Chapter Eleven: Strengths
Five acolytes looked on with uncertainty at the scene of peaceful chaos. Three of their compatriots now laid prone against the hard flat of the Korriban terrain. A stillness permeated the air, the senses, that threatened to suffocate the onlookers as they contemplated on how to proceed. Jresh was the first to break the stillness, stepping from the group to check on his companion. With haste, the Pureblood rushed toward the fallen acolytes before sliding to his partner's side.
"Lorrik!" Jresh called out as he carefully lifted the back of Lorrik's head with his palm. "Lorrik, can you hear me? Say something!"
With a stir, Lorrik returned to consciousness, his eyes widely panning across his perspective. Confused. Disoriented. The Human took deep breaths before succumbing to furious coughing fits as he felt a sharp sting within his chest. Eventually, the coughs became sparse as the inquisitor's status conformed to merely a slight daze.
"Lorrik, are you okay?"
"How are the others?" Lorrik struggled to ask through a slight wheeze.
"One thing at a time. Are you okay?" Jresh returned to his questioning.
"I'm… fine," Lorrik admitted. "Just tired. Check the others, I'll be okay."
Softly laying his companion's head upon the ground, Jresh watched as Lorrik relaxed against the cold dirt with a smile on his face. Shuffling across the ground, the Pureblood skirted around Kar'ai's legs to check on Ryloh. The Twi'lek's visage expressed no indicators toward either life nor death. Lowering his head to Ryloh's chest, Jresh was relieved to feel the slight rise and fall of the acolyte's chest as he drew in and exhaled a series of minute breaths. The inquisitor was alive, but just that, offering no display of conditions beyond the basest of life signs. Though he couldn't say if Ryloh was 'okay', he decided the student in a satisfactory enough a state to move his attention to Kar'ai.
Circling around the Twi'lek, the Pureblood addressed the body of the originally afflicted. Laying his head to the Rattataki's chest, Jresh was troubled when he couldn't detect the warrior drawing in even the slightest of breaths. The Pureblood's gaze began to quickly dart up and down the fallen acolyte's body as he struggled to proceed. Looking to the original point of intrusion by the venomous creature, the wound now appeared remarkably clean, only the barest of remnants revealing what had occurred. Mere indentations of the skin, unmarred by the pollution and corrupting blackness that had surrounded it earlier.
Taking ahold of Kar'ai's wrist, Jresh turned it slightly side to side in examination. Her skin had not yet lost its warmth. Pressing upon her wrist, Jresh searched for a pulse of any kind. Suddenly, he felt movement. However, instead of the subtle beat of a working heart, her entire body began to move beneath his touch. Her once afflicted arm twisted itself to grasp the hand currently holding it. With remarkable speed, the Rattataki shot up from the flat of her back.
"Ryloh!" Kar'ai passionately shouted as she returned to life, her gaze longingly affixed upon the figure grasping her hand. It took only a moment for her expression to drop its splendor as she struggled to understand her current situation. "Jresh? Where am I? What's going on?"
"You were bitten or stung by a particularly deadly creature whilst making your way across the pit," Jresh calmly explained. "You fell unconscious and… well, fell. Ryloh jumped to your rescue, and Lorrik followed soon after."
"Ryloh, where is he?" Kar'ai insistently asked, slowly regaining her vigor. Panning her head across the immediate scene, he instantly saw Lorrik laying upon the ground to her left. Looking beyond the warrior at her side, she saw her companion also prone upon the hard dirt. The Rattataki immediately struggled to raise herself despite not fully regaining control of her muscles. "Ryloh!"
"Don't worry. He's okay. Just tired. Same with Lorrik," Jresh stoically explained. "He managed to heal you, but the process was tolling for your body. Ryloh offered himself to share some of your pain. All three of you will recover in time. Be thankful for that."
"Pain? I don't… remember…"
"Great, only her brain was fried by the ordeal," Isorr harshly offered from the sidelines.
"The experience was harrowing to witness, and far far worse to actually experience. Your bodies… as well as your minds, will need time to recover," Jresh calmly explained.
"Time? Every moment we waste out here only serves to our detriment," Isorr bluntly stated. "Should have just let her tough it out. Now we're down three acolytes instead of only one."
"Three living acolytes as opposed to one possibly dead one," Jresh sternly countered as he stood from his tending position.
"It wouldn't have even been a point of concern were she simply stronger," Isorr coldly stated. "We've been trained to power through such ailments. But she needed the aid of two others to survive."
"She might have survived on her own. We simply went with the option that offered a more assured outcome," Jresh explained.
"You call that assured? Even Lorrik didn't believe in the integrity of his own plan."
"I believed in him. And he in turn trusted that belief. There was never a doubt in my mind that he would succeed."
"Then you are as foolish as the Twi'lek. The weakling was unable to withstand levels of pain so insignificant Kar'ai doesn't even remember it."
"We all witnessed what took place during the healing process, you can't possibly believe-"
"Don't… you call… my partner… a weakling!" Kar'ai systematically threatened as she raised and steadied herself. Slowly, she took a step toward the sneering Zabrak. Then another. Her feet impacted hard against the dirt with each firm stomp of her boot. "I don't know… exactly what happened… but I know enough… to know that Ryloh is strong. That we… are strong!"
With a slow but assured dedication she trudged toward the leering Zabrak one step at a time. As she neared him, the foundation of that dedicated began to warp and shatter as her body refused to keep up with her spirit. Kar'ai stumbled and fell to her knees, her hands furiously clenching into fists as she struggled to keep her arms a rigid support between herself and the unforgiving ground.
Isorr look upon the fallen Rattataki with disgust. "Such a pitiful display. The weak should know their place."
His eyes affixed on the struggling acolyte, the Zabrak failed to notice the fast-approaching Pureblood to his side. Diverting his gaze, Isorr only caught the brief glimpse of a red blur before he felt the powerful impact of Jresh's fist against his cheek. The force of the blow sent the Zabrak spinning toward the ground before he caught himself at the last moment.
"For once we agree on something," Jresh sternly declared.
"What do you think you're-" Isorr, upon his knees, managed to get out before finding the Pureblood's boot being driven hard into his face. Falling upon his shoulder, Isorr let out a quick grunt as he impacted against the hard terrain. Despite being forced to the ground after two harsh blows, the Zabrak appeared more mildly annoyed than properly injured, rotating his jaw as he gritted his teeth.
"You think yourself strong? You think yourself the embodiment of Sith?" Jresh asked, not desiring an answer. As Isorr tried to stand, Jresh offered another kick to the other warrior's chest sending him downward and back. "You think you understand strength? Tell me. Tell me what is strength!"
"You dare-" Isorr muttered through a snarl before being silenced by another intrusion of the Pureblood's fist. Rolling upon the dirt, the Zabrak attempted to put some distance between himself and his aggressor, unknowing inching back toward the edge of the cliff.
Jresh pursued the retreating warrior, casting his cold glare. "Strength is power. The ability to bring about change. You think of strength as a source. But what is the source of strength?"
Sufficiently annoyed with the Pureblood, Isorr drew and ignited his training saber. Refusing to halt his approach, Jresh sidestepped a downward swing of the warrior's weapon. As the tip embedded itself into the terrain, Jresh lifted his foot before stomping into the broad of the blade, forcing his opponent to release his grip on it. With a powerful kick, the Pureblood sent the saber flying past its previous wielder. Isorr watched with dismay as it bounced against the dirt a few times before plummeting over the edge and into the vast pit that lay behind him.
Drawing his own saber, Jresh held it firmly by the handle as he refused to tear his stern gaze away from his opponent. Isorr puzzled for a moment when the Pureblood decided to not brandish and ignite the weapon, but forcefully toss it behind him. The saber slid across the ground and eventually came to a stop at the feet of the standing acolytes who had no interest in directly intervening in the conflict. The weapon lying closest to her feet, Arlia subtly lowered herself and retrieved the saber.
Moving forward with a primal surge, Isorr attempted to take control of the conflict as he delivered a furious blow toward his aggressor. His fist impacted against Jresh's gut to no ill effect. Following up with another punch, the Zabrak struck the other warrior's face. The Pureblood's head turned along with the strike, but promptly returned to affix it's cold gaze to the retreating warrior. Implacable, Jresh continued his assault, driving Isorr back to the ground with a flurry of punches and kicks.
"Do you know where I draw my strength?" Jresh asked. "I find strength in compassion. I find strength in sacrifice. I find strength in my allies. You? You have only yourself to draw upon. And it is sufficiently lacking."
Isorr shuffled along the ground for only a few moments before he found himself caught between the edge of the cliff and the continually approaching warrior. Lashing out wildly for one final stand, the Zabrak failed to connect any meaningful blows before the Pureblood was fully upon him.
Grasping the fallen warrior's throat, Jresh lifted Isorr off the ground and on his feet. "The only thing you believe in is yourself. Are you so assured in your narcissism that you think yourself greater than any other? Think yourself above cooperation? Then you'll surely find a way out of your current predicament. After all we've been trained to power through such things."
Raising the hefty warrior even further, Jresh managed to lift Isorr until his feet hovered a short distance from the ground. Taking a step toward the edge, Jresh now firmly held his opponent over the shadowed depths of the pit they once struggled to cross. The other four acolytes, including the recovering Kar'ai and Isorr's own partner Arlia, had slowly approached the pair to witness what was to follow.
"You think reliance on others is weakness? You put the entirety of your faith in yourself, and have failed. You no longer hold control of your own life. Your fate is in my hands. Our hands. When we began, we agreed to cooperate. But you've remained adamant in your isolation. When we were on the cliff, you were directly behind Kar'ai. Your eyes could not have been affixed on anything but the path in front of you. You saw her falter. You saw her fall. And you did nothing. Because you are selfish. Because you are afraid. You are concerned only with yourself, not because you believe in your strength, but because you believe others will only drag you down. But guess what? Others can also lift you up."
Isorr was unable to articulate with his throat being slowly crushed within the powerful grip of the domineering Pureblood.
"Surely you realize the only thing that could prevent your death would be if someone protested me dropping you over this abyssal precipice," Jresh coldly explained. "And surely you realize that the only person that would genuinely offer that protest is Lorrik, who currently rests upon the ground where he lent his strength to someone you thought expendable. You have nothing to offer me or this group, so I have no qualms of ending you. You haven't earned the slightest bit of respect or companionship with your partner Arlia, either. She is strong. She currently holds in her hands my weapon and hers. And yet she refuses to step forward to alter these proceedings. Not out of a fear of me. But out of an utter apathy toward preserving your life. Because you offer nothing in return to any who would permit you the barest of decencies. We can replace your knowledge. We can replace your strength. There is absolutely nothing preventing me from damning you to the depths of this pit."
Reaffirming his grip on Isorr's neck, Jresh turned upon his heels and slammed the Zabrak upon the ground beside him.
"Which is why you should be grateful for my mercy," Jresh stoically offered as he walked away from the beaten warrior. Intending to return to Lorrik's side, Jresh found his path impeded by Arlia who stood before him, bearing his training saber. With a flick of her wrist, she turned it over in her hand, offering it back to its owner. Jresh met Arlia's gaze with his own before speaking. "I have no need for it. You keep it."
With slight trepidation, the Twi'lek affixed the second saber to her belt, before looking upon the beaten countenance of her partner. Isorr lay sitting upon the ground near the edge of the cliff, slowly breathing through a series of cautious wheezes. His fist supporting the weight of his body against the ground, the warrior's gaze was affixed upon the dirt below him. He stared with an intense ferocity as his facial muscles involuntarily twitched. Kar'ai and the others had already begun their return to Lorrik and Ryloh, leaving only Arlia to gaze upon the fallen warrior. With a condemning shake of her head, she too abandoned her partner.
Isorr found himself alone, only the whistling winds and echoes of rocks crackling in the pit below to keep him company.