A New Dark Quest.
Arthas had a new mission together with his old master Uther. This time, their mission took them back to their old home world, Azeroth. One of the most diverse planets in the Galaxy, Azeroth is split in to four continents, one in each geographical direction from a central maelstrom of powerful force energies. Each continent also has it's own climate, and no place on the planet is the same as the others. This diversity allowed many different races to evolve and thrive on the planet, and even of worlders settled on it thousands of years ago, and has become a part of the planet's already vast population. It sure was an interesting world for anyone who liked exploring unknown areas. But it's also dangerous, because due to the large veriaty of inhabitants, it had a lot of bad people on it.
Reason why Arthas and Uther returned to their old home world, is because they heard that mysterious creatures has been spotted. Given the two jedi knows Azeroth better than most, they were entrusted to them. Of course they were not doing this alone, Nova and her trusty pilot Lena was once again accompanying them. After landing, they decided to go see Arthas' father, Terenas Menethil, someone he hasn't seen in a very long time. Once Arthas entered the throne room, Terenas looked up with a proud smile.
"Arthas, my son" He said as he stood up to embrace his son.
"I missed you too, father" Arthas said as he accepted the hug.
"You've grown so much my son. I barely recognized you" Terenas said before looking at Uther "And you Lord Uther. It has been to long since I saw you, my old friend".
Uther smiled at him "It's good to see you too, Lord Terenas. Though I simply go by Master Uther now".
"Indeed, you are both jedi now, and powerful ones at that. I heard great stories of your heroics" Terenas said in pride.
"Just doing our sword duties as jedi" Arthas said.
"Speaking of duties. As much as I hate to cut our reunion short. We returned because we heard trouble was brewing" Uther said.
Terenas sighed, knowing they had no time for pleasantries "I'm afraid you heard right. A plague has been reported from several of the outer villages, people are getting sick and some has shown strange behavior".
"What kind of behavior?" Arthas asked.
"The reports are unclear, and varies depending on where they come from. But what most do have in common is that the people are becoming more violent and destructive. So far we've been able to contain the worst of it, but I fear it's not our only problem" Terenas said as he sat back down on his throne "As I'm sure you were told, of worlders has been landing within our borders without authorization. We tried sending someone to speak to them... so far non has return".
"I suspected these intruders wouldn't be to eager to speak with us. So we sent one of our allies to watch them, she is trained in stealth so she can easily make it in and out without anyone noticing her" Arthas said.
"Now I wish I had called for help sooner. I hoped we could deal with these problems ourselves. But it's now clear we need jedi help for it" Terenas said.
"You can rest easy now, Terenas. We will stop whatever sinister plot is in the work here" Uther assured.
Terenas nods "Then go and fulfill your duty. And when you are done, we have a lot of catching up to do".
Arthas smiles and bows "Looking forward to it, father".
Uther bows as well before both jedi leaves the room. Terenas leans back in his throne, hoping this whole mater would be settled quickly before something worse happens. If only they had known right now, that their lives were about to enter a very dark time. One they may or may not make it through.
Having built a small out post to operate from, Arthas and Uther awaited Nova's return. After a while, she finally did.
"Welcome back, Nova. What did you discover?" Uther asked.
"Trouble, and lots of it" Nova said before showing a holomap of the area "Some mysterious people have taken over a nearby village, and they seem to be performing some dark experiments".
"Yes... I sensed something dark when we landed on the planet" Uther said as he stroked his beard.
"I sensed it too. Is it the sith?" Arthas asked.
"Perhaps... but what could they be after to risk breaking the treaty?" Uther wondered.
Arthas scoffed "Isn't it obvious? Power, that's all they ever want. Power and control".
"That may be the case, Arthas. But we don't yet know if the sith is really behind this. The sith are far from the only darkness in the galaxy. We need to investigate this more closely" Uther said before looking at Nova "What kind of people did you see?".
Nova narrowed her eyes "They were a mixed race, some hooded people... and some orcs. However, the orcs were different some how. They didn't look like their normal proud warrior selves... It's like they were possessed".
"Interesting..." Uther said.
"Should we contact Master Thrall?" Arthas asked, having a feeling the orc master would be the best to talk to about this.
Uther nods "We will. But first we need to know what to tell him. We will start with stopping whatever those figures are doing. Whatever it is, it can't be anything good".
"Yes Master" Arthas said in agreement, these people needed to be stopped before they caused any serious damage.
Back on Aiur, Leah was continuing her training. After having meditated for as long as she have, Artanis finally decided she was ready for some combat practice, to make sure her development with her lightsaber doesn't stagnate. Holding his blue lightsaber ready, Artanis waited for Leah to make the first move. And she did, when she charged him with a over head strike, which was easily blocked and she was forced back.
Leah remained calm as she attacks again, but Artanis used some basic Soresu form moves and blocked each of Leah's strike, her average application of Djem So not doing anything to break his guard. Artanis keeps defending until Leah tried a move she learned from studying Ataru, as she flips through the air, aiming to distract Artanis with a strike from above and then land behind him to attack his flank. However, Artanis predicted this and used the force to trap Leah in mid air before pulling her saber out of her hand and in to his own. He then dropped her, making her land on her butt.
"Ow..." Leah said while rubbing her back side.
"I take it my training is different from Master Thrall" Artanis commented.
"Actually, this was pretty similar to my first lesson with him" Leah said.
Artanis smiles with his eyes since he lacked a mouth "I'll take small pride in that. You are not a bad duelist, but you are trying to use to many different forms. It's better to master one or two".
"But wouldn't that make me over specialized?" Leah asked.
"That is always a risk. But it's sometimes better to be a master a couple of styles, rather than trying to learn all of them" Artanis said as he puts his hands behind his back "As the saying goes: I don't fear a fighter who's practiced 10,000 saber techniques once, I fear the one who's practiced one saber technique, 10,000 times".
Leah blinks "Where does that saying come from?".
"No one knows, it's origin has been lost to time. And yet it's still known even today" Artanis said.
Leah smiled a little at that, but she still remembered her talk with Valeera "Artanis, can I ask you something?".
Artanis looked at her "Of course".
"Do you know of people who can use both the light and the dark side? Or people who uses the dark side for good?" Leah asked.
Artanis narrowed his eyes "Why do you wish to know that?".
"Just... curious" Leah said, hoping she wasn't in trouble.
"Now that you mention it, I do indeed know of people who are close to fitting that description. They are called The Dark Templars" Artanis said.
"Dark Templars?" Leah asked.
"Yes, many years ago, there was a civil war among the Protoss... Back then we were blinded by the light we hold so dear. We were more of a cult than a order of light and any form of heresy was harshly punished... The Dark Templars rejected the blind faith completely, and so a war broke out... thousands were killed and the Dark Templars were ultimately forced to leave Aiur... and they formed their own order, one that serves neither the dark or the light, they are neither jedi or sith... But something else" Artanis explained.
Leah took in everything he said "But they are not evil, right?".
"No. They are not evil. But they walk an extremely dangerous path. A very dark path. One few dares to walk, and even fewer should even attempt to walk it" Artanis said, giving subtle hints that Leah should not try to walk that path.
Leah sighed "But what if I don't have a choice? This darkness within me is eating me alive... if I don't try something soon, I will be consumed... I don't want to become a monster, Artanis...".
Artanis puts a hand on her shoulder "You are not a monster, Leah. You are who you choose to be. Rejecting the dark side is a long an painful process, but once you defeat it and embrace the light completely, you will feel free and unburdened".
"I... I will try" Leah said.
"No, don't try. If all you do is try, then you don't truly believe you can succeed. Just do it. Sounds simple, but it's not. But if you believe in yourself, I harbor no doubt that you will make an amazing jedi one day" Artanis said.
Leah smiled and nods "Thank you, Artanis. I will do my best".
"I know you will" Artanis said before stepping back and ignites his lightsaber "Ready for another one?".
Leah ignites her on lightsaber and got ready "Let's do it".
They began to circle each other. Then Leah charged. Before she could strike Artanis, the Protoss blocked her attack with hissaber. He pushed her back, then clashed his lightsaber with Leah's own. They began clashing their lightsabers repeatedly until they found themselves in a saber lock. Then, Leah pushed Artanis backwards with a yell of effort before unleashing more strikes which Artanis keeps blocking with little effort. Despite trying to keep herself in check, Leah grew more and more frustrated.
They continued clashing sabers, with Artanis holding the advantage the whole time. Leah was unable to gain any form of progress and in the end she let out a shout before unleashing a powerful force push which sent Artanis flying in to a wall, causing it to crack. Having a moment to calm down, Leah realized what she did.
Leah gasped and ran over to him "Artanis! Are you ok?!".
Artanis shakes his head to clear it "I'm alright Leah. That... was a lot of power".
Leah looked down in shame "I'm sorry... I still don't know how to control it".
Artanis put a reassuring hand on her shoulder "It's a long and hard road. But I still believe you can succeed".
Leah managed a weak smile. She could only hope he was right... Little did she know, she was being hunted by far less noble people.
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Tell me what you think.