When Light Meets Dark...
By Damien_Firestone
When Light Meets Dark
Act 1: Easy Prey
*A crash of lightning sparks off in the distance as the young boy runs through the set path in the woods. Master Firestone had already begun the boys physical training, as well as the aspects in which the force lay. Cires' soul was strong, and with the aid of Master Firestone, he had been able to make his life a happy one once more...
But deep in his soul, even Master Firestone could not ease the pain...
The pain of his mothers lose, at the hands of his father...
Only time could heal that pain... Or nothing would at all...
Why is it everyday.. I feel the pain...
Cires mind raced with questions and pains from days of past as he ran... So hard did he force himself to move... harder and harder with each step taken; each foot travled seemed to bring his pain inside to a more docile level, and therefore he craved to go harder... To eliminate the pain...
In my life... i need you here.. Dont ask why... I need you here...
Faster.... Harder....
His feet smacked down hard onto the surface below, beeds of sweat falling form his brow. The cackles of thunder sounded louder and more frequent around him, yet his ears head nothing but the roaring sceams of his aching heart....
'Ill be right here if you need me...' Thats what you said to me... But where are you? Your not here with me... I failed you, mother...
So hard were his steps... So fast were his motions... So quick had he lost track of where he was...
"Xi'Dromo...."
Suddenly, like a glowing red rod layed upon a bed of snow, the voice cracks through his thoughts and stops him dead in his tracks...
"I-.. Is someone there...?"
His eyes darting about the area only to see tress and shrubs, he begins to shake... A lingering feeling of evil spreads about the area, yet no physical beings could Cire see...
"Ive come to bring you to your true home, Xi'Dromo...."
Frantically he continues to search the area, attempting to probe the area with what little force he had been able to control in the short while under the guidance of Master Firestone, he still is unable to find the source of the mysterious voice talking to him...
But the question of who and what would be answered sooner than he could have hoped...
"M-master Firestone...? Is that you?" Cire asked, knowign full well it wasnt his master, but having no thoughts on what else to say.
"Firestone... Is dead..." the voice spoke out, just as a figure appeared to the rear of Cire. "He was destroyed by his own weakness... His inability to face the truth of the force..."
Hearing the voice clear in direction this time around, Cire spun suddenly to face the figure...
The man was draped in cloths of black, from the boots on his feet, to the hood covering his face. Much of his attire reminded Cire of his own Master, yet the aura of evil and malice that surounded this figure cleared all thoughts of him being Firestone. From the depths of the hood, Cire could se a glimmer of red from the left side of the figures head, which lead to more confusion about the situation, added with the words of Master Firestones' death.
W-w... Who are you... And, what do you want?
Cires' voice was shaking as he spoke, despite his efforts to calm his body.
Fear...
Fear showed transparent in this boy...
A boy of Cires' age, and lack of training was an easy target for the powers of the darkside. But Cire was strong... His morals lead him to the light, and always would... right...?
"My name... Is Angeles... Delian Angeles... And, as i have said before... I have come to take you home... Where you belong..."
From behind Angeles emerged two other figures, and the power of evil swept o'er the land like locus... They had cloaked their presense from all around them, until now, and cire was not perpared for the rush of hatred that spread about him.
Falling to his knees, it was as if someone had just punched him in the heart... his spirit fropped for a moment, being over come by the power around him. His eyes wide, he looked upon the new figures that approached.
One was a thin figure, clothed in all black, but not robes... more of a form-fitting body suit. Easily, Cire spotted a double-bladed lightsaber straped to his belt. His eyes were a deep brown color, and his hair trimmed short, radiating a blonde - almost white - color.
The second man was much more concealed... His body was covered in faded black cloths, and fit loosly over his hunched body, revealing only a slight haze of lumination crimson glow from the depths of the hood.
Finally, after a few moments of silent awe, Cire spoke out, his voice cracking, as did the lightning around him...
"I am home... Where i belong... Be gone, Darksider..."
Xi'Dromo Cire was a Jedi... And, if need be, would die a Jedi...
(To be continued...)
When Light Meets Dark
Act 2: And the Thunder Rolls...
"...You must never forget that, young Dagle."
Dagle nods, understanding the words that his master spoke. Dagle had been an excellent apprentice since the very begining, absorbing all Damien said and did in his mind. A great Jedi one day he would be, Damien knew.
The storm outside the house had grown rather dreary, bolts of lightning crashing down, followed only seconds later by roaring sounds of thunder. A guest at Damiens home, Rebekah Morraine was resting in the upper floor of the home, while Damien and Dagle sat on the first level, in a 'lesson' of sorts.
Quietly, Damien stood and walked to the window, looking outside.
"Tis getting late... Xi'Dromo should have been back by now..."
His masters words traveled over to Dagle as he stood up.
"Xi'Dromo knows that path well, Master. Im sure he just stopped to view the wildlife, or something." Dagle smiles as he adds, "You worry to much my Master."
Damien turns his head to look at Dagle. For a moment, his face is expressionless as he looks to the young boy, then after a moment or so of silence, he smiles lightly.
"Yes... I suppose you ar-"
And thats when it hit him...
A wave of darkness swept over the area around them, and Damien knew that evil lurked close...
Dagle seemed to feel it as well as his eyes widened. Quickly, Damien rushed to the table, inbetween the two offwhite couches that lay in the center of the room, and took his own double-bladed saber i hand, straping it to his belt.
"Come Dagle, we must hurry."
Damiens tone was calm as before, yet it lost its feeling of content, and transformed into an order of uttmost seriousness. Dagle quickly grabbed his own saber, which sat next to him, and followed Damien out the main door to the home.
~ ~ ~ ~
Two men ran through the lush forestry of the land, gathering the Lightside within them as they did so.
Dagle had on his normal attire, one of usual Jedi wear, minus the robe. They had raced out the home in too much of a hurry for him to have put that on. Damien had left himself in that same posistion, wearing a pair of black slacks, dropping a bit past the start of his boots, and a form fitting, collared, 'muscle shirt', a material of tightly woven mesh faberic, black in color.
Beeds of water smacked against both mens face as they quickly progress through the woodland.
They were getting close.. both could feel it... And when they arrived, a challange would face them, and they both were sure of that. But a challange of what, niether be positive.
~ ~ ~ ~
A long hiss of thunder shook the lands as Damien and Dagle reached an opening in the woodlands. And thats when they saw it...
Young Xi'Dromo Cire knelt on the ground, shaking, looking to three figures infront of him. The first Damien reconized easy... It was the man known as Delian Angeles, a former Crusader turned dark. For a short period of time, the two had been friends, but that had lasted less then a year, before contact was lost between them. Now, Delian had returned... But not on friendly terms...
The second man Damien reconized as well.. It was the Dark Lord known as Sythe.. They too had been associates, but that had been before Damiens path to the lightside. The third man Damien only knew as dark, for they had never met in days of past.
Seeing Damien, Xi'Dromo jumped from his knees and ran to him, then spun around to his backside, shielding himself from the piercing gazes of the darksiders.
"I see we meet again, Damien...." Delian smiles maliciously at Damien as he ignites both his sabers, allowing them to spark up with a crimson hiss of light. "How tragic for you..."
The two men to either side follow Delians example, the man on his right unclipping his double-bladed saber, and igniting, allowing a blade of the same color as Delians to rise up like lightning.
The man to Delians left dropped his robes off his hunched back, allowing his true form to show. Body covered in scales like a sea animal, he reached down and unclipped his own, single bladed saber, flicking the small switch to ignite its red blade. (Imagine him as a Zergling, from Star Craft)
"Riggs... You take the boy... Sythe and I shall deal with Damien..."
Damien unclipped his own double-bladed saber from his belt, allowing the saber blades to spark up with hiss, matching the color of Delians blades as well. As soon as Dagle saw Damien move for his saber, Dagle did the same, letting his own weapon of the Jedi crackle to life in a blue blade of fury.
The time came in every Jedis' life were odds would fall to their disadvantage...
And more often than not, the odds would claim the soul of that Jedi...
But sometimes... The odds could be beaten... It was time for Jedi Master Damien Firestone, and his padawan, Dagle Windhaven, to beat... or be beaten...
(to be continued...)
When Light Meets Dark
Act 3: Sabers Clash
The man known as Sythe was the first to attack, sending his saber down suddenly at Damiens shoulder, angeled to the degree of 45. Delian merely watched at first, seeing and studing Damiens reactions and movements.
~ ~ ~ ~
Following that attack, Riggs jumped at Dagle, bringing his saber down swiftly towards the boys head.
Stepping to the side quickly, Dagle let the blade fall down next to him, on his right. As the blade fell, he twisted his body towards it, putting Riggs on his left side, as he swung his saber down onto Riggs' saber.
The two blades sparked as they connected, and Dagle held his strenght on top of them, holding Riggs' saber at bay. With a quick raise of the foot, aided by the speed of the force, Dagle sent a kick to the side/lower-back of Riggs, who was at an angel so the other end of his own saber would not hit him.
De-igniting the first blade (the one he used for the attack), Riggs twisted around quickly, sending his other blade at a horizontial swing towards Dagle, and his raised leg.
Tucking in his leg used for the attempted kick, Dagle continues the momentum, and spins to his right, saber in hand. As he completes the turn, so does Riggs, and Dagle brings his saber up as a vertical block, letting them smack together, just as his foot lands on the ground, giving him leverage. He was now at a kneel, having lowered his body as he spun, one foot pressed into the ground, and the other foot-to-knee was rested upon the forest floor.
His back facing Dagle, Riggs sends his right foot behind him, kicking at Dagles face, their two sabers still pressed together, and Riggs slightly leaning on that hold for his own leverage.
His powers progressed within the force, Dagle easily forsaw this move, and reached with his right hand and arm out, taking Riggs' foot under his shoulder/arm, and wrapping the rest of his arm around the mans leg.
Riggs now standing only on one leg, He had no force behind the movements of his saber, and therfore, Dagle held the advantage. Dagle stood up, Riggs leg still held, and pulled his own saber back, then lunging it forward strait into the back of Riggs.
A scream of pain let loose out into the surrounding area as Riggs bellowed out cries of misery, the blade sliding through his mid back and out his stomach.. He barely had the chance to look down at the glowing blue 'rod' before it shot upwards, slicing the man into two equal pieces, from waist, all the way to his head.
Dropping the mans leg, Dagle quickly looked to Damien, just as Damien sent a message through telephathy to the boy.
< Take Cire home... Tell Rebekah of the happenings here, and leave the planet on her ship... >
Dagle stood silent for a moment, not wanting to leave his master in the company of two Sith. However he did as he was told, and grabbed Cire by the arm, motioning him to follow... The two boys ran deep into the woods.
~ ~ ~ ~
Damien brought his blade up easily to defend against Sythes. Holding it at bay for a moment, then bringing it back with speed of and strenght of the force, He slashed the other end of his double-bladed saber at Sythes hunched head.
Stepping back with easy, Sythe let the saber blade flow by. A master in the dark arts, Sythes' eyes glowed with evil and intent to kill as he brought his blade back again, and stepped forward, lunging the blade to Damiens chest, his actions also backed by the force.
Following through with his momentum, Damiens back was turned to Sythe. With a bend of the legs, Damien ducked low and rolled forward, letting the attack stab above him. As he jumped to his feet and spun around again, another blade shot towards his left side.
Delians left side of his two-sided saber flew to Damiens left side, waist height. During Sythes attack, Delian had taken of his robes, and now wore attire almost identical to Damien, with the exception of his shirt had sleeves going all the way down to his black gloves.
Seeing the blade swung at him, Damien un-ignited one side of his own saber, and held it out to his left, letting it clash with Delians. Holding it there with both hands, Damiens fingers danced for a moments, just before the hilt itself seemed the break into two equal pieces.
Sythe lunged forward once more, with the same stlye as moments before, towards Damiens chest.
Bringing the second half of his saber hilt out at a low swing, he ignited it, allowing the blade to spark to life once more. The blade flashed up in a hiss of crimson, angeled upwards, and met with Sythes, pushing it to the side.
This left Sythes' chest open to attack, yet Damien knew if such an attack was made, Delian could easily kill him.
As the other end of of Delians saber came towards Damien, Damien used the force to aid his movements, and jumped backwards a good 5 to 6 yards.
As he landed, both his attackers looked over to him, yet stood still at first. Next, he moved his gaze to Dagle, watching the young padawan end the life of a Sith Warrior. In his mind, Damien ordered out to the boy,
< Take Cire home... Tell Rebekah of the happenings here, and leave the planet on her ship... >
Watching the boy run off with Cire, Damien returns his gaze to Delain and Sythe.
"You know as well as i, that will not save them... I will hunt them down and take their heads... As i will yours..."
Damien ignored Delian words as he gathered the powers of the lightside within him.
"Kill him..." Delian ordered to Sythe, moments before the creature stepped forward.
Both Damiens opponents were equal, if not beyond him, in the powers of the force... Sythe had been a lord when Damien met him first, on more friendlier terms... Though, something about the creature had changed... Like it wasnt the same as when he met him years and years ago. It mattered not at the time, for Damien knew reason could not be spoken into either of these darksiders.
Sythes' odd form moved quickly, impressivly for his age, at Damien, sending his saber from Damiens right side to his shoulder, as Delian stood back, watching.
Damien raised his own right saber up, blocking Sythes', and with his left, Damien stabed towards Sythes' stomach area.
The fighting when on between the two for a good five minutes, each combatant just barely escaping the deathly attacks of the other. Delian merely stood by, smiling, watching the two, cocky as always.
Damien had just brought his saber up, clashing it against Sythes attempt to cut him down the middle. Damien used his other saber to slash a weak attack at Sythes right side, in attempts to have his back off.
Time seemed to freeze as Sythe scowled and looked deep into Damiens eyes, and with a growl, not unlike a scream, he fell to his knees... Yet... Damiens saber hadnt hit him....
Sythe and Damien had been in heavy combat, not concentrating on anything but themselves, their opponent, and the force... And Delians mind had been busy engulfed in his own conceited enjoyment of the situation... None had seen Dagle reapproach... Yet everyone knew when his saber stabed directly into the back of Sythe....
In a burst of rage, Delian unleashed a force push of great mass at Dagle, driving him clear into a tree. Damien had attempetd to absorb some of the energy, but he was weakened by his fight, and therfore could not save the boy from slamming hard into the base of a tree, falling out of conscienceness.
And then there were two...
~ ~ ~ ~
Delian and Damien eyed each other from across the small opening in the woods...
Both held two sabers in their hands... Both were masters of their own art... But, unlike Damien, Delian was un-worked... He had merely watched most the fight go on, and therefore, he was in more of a condition to do damage...
With the speed of the force, Delian rushed towards Damien, and slahed down with is left saber at Damiens shoudler/neck at an angel of 45, his other saber up towards Damiens waits, at the same angel.
Damien countered both of the sabers with his own, bringing them up at appropreate measures to form an 'X' as each struct with the other.
Damien was slower to move than Delian, because of his slight fatigue, and this gave Delian the edge needed. Sending his head crashing towards Damiens, Delian made contact right above the nose of Damien, sending him stumbling backwards.
As he attempted to regan composer, Delians saber - no longer blocked by Damiens own blade - slashed downwards at Damiens left wrist...
A wisp of pain escaped Damiens lips as he felt the burning sensations running up his arm as the saber blade sliced through his wrist, letting his hand and saber fall lifeless to the ground.
Following through with his attack, Delian sent his foot to the other shoulder of Damien, opposite of the now handless-arm...
Already in a great deal of pain, on top of being faint headed (from both the pain and fatigue), when the foot made contact with his shoudler, Damien dropped his second saber, and fell to the ground, proped up slightly by the elbow of the arm with no hand.
"See... I would never lie to a child..." Delian smiled evily while hovering over Damiens body. With a tap on either side of him, Delian stabbed into, and out of again, both Damiens sabers, leaving them unable to be used. "I told young Cire his master was dead... And i was right... You died the moment you let the lightside into your body... I am just here to kill off shell of you that survived..."
Damien had no responce as he layed their, on the forest floor... His eyes showed his pain, both physical and mental. He knew the lightside would take care of him, even after his death... But Dagle... And Xi'Dromo... If Delian had found him, there would be little hope for the boys.
"Even at death, your thoughts fall upon your padawans... How trite..."
Delian sneered as he poked into Damiens inner thighs with both his sabers, and twisted it for a moment.
"You see, Damien old friend... When i came back to this planet for you, i had hopes of bringing you back with me... Training you in the arts of the darkside as my apprentice..."
With a flick of both wrists, Delain sliced his sabers out of Damiens legs, ripping two or so inches of flesh while doing so.
"... So you can imagine my dismay when i found you here, a Jedi.... Master, none the less."
Damien looked up to the figure, his eyes ablaze with pain, yet his words calm, and a voice uncracking, he spoke,
"You can kill me where i lay now.. But i will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine..."
Delian smiles ever so slightly, deigniting one of his sabers and attaching it to his belt again.
"Well..." Delians speaks out to Damien, laughing slightly, "You are right about one thing... I can kill you where you lay..."
Delians eyes flicker with pure darkside as he raises his saber up above his head, in the form of a man about to stab a sword into the ground.
"Good-bye... Old friend..."
When Light Meets Dark
Act 4: Death Finds Everyone...
"Well..." Delians speaks out to Damien, laughing slightly, "You are right about one thing... I can kill you where you lay..."
Delians eyes flicker with pure darkside as he raises his saber up above his head, in the form of a man about to stab a sword into the ground.
"Good-bye... Old friend..."
With a horrid laugh escaping Delians lips, he unleashed the saber downwards to Damiens chest.. Or, more specifically: His heart...
A bead of lightning lit up across the sky, gleaming in both mens eyes as a thunderous roar filled the air... Time slowed down for Damien as he watches the saber come at him...
Four feet away...
Damiens mind fled back to his childhood... His father, and mother, and the torment that lay within the memories...
Three feet away...
Thoughts of his friends... His ex-wife... His padawans... Their images flickering across his minds eye like ghosts...
Two feet away...
Memories of just the other night, when Rebekah had joined him at his home... Her fate would be cruel should Delian find the home...
One foot away...
The force... The lightside would hold his soul within the force, and he would live on in spirit.. He knew this.. for a Jedi, there is no death, just the force...
Six inches away...
Damien closed his eyes, waiting for the numbness to take over, and his soul to be free from this mortal coil...
And then...
He felt nothing...
No pain...
He could feel his heart was frozen where it sat, and for a moment, there was silence... And then cracks of noise could be heard... Lightning? No... To rapid; to often...
And thats when it hit him...
His legs began throbbing once more... The stub where is hand once rested began the same sensations of painful tingling. His shoulder where Delian had rammed his heel tightened...
And he opened his eyes....
Looking about there area was odd this time... There was no Delian present in his line of vision... The rain drops softly hit his face as he squinted his eyes through the pain.
A snap here... A crash there...
Damien still heard the noises...
With what little energy he could muster up, Damien twisted his body around, holding in the moans of agony that built up with every movement of his body. His vision was blurred... The haze from the night rain didnt help the situation much either... But, still, through it all, he was able to see...
A red glowing line buzzed about, held by Delian...
But what was Delian doing? Damien tilted his head a bit more... And then he saw.
Nothing could have perpared him for the vision which he gazed upon...
Blane Vast...
His old master in the Jedi arts, and long time friend, was wielding his own tri-saber, dueling first hand with the Sith Lord Delian...
Damiens eyes closed... He hadnt the energy to keep them open any longer... So he listened... The noises of the sparking sabers faded in and out from his mind as he lay there, bleeding slightly on the muddy ground... He could feel beads of water hit his face every now and then, though he new they struck him more than that.
Among the pain... Among the noise and numbness of his body... There was one noise that rang out above all else... As short as it sounded, it stuck out in the mind of Damien unlike anything he had heard before...
It was a scream....
A scream of an old friend...
A friend that brought this pain upon himself, the moment he let the darkness inside him...
And at that moment, Damien knew... The Sith Lord Delian Angeles was no more...
And, knowing that, Damien smiled slightly... And let the lights go dim in his own mind...
When Light Meets Dark
Epilogue: Dark No More...
"Master... Are you alright?"
Damien reopened his eyes and looked about the area slowly...
What he saw was not storm... Not enemy or sky of any sort....
He now layed upon his own bed, staring up towards the ceiling, seeming numb from the neck down. As his vision, still a bit blurry, pondered about the room, he saw many familair faces... Young Xi'Dromo sat on his own small bed, wrapped up in blankets, peering back at Damien with innocent eyes. Standing by him was Damiens old Master, Jedi Blane Vast.
Continuing to browse the area, Damiens gaze moved his more immediant suroundings. To his right stood Rebekah Morriane, a guest and old friend of Damiens. Just beside her stood Dagle, Damiens first padawan, with a small white bandage around his head, from where he had hit the tree.
It was Dagles voice that awoke him, Damien realized. Looking to Dagle he smiled weakly, feeling both a mixture of pain and nothingness across his body. Dagle had done well... His actions that eve were ones of valor and bravery, exceptional for a boy of his age. Damien thought once more to himself, a great Jedi would Dagle be.
"What happened...? How did i arrive here...? Damien asked, soft toned.
"Xi'Dromo ran back here and told me of what was happening... When i arrived there, i saw Master Blane kneeling beside your body... I feared the worst, Damien" Rebekah responded.
Damiens mind began to flow with memories of the close past...
It was Vast who had come to his rescue, stopping Delians blade from ending the life of Damien. Slowly, Damien look towards Blane, Blanes own eyes returning the gaze. After a moment or so, Blane approached Damien at his bedside.
With a smile, Rebekah turns to both Cire and Windhaven, and motions for them to exit the room. As they do so, she follows down the stairs, leaving Damien and Blane to talk.
"Thank you..." Damien finally whispers out, his voice low and weak.
Vast just smiles, looking at his friend. So many years had fled by since they first met, coincedently enough, here on Chad.
"Ssshhhh... Dont speak, Damien... Save your energy."
Damien looks up at the man... He attempts to nods slightly, but the weakness combined with numbness lead him to fail at the simple task.
The light had won over the dark once more, in this epic battle of the force... Joined in the tightest of moments, the duo of Blane Vast and Damien Firestone came out alive again...
The Legends Live On....
~FIN~