Chapter 4

The past few hours had gone well enough, Aries supposed. He'd picked up a quick snack before heading to his usual training facility.

At first his brain and body had rebelled very vocally at this decision, as well as during his warm up exercise and jog around the facility, but after he'd sweat out most of the toxins from the previous night and for the most part woken up, he actually found he was enjoying himself.

It was amazing the effects simple adrenaline could have on a person, and for the first time in a few weeks Aries actually felt alright. The restlessness was still there, but it had been sated by the exercise for at least a little while.

So when he left the training facility he was in a remarkably good mood, in fact he hadn't felt this good in months really, forget weeks. He almost felt guilty, but he brushed that feeling aside before taking a shuttle to one of the richer sectors and walking around it.

Nar Shaddaa was a fully formed city planet, similar to Coruscant but without all the politics that surrounded that world, and a lot grimier as well. Aries wasn't sure what it said about himself that he actually somewhat enjoyed living here.

There were some things he missed, like actually being able to walk through a forest and swim in water from a river or lake with no simulations to make it seem more or less real.

The richer sectors we're the closest Aries could get to that kind of wandering feeling. Their levels were also usually much higher than those of the poorer sectors, whether this was to give them a sense of superiority or not, it still provided Aries with an incredible view.

From where he was, leaning against the railing and looking down at the landscape, Aries saw a mechanical jungle. One made up of metal and bright lights, with people scurrying around like animals, some feasting on others, some doing their best to avoid the apex predators, with swoops and shuttles flying around like giant birds of prey.

Sometimes, without really realizing it even, he would reach out with the Force, see the intricate connections in vivid patterns, become lost in it, in the tiny intricacies that bound everyone together. It was also at times like this that he realized truly how foolish he had been, how arrogant and inpatient and how it had taken falling so far, becoming a monster and then finally turning his back on that to become nothing, to truly appreciate what life meant.

He had travelled quite a bit in his youth, to dozens of planets, ones that contained true beauty, but he had never paid any attention to it. Too focused was he on training and gaining power, with no idea of where he was or where his thirst would lead him.

He smiled and wondered if it would be possible one day to return those worlds, perhaps in disguise. He had regrets about the past but no illusions. There would be no going back, no reconciliation. Redemption was a nice idea, but he wasn't Revan, and it was best for him and the galaxy if he just moved on and forgot who he was before.

If only he could truly believe that.

He sighed and continued his long walk, going in no direction in particular, just wandering, something he'd grown quite good at in the past few years, and had even grown to enjoy it.

Despite the painful memories, he'd found more joy in these quiet moments than any he had in all his pursuits of power or glory. Foolish pursuits, and not uncommon to those who are young.

By all accounts, he was still young, he supposed. Humans lived well over a hundred years now, easily, and there were races who only had barely reached puberty by the time a human's natural life span was over.

He chuckled a bit at himself. If this was what he did in his spare time, wandering and philosophizing, then he practically was an old man.

He finally reached the market area of the sector he was roaming around in. The closeness of the buildings and higher volume of people proximity-wise brought him out of his contemplative reverie.

People brushed past him and continued on their way, many walking with purpose, some slowly while looking at the various shops and their wares. A couple dozen meters away he could see some teenagers hanging around a few custom-made swoops, laughing and jeering each other, wearing bright leather clothes, a new fashion that had sprung up recently.

They were laughing, but something about the way it sounded felt wrong, and it only took about a dozen more steps for Aries to see what the cause of their mirth was. He'd assumed they'd been talking and laughing at a joke one of them had told, but the closer he got, it became apparent that five of them had formed a tight circle around a sixth.

The sixth was dressed differently as well. His clothes were more rugged and he was a little younger, of course he could just have a young looking face. Either way his nose was bleeding and there was anger in his eyes.

"We told you not to come up here," a tall blonde kid with an arrogant expression said. The others laughed and jeered. Aries would have sworn he heard one of them grunt, and they pushed the boy around a bit more.

"I can come up here if I want," the boy said. He had a skinny body, with black eyes and messy black hair.

"No, you can't," the blond kid said. "You're gutter trash, and trash like you should stay down in the cheap sectors with the rest of your kind."

He then punched the dark-haired boy, knocking him to his feet. The boy scrambled to get up, fires blazing in his eyes, but he was hampered by the other four surrounding him, who kicked him again and again as he tried to get up.

The boy's face was bloody, he probably had at least a few bruised ribs and still he wasn't crying out. Kid was tougher than he looked, but one sharp boot to the back of his head would end things nice and quick, and the other boys didn't look they were tiring any either.

What made it worse was the lack of concern the people passing by were showing. A few shook their heads, some even told them to stop, but no one actually got involved until Aries got closer.

"I think he's gotten the point," he said to them.

"Back off old man, or you'll get the same," the blond kid said.

Aries turned the kid around by the shoulder, grabbed his collar and threw him over and against one of the swoops. "You don't want to do that," he said to the kid's friends.

At first they had been surprised, but they'd recovered quickly, and were starting to come towards him before he'd said that. The blond boy looked betrayed as he watched his friends comply with what Aries had said without a word.

The kid who they had been beating slowly stood back up, his hand holding his ribs.

Aries then turned back to the blond boy, looking down on him as he lay leaning against the swoop, and said, "first of all, I told you once that he'd gotten the point. I didn't say that there was a point whatsoever in teaching him anything with your boots. People like are everything that's wrong with this galaxy. Now you're going to go home and think hard on what I've just said. Second, I'm barely thirty."