Theron's saber was locked tightly in a battle for supremacy against Nihilus'. The white and red lights flashed as the magnetic fields holding the sabers in shape disappeared and reformed in new shapes that caused the two blades' plasma to mix in brilliant sparks of death and life. "It's funny," Theron grunted while he struggled against the powerful, alien mind of the Sith Lord. Or perhaps against his hunger – if the two were even distinguishable at that point. "Everything here is faker than your power, but the lightsabers still act right. Well, I guess you can't kark everything up, schutta!"
The Sith Lord haughtily ignored his enemy and disengaged the lock. He spun around quickly and slashed at Theron's head. The Gray Jedi brought his saber up to deflect the red plasma and landed a quick jab of his left palm into Nihilus' midsection. The Sith staggered backwards a step before standing tall and marching slowly towards Theron. "You cannot defeat me, Revan," Nihilus said quietly. He raised his left arm and Theron felt himself fly upward; his saber shut off in Theron's hand at his command. He tumbled through the air, spinning head over heels and getting occasional glimpses of his impending doom. "I have devoured too many Jedi for you to fight." Nihilus unleashed a torrent of purple-white lightning at Theron, and the young man knew that death had come for him.
Instead, Rhen came to his rescue. The blue twi'lek's twin blades of energy redirected the jagged arcs of deadly energy into a spinning whirlwind of pain and destruction that rebounded away from Rhen and Theron. The energy ran towards the Sith who had cast it, but suddenly – terrifyingly – disappeared into Nihilus' outstretched hand. Theron and Rhen dropped to the ground and landed softly with a quiet thud and the rustle of cloth. "That didn't go as well as I thought it would," Theron groaned while he reignited his weapon. He twirled the blade around his body and took a calm, almost disinterested stance.
Ana and Van jogged up and stood with Theron. "What's the plan?" Ana asked.
"You two hang back. Rhen and I will get one of you an opening," Theron suggested. He switched to a backhand hold on his saber and ran forward with his friend close behind him. Nihilus snarled loudly and swept his left hand at his two advancing enemies. A huge mass of plasma extracted itself from Nihilus' lightsaber and rushed towards Theron and Rhen.
"You go low," Theron said while he struggled to garner enough force energy to leap above the oncoming wall of death. He saw Rhen nod and fall to his back to slide beneath the slightly hovering red wall. Theron turned his attention from his friend and let his energy loose. He jumped above the wall and dragged a net of dissipative Force energy behind him to prevent the deaths of his friends behind him. He could feel Rhen doing the same beneath the red energy and the deadly plasma disappeared from the air between them.
From there, Theron tumbled downward and landed on Rhen's feet. Rhen kicked and Theron flew through the air over Nihilus. The young man landed behind Nihilus and Theron slashed his blade back at the Sith and felt his every attack deflected by the impossibly fast blade of the long dead Sith.
Theron sensed Rhen rushing in from behind Nihilus and grinned behind his mask. Theron faked a stab at the black cloak and turned quickly to take the feet out from under the creature of hunger. His foot passed through the shadow and did little to deter Nihilus from attacking further; Theron was barely able to raise his saber up to prevent his death once again. Nihilus' red saber pressed down against Theron's blade with more strength than Theron had thought possible until that point.
Rhen's twirling blades flew towards Nihilus, who dodged each incoming strike with space to spare. "You have grown weak in the Dark Side, Revan," Nihilus' hissing voice said. He reached out and grabbed Rhen by the throat with one hand. The twi'lek gurgled in surprise and dropped his lightsaber, which deactivated with a loud snap-hiss. "And it shows in your choice of company."
Theron heard blaster fire rocketing towards them and blasts of silver and blue energy collided with the black abyss that was the Sith Lord. The streams of energy seemed to flow through his body and experience redshift as they went through him and lost energy. Every projectile of blaster fire only seemed to irritate the ancient evil.
Nihilus pulled his saber from lock with Theron's and threw him towards Ana and Van with the Force so that the three tumbled through the darkness. Nihilus suddenly grabbed the four and held them in a line before him. "I was planning on letting you waste away slowly as I fed. You would feed me longer, that way. But you have become an annoyance, however minor," Nihilus said, a grim and manic elation bouncing through his voice. A strand of purple energy extended from the Sith's palm and rushed towards Theron, who would have screamed in pain had the energy to do so not left him. Pulses of energy ran in a stream away from Theron's quickly decaying form. He felt hunger and hollowness run through his body as Nihilus drained the very Force from Theron's soul. "So you will die quickly. But painfully."
"How is he doing that!?" Rhen screamed. He could sense his friend's soul being fed on. The Force itself that resided within him was fading away. "Theron, fight it!"
Theron struggled to do something, anything to save himself, but could not find the strength to do so. "When you die, should I kill the twi'lek or the woman next? I feel like a three course meal with dessert is deserved, don't you?" Nihilus mocked.
"I'm only dessert?" Van joked. Force energy constricted on his throat and the arrogant young man choked on nothing.
"I think the woman last. In my time that created a little more fear to feed on," Nihilus said. A slurping sound somehow reminiscent of both a man licking his lips and k'lor slugs writhing against each other emanated from the abyssal monster.
Theron felt rage rush from the pit of his stomach. "No you won't," he said, suddenly with the strength to speak. The purple energy in his chest began to flow in the opposite direction.
Nihilus fell to one knee and Theron's friends fell to the ground. They struggled to their feet to watch Theron glide down slowly with the Force and walk over to Nihilus, the purple energy still connecting their bodies. He lifted the creature up by the throat and his fist collided with Nihilus' mask. The white surface cracked from the left eye down to the right cheekbone. Another punch compounded the fracture so that the entire mask was covered in a veritable spiderweb of breaks. Theron felt stronger by the second, and he could almost see Nihilus becoming weaker, thinner, more translucent as time went on. "You are not Revan," Nihilus gasped.
Theron stared into the deep black eyes of Nihilus' mask. "I'm not your Revan," he said simply. With a burst of purple energy, Nihilus screamed and faded away into nothingness. Theron felt stronger, fuller, and more alive than ever.
SWSWSWSWSW
Theron awoke with a start and a bad feeling in his gut. His hands rushed to his face and barely pulled the mask from his face quick enough for the bile and stomach acid to rush from his mouth. The contents of his stomach drained across the ground in a grotesque mix of tan, brown, and other colors. The smell wafted through the air and into Theron's nose.
Soon, Theron was joined by his crew, each experiencing the same symptoms of waking up. It went like that for a while, their retching noises commingling in the air and the contents of their digestive systems mixing on the stone floor. "That..." Van said as he panted from the exertion of the retching. "I think I saw my breakfast from last week."
Ana sighed in disgust and pain while she forced herself upward. "Oh, that was bad," she grumbled to herself. "I need... something to get this taste out of my mouth."
"We all do," Theron supplied. He slipped his mask into his pocket and picked the mask of Nihilus off the ground. Thankfully the puke had missed the bone white item that had ended hundreds of lives – if not more. "Got what we needed though."
"We can't take that with us! It's dangerous! It's a... what did you guys call it?" Van asked.
"A Force Wound," Rhen replied. "And it's not anymore."
Theron nodded. "Even you can feel it, right?" he asked Van. "The air isn't so... heavy. The shadows are gone. The glow-stones are brighter. Nihilus is gone."
Ana nodded. "So where does that leave us?"
Theron shrugged. "Ready to leave, I think," he said. He began walking off until he was beneath the hole they had cut in the ceiling. He pointed up. "We can make that jump."
"I can't!" Van shouted.
Theron laughed. "Then one of us will have to carry you like a wittle baby," Theron mocked. The pilot sneered at the laughing Theron and growled. "Ooh. Maybe more like a big baby."
Ana and Rhen barely contained their laughter. "Oh, I'll get all of you back," Van stated. "Very soon."
Theron shrugged and jumped to the next level with the Force. He grinned and held his hand out to pull Van up with the Force by his ankle. The man dangled upside down with his arms crossed angrily. "I hate you so, so very much," he said while Theron lightly put him down on the floor next to him.
"Ah, it's a boy," Theron retorted. "I think." Theron ignored the stammers of protest from the man nearby and got out of the way for Ana and Rhen to jump next to them.
"Before we go back – the mayor. He was freaked out when we left, we all agreed. Was it about this?" Theron asked the others.
"What – you think he knew that Nihilus was here?" Ana asked.
"Nihilus was exponentially stronger once Gat-ro died. I think everyone could feel it. It stands to reason that the feeling was around until Gat-ro got here."
"I felt it," Van said. "So I'm going to go with Theron on that one."
"You see – even someone as deaf to the Force as Van got it," Theron said. "Which begs the question – how much did the mayor know about this?"
The group began climbing out of the temple as they walked. "Enough," Rhen said. The group entered the final alcove before exiting the temple. "If he knew enough to lie to us, he definitely knew what was going on in here. And I'd bet that Nihilus was... reaching out across Ossus since his mask was discovered."
Theron sighed and stopped when he glanced out of the front door. Pacing back and forth, flanked by two figures dressed in ominous black robes, was the mayor. "Speak of the backstabbing, scruffy looking Sithspit and he shall come," Theron snarled. He gestured at the mayor and the two Sith who stood by him, making him look small.
"Finally, a fight that's not against a demigod Sith inside his subconscious. This'll be easy!" Van said. "I'll take the mayor. You guys can handle two little Sith, can't you?"
Theron smiled and pocketed Nihilus' bone mask. "Well, I don't think we'll have too much trouble. I'll get the one on the left, you two the one on the right?"
Ana and Rhen nodded. "That works for me, I guess," Ana said. She pulled her arm across her chest and twisted at the waist, then switched arms and twisted the other direction. "Want to hear his excuses first?"
"Why not – tell you what, I'll make it so we don't even have to fight!" Theron said, eliciting happy, if unbelieving, looks from the others.
Theron smiled and walked through the front door with his saber on his hip, his mask in his pocket, and his jacket flowing open in the wind. He bet that he looked like a hero. "W- Y- You're alive! B-but h-how?"
"Well, we had to kill a semi-immortal Sith who could devour life itself. So we did," Theron supplied. He pulled his saber from his hip and, without igniting the blade, gestured at the two Sith flanking the mayor. "Sounds like we're a bit out of your league, doesn't it?"
The two black robed men glanced at each other and sprinted away from the temple. "W- No, don't go!" the mayor screamed. He reached for the Sith and the robes of one ran through his fingers while the two retreated.
"Are you sure that was a good idea?" Rhen asked.
"Are you kidding?" Van asked. "Now the Sith think we have a nearly invincible team of Anti-Sith experts. Instead of, you know, four lamebrains who stumbled through their first fight."
Theron chuckled and returned his attention to the mayor. "Now, I am a little angry that I didn't get to have an easy fight against those two," Theron said. He leaned in towards the mayor. "So I suggest you answer our questions."
The man shivered with fear and the smell of urine filled the air. "Tell us everything."
The man nodded. "I – I was a scientist. I worked in the excavation unit that found Nihilus' mask. He... he said if I kept sending Jedi to him, he'd let me live. So I sent Jedi... whenever I could. It wasn't often, so I had to start sending anyone I could."
"There have been no animal attacks in years, have there?" Theron asked.
The mayor nodded. "And then Gat-ro began sensing him. And he.. almost discovered me. He was a Jedi anyways."
"So?"
The mayor looked into Theron's eyes. "So he loved it. He loved being a normal guy who could kill Jedi," Theron finished. He could see it in the older man's Force aura, now. He wasn't sure what had changed, just that it had. Theron put his hand on the mayor's shoulder and his hand glowed purple. The man fell to the ground.
"Good job with stunning the schutta," Rhen said. He walked over to the mayor and picked him up.
Theron glanced down at his right hand, which was still glowing faintly. "I – yeah," he responded. He shook his fingers and the glow disappeared.
"Is something wrong?" Van asked.
"No," Theron mumbled to himself. He placed his lightsaber carefully onto his belt and and shot a sideways smile at Van. "No. I'm fine."
He glanced back down at his hand and back at the unconcsious mayor. "What was that?" he mumbled to himself. He turned his hand around to look at the back of it.
"Who wants point on the way back to the town?" Rhen asked.
"I'll go. I know where I'm going like I know the back of my hand," Theron supplied with a grin.
"So not well?" Ana shot. "Did you see something new when you were studying it?"
"Ha ha," Theron retorted.
This is no laughing matter, Kid. You have no idea what you've done, Revan said in the back of Theron's mind. The young man worriedly shoved the voice from his mind and returned his attention to the others around him with a big, goofy grin.
"Fine," Theron said. "We'll race, me and you."
Ana grinned and crossed her arms. "What are we betting?"
Theron smiled and looked into the distance. "You win, and you can... it doesn't matter. When I win, you have to write up my report, too."
Ana bit her cheek and shook her head. "Fine. I win, you write my next five reports."
Theron grinned. "Go," he said. He sprinted towards the speeders.
"No fair!" Ana shouted. She stomped her foot on the ground and ran after Theron.
"This I need to see!" Van shouted as he chased after the Force Sensitives.
"So no one's going to help me carry this guy?!" Rhen shouted at the other three as their speeders flew past him fast enough to only be perceived as blurs. "Guys!? Kriffing unbelievable!"