Jacen Horne sat by the fire inside a cave he'd discovered. He was about 18, yet his blue-grey eyes held something unusual for someone so young. He clutched his head, grabbing at his short black hair, which had at one point had a mixture of red in it, until he chose to dye it, as the memories flooded in like a tumultuous flood.
The wailing of alarms, the shouting of identical voices barking orders, and the sound of their weapons firing. He remembered how it felt to be the hunted, to be the one on the run. He never imagined that he would ever experience this level of horror in his life.
With a scream that seemed to fill the cave space, Jacen returned to the present, breathing heavily while his body shook. He never imagined so much pain one could experience, even for someone like him.
Slowly, he took in his appearance; it only succeeded in reminding him of everything he'd had to leave behind. A dark brown leather jacket more at home for a smuggler from Nar Shaddaa, complete with a black shirt vest and black trousers tucked into soft boots that reached the middle of his lower legs.
At his waist was a K-16 Bryar pistol, which he used as his current weapon. He reached into his jacket to see that he still had something important in one of the jacket's inner pockets. A feeling of cool metal assured him that it was still there.
Every fiber in him wanted to withdraw the device, but he knew it wasn't worth the risk of being found by those who still hunted him. He'd been on the run for over a year since the event occurred. It still felt as fresh as a wound that, despite the numerous bandages, still bled.
He finally calmed down as he began to assess his current situation, but the feeling never truly vanished; it was merely dulled for the moment. Jacen knew that these wounds he'd sustained as a result of the ordeal were more than simply physical.
"How did it come to this?" He asked, though no one answered.
That question had been buzzing through his head throughout the year he'd been running. How many had died in what might well be one of the biggest lost causes in history? It was unbearable even to conceive the notion of how many had died.
Jacen then began to wonder if they were still alive.
A sigh escaped his lips as he thought about how much he missed them, but he couldn't return now. He was far too damaged to be around others.
After acquiring a small ship with built-in shielding and a hyperdrive, his run saw him flee from the Outer Rim and then travel into the part of the galaxy known as Wild Space.
Now, he may as well be in an entirely different galaxy as he was now just on a world that bordered Wild Space with the Unknown Regions.
He'd purposely avoided landing in some of the planet's more populated areas and ensured his ship was hidden in the cavern he now called home.
It would be easy for him to blend into a crowd, but he wasn't in the mood to deal with people.
He found that being in solitude was more comfortable for him now.
A branch snap followed by a low growl brought his mind out of his self-reflection.
Several situations had depended on how quickly he could draw his blaster, and without hesitation, Jacen withdrew it from its holster and fired two shots.
A loud howl of pain rang out, followed by the sound of something heavy dropping to the ground.
Picking up a makeshift torch, he moved to get a closer look at what he'd just killed.
It looked like a kind of wolf-like creature, roughly about the size of a gundark, but it wasn't like anything he'd ever seen.
Its fur, or whatever covered its body, was pitch black, and it seemed like it was generating black mist.
The only evidence of color was the nearly white of its claws and teeth.
Before he got closer to it, the body began to evaporate, and before long, all that was left of it was its teeth and claws.
Jacen knelt and examined the teeth and claws, a frown forming on his face.
He had no idea what this creature was, but he knew it wasn't natural.
A sudden realization began to dawn on Jacen: if this thing operated like most pack-like creatures, it was likely that it wasn't alone.
Acting quickly, he took his torch and extinguished the fire he'd made; then, after ensuring that the cavern was sealed properly, he moved on through the woods.
He hadn't gotten far when he heard a spine-chilling howl that seemed to reverberate throughout the forest.
"Dank farrik," Jacen swore under his breath.
Had he narrowly survived the event that had stripped him of everything he cared about, only to end up becoming prey for some unidentified shadow demons?
Another howl, this one much closer than the first, caused him to turn around, blaster held in a tight grip as he tried to see through the darkness of night.
A pair of glowing red eyes appeared not too far away from him.
Closing his eyes, Jacen mentally prepared himself. He'd faced dangers few people his age ever would, and he wasn't about to let fear cloud his mind.
He took a deep breath, then once the thing with red eyes lunged, he fired a bolt right between its eyes, and it landed on the ground at his feet.
This one was similar to the one he'd killed earlier, but Jacen didn't have time to observe it evaporate until two more similar beasts lunged forward.
A quick duck from a slashing claw followed by a backward roll kept him from being struck by those wicked-looking claws.
Now, it seemed like the creatures were manifesting from all over as if the night itself was giving birth to these demons.
The sound of dry leaves crunching under his feet made him look at the ground where the creatures were trying to surround him.
There was a light breeze, which Jacen realized was heading toward the creatures, so he dropped his torch, which touched off a fire, causing the creatures to back off; some were too close and were now on fire.
Taking advantage of the creature's confusion, Jacen dove through a clearing that led out of the forest and into a clearing, which led him to what looked like a ruined cityscape with several buildings in disrepair.
He'd seen several examples of cities that had either been destroyed or abandoned, but never had he seen anything so desolate as this place.
An average person would have thought that they'd found a relative haven after encountering those shadow beasts; Jacen, however, felt like he'd just unwittingly gotten out of the frying pan and into the fire as he looked at the abandoned city.
The buildings, for what little he could see, were dark grey, almost black, and their windows had all been shattered.
He felt as though unseen eyes were watching him.
He held his blaster and placed his other hand on the metal device in his inner pocket.
If it came down to it, Jacen would have no choice but to use this device in addition to his blaster.
He passed several blocks of dilapidated buildings, though his focus was also on the ground, which sported deep cracks and crevices, as though the dropping of something heavy would cause the ground to break open.
He thought something was deep underneath, but he shook himself out of his musings.
That feeling of being watched seemed to strengthen as he approached the center of the deserted city.
There was nothing he could do but move forward; he just hoped that he didn't encounter a shadow demon or something worse.
Jacen suddenly stopped when he came to what appeared to be the city's center as he was now standing on a stone platform.
It had a symbol he didn't recognize, and he was even more surprised to see the weathered engraving around it was some variant of Galactic Basic.
While technically versed in several trade languages, Jacen often preferred a language that didn't make it feel like he was moments away from biting his tongue with some pronunciations.
The engraving was so incredibly worn that he couldn't distinguish much from it, though the most prominent words stood out. The words read Mountain Glenn, what Jacen guessed was the name this city once went by.
A deep, sad feeling came over Jacen. This had once been a city with life, but now it looked more like an enormous graveyard marking whatever had happened here.
He looked down a pathway and held up his blaster.
Where a street might have been was a long passageway with strobing red lights, the sound of those horrible sirens, and the clattering of boots on the metal floor.
"Get him!" A voice he must have heard countless times throughout most of his life.
Jacen aimed his blaster and fired; white armored soldiers were coming toward him, firing their blasters.
Jacen broke into a run while firing over his shoulder.
The soldiers' dying screams became primordial howls as Jacen realized a pack of those shadow beasts he'd encountered in the forest were hot on his trail.
Jacen found a building to get behind, and he took deep breaths to calm himself down.
He'd been having similar problems ever since he'd narrowly survived the traumatic event which saw him running.
It was always those white armored warriors he saw coming at him with their blasters firing with intent to kill.
He clutched at his head to clear his mind, but he still heard the dying screams of both the soldiers and those who had helped him escape.
After a while, he got a hold of his panic; he checked his blaster and realized that he only had a few more shots in it before he'd have to reload it.
Unfortunately, in his haste, he left the spare blaster packs in his ship.
He'd have to be smart about how he shot his blaster.
His hand again moved toward his inner pocket for the device, but he stopped himself.
That would be a last resort if he ran out of other options.
Suddenly, he heard what sounded like a large creature, possibly one of those shadow beasts approaching.
He peered around the corner of the building and saw nothing.
He kept his blaster close, ready to shoot anything that tried to attack him.
He heard a growl and instinctively knew where it came from and looked up.
What he saw chilled him; until now, Jacen had only been fighting what he assumed were adolescent creatures; this one Jacen took from its larger size, bone-like armor along the top of its head, bony spikes going down its back and coming from the ends of its elbows, was undoubtedly an alpha.
His suspicion was confirmed when it howled, and Jacen heard more of the lesser pack members closing in.
Jacen quickly looked around and found a staircase leading to the roof of the building.
With no other choice, Jacen ran up the stairs; the alpha was hot on his heels. Jacen managed to reach the roof and found another staircase that led to a higher rooftop.
It might have been bigger than its smaller counterparts. Still, Jacen reasoned it was better to fight it by itself rather than on ground level, where it would have the advantage of numbers that would eventually overwhelm him.
Jacen finally reached the roof, turning to see the giant beast lumbering at him.
However, Jacen realized that this particular beast was much more cautious than its lesser counterparts, which led Jacen to conclude that these things were far from being non-sentient beasts.
It was sizing Jacen up, perhaps determining how to attack.
Jacen kept his blaster trained on the beast, staring into its glowing eyes.
Finally, the beast charged, and Jacen fired three shots, which hit the beast on its snout, but the beast kept charging.
Jacen dove out of the way of its charge and rolled back to his feet; the beast was trying to turn around as quickly as it could.
The sound of cracking brought Jacen's attention to the ground.
The roof was straining from bearing the weight of something so heavy as this alpha, so Jacen aimed his blaster, not at the alpha, but at the largest concentration of cracks underneath the alpha.
Before it could reorient itself, Jacen fired a precise shot at the most vulnerable spot, and the roof section crumbled, taking the alpha with it.
From the sound made as the alpha dropped, the floors below were as structurally unsound as the roof.
Then, as if things couldn't get worse, the roof on which Jacen was standing was beginning to collapse, so he took a quick run and jumped to another building's roof.
The sound of howls from the other alphas reached his ears; Jacen knew he had to find some escape route.
He began running, the roof collapsing behind him, and then he jumped again to another roof, which didn't last long; he was just about to jump again when something grabbed his left leg.
It was the alpha; Jacen saw that it was somehow still alive and was dragging him down with it.
It had its claws in his leg, and the pain from it was excruciating.
Both Jacen and the Alpha fell through the roof.
It tried to bite his neck, but Jacen directed the falling alpha onto a sharpened object and lept free just as the object impaled the alpha.
Jacen rolled with the impact and tried to stand, but the claw wound to his leg nearly made him collapse.
Throughout his life, he'd been bitten, clawed, battered, and nearly eaten by galactic creatures from Nexu, Acklay, Reek, Vornskr, and even a pack of Tu'kata.
Yet nothing seemed to be more painful than the wound he just received.
He heard several howls, and then, what Jacen had feared was confirmed.
There was more than one alpha.
Several shadow beasts approached him; some were growling, others were snarling.
He checked his blaster and saw it was now down to its last shot before it was entirely out.
The wound to his leg was still bleeding, and Jacen worked expeditiously to patch it up before he lost too much blood.
When he finished, he looked up to see the alphas getting closer to him as if toying with him before they killed him.
Jacen had no idea how many alphas there were, and he was sure he wouldn't live long enough to find out.
He felt around for the device but stopped himself; he needed to be sure he was out of options before resorting to it.
He scanned his surroundings; aside from himself, he was sure that he was the only one here among these monsters.
If they thought he was such an easy target with a blaster, they were in for a surprise.
With acceptance, Jacen holstered his blaster and withdrew the device from his inner jacket pocket.
It was circular in design with a leather hand grip on the bottom, which his fingers closed upon.
Capable of being held with either both hands or one, it was compact, and yet it was so much more.
It felt natural like it was an extension of his arm.
"Alright, you shadowy Sith spawn, time to show you that you've finally encountered the wrong enemy," Jacen said.
Without additional hesitation, Jacen took a deep breath, letting the coming moment appear like a picture in his mind's eye, then leaped into the air.
He pressed a switch on the device, which gave a snap-hiss as a meter-long bar of violet-hued energy lanced out of the top of the device.
Within seconds, Jacen cut down four creatures with masterful swings of the ignited blade.
The pack was backing away in the presence of an unknown fighter, and Jacen took up a ready position of his own Ataru style.
The wound on his leg still hurt, but he gave it no thought; now it was time to show these creatures what it meant to fight a former Jedi Knight.
Finally, Blake Belladonna thought as she got off the boat which carried her from Mistral to Vale.
Vale was far outside the reach of the White Fang and here she might start a new life as a huntress.
While she couldn't do anything about her name, she could at least hide her telltale ears, which marked her as a faunus.
It wasn't uncommon for some faunus to have one trait over the other, or, in the case of a human interbreeding with a faunus, they could either have the traits of the faunus parent or appear just as human as their human parent.
Now, here she was at a harbor just on the border where Vale met Vacuo; after that, she got on a train, but several species of Grimm had attacked it.
Despite hers and a group of qualified huntsman's efforts, the Grimm had destroyed the train, with only Blake emerging from the damage.
While she hadn't been close with anyone aboard, the wreckage still unnerved her.
Now, she was wandering through a forest several miles away from Vale in the middle of the night.
Still, she didn't mind the solitude; after all, she had just broken away from the White Fang a few months ago.
After several horrific events, Blake could no longer ally herself with the new direction the White Fang has been taking lately.
The last one was when she'd worked with Adam Taurus.
She remembered when she and Adam were younger, he'd seen human cruelty, which had left him with a patch over his eye, but he was always willing to fight for those who couldn't.
Then something changed; it was subtle at first, but then Adam changed to someone she didn't know anymore.
It started when the White Fang decided to use force after Ghira Belladonna, her father, stepped down as the White Fang's leader, and Kin Onyurio took his place. Then things escalated until one day, she and Adam had a falling out when he killed a human who had been captured during a raid.
This human was just a civilian, he and his family were leaving Mistral on a vacation and had stopped at a store for supplies when the raid occurred.
Blake argued that killing this man was not only needless but it also would give the human authorities all the justification they needed to go after the White Fang.
Adam responded that she was becoming soft and that the White Fang would need to resort to such measures to bring equality.
This was when Blake realized the White Fang had lost its way, so she left.
While the White Fang had done good work for a while, she wouldn't be a part of it anymore.
Things like the Bloody Dust Massacre, in which one of her childhood friends, Dusky Jones, had led a squad that mercilessly killed an entire family just because they had connections with the Schnee Dust Company, which manufactured and purified the production of dust which provided power to everything from engines to weaponry.
Dusky herself had disappeared soon after, though it was believed she'd been killed, while others say she'd just vanished without a trace.
The White Fang had changed; no longer were they merely peaceful protesters who wanted to show the world that faunus deserved equal rights, but now they were becoming murderers and terrorists.
Her ears were picking up the sounds of an intense battle, and she was sure she detected the scent of blood.
Readying Gambol Shroud, she ran through the forest to a clearing where she stood upon a cliff overlooking the ruins of an old city.
Unless she was mistaken, this was none other than Mountain Glenn, a city that was once intended to be an extension of Vale. Still, due to having no natural boundaries to keep the Grimm out, it eventually fell into ruin.
Flashes of violet light were eliminating the night and the sound of Grimm as they were struck by something and then fell to the ground.
There were so many Grimm down there, but whatever was fighting them was doing so single-handedly.
When she reached a high vantage point, she looked surprised to see a young man, roughly the same age as herself or a year older, up against the largest pack of Beowolves she'd ever seen.
He didn't look like he was in good shape either, judging from the bleeding wound on his leg, on his arms, and one across his back, yet he was still managing to hold his own with an unfamiliar sword.
Whenever it moved, it made a series of noises, and she noticed that it sliced and cauterized wounds that it inflicted, mainly whenever the weapon took off one of the beowolves arms.
This guy must be some huntsman if he could hold off this many creatures, but even she had to admit this was impressive.
Even though he was winning, he looked like he was struggling; perhaps he was running out of strength.
Inwardly, she wondered how he could be so foolish as to wander into Mountain Glenn in the first place.
Part of her, the rational side, told her to leave him to his own devices or risk having her identity exposed and leaving Adam with a trail to follow.
However, moral obligation told her that it would make her feel worse if she just left and did nothing, then had the potential death of this man on her conscience, another addition to her ever-growing list of regrets.
A larger beowolf seemed to be taking advantage of the man's blind spot, which was her cue to enter the battle.
With her weapon in hand, she jumped down from the cliff and landed directly on the creature.
She stabbed the creature through the chest, killing it instantly, then used the body to break her fall.
She then threw Gambol Shroud at another Beowolf, the ribbon attached to the sheath wrapping around the creature. She pulled so hard that the Beowolf flew right toward Blake, who grabbed the handle of her weapon, pulling it free and using the momentum of her spin to decapitate the beowolf.
By this point, the man had noticed Blake, but he was too busy fighting the creatures to think about her.
Still, Blake wondered who this man was and what he was doing here in Mountain Glenn.
Now, using a combination of Gambol Shroud's sheath with the other attachment in its gun configuration, she was firing the gun part of her weapon while using the sheath to block and attack the oncoming creatures.
After a few more minutes, the beowolves were all dead; the man looked about ready to collapse.
She turned toward him, and he looked at her with a mixed expression.
She took note of the weapon he held, into which the glowing blade of energy that had originated from the hilt retreated.
He looked like a man who was equally suspicious, and there was an unmistakable regret in his eyes.
The man placed the weapon in his pocket and limped toward a nearby building as quickly as he could manage.
She noticed a large number of bloodied bandages on his body, and she wondered just how long he was here and how long he was fighting off these creatures.
The least she could do was make sure he didn't bleed out, so she followed the scent of his blood and found him unconscious inside one of the buildings.
She'd gotten within a few steps before he got up and pulled an unfamiliar gun on her.
"Stay…right there," he said, keeping himself upright.
Was this man seriously going to shoot her after she just helped to save his life?
Jacen kept his blaster trained on the stranger.
This woman, whoever she was, had come out of nowhere and had taken out a bunch of the shadow beasts and even managed to find him.
While thankful, he wasn't willing to take any chances, so he kept his weapon trained on her.
The stranger was staring at him, and it unnerved him slightly; he felt like she was trying to see past his defenses.
As he set his eyes on her, Jacen couldn't help but notice her striking appearance. She stood tall, with long jet-black hair that cascaded down her back. A black bow perched atop her head, adding a touch of elegance to her demeanor. Her eyes were truly captivating - a unique shade of amber that seemed to glow in the light. Jacen couldn't help but feel that her eyes had an almost feline-like quality to them, adding to her already mysterious aura.
Something in her expression showed that she didn't appreciate that she'd just saved his life, only to have him point a blaster at her.
However, as this was an unknown world, he couldn't take chances.
He'd sensed someone nearby while fighting those beasts, and now this girl had just seen him using his lightsaber.
This was a mistake; he knew that now, but he had hoped he wouldn't run into anyone or be forced to show them his weapon.
Jacen had been hoping to find a quiet place to recuperate until he could figure out where he was.
He didn't sense anything that would indicate that she had ulterior motives, but then again, he wasn't entirely convinced.
For all he knew, she was hunting any other Jedi that might have ended up in this Force-forsaken place.
"Just let me help you," she said with sincerity.
He lowered his blaster a bit and saw her coming next to him.
That she spoke in some form of basic that he could understand made him wonder if this planet had at one point been the origin of humanity before they reached what was now Coruscant, forming the Battalions of Zhell.
"How do I know you're not trying to kill me in a less obvious way?" Jacen said, not letting go of his suspicions.
She narrowed her eyes at him, "I could have just let you die back there or leave you to bleed out," she said, with some irritation in her voice.
Despite his suspicions, Jacen knew she had a point.
Furthermore, he sensed that she had something of a moral compass but also wanted to be on her way once she finished dressing his wounds.
Jacen eventually lowered his blaster and allowed her to come closer.
He was exhausted from the fight, and his body felt on fire.
The girl removed his jacket, revealing the wound on his leg and the claw marks on his arm in addition to the one on his back.
She cleaned his wounds and then placed an unfamiliar substance over the wounds before she placed a piece of fabric over the wound.
Jacen tried not to flinch when he felt the girl rubbing something else into his skin; whatever it was, it was causing some slight burning in his wounds.
Jacen tried not to react to the pain, but the girl seemed to notice his discomfort, so she quickly dressed his wounds.
The girl eventually finished patching him up and handed his jacket back.
Jacen got up, limped a few steps, and then looked toward the girl walking away.
She'd seen him using his lightsaber, the telltale sign that he was a Jedi on the run.
It was just possible that this far from the Core worlds, Jedi were only known through stories or legends, and it was even more unlikely that those who hunted him or others like him who'd survived the end of the war were even anywhere near this part of the galaxy.
He felt that there was something in this world that he didn't want to notice him for who he truly was.
"Unless you want to face more of the Grimm, I suggest you get away from this place as quickly as possible," the girl said without turning toward him, disappearing into the night.
Jacen put his jacket back on, placed his lightsaber back in his pocket, and limped as fast as he could.
His leg was still sore, but he could walk for now.
As he walked, he thought about what the girl had said.
Oddly, he sensed that, much like himself, she was running from something, too, but that wasn't his business.
He tapped in a few codes to a wrist comlink, a slave-rigged beckon call for his ship.
Better that he find a more remote location on this world that wasn't crawling with these, Grimm as the girl had described them.
He got to a high point and waited for his ship to arrive.
The ship itself was a modified Rogue-class Porax-38 starfighter, which he'd been using throughout the time he'd been running.
Equipped with enhanced sensors, shielding, and a decent hyperdrive, the ship also supported two heavy laser cannons whenever he needed to get out of a tight spot.
The most recent upgrade was that it was also equipped with a cloaking device, which he'd installed after narrowly escaping an attempt at capturing him.
It wouldn't do for anyone who found the ship to trace his origin, as he'd routinely erased the memory of his Navi computer whenever he changed location.
The ship settled down, and Jacen popped open the hatch.
He took a final look at the remains of Mountain Glenn, then, having closed the hatch, flew into the night.
As his ship climbed into the sky, he took notice of something he hadn't before.
He'd seen moonlight but never actually saw the moon itself until now.
Jacen had encountered several planets with shattered or destroyed moons during his time as a padawan under Daro Kilaeon or from his studies in the temple. Despite the familiarity with such sights, there were moments when he still found himself struck with awe.
The sheer magnitude of the destruction and the impact it must have had on the surrounding celestial bodies was a sight to behold, leaving him speechless and humbled. The debris of the moon spread across the planetary orbit was a reminder of the unfathomable power of the universe and the unpredictable nature of celestial events.
This world's moon might at one point have been fully formed in the dim past, but an event of catastrophic magnitude had shattered the moon, leaving its pieces orbiting the moon's main body.
The memory of his old master filled him with deep sorrow. Daro had been the closest thing to a father he'd known, and now he was gone along with everything Jacen had ever known.
Hoping that his incident at Mountain Glenn would be the only time he used his lightsaber, he activated the ship's cloaking device and flew off.
Jacen took notice of the landscape as he flew over the forest.
He passed by a mountain with a large building near the top.
After a few hours, the sun was rising over the horizon, and Jacen continued flying; he was exhausted and in desperate need of sleep.
Finally, he spotted a secluded valley with a lake.
It was as good a place to set up camp for now.
He landed the ship and went outside, but not before activating the ship's defense systems, as well as the sensor jammers, which would keep anyone from discovering his presence.
Checking his surroundings, it seemed like a better spot to make into his home, with its high mountains on each side and a decent patch of land between the trees and the lake.
There was another cave bigger than the one he'd first discovered, and it was spacious enough for him to place his ship whenever it wasn't needed.
He hoped that he'd be able to find healing, perhaps even a decent life here, but something was still bothering him.
Those wolf-like creatures he'd faced were called Grimm, which indicated that they were a specific classification.
Though he'd committed himself not to encounter or even attempt to interact with the native population of this world, his nearly fatal encounter with the Grimm necessitated the importance of research so that he wouldn't be caught off guard as he had been.
Going back to his ship, he keyed the Navi computer and then widened its search algorithms.
According to its readings, there was a small city just towards the northwest, which likely meant that there was a library.
Inwardly, Jacen hoped that none of those books were in languages he couldn't understand.
After setting everything up, he unrolled a bedroll and collapsed onto it, feeling the weight of exhaustion bearing down on him as he sank into a deep sleep.
End