Next part of the story... I'll prolly continue writing this in little segments such as this. It's pretty easy this way.
But first... thank you all for the kind words! =D
Very very well done my friend. That truly is remarkable! Is this your first cosplay?
Yes it is. I decided to go all out for my first, make it a custom piece I really liked and enjoyed to put on.
Was just wondering what period is your Jedi based?
If you're familiar with the old EU (now Legends) this is set shortly after the defeat of the Vony in the New Jedi Order series, before the Dark Nest Crisis.
Holy crap! I'm looking the pictures and reading your character description, and my character (started around a week ago) has a lot of similarities. (I have also never seen the pictures/this post before now)
1. Jedi, but almost entirely dark side
2. Purple lightsaber
3. Mostly black outfit with whiteish greyish tabbards
4. Some form of mask covering part of the face
Of course, maybe I'm just grasping at straws, but it's hard not to notice these things. My character is old republic, but still: Maybe we're force-connected
Great costume and writing, I just wish my backstory will be that entertaining.
Haha, possibly! This is actually the story of how he becomes the Dark Jedi. So he was a "good" Jedi for quite a while, but then there's this little... happening... and now he's not so good.
And the lightsaber actually is changing for mine. He'll have two hilts when he's done here. One will be the blue he's always had (which will actually be the Destiny saber I just won in the lottery, yay!) and the other will be the red blade he takes at the end of this tale. Which will, in cosplay terms, be my Gladius. =D
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The commandos scattered along the rim of the ruins, checking and moving with tactical efficiency, scouting and calling to one another. Kieran and his apprentice moved purposefully towards the broken wall, spotting a section that looked like they could make their inside through. Kieran took his saber in hand, just in case, the sleek silver hilt fitting comfortably in his palm as he drew a deep breath though his mask and looked around, then drew the hood of his sleeveless robes up, stepped up on the edge of the stone.
Within, it appeared this had indeed once been a structure, of a sort. The ground was cut away in various layers, heading down into the center, where it was the deepest. He jumped down the three-foot drop to the first layer, and gave Tamira a hand down as she did as well.
“This place is eerie,” she said softly. Her voice seemed to echo through the cavernous interior.
Normally, he would have expected birds, insects, lizards, and other types of life to be scattered about the ruins. No such lifeforms were here. It was... completely, and utterly empty, the only sounds that of the slight breeze stirring the forest a few hundred meters away, and the commandos as they completed their circuit of the ruins, setting up a sensor line and perimeter. Others were busy deploying an automated defense turret on either side of the shuttle, just in case, while two groups were sweeping down into the interior ahead of the two Jedi.
Kieran frowned, and focused, sending his senses out far and wide. Buried within the twisting confined flows of the Force that twisted and rolled over the planet, he could hardly even distinguish the life essences of the commandos around them, much less anything else. He gripped his saber tighter as they went deeper, and noticed that Tamira also had hers in hand, her eyes darting nervously about as they went farther in.
The silence seemed to deepen and intensify around them, and the hair on the back of his neck began to rise with the uncanny sense that they were not, as it wholly appeared and felt to be, alone. He glanced around, and dropped to the bottom-most area. Two commando teams were perched just above as Tamira hopped down with him, sweeping the area with their scopes and scanners, trying to find anything.
“Nothing here, sir. No signs of... well. Anything.”
Kieran nodded slowly. “Alright...” he paused, and felt the sense that something was terribly, completely, and utterly wrong intensified.
“Master,” Tamira muttered, bringing her saber in front of her, looking all around them. There was nothing there... how could this sense be so strong?
Trust in the Force. Do not rely on your senses, reach out, feel. Don't think.
Master Skywalker's words, one of the first lessons he had taught them on Yavin. It echoed to his core, and he closed his eyes, letting the Force take him, and flow away. He spun into the Force currents like a leaf, twisted and pulled along. It was then, fully absorbed as he was in the energy that spun and twisted around the planet he could feel its source, deep beneath the surface, a focal point for the twisting and gathering. The Force was not being channeled around the planet... no. It was being sucked into it, devoured, absorbed into a single entity that radiated that power outwards with horrific strength. He fell headlong into the maelstrom, felt it pulling at the fibers of his very being, and then before him, a face appeared, grey and black, with red tattoos on the cheeks and pure black eyes. It grinned, its lips opening to reveal a row of finely filed, pointed teeth.
YOU. ARE. MINE!
He jerked back, physically and mentally, spinning away. The source of the maelstrom was directly beneath them. They had landed, unintentionally, in the very lap of this creature who was devouring the planet.
“Back to the shuttle!” he barked. “NOW!”
The commandos jumped at his command, moving quickly. He grabbed Tamira with the Force, lifting her, aiding her Force-leap as she leapt up four or more levels in a single bound, then gathered the Force within himself, aiding in his own leap.
As he jumped clear, the ground beneath his feet where he had been standing crumpled, breaking apart as a beam of red energy shot out of it. A second later the entire place was rumbling, the walls coming apart as the ground shook harder and harder, stone crashing down all around them.
A commando screamed as a boulder the size of a speeder smashed into his side, sending him flying into the red light. His scream intensified, drawn out, as his armor liquified around his body, then he evaporated into a fine mist, carried away by the energy beam.
“Run!” Kieran barked at the troops, and they did, scrambling away from smashing stones, struggling to keep their footing as the ground shook harder, cracks racing through the ruins from the center pit. Another commando cried out as the ground cracked apart under his feet. Tamira grabbed his hand as he reached out, hauling him to her side. Kieran caught a stone inches away from smashing two more troopers with the Force long enough for them to scramble out of the way before it slammed into the ground, rolling down towards the center of the pit.
“Master!” Tamira screamed as the ground she was standing on lifted, splitting and cracking, heaving upwards. Around her, it began to crumble, falling away. Kieran lifted her again, tossing her forwards, ahead of himself, and prepared to leap away. The trooper she had saved moments before leapt for safety, and Tamira tried to lift him with the Force. He paused, helping her, levitating the man to solid ground... but the delay in his own action jeopardized himself. Two boulders came slamming down right in front of him, the shockwave tossing him backwards. He rolled on his shoulder, came up in a fighting stance, his saber igniting with a sharp snap-hiss before him, and he struck the one, cleaving it in two, so that it tumbled to either side, and sprinted upwards.
The red beam emitting from the ground came to a sudden halt, and the rumbling stopped, but the commandos and Jedi continued to scramble for the Jedi... when a dark wave of energy hit them all in the back, casting them all like dolls, flinging them in every which direction. Kieran smashed into a pile of rubble and collapsed. He couldn't see Tamira or any of the commandos, struggling to get his senses back and get back on his feet. A figure, alone, strode from the center of the pit, wrapped in darkness and trailing a long black cloak. Kieran had no idea who it was, but could feel the malice rolling off of the man as he looked up, and met Kieran's eyes directly. It was the face from his vision a moment before. Still curled in that same unsettling, pointy-tooth grin. He leapt upwards, landing a few meters from Kieran himself.
“So. The Jedi come at last...” he mused, and reached under his cloak, taking out two silver hilts. They both snapped to life with a deep hum, their blood red blades popping with energy. Kieran got to his feet, and reignited his own, the cool blue contrasting sharply with the red. “Are you so eager to die, Jedi?”
Kieran braced himself. He had fought countless Vong, flown in a hundred space battles, faced down numerous foes. This was but one more test, one more foe. One more. That was it. The two braced for battle, facing each other squarely in the midst of the ruins, all else fading away.