Down in the Dark (Ares)

[Faily]

"I don't think you're going anywhere." And with that, the red saber ended Ayura's life. She died with that look of anger burning red in her eyes.

"Now..." Jaina moved over to the panel that controlled the forcefield. "Will you come at me with all your anger? Embrace all of your hate, and fully give into the darkness to strike me down?"

[Ares Pax]

It took a while for the words to register for Ares.

He was dumbstruck, both by the feelings bub ling inside, and by the sudden death of Ayura.

I failed. I failed her too.

He felt the urge rise. To throw himself at Jaina, the snake.

Yet, her words rang. Anger? Darkness?

It seemed Ares was stuck contemplating, his body still shaking from the emotions.

[Faily]

The forcefield faded away, its blueish light fading away to fully reveal how drenched in the color of blood red the room was. The double-bladed lightsaber of Jaina twirled idly in her hands.



"Come, boy."

[Ares Pax]

Ares was still silent, his thoughts racing each other.

He wanted to fight. To hurt her, how he was hurt.

Yet

His whole life was about resisting the dark. His maters taught him to move ofrward and resist the dark.

No, not all of them.

Master Jaric.

There is a balance. There is Juyo.

He took a deep breath, and pulled his blade, and his second blade, and moved forward. Slowly. Step by step. He didn't know how to feel, but this wasn't the time for that. This was the time for the Ferocity Form.

[Faily]

Her red lips parted in a wicked white grin. "Yes... that's it. Feel the power of the dark side. You've only flirted with it before, but now you can fully unleash it; embrace your passion and let it flow through you. You were always meant to be powered by the Dark side, Ares."

She circled around him. "Your parents knew there was darkness in you, and it scared them. They thought that if they could maybe learn to turn someone else to the Light, someone like me, then they could save you."

[Ares Pax]

Ares smiled. It wasn't a pretty one. In fact, it was only technically a smile. He raised his twin blades i na wide stance... and a soft blue glow emanated from his right, while a harsh red from the left. It didn't seem to bother him.

"I have darkness in me, that much is true." He took a breath, and stepped forward, his blades dacing, leaving a calligraphy of intimidation in the air as an aftermark.

"But I have been tempered. Trained. And now I am challenged." He took a glance towards Ayura, and a tear rolled down in him. "I may fail others. I will fail others. But never by choice."

He shifted his stance again, , his left leg behind his right one, his sabers raised on either side, like teh horns of an angry animal ready to lunge. "Master Jaric invited me into his realm." He took a deep, rasping breath. "I am the Vornks. I dance on the edge, ready to fall but never making the leap. And you will not besmirch my parents because of your failure and evil. You are a coward, and you will die as one."

[Faily]

"Lonely little boy," she said with a mocking laughter. "You cannot kill your own flesh and blood." At first, she seemed less like a Sith, and more like Ares. The same skintone, the same eyes, the hair the same shade. It was like staring at a twin-sister borne from the same womb.

The saber shifted in her hands, one end glowing red while the other glowed blue in a mirror of Ares' own sabers.



"Come then, brother." The room was bathed in the light of blue and red.

[Ares Pax]

Ares stood there.

"what."

That was a weird twist.

[Faily]

"Your parents raised me to be a part of your family, Ares. Would that not make us siblings?" she laughed mockingly at his slow mind. "But of course, we could not be related. You're too stupid. You couldn't even help your girlfriend when she wanted you to come with her." Jaina gestured casually to the dead young woman.

[Ares Pax]

"I guess it does." He took a deep breath his stance is still rigid as earlier.

"I wass never smart. You're telling me nothing new."He took a breath and glanced at Ayura's body. He didn't want to, bu he forced himself to do it. He felt guilty but... no, this wasn't true. He wasn't here when it started, if it ever did.

"That's lame." Was his response spurred by sudden logic, as he felt his anger bleed into his form.

He charged, a sudden burst of speed and a criss-cross of his sabers meeting his opponent.

[Faily]

The room was engulfed in firey red as the two red sabers clashed.

"Even if you kill me, you will never be able to kill the hate and anger within you, Ares," she laughed in his face as the weapons pressed against eachother. "Embrace it and unlock your full potential!" The strange-looking Jaina was overpowering him. No matter how hard he pressed or tried to get away, she kept him locked down by their crossed sabers, slowly bringing him down to his knees.

"The Dark side is the only path for you..."

[Ares Pax]

Ares struggled, and felt his frustration build. This wasn't fair. But he already knew that. Life wasn't fair. He wanted to cry out, wanted to scream.

None of that would help. He is tempted... power at the tip of hins finger. Power that his parents didn't have when they faced this opponent.

But power wasn't everything. He looked into his opponents eyes. She killed his parents for power.

"There is another path." His sabers suddenly died out as he turned them off.




And he crossed his arms and reignited them again, hoping to catch her off guard before she beheaded him. While he was ready to die, that didn't mean he'll do it easily.

[Faily]

The saber came toward him, and for a brief moment was the sinking realisation that he wouldn't be able to make it. This was the end.

Blinking for a split second, Jaina was gone. So was her saber. And Ayura. And his own sabers. The room was spinning for a few seconds... and then the vision faded and a gentle light spilled into the cavernous room on Auratera.

[Ares Pax]

Ares took a few moments to steady himself. He felt cold...both the atmosphere of his vision, and the eat emaneting from his sabers. He smirked ruefully. He held the sabers, even if only in his mind.

If it was in his mind.

After a while, he let out a breath again, and touched his blades to check he still had them.

[Faily]

His father's sword and the new blade were both there. They had not disappeared or moved away from him since he last felt their presence.

[Ares Pax]

Ares felt calm, and the world stopped spinning. He glanced at his surroundings.

[Faily]

His skin was slick with a film of humidity from the dampness of the cave, and it smelled like stone and water. He could hear the sound of water dripping into the pool.

The light had changed since he went in, indicating some time had passed.

[Ares Pax]

Ares took a breath, once again, and shivered. It was cooler now. He slowly stood up, and started walking around...either for another vision, or for the exit.

[Jaric Kaedan]

The light hit his eyes as he exited the cave, and he could see master Jaric kneelig. Waiting. He looked up as Ares stepped out.

"You have returned."

[Ares Pax]

"Yes Master." He replied in a similarly stoic manner.

"I...am here." he continued in a daze.