What you believe in

The Crystal Bleeds

Blaire Kallig:

-"This was the lightsaber my Master gave me when I was an apprentice. It was his before me but I could never really stand him and i always felt like part of him was trapped within it. I would like you to have it." Lord Zash explained, handing Blaire an old, tarnished lightsaber, ornately plated with different metals in artful swirls and lines.

Blaire could feel something bubbling and churning within it even before she reached out to take it. The crystal was conflicted, it seemed. It crackled with the same dangerous electricity as the blade of a Sith, but she took it anyway. She didn't fear the dark side, though she didn't want to be a part of it either. She summoned the scarlet blade, searing with power, and took a few steps back to swing it around. Her breath hovered in her throat as she admired the glowing blade, her own lightsaber, at last. It sang in the air, sinister, hungry for blood.

-"It may be corrupted, but the crystal is true kyber" Zash stated.

-"I'm honoured." She thanked her Master.

Lord Zash smiled.

-"I hope it will be of better use to you than it was me." She said.

That night, in her bunk, surrounded by the sounds of sleeping acolytes and apprentices, Blaire was unable to sleep. The crystal in the lightsaber was calling to her. It was thirsty for blood, but there was something else that just kept her awake. What could it's influence do to her, she wondered? The thought scared her. Would this be the last push for the dark side to consume her? She dared not press the feeling that exuded from the crystal any further, afraid that connecting with it would bring her too close to the dark side. Restless, she finally caved and silently hopped from her bunk, snatching the lightsaber before heading out, shoving it into a pocket of her robes, moodily.
She stepped into the chill night air. The scent of sand and decay cooling after a hot day permeated the air and washed over her clammy skin as she snuck down the ramp to the academy. Not daring stray too far, lest she be met with the population Kor'slugs that roamed the academy grounds and have to draw blood with her hungry crystal, Blaire took a seat on a warm rock inside a nook in the cliff surrounding, which often served her as a place of peace. It was sheltered from prying eyes, and comforting. Here, she had spent hours meditating in the light side of the force when she was unable to sleep, or had some time to herself. Here, the dark influence of the Sith academy seemed miles away. She pulled the lightsaber from her pocket, relieves to see that it had in fact not spontaneously combusted in travel, or floated off of its own accord, possessed, to wreck havoc and destruction by everything it could reach. She could still feel the hatred, the anger, the fear, the thirst for blood, but there was something else which she could newly sense, distanced from the academy's dark influence. There was anguish there, under the darkness, pain. The crystal called out to her still, but not to implore her for blood. She took the hilt appart and freed the crystal of its encasement. Yes, it seemed she had made an incorrect assumption earlier. The crystal called to her heart, her core, reaching without darkness, and she found herself, oddly, resonating with it on a level that was neither dark nor light. Cautious, she started by meditating in the light side, to clear her mind. Deep within the meditation, she could still feel the call of the crystal. She had studied the kyber crystal, known of its properties and its connection with the Force, but typically, the Sith used synthetic crystals, more powerful than the natural mineral. She had never encountered a true kyber crystal, besides that of her Master, who had curiously refused to abandon hers for a synthetic one when she had joined the Sith, nor had she even considered ever being in possession of one. She knew that the Jedi favoured them, not for their power, but for the connection that they could forge with them. The Sith would never understand why the Jedi didn't use synthetic for the power, like them, when their natural crystals lacked it, but Blaire was beginning to understand their reasoning. There was something powerful in this pull, and though it was corrupted, there was something good, something of light in its very essence. She suddenly found herself yearning for a connection with this crystal, though it had never crossed her mind before. Comfortable in her meditation, she dared to reach out to it, her mind clear, she might find protection from the darkness it carried within it almost full to bursting. Then, something remarkable happened. It occurred to her that the crystal mourned the darkness it contained, was hurting by it, and not only that, but that Blaire could heal it as she could a living being, using the light side of the force. Healing practices were frowned upon in the academy, but Zash had always made a point of teaching her a variety of knowledges from the Jedi and the Sith alike, and she wasn't exactly conventional when it came to training it seemed. Blaire could not think why it should be so shunned to have the ability to heal, would it not be a powerful skill to have in battle? Sometimes trying to understand the Sith's ways was just one big headache. Healing the crystal would simply have to happen, Blaire found that strangely, she could not bring herself to ignore its cry for help, and part of her felt it personally. She focused deeper I to her meditation, just as Zash had taught her in healing, and channeled the force through the crystal, willing for it to mend, heal. She sat focusing for quite a while, until every atom in the crystal was free of darkness, mended, and then more. She could feel it heal, purified under her touch, and it's pain faded. When she finally released herself from the meditation when her mind could do no more so deeply, she dared to open her eyes again. Dawn was already rising, lightening the golden sand just a little. Within her pale, curled fingers lay a snow crystal, of a purer white than she thought she had ever seen. It exuded peace, serenity, and she felt as though finally, a connection had been forged between she and the crystal, one that was inimitable by anyone else, or any other crystal, as all Jedi's connection to their crystals should be. A thrill of excitement shivered up her spine as she gazes into the purity of the crystal– her crystal. Her eyes landed on the hilt of the lightsaber again. She picked it up, and carefully placed the crystal within the compartment, before putting the hilt back together. She stood up. She must make haste while she still had the lingering cover of dark to find her way back to the dormitories, and her bunk, before anyone noticed she was gone.