Chapter 14:

Xander patiently waited within the inner room, tentatively observing his surroundings as the cavern shook under the force of the explosions.

Dust and debris fell, crushing many of the items strewn about within the inner room.

As the final sounds of explosions finished, Xander took a deep breath, making no noise, not even breathing, in order to hear any movements.

A few fleeting seconds later, Xander, who was rejoicing in the silence, was interrupted as a resonating blue blade made of plasmic energy cut through the boulder blocking the entrance, and began to move, tracing a circle of molten rock.

"Ah, shit,"

Xander hurriedly moved to the side, no longer facing the entrance. He once again held up his blaster, now more comfortable with its weight in his hand, aiming it towards the entrance.

Xander also churned his mental energy as the ethereal form of a tree hovered before him.

Unexpectedly, as the circle of molten rock was complete, the boulder flew out of its resting place, crashing into the other side of the room. This had been the reason Xander had moved.

Jordan Smith's perspective:

'That damn son of…' Jordan had barely survived. He managed to use the Force to the extreme to cover his body, as he crept under the gargantuan weight of the debris, moving toward the boulder blocking the entrance.

With each deep breath, the many wounds around his body continued to bleed, but Jordan paid them no mind. For his rage would be quenched and the price would be blood.

Igniting the lightsaber on his waist, he thrust it into the boulder. Due to the surrounding debris, he couldn't force-move the damned chunk of rock.

'When I get my hands on you,' seething with anger, he traced an almost perfect circle with the scorching plasma sword. Using what remained of his quickly diminishing strength, Jordan forced pushed, with all his might.

His goal was to launch the chunk of rock with the hope that it would do the job for him. As the rock flew across the room, Jordan used it as cover to dash into the room, jumping into a roll to take a position on one side.

His lightsaber palpitated with his fury as he quickly eyed the room. However, he was momentarily lost for words, as the form of what appeared to be a ghostly tree floated before him. That moment was all that was needed, as a bolt of blue plasma tore through the ethereal tree before continuing through him.

"What the…?" Jordan felt darkness cloud his mind as he collapsed onto the floor. His hand cupped the hole now torn through his body, as warm red liquid quickly began to drench the floor. The sheer fatigue, accompanied by the blood loss, fully encapsulated Jordan's mind, and with that, he was gone into the respite of darkness.

Xander's perspective:

"Gotcha, ass," Xander spoke under his breath, as he moved closer to the strewn-out form.

Getting closer, he unhesitatingly fired two more times, not leaving anything to luck, with one bolt blasting a portion of his target's head off.

Looking at the ghastly scene of brain matter, accompanied by the know decreasing levels of adrenaline.

"Blurgh," Xander vomited, Covering the floor now with his own liquids as well.

Spending the next few minutes heaving, fully emptying what little remained within his stomach, Xander's eyes locked onto the fallen form of Jordan. The weight of what he had done also begun to rear its nasty head.

Xander had come here prepared; he wasn't given a choice, and from what he could tell, it was either live on this godforsaken planet trying to survive in the harsh desert or kill his target in order to return to the more bearable soul land.

Was Xander a psychopath? No! Well, hopefully not completely.

Having grown up an orphan, Xander lacked many things: trusting others and a lack of empathy. Nobody had really cared for him in the harsh reality of life, and as such, he tended not to care for others.

But not caring about others and killing someone were two very different things. Xander's eyes took on a hazy sheen as he thought about what he had done. Now that the adrenaline and the fight-or-flight response were out of his system, his mind returned to normalcy.

"Damnit, get yourself together." With a harsh slap, Xander awoke himself from this short period of reflection.

"I'll survive no matter what!" Xadner spoke through gritted teeth. As his emotions stirred, he felt a tinge of soothing energy from his mental space. It was a comforting feeling, and as he entered his mental space, he could feel the demon eye tree releasing soothing waves of mental energy over his mind.

"Thanks, buddy," Xander said as he traced his palm over the bark. The tree probably did this as it felt the mental energy in the mind space began to churn and move violently and as a mental attributed spirit beast, it instinctively tried to calm it down with its own energy.

This was a surprise for Xander. He had expected the tree to hold a grudge or even hate him after being forced here, but instead, the tree seemed grateful and content with its new home. Xander could sense this as despite the Tree, not being smart enough to communicate its instincts were primal and obvious.

Was it because the tree knew being in the forest was dangerous, as it couldn't defend itself, or it felt safe here as there were no threats and Xander's mental energy seemed to help it cultivate?

Xander's consciousness emerged from his mind space, after he eyed the door and the familiar pull beckoning him to leave this world, now that his mission was accomplished.

Rising off the ground and summoning the Sephereth Grail, Xander Quickly ingesting a drop of red liquid. Instantly, he felt his fatigue and injuries quickly diminish as he pulled the grail back into his body.

Gazing back at the fallen form, Xander took a deep breath before moving over to the body to check its contents, or more accurately, to fiddle with the lightsaber that was close by to it.

After all, who was he kidding? Nobody would be able to turn down such a thing, especially when the real object depicted in stores and cinema was so close by. He knew he couldn't take it with him. After all, the only thing that had come to this world was his soul and not his body.

Igniting the blade a few times and swinging it about, Xander quickly found it was more dangerous than he preferred. Perhaps it was because he hadn't force-bonded with the weapon, but he nearly dismembered himself a few times.

As such, he decided swinging around a weapon that could cut through him like butter was not as wise of an idea as he first thought. As he sent his force energy into the blade to see if he could build a connection, he felt a reverberation from Jordan's dead body.

Alarmed at first, after a few seconds and knowing that someone missing half their brain wouldn't be alive, Xander probed the fallen form with his force energy. He once again felt a force reverberation around Jordan's mid-chest. Flipping the body over and looking over it, he found a deep blue prism-looking object hanging off Jordan's neck.

"Is that a holocron?"

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