Chapter 3- Trayus Academy

I took a seat on one of the Okenwood tables in the Great Hall. The room was probably the largest room within the Academy and was filled to the brim with over a hundred other students. Would you call us students? I dunno, I guess we were students of Revan – students of the Dark Side. Anyway, I took a seat on a table with my tray of food. The food wasn't half bad, 'mushed Gizka' as they called it. I needed a few spices to make it taste spot on, but I wasn't to judge. Across from me and a little to the left was another boy about my age. He sat at my table and sipped from his bowl. I could also identify a small scar about the size of a thumb nail above his left eyebrow. He had blue eyes and black hair. And he was human, which was plain to see (unless he was a shape-shifter, which I found highly doubtful).

He looked like me. Then again, everyone looked me here. We all looked simple. Well, all but Jarzis. Jarzis, like most of the other students here were Human. Jarzis was big. And Jarzis was violent. And Jarzis liked to kill the other students for fun. That was until his first lesson when he got into a fight with his instructor and pinned the scrawny man against a wall. Revan arrived to break up the fight between the two but was faced with a decision on who to punish. With a tug Revan used the Force to remove Jarzis' spine from his body. We assumed the Dark Lord valued the instructor more; until he killed him too. It was an example that he was setting. I guessed the instructor was showing signs of weakness, so he was punished. None of these events had happened yet, after all it was only Day One.

The kid on my table was just too much like me. Maybe there was a pattern. Revan must have picked us for a reason, were we intelligent. Doubtful. Maybe it looked as though our minds were easy to tap into and forge in to whatever the Sith wanted us for. The kid had potential to be a real baddass. So I built my own back story for the kid. His name was Jon, he picked Cantina Fights on a regular basis. He keeps to himself unless provoked. He has no problem with the killing of innocence. His parents tried to kill him one day but Jon turned around and stabbed the two with a negotiator. As they bled he learned he had to be hard to survive. Living as a homeless man he eventually resorted to killing and eating a Rancor in order to prevent starvation. When the Rancor fought back, Jon had his eyebrow sliced open. That was Jon. Jon was a baddass.

Occasionally the boy across from me what look up and stare at me until I raised my head and he'd lower his. Eventually I gave up and openly said, "Mate. What it is up?" The boy was showed and panicked. "Uh, I'm sorry. You looked incredibly familiar." Now I was shocked. "Familiar? Like, who?" He thought for a moment. "Is your name Jaques?" Now I thought for a moment. Was my name Jaques? It wasn't when I last checked. "Not when I last checked. I'm Rand, Atton Rand." I put out a hand. He shook it. "I'm Drayven Khar." He seemed nice. I was interested about him though. I couldn't help but ask, "So, where'd you get that scar?" "What, this? Oh I just tripped on the way up the Academy stairs last month." I couldn't work out what was disappointing, the fact that he wasn't nearly as cool as I'd hoped, or that he had been here longer than me. "So, you've been here a month." "Yeah, but we haven't trained yet. Today was the last shipment and training starts tomorrow. It shouldn't be all tha-" He was interrupted by a loud crash. At the cafeteria line three boys stood. The leader of the posse, a blonde haired Alderaan boy threw the tray of food at the Academy Chef.

I distinctly remember Drayven and I looking down and trying not to draw attention to ourselves. Unfortunately the rest of the Great Hall were looking straight at him. So the bully headed this way. He was happy and greedy, he fed on the fears of the other students. We were all grown men yet somehow this reminded me of little smuggler school. It wasn't called that, but I remember smuggling in a lot of food items into the elementary black market. The bully neared. I heard his footsteps creeping up on me. I reminded me of my encounter with Revan the night before. Only, this kid wasn't scary rather than annoying.

"So, Kharr. Where's the spices?" He was provoking Drayven into a fight, I could smell it. "I didn't get any." "You what?" "I couldn't, how was I supposed leave the Academy?" "Find…a…way…now you're, uh, 'homework' is overdue and someone's gonna pay." I grinned, this kid was asking it. I must have chuckled because the next thing I knew was that I could feel his breath on the back of my neck. "Got something to say, pretty boy?" I stood and turned to him. Offended I said, "Pretty boy? The names Atton. But you can call me sexy pirate wizard 2000." "Hah!" He laughed…obviously. Because when Atton Rand makes a joke, everyone laughs. "The kid's a joker!" he continued. "I'm not just a joker. I am the Joker. You may also call me sexy, or pirate, or simply just you highness." The bully's grin disappeared. "Well you can call me, Garm." He put out a hand. So I went to shake it. Big mistake.

As I went for it he grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards him with his left hand. He then proceeded with a really heavy punch to the eye with his right fist. I fell onto the ground. Garm and his posse laughed and began to walk away, slapping Drayven on the back of the head as they passed him. I could tell Drayven was about to crack it and hit back, but before he could I flicked my leg and tripped Garm. He fell. And kissed the bench seat on his way down. Drayven helped me up but couldn't take his eyes off the unconscious body. There were a few drops of blood on the floor. I spat on him and left. Because when Atton Rand makes a joke, everyone laughs.

The night was a nice sleep. I had a bunk beside Drayven. The morning's breakfast consisted of…cooked 'mushed Gizka' which was a nice change. The first lesson of the day was theory and that took up most of the morning. The rest of the afternoon was combat training where we were ordered by our instructors to beat up a dummy. So far the training wasn't that brutal and I couldn't see how most wouldn't survive – excluding Jarzis, of course. None of the training exercises were strenuous. The most dangerous it had gotten was the beatings that we would receive if we didn't hit the dummy quick enough, the instructor would beat someone over the back of the head with a stun baton until they collapsed and then beat them until they were unconscious before being dragged along the rocky floor to the infirmary. It was announced that after lunch we would be marching through the Malachor V canyons to another Sith structure.

Come lunch, though, and I soon discovered that Drayven was still in class and that Garm had killed the medics and broken from the infirmary. I doubted he would be punished by death as the deed had already been done. I was eating my 'mushed Gizka' – I know right, again – and he broke into the Great Hall. He ran as fast as he could to my table. Without intentionally doing so I stood up to face him. It was too late to sit down so I held the angriest expression I could on my face. Boy, oh, boy was it a scary expression. It made Garm so uncomfortable he couldn't help but smile, probably do avoid me knowing how scared he was.

"Atton, you Firaxan little-" I interrupted him. "Woah boy! You might want to hold your tongue before you say something you regret." Atton, you charmer. Unfortunately it was made clear to me that Garm wasn't a fan of charmers. He pulled out a blaster rifle, who knew where he was keeping it holstered while he was threatening me. "You're going to pay, Rand." Desperately I began searching for an escape from this situation. I looked around the room but all I could find were faces staring at me in horror. "I…I'm not Atton." "What?!" "Your eyesight must be a little damaged, I'm not Atton. Atton, uh, left. He was too scared of you. I…my name is…uh…my name is, uh, Jaques. Yeah!" "What? Jaq?" "Yep, Jaq, that's what I meant."

Luckily my quick thinking bought me enough time to get rid of Garm. Garm genuinely believed me. I had used a mix of influence and what I would later learn as Force Persuade. I had potential. That was Revan's reason for recruiting me. But with this situation in the Great Hall. Jaq would become my nickname. I was Jaq, Jaq the Sith Coward. It became my title. I wore it like a badge I had ever only wanted to watch burn.

Following the little incident, the following class had me and sixteen other students (mostly female) march through the canyons to what appeared to be some sort of Arena which was said to house some kind of Storm Beast or whatever. We weren't allowed inside in case we were killed by the monster. This didn't seem too right considering instructors would begin killing students every lesson following today.

Anyway, tomorrow came quick. I spent my whole day in a small training facility to the East of the Academy Arena. Here my class was taught my Revan. That day was the first of the many brutal days. Our first task was to split off into pairs. I teamed myself up with a younger boy named Taj. We were told to place any weapons we owned onto the table to the left of the room. Then we were ordered to kill the other person. We figured there would be some kind of a twist. But there wasn't. We literally had to murder the other person in cold blood. I choked Taj, I didn't give me a second's chance of breath. I watched the color leave him. I knew I couldn't show mercy, another pair showed mercy and they were punished by Lord Revan with Force Lightning. He said that he could have used a Death Field on them, killing them and strengthening him; but he didn't want coward energy. I had to prove I was no coward. Atton Rand was no coward. I was no Jaq.

The boy died. His body was given no funeral but was thrown into the main Arena as food for the Storm Beast. This boy had a family, a little brother and older sister. He had a father who was in the Republic and a mother who'd run off with another man. These observations, this knowledge, it all scarred me. This was the first time I experienced death as more than a game. Death was a game – but not anymore. Death ensured the survival of another.

We were given two moments to catch our breath before the next training exercise. The class was now reduced to about seven or eight students. The next exercise would mark the beginning of my mission as a Jedi Hunter.

We would be taught the Enchanci military fighting style, how to kill a group of well trained soldiers from Onderon with only your pinky finger and a deck of Pazaak cards. After we would be taught how to truly be one with our mission. It was hard to comprehend, it's probably hard for you to get what I'm actually trying to say. I was going to destroy. No one would be able to stop me.

I was ready.

No I wasn't.

But, I did think I was ready.

It's what I told him, my master, so he wouldn't see me as a lesser.

So he wouldn't see me as a coward.

He lined us up one by one.

Instructors, one per student entered the room and stood one in front of each of us.

They were so close he could smell them.

We felt it in them.

They had all been touched by the Force. And now so would we.

We would face Chaos.

There was one instructor less than there was a student. Revan stood in for the man three positions to my right. Revan went first. He moved ever so slightly closer to the man and began using some kind of mind torture on him. The learner screamed in pain. His veins swelled up and pulsed across his now tightly stretching skin. Then he stopped.

The boy had stopped screaming. Just like that. I looked back at my instructor who had not taken his eyes off me. So I turned back towards the now quiet boy. He collapsed, head staring towards me. His eyes had turned black.

"He could not cope. Now, your turns." What had happened? What were the instructors going to do to me? I was going to die too. "Resist." With that word the instructors began. I became paralyzed and swallowed in a abyss of darkness.

Sight had disappeared from me and I awoke in a void. A large black void. I stood on nothingness, I felt solid beneath my feet where nothing existed. In the distance I saw a large red flowing waterfall. I know this is hard to understand, but to this day neither do I understand what happened then. I noticed the wall of red water coming closer at a rapid pace. It was going to kill me. I felt like screaming, and realised. I was screaming, outside of this zero zone my body was probably screaming in pain. What was it Revan had said? Was it…resist? How was I to do that. Surely running into this wall would destroy me. Maybe it was fear that was killing us. Maybe I had to stay confident and embrace the evil that was coming.

So I did.

And for the first time in weeks, I was right.

I stood still and gave the red flowing wall a hug. I embraced it and accepted it. I thanked it for all it was going to give me. It felt cool, refreshing against the humid winds of Malachor. Of Malachor. I opened my eyes and found myself sitting on the floor in a meditating pose along with four other students. I was on Malachor. What had just happened?

"You touched the Dark Side of the Force." Revan said from behind me. He must have read my mind. "Sorry?" I asked confused. "We bore into your minds, to pull out your secrets and used them against you. Your secrets were going to kill you for a second there Atton." "What was all that?" "Your first lesson in Resistance. You resisted, by accepting. That is rule number one. If a Jedi tries to know your secrets you must accept it. And surely enough they will learn acceptance is a Dark force."

So many questions. "Where was I?" "Right here. You fell unconscious a few hours ago. And we helped your body move over here. To rest and to meditate." "What was that red thing?" Revan thought for a minute as if trying to gather words. "That was your interpretation of the force, Rand. You touched the Force. Only for one insignificant moment. But the Dark Side saved you. There has only been one Force user to date who has been able to break through a force block such as the one you just experienced. One, Darth Traya. I sense a link, a small connection in which the two of you shall meet." "So can I use the Force?" "No. At least, not yet. Over the coming years at this Academy we will teach you a great many things. You will be able to cope much easier with all of this, you will be able to cope with loss."

And that's just what I did.

I coped.