Chapter One
There is no peace; there is passion.
One must be ever mindful of the living spirit. Sometimes it can guide us and lead us to our goal. One thing that apprentices are taught from a very young age is to never ignore your feelings, but control them. Control is a very important thing. How much control you need means how much discipline you'll get. The force isn't a burden, but a gift. We must use it wisely and respectfully.
With passion, comes strength.
Our feelings make us strong. We become headstrong and more determined to succeed. It feeds both our mind and body to achieve. Passion gives us life.
With strength, comes power.
Strength comes within us, from our passion. When we exert it as the force it becomes power. It is not a crime to want more of it, but we shouldn't. Power can make us corrupt. Too much power can't be a blessing when we use it against others: Be mindful of the abuse of power.
With power, comes responsibility.
The force is a gift. Whether we abuse it or use it righteously depends on us. They give us the small push through the door, but we have to walk through it. Responsibility is critical to any being intrigued by the force. In being part of the Fates, we are on with the force; we respect It and all of its decisions, It controls us like we can control It.
With responsibility, comes knowledge.
As Fates we must be ever mindful of the past, present and most importantly, the future. Things can change by time but time is always against us, it is a known fact and not even the Force can stop this (Or so it is written) Knowledge is a very powerful weapon, so powerful that at times it can save us all from doing the errors of the past. Be ever mindful of our mistakes.
With knowledge, there is no ignorance.
Fear can be planted into the hearts of the ignorant; it can be used towards our advantage and against us. Without knowledge, ignorance prevails and the minds of many will become closed-minded. We must combat the fear of our hearts before combating the fears of everyone. Our worst enemy is ourselves and if one is not careful, it will be easy for us to be seduced to the dark side… we will not fall to it by both Honor and Pride, the force fights with us all!
Without ignorance, there is only truth.
Truth is a powerful weapon which knowledge brings forth. Truth can be planted into many minds and can free them of the ignorance, which threatens to destroy them. The Jedi have peace at their side, the Sith have fear as an ally, The Fates have truth, sincerity, the way to pacify all those in need of it. Truth makes us strong both mentally and physically, for the body and the mind are the same instruments used by the force. We are not assassins nor corrupt politicians wanting to take over the Galaxy, we are the searchers and seekers of the truth and merely want truth in everyone so that the REAL PEACE can exist.
The Force Will Guide Us.
Kyra was thinking of the Code of Fates in her mind as the ship she was in was landing, making her remember how close she was to her final task to become a Fate Master. She looked to her right to have a look out the window and saw that the conditions weren't great. The planet of Arindonia was at the moment being used for the area of the Final test of the many anxious apprentices who are about to become Masters. It was in control of the republic but they were kind enough to let the Fates do their final test, by order of the Jedi. Kyra had heard so much of the Jedi but somehow; her older sister had always said that the Jedi weren't correct about many things. Kyra understood that she was a Fate, not a Jedi but wasn't the teachings of the Fates based on both the Sith and the Jedi?
Her thoughts were interrupted as the metallic voice of a droid came over the COM signaling them all to head towards the loading dock. A few Masters were leading Kyra, and others her age to the bay and, when seeing the conditions up and personal, Kyra's heart sank.
They had landed on a station and the rain was pounding so hard it was almost impossible to see the tower of the buildings. They all lifted their gray hoods, which was part of the uniform for apprentices, and walked into the station. It seemed no one was talking and, even though Kyra was always forced to be quiet, she was silent herself. The fear of failing the mission kept looming into her mind. No, she had to get rid of the fear inside her before she could help anyone else. She closed her eyes and meditated thinking of how proud her sister Kimni will be when she finds out she has become a Master. Kimni was announced as the elder at least three years ago, her best friend Arith was announced as the Prophet, the highest ruler, Kimni was second in command. Kyra was in the council but was made to become a master so that she could have voice, Kyra new the truth though, Kimni had told Ayame, the highest one of the council and known throughout the fates to be the wisest, to add Kyra in so that she could keep an eye on her. Kyra always pondered on this and thought it was bad of Kimni to try to keep her under control. She was 13 and about to become a master. It was a young age she thought but still. The Fate Master walked up to them…they were 35 in total and spoke with a cheerful tone and smile on her face, she was a Twi'lek and her light purple skin made her look like a nice person, though Kyra.
"In a few minutes we will be heading to the corresponding place where the final test will be taken. I want you all to take in mind the conditions of the weather; it can be used for you or against you. There will be two separate teams, half of you will go with Master Bondar and the other half will go with me. The rest of the Masters will be all over the course in case any apprentice falls into trouble." Kyra swallowed and sighed heavily trying to keep calm, everyone just nodded and they were separated into groups. Kyra got matched with Master Bondar who was a rodian. He was very serious and he had the look that something was wrong
I don't like this… I sense a disturbance in the force Jade
Kyra read the rodians mind; it was something she sometimes did involuntarily.
I sense it to, but we must not let our guards down. The faster the apprentices finish, the faster we can leave and inform The Prophet.
Kyra frowned to her self as Master Bondar led them outside again. She wasn't in the mood to talk at the moment like the other apprentices were now doing, she was pondering on this. Why couldn't she feel anything, was it because she was weak? She concentrated the force to feel around her, anywhere. She was almost going to give p when she felt it, an evil presence. She turned her head around but saw nothing, was the force malfunctioning, if there was such thing?
The surface of Arindonia was known to have plains and areas with a lot of vegetation and other parts were filled with rough terrain, now, they were walking through a plain filled with amazing yellow flowers, which were drooped slightly because of the weight of the rain. She felt bad for them and outstretched her arms in order to make a small shield over a few of the flowers. As they walked away the shield got weaker and weaker until the flowers drooped again. Kyra sighed sadly but new they could protect themselves. They were all approaching a huge sort of temple which they all entered into lit hall. They were all taken to different doors and placed in front of them before the doors opened. Kyra starred at the metal door with pure concentration as if it she starred at it hard enough it would reveal her secrets of the upcoming task. Finally, the voice of Master Bondar came over a COM and spoke to the apprentices.
"Once your door is open you will walk through it and start your task. May the Force be with you."
"May the force be with you…" Repeated Kyra under her breath "Yeah right…"
It seemed that the door had lead either to the outside or to some indoor outside, thought Kyra. There were huge trees that the surface of Arindonia hadn't showed before, this was a complete forest and to Kyra great relief would be simple to hide. She grabbed her lightsaber from her holster and held it in fighting stance. Kyra made sure not to step on any loose twigs or bunches of leaves in order to be as quiet as possible. She pulled her brown hair back and raised her hood so as to feel more protected.
The sun was barely coming in and somehow, Kyra had the feeling she wasn't where she was suppose to. Stretching her hand away from her slowly, and closing her eyes, she sent waves of the force to sense her surroundings, nothing. Kyra kept walking deeper into the forest hoping to find something that would destroy the complete silence that was making fear come up her spine.
From out of no where a droid came walking out of some bushes and, at the site of Kyra stopped, it's metallic voice called out to her and it raised its blaster rifle.
"State your name and business civilian."
"What?"
"State your name and business civilian."
Kyra stopped and raised her green lightsaber starring at the droid. "What do you mean, I'm not a civilian."
The droid seemed to be analyzing this and then repeated, to Kyra's great disappointment.
"State your name and business civilian."
This wasn't right, the droid shouldn't be talking if it were part of the drill, or should it? Kyra was about to talk once more when the droid was split in two. Kyra gasped and walked backwards, almost tripping over her gray cloak. Master Bondar was walking towards Kyra and helped her stand up right, he looked around sensing his surroundings with the force and then gave a small growl from inside his throat, very common to the rodian species.
"Young apprentice, come with me, we shall go back to the others."
"The others, what's wrong, was he part of the test, have I failed?"
"No apprentice, there has been a disturbance in the force and we shall continue the trials on another occasion."
Disturbance of the force, everyone knew that when a Fate said this, it meant serious trouble. Kyra was running trying to keep up with the Master and finally the door to the temple was visible. Right when they were about to reach it the Master stopped and grabbed Kyra so that she wouldn't advance.
"What's goin…"
"Hush Kyra…"
Before Kyra could protest the sound of a lightsaber being taken out was heard somewhere behind her then a force push dragged her out of the way of Master Bondar. Kyra was lying on the floor, starring up horrified, as Master Bondar was sliced so easily by a figure in a black cloak. She whimpered slightly as the sound of the 'thump' came from the top half of Master Bondar falling to the soft earthen floor. The hooded figure turned its attention to Kyra and, for once in her life; Kyra understood the meaning of Fear.
Her loud scream echoed through the whole forest area as if an alarm was set off, the hooded figure covered his ears in order to keep the noise out. Kyra was grabbed and gagged by the figure but that didn't matter, the man was a Sith with big yellow eyes and she was under his complete control. She couldn't move her hands or legs and some sort of barrier was preventing her from using the force to ask for help. A small growl from behind her ear made her shudder and whimper again.
"Make a noise useless Apprentice and your life is mine."
Kyra had no choice she kept her mouth shut. It seemed the man was dragging her for hours until they stopped in front of a cliff. Kyra could see a town down in the distance and then the Sith pulled her so that she could see the rocky bottom where other Apprentices she knew had already suffered the fate she was about to come by.
"Say your last words apprentice, and let your self be admitted into death." The mans raspy voice went through Kyra's head; he had let go of her and used a force grip to keep her elevated, he let go of the grip slightly and let her speak. Kyra was thinking of the right words to tell him but she found herself laughing.
" You're a sith and this is how you kill us? Why didn't you slice us like Master Bondar back there?"
"You don't deserve a quick and painless death."
He kicked her and let her fall, she was falling face first when someone caught her, and it was the Twi'lek master Jade! She was soaring through the air having had been swinging from a vine. Kyra gasped as the Sith growled loudly and ran back into the dense woods. They were soaring and finally jumped down and ran towards there ship was. They were still deep in the woods and Master Jade was having a hard time pinpointing the Sith. They were almost at the mouth of the city when the Sith jumped out from the shadows and started fighting with Master Jade. Kyra stood there horrified holding her lightsaber helplessly. Kyra was stunned at how fast their movements were and finally Master Jade was able to push him away and yell at her.
"RUN KYRA! INFORM THE PROPHET; YOU'RE THE ONE! RUN!" Kyra nodded and turned to the city and made for the ship, she would be safe there.
The town was deserted and Kyra had the odd feeling that all this was planned. How could they not have realized this? Did the Jedi know this place was infested with Sith? Some one grabbing her from behind and pulling her towards an abandoned house interrupted her thoughts. Kyra punched the air and kicked her feet but a familiar voice came from behind her and let her go willingly.
"Kyra, it's okay…it's me."
"ARRANELL!"
Kyra turned and hugged her tightly; she was one of Kimni's best friends and was also an Ambassador, a bodyguard, and an Elite assassin. Kyra was so happy to see her and realized why she had come… the Prophet new.
"Aranell, Master Bondar…. Master Jade…they're…"
"Dead, I know. The prophet sent us Ambassadors to come and rescue those we could. So far we found them." She turned sideways and moved back so that Aranell could see. There were a lot of the Apprentices and a few Masters tending to them. The rest of the Ambassadors were out searching but Kyra new they wouldn't find anymore apprentices, they were all on the bottom of that hill…. where the rocks were…
"Kyra, are you all right? I sense you are bothered." Kyra looked up at Aranell and sighed.
"He was a Sith. He was really powerful and he was about to kill me." Aranell narrowed her eyes and leaned in closer. "A sith, you say? Hmm…this has gotten bigger then I thought, the Prophet is right then." Kyra looked at her confused, "The Prophet?"
"Never mind…now go along and sit with the others, I'll stay and watch."
Kyra nodded and went and sat with some of her friends. So, the prophet did know after all, wonder what will happen next. She started chatting quietly and soon forgot her fears and felt safe. She never forgot what her sister, Kimni had told her.
"It is all right to be afraid, but never should you show it. I will always be there, far or near… so you shouldn't be afraid."
Kyra took to heart these words her sister had told her when they had parted from their parents. At a time like this, she wanted her sister more then ever but she new that her sister was always there. She had to be strong, just like Kimni…
Author's note:
Sup people. I'm had to have a brake with the Dante story... nightmares were getting unbearble. Anyways, there you go, our Star Wars ficcy! (I PUT TWO C'S) anyway, to all the other people, I know I used the same names as the other story and no I didn't mess up, I did it on purpous. Bye bye now! It's to early and I need to go back to sleep!
