismissed it as just his imagination. At this point, he was so used to hearing whispers about his strange lightsabers that he'd started to hear the hushed tones of other prospective Jedi as talk about his weapons, when it was just as likely something else entirely.
They used to bother him, but not so much anymore. He'd stopped caring after six standard months of the whispers, which had started when he'd constructed his first lightsaber. The onyx blade had immediately drawn attention to himself from his fellow younglings, as well as more than a few knights and especially Arvos' teachers. The blade's color didn't draw attention for just its rarity or unsettling appearance. The color had association with the ancient Sith, with the only known Jedi to have wielded such a blade being the Mandalorian-borne Tarre Visla. The black blades had been the subject of quite a bit of youngling gossip, at least for a while, with some wondering where he'd acquired such strange crystals, some wondering if perhaps he was fated to fall to the Dark Side like Count Dooku, but as Arvos continued to prove himself in his studies, and the fact that for all their suspicion and probing, Arvos never once displayed anything other than mild frustration when said gossip reached his ears, they did their best to put the rumor mongering to an end. Or at least they tried. It wasn't purged entirely, but Arvos didn't make a fuss either way. After all, he understood their concerns. He'd had the same when he'd first seen the crystals himself.
Unfortunately, before the rumors had died down there'd been similar concerns from a few of Arvos' instructors, who brought their concerns to the Jedi Council, who were surprised and slightly concerned about the development. Well, all but one. Master Yoda had seen the crystals and questioned Arvos how he came into possession of them. When Arvos revealed that he'd used an ancient Forge to create them, per his trial on Ilum, Yoda asked to examine the crystal and the saber that housed it. Afterwards, Yoda assured Arvos that nothing was wrong and returned to the council. After that, while there was still occasional concern from the instructors, the council was the least concerned about Arvos. One day, just after they finished a lesson with master Yoda, the grand master of the order pulled Arvos aside and removed something from within his robe. It was a wooden sphere, about the size of thermal detonator. It was covered in strange carvings that made no sense to Arvos. When he asked master Yoda what the sphere was, Yoda only told him that it was tied to where he came from and that he'd understand what to do with it when he was ready.
Arvos kept that sphere in his room, hidden within a secret panel within a chest of his meager belongings, which consisted of only a spare change of clothes and his sketches of that strange blade that haunted his dreams in the weeks leading up to the Gathering. While he no longer saw the blade in his dreams anymore, it hadn't vanished from his mind. He'd tried researching it, only to come up dry on all counts so far.
So, he'd put that search on hold until he found something to put him on the right track, instead shifting his spare time back to researching every aspect of lightsabers that he could, though some of that time was taken up on maintenance and modification to his own lightsabers.
"So, where's everyone off to?" Arvos asked.
"Well, I had some reading I wanted to do in the Archives. I think it's safe to say that Arvos will be there." Alvya replied.
"Actually, I was going to go down to the smithy to do some work on my lightsabers. I want to try and modify the grip a bit to work better in two hands as well as one." Arvos revealed.
"Oh hey, mind if I tag along? Something feels off with my lightsaber and I've been meaning to do a full diagnostic of it to figure out what's wrong." Garo asked. Arvos grinned.
"I'd be glad to help, if that's what you're asking." Arvos told his friend.
"I think I'll go with Alvya to the archives. I've got some reading I need to take care of too." Tala told them. With their farewells bade, the group separated into their pairs and went their separate ways. Arvos and Garo maneuvered their way through the winding corridors of the temple until they reached the Smithy, deep within the temple. The Smithy was a collection of workshops where Jedi could go to repair, modify or construct new lightsabers. Arvos was more than familiar with it, spending far more time down here than any of his peers.
"So, what's the problem you're having with your lightsaber?" Arvos asked as he grabbed two pairs of work gloves and goggles, then tossed a set to Garo.
"I feel a buzzing in the handle when I switch it on, as well as occasional vibrations when the blade is active. I thought it might have been an issue with the emitter, but I couldn't find anything wrong with it when I gave it a onceover before sparring today." Garo told him. Arvos made a humming noise in his throat before he motioned for Garo to open it up. Garo did just that, removing the shell from the weapon so that Arvos could take a look.
"Power cell looks good, no cracks in the crystal, Emitter looks fully functional… hmm…" Arvos muttered before he grabbed a pair of stands for the lightsaber and set it up, as well as a special binder that went around the crystal chamber so that activating the lightsaber wouldn't cause energy to erupt from the crystal chamber. From there, he disconnected the power cell and grabbed a large power supply and adjusting the dials on it before hooking it up in place of the power cell. With that done, Arvos activated the lightsaber and eyed the components. Then he noticed something strange with the modulation core.
"I think I found the problem." Arvos informed Garo before deactivating the weapon and decoupling the power supply. From there, he carefully removed the modulation core and grabbed a small tool and used it to open up the core. From there, Arvos whistled.
"Yeah, that'd definitely do it." He commented before he showed the interior to Garo who frowned when he saw it.
"I'm guessing those black spots shouldn't be in there." Garo muttered as Arvos tossed the offending part into a bin of broken parts.
"No. No there should not be black spots inside the modulation core." Arvos quipped back as he grabbed a small device and began to run it along the naked hilt.
"What are you looking for?" Garo asked as he peered closer at the inspection.
"Typically, modulation cores get that kind of damage if there's a short from the power cell straight to the core. The core is designed to regulate the plasma that's focused through the crystal so that the hilt doesn't melt or explode in your hand, but it can be surprisingly vulnerable to strong enough electrical surges. It's an issue that was addressed with the newest version of the part, but it's also more expensive to manufacture." Arvos explained as he continued to check the handle.
"Okay, but that doesn't really answer what you're doing." Garo pointed out.
"Sorry. I'm trying to find if there's any problems with the insulation or any shorts that would have allowed the modulation core to get damaged like that… No, looks like you just got a slightly defective part. You're lucky it lasted this long, otherwise you could have been missing half your face and your hand at an inopportune moment." Arvos muttered as he began rooting around through one of the bins for a replacement core before he came up with one. He grabbed some more equipment and plugged it into the core before examining a few of the screens before he grinned.
"Alright, this one should work!" Arvos declared as he installed the part and checked it over to make sure everything was properly connected and aligned. Garo hooked up the power supply and activated the blade. Everything was working perfectly. Grinning ear to ear, Garo reinstalled the power cell and replaced the shell for the hilt before pulling off the gloves and activating his weapon.
"It feels better than ever! Thanks!" Garo declared before shutting off the weapon. However, Arvos couldn't help but notice that Garo's gaze lingered on the lightsaber in a strange way. His grip on it was tight, as if Garo was distressed in some way.
"Garo, are you alright?" Arvos asked in a concerned tone. Garo seemed to snap out of it and nodded.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just tired. Maybe I'll head back to my room after I do some training exercises. See you at dinner, Arvos." Garo replied. After exchanging farewells, Garo departed and Arvos placed his own sabers on the workbench and started tinkering. His original design had been designed to be comfortably held in two hands with form three in mind. However, when he decided to take up a dual-bladed style, he'd switched to learning forms four and five and modified his lightsaber's hilt to be held more comfortably in one hand. However, he'd made another adjustment recently that had more than a few of his instructors a bit… well, the word he'd heard was disapproving. He'd added a coupler system to the pommels of his lightsabers, allowing them to link together to form a saberstaff. Now, one thing he didn't find himself arguing with was the advice of his lightsaber instructor that he shouldn't overextend himself. While he did agree that throwing himself into learning three distinct styles of lightsaber combat (standard, dual wielding and the saberstaff) was potentially reckless, he had confidence that his many years of study of every aspect of lightsabers, including the theory behind the many combinations of blades one could use, would assist him in the practical side of learning the art.
It was due to this that he'd left one of his lightsabers in Alvya's possession when he and Tala had dueled earlier. He wanted to keep his skills with a single blade sharp. The problem was that his modifications to his lightsaber had thrown off his technique during his duel with Tala.
So now, he was faced with a dilemma. He needed to modify his lightsabers to be held comfortably in one hand, two hands, and as a saberstaff.
"Well, I guess it wouldn't be interesting if it was easy. Might as well go ahead and custom forge the parts while I'm at it." Arvos joked to himself as he began to experiment with different designs for the coverings. The minutes trickled by to hours and Arvos was close, so close to getting the design right. However, it just wouldn't click!
"Maybe I should consider custom forging the parts at this point." Arvos grumbled to himself as he continued to star at the two weapons on the workbench.
"I wouldn't go quite that far just yet."
Arvos turned around when he heard the voice and went stock still. Standing before him was the Anakin Skywalker, hero of the Republic and knight of the Jedi Order.
"Master Skywalker!" Arvos greeted quickly before bowing.
"Easy there, kid. No need to freak out." Anakin quickly said as he waved down Arvos.
"Sorry, master Skywalker. I just wasn't expecting to see you here." Arvos explained.
"Yeah, normally I do my lightsaber maintenance in my own quarters. So, what are you working on here?" Skywalker asked as he went to look at Arvos' lightsabers.
"Well, I'm trying to modify my lightsabers to operate in a better all-around manner. Currently, they're designed to be operated with dual wielding and saberstaff combat in mind. However, I also want to adjust them to function for single blade use as well, should I be disarmed in battle or need to lend an ally one of them." Arvos explained. Anakin examined the weapons with a critical eye before he gestured to a section of the handle.
"What if you used a studded grip ring there? That should provide a comfortable grip while allowing for greater ease of flourishes and spins." Anakin suggested. Arvos thought about if for a moment and grinned widely.
"Yeah, that's it! How'd I not figure that out sooner?" Arvos exclaimed as he made the modifications and held the sabers in his hand before putting one away to try it with both hands, then linked them together to form a saberstaff. They felt perfect!
"I gotta say, that's a pretty slick piece of work, that lightsaber. You study engineering a lot?" Anakin asked. Arvos shrugged.
"I study lightsabers a lot. I don't know why, but I've always just been drawn to them, so I've been studying them as long as I could. History, old designs and why they were used, old innovations and styles that have fallen out of favor, philosophy behind them, everything I can." Arvos explained. Anakin looked at Arvos for a second before he grabbed his lightsaber and held it out to Arvos.
"What can you tell me about this one?" Anakin asked Arvos. Arvos gingerly took the saber in his hand and examined it. He felt as if he were holding the fabled First Blade itself.
"Well… It's designed for pure functionality and form five in mind. Solid casing, heavy shielding around the emitter, ridged handgrip and beveling on the emitter, it's practically perfect for form five. Nothing extraneous or decorative, just pure function." Arvos observed before handing it back to Anakin, who had a smile on his face.
"Pretty impressive, kid. I might just recommend a few Jedi to you for recommendations for lightsaber modifications." The knight praised Arvos.
"Thank you for your kind words, master Skywalker. I'll try to live up to your praise." Arvos replied before turning to leave.
"Where are you going?" Anakin asked. Arvos paused.
"Well, I've got my lightsabers sorted out, so I thought it would be best to go get some practice in with them. The design only takes you so far, after all." Arvos answered.
"While that's certainly true, you didn't think I came down here just for nothing, did you?" Anakin clarified before continuing.
"I was heading down here to collect some parts and master Yoda caught me on the way down to inform you that your trials to ascend to the rank of Padawan are scheduled for a week's time. Master Yoda mentioned you'd likely be here if you weren't in the Archives." Anakin informed him. Arvos went completely still. His eyes glazed over a bit before he snapped back into reality. Even still, it didn't feel real. His trials to determine if he was ready to be assigned to a master and becoming a padawan were upon him already… He couldn't believe it. His life could change greatly in one week's time.
"Thank you for informing me, master Skywalker. I'll begin preparations immediately." Arvos told him with a bow before departing. His head was still spinning a bit at the revelation. He eventually made his way back to his dorm and stumbled over to his bed. He'd scarcely been sitting for more than a few minutes as his brain tried to process what he'd just been told when he heard a frantic hammering on the door to his room.
"Yes?" He called out before the door slid open and Tala rushed in.
"Youwon'tbelievethisI'mtakingthetrialsinaweekandI'mfreakingout!" Tala exclaimed as she grabbed him by the shoulders and started shaking him. When he managed to extricate himself from her grip and get her to calm down with repeated insistences that he couldn't understand what she was saying (a process that took him several minutes) he finally managed to get her to say what she was trying say in understandable Basic.
"Master Luminara told me that I've been approved for my Padawan trials and am scheduled to undertake them in a week's time." Tala informed him. Arvos was surprised, but not terribly so. One thing that had shocked him was that he'd received news of this before Tala, seeing as she was the most devoted of the four of them to becoming a Jedi.
"Well, I guess I can't top your news with mine. It's the exact same after all." Arvos replied, which led to Tala's jaw dropping.
"Both of us?! Wait… maybe all four of us got accepted! We gotta go find Alvya and Garo!" Tala exclaimed before rushing out of Arvos' room and down the hall. Arvos hurried after her, deciding there was nothing better to do. It didn't take too long to find Alvya. She was still down in the Archives and was currently talking to master Eeth Koth. Koth departed before they got to her and given the look on Alvya's face, it wasn't hard to guess what had just happened.
"You're taking your Padawan trials soon, right?" Tala asked Alvya, who looked floored that they'd guessed.
"How did you…" Alvya started before she noticed the massive smile plastered across Tala's face and the more dazed smile that Arvos had.
"No way…" She murmured.
"Yep. Me and Arvos both got the same news." Tala confirmed.
"We gotta go find Garo! He's gotta have gotten word too!" Alvya declared before they left to go find him.
"So, you saw him last, Arvos. You got a guess as to where he is?" Tala asked. Arvos frowned.
"He was acting a little weird after we finished fixing his lightsaber; said he was thinking of going back to his room after he finished doing a few drills." Arvos replied. Alvya frowned.
"He's been acting strangely for a few weeks now. He's distracted during lessons, his swordsmanship has taken a hit recently, he's been distant… Do you think we should talk to one of the masters about this?" Alvya asked. Tala looked ponderous.
"Let's give it a few days and see how he's doing. He could just be having an off-period." Tala suggested. Arvos nodded in agreement, but he was still concerned. He couldn't shake the feeling that whatever was going on with Garo, it wasn't something that was going to just go away.
Eventually, they did find Garo. He was in the sparring hall, training with one of the spherical training droids. He was currently blindfolded and doing pretty well for himself, blocking the little taser blasts that the droids fired. When the set ended and the droid returned to a resting state, Garo removed the blindfold and noticed the three other younglings watching. He set the helmet aside and walked over to them, helmet tucked under his arm and lightsaber at his belt.
"Well, what's so special that all three of you came here to see me?" Garo asked, looking a little weirded out by their faces.
"Well, we've been informed individually that we've been selected to take the trials to become padawans next week!" Alvya exclaimed. Garo was taken aback before he started grinning ear to ear.
"That's great! Amazing!" He replied with equal excitement before his expression turned to curiosity.
"Any mention of me in there?" Garo asked.
"Not to me. They only informed us individually. I wouldn't be surprised if someone comes to inform you of your own trials being scheduled." Arvos replied. Strangely enough, Garo didn't look quite as enthusiastic or very convinced, but he still smiled.
"Well, what do we do now?" Garo asked. Tala grinned at all of them.
"Well, what else would we do? We start training harder than ever!"
Alright, that's where we're calling it for today! Slight changes made mid-production, but I think it's gonna make for a more interesting story.
Creativity: We gonna discuss anything about the chapter?
Author: Not all that much, actually. There's not much to really discuss right now. So, I'll not waste more of your time. Thank you for reading, please review, hope to see you on Discord and we'll see ya next time!