CHAPTER 2: TRIALS

TRIALS PART 1: ECHOES OF THE FUTURE

Ganner Slarwalker

The Trials had five tests: Skill, Courage, Flesh, Spirit, and Insight. Thanks to Garm I got a pass on the Trial of Spirit, but that still meant four grueling tests of my mastery over the Force and myself. Qorbin and the High Council worked together to decide how the Trials would be given, and I was soon given my first mission.
At dawn, I entered the Trials Chamber. I had seen inside it once or twice before, but as I entered, the lights were off. Flanked by Qorbin and Master Windu, I entered the dark room, with one lightsaber in hand, another clipped to my belt. "May the Force be with you," Qorbin said. Then he and Windu walked out, and the door closed behind them, leaving me in the blinding darkness.

Slowly, torches began to light the room. It was certainly not as I remembered it. The floor was made of a purplish-gray stone, which also composed most of the walls. Along the walls were also intricately carved creases of red, running throughout. I quickly noticed a humanoid form on the other side of the room, seemingly male. He wore a dark black robe with a sash of some kind running across his shoulder. Aware of a massive Dark Side presence, I cautiously began walking towards him, and he started to speak in a raspy voice.

"There is no passion...there is solely obsession."

I continued walking.

"There is no knowledge. There is solely conviction."

I marched forward. If the Trial was simply to not be creeped out by an old man, I thought I did pretty well.

"There is no purpose. There is solely will."

I was almost upon him now. I could now see his hands were blue - Umbaran?

"There is nothing."

He turned, revealing that he was indeed Umbaran, wearing an armored chestplate. With a menacing glare in his eyes he activated a ruby blade, and I lit mine, its green shimmering as we faced each other.

"Only me."

Spontaneously, he dove towards me, his lightsaber extended straight in an attempt to catch me guard. It just barely didn't work, and as he flew past me I took the liberty of severing the upper and lower halves of his body. He landed behind me and, from the torso up, turned over, dumbfounded, to look at me. For a brief second I felt the rush of victory - and so easily! Then, he let out a menacing cackle.

"Did you think it was that easy?"

In a single motion, his torso leapt onto his now standing lower body, and they seamlessly rejoined. Seeing what I'm sure was a face of pure shock, he developed a gleeful, menacing grin. He raised his saber and charged me again, to which I responded by impaling him. Again, he seemed to be shocked by death, and then regained his composure before pulling my saber out of his chest. He deactivated it and tossed it to one side, before throwing me across the room with the Force.

I hit the wall and fell to the floor, and when I looked up, the light had been extinguished, leaving me in utter blackness.
I activated my second lightsaber, and began walking cautiously back. Aside from the minute sound of my footsteps, and the droning hum of my lightsaber, the room was totally silent. I scanned the room with both my eyes and the Force, but darkness clouded them both. As I shuffled backward, I felt something wet drip onto my hair. I quickly turned around, to discover a glowing red, convoluted monstrosity of a Rancor. It was even bigger than any Rancor I'd ever seen, and had two tusks growing from either side of its mouth. As our eyes found each other, it let out a booming roar that echoed in the seemingly infinite room, getting much slobber on me.

It swung one arm at me, and I dove over it. I quickly rebounded and made a few slashes in its leg, but it seemed to be too thick to penetrate. It raised its leg to stomp me, and I took advantage of this to topple it with the Force. I leap onto its face and stabbed into its head, as deep as I could. This only seemed to anger it, and it stood up and threw me off, with my saber still sticking from its brain.

Another roar.
Blast, this thing really didn't want to die.

I tumbled around on the ground, and it approached me, each step causing another tremor in the earth. It didn't really seem like trying to get my second saber would end well, so I started looking around for the first.

That's how my first Jedi Trial went. I stumbled around being chased by a rancor in total darkness looking for a lightsaber. I actually managed to find it without tripping over it.

I activated it, and turned to face the rancor. Seeming to understand what the stakes now were, it stopped for a moment, and we stood. Simultaneously, we charged at each other. It took a huge swipe at me with it's right arm, which I jumped onto and then used to propel myself into the head once more. I grabbed my other saber, and with a great deal of force managed to pull it out, albeit messily. The rancor roared once more, in pain. Mercy crossed my mind, but the rancor almost grabbed me in my hesitation.

With both sabers I ran across its body, slicing wherever I could to hurt and weaken it. It tried and tried again, but I could not be touched. Enough damage to the arms and it was defenseless. Enough to the legs and it fell, unable to get up. I quickly set to work on the brain, and finally I heard the organ sizzle, and the final disgusting breath leave its mouth.

Sweaty and tired, I turned off my lightsabers and sat down for a moment. The fight was over.
Then, from the back of the room, came the sound of clapping.

I turned to see the room lit once more, revealing me to still be in the strange room I had been in before the lights went out. Walking towards me was an elderly Nightsister.

"Very well done!" she said, in a congratulatory tone. Her next words, however, shifted grimly. "But know that your true trials are still to come." She laughed, and her laughter rang through my ears as I woke up standing in the Chamber, alone.

Qorbin and Windu entered. "Well done," Windu said. His voice was also congratulatory, but he looked worried. "You've passed your first three trials."

"Three?" I replied, incredulously.

"The Trial of Spirit, already completed, and now the Trials of Courage and Skill." Qorbin responded. It was harder to tell with him, but it seemed he was concerned too.

"Your final two trials shall be determined in the field. They have yet to be determined, but we're working on it. In the meantime, take a break. You've earned it."

I did.

Jedi Master Sen Qorbin

I walked alongside my old friend Master Windu, through the long halls of the Temple. I could sense that he, as well as I, had been disturbed by the end of Ganner's trial. The fight with Ruin and the rancor had been orchestrated by us, but whatever he had seen had been shown to him by something outside the Jedi Temple. In fact, it seemed incredibly likely it had been a vision from the Dark Side itself. Mace spoke first.

"We need to know what he saw. Something dark is targeting him."

"Agreed. With all that has happened to him, I think he may have even been chosen by the Force for something."

"Perhaps. But to what end?"

"I know not, but I have a bad feeling about its intentions."