Chapter 9 The Parting of Ways

Chapter 9 The Parting of Ways

Nine-year-old Rayleigh ran through the air from tree branch to tree branch. Though he wore 250 kilograms of weight, the sturdy stems and branches of the ancient trees more than supported his mass in the instant he passed over each one on his way across the valley.

Much had changed for Rayleigh in the three years since he started taking Missions. He could almost reach 45% of his top speed while wearing the fifty-kilogram vest and a fifty-kilogram weight on both wrists and each ankle.

Rayleigh would spend two hours a day twice a week moving through the Forest at his fastest speed and two hours on a different day of the week, moving through the forest carrying as much weight as he could without being slowed by more than two-thirds.

His training cycle was like that of a slingshot. Record his fastest speed, determine enough weight to slow him to 35~40% of that speed, train with those weights until he could reach 50% of that speed, remove the weights, and then record his new fastest speed and redo the cycle.

Thankfully he was free from the limitations of the campsite. He'd convinced the Jedi to remove his restriction by displaying his ability to make friends with the local wildlife.

Beasts such as the Guid, Manka Cat, and Uxibeast were not exceptionally violent as long as you didn't provoke them first or make yourself look like dinner. The Horranth and Wingmaw were another story.

Rayleigh had to prove each was not a threat before he was allowed to go out without supervision.

Horranths were like lizard pigs, though three times larger than a boar, lacking in back legs, and had far sharper teeth. They could easily outrun most humans, but Rayleigh's speed and his ability to rapidly ascend trees and rock walls were enough to remove their threat. It helped that Horranths stayed around their own territories, so as long as he avoided those, they were never an issue.

Wingmaws were the size of vultures, looked kind of like small gargoyles, and were almost as common as pigeons in big cities due to their lack of natural predators. They were never found alone, and when hungry, a swarm anywhere from three to several dozen in size would descend upon a chosen target and quickly strip it of its meat. They had an insect hive mentality and if one was attacked, it would cry out, spelling death for its attacker, as every Wingmaw in the area that heard its cry would come for flesh and blood. Wingmaws, however, preferred large, slow-moving, ground-based targets. They had a habit of only attacking if all the Wingmaws in a group looked at the same target at the same moment for a long period of time. As long as he didn't stop moving, they wouldn't be interested in his meager portion of flesh.

Guids were similar to apes but twice as tall, even hunched over, with longer, more powerful forearms, and giant heads with massive jaws. They were herbivores though, and not particularly territorial. Even if you walked by one, it wouldn't care as long as you didn't try to hurt it.

Manka Cats looked like a cross between a boar and a lion and had a pride mentality. As long as he didn't approach a hungry group or act like a jerk, they didn't take the initiative to attack him since he didn't look like anything they usually hunted. Rayleigh even made friends with the local pride by bringing them meat every once in a while. The lion-like manes of the males were incredibly fluffy, and he'd had more than a few sleepovers where he napped under the starry sky with a pile of fluffy Manka Cats. The only tricky part was avoiding the tusks.

Uxibeast looked similar to bison, but were about four times the size of a bull and their horns were even larger. They had a pack mentality, with their younger members always being protected by their larger, stronger members. They were easily provoked and agitated, but Rayleigh demonstrated his skill with them by climbing up the fur on one of them and laying on its back. The same massive beast did not let any of the Jedi near it, but it didn't react violently to Rayleigh in the slightest.

Faced with all these crazy antics and the lack of Force Storms in the last few years, the Jedi reluctantly allowed Rayleigh more freedom to go off on his own. That was about six months ago. At the time, the most he could assign to all his weights without slowing down massively was twenty kilograms. He usually used a pair of 35-kilogram wrist weights when sparring, but he couldn't run at a quarter of his full speed with a 35-kilogram vest, wrist, and ankle weights. Now, even the fifty-kilogram wrist weights didn't affect his Lightsaber practice.

After finishing up with Form I, Rayleigh spent six months apiece learning Forms II, III, IV, and V. He then spent the last year practicing Form VI, and since he could do so away from camp, he did it with his own lightsaber rather than the training saber he was usually assigned.

As with Form I, Rayleigh copied Master Dyanameez's image of each form's concept while slowly learning the basics himself. None of them were as simple and easy to install as Form I even during Missions. He'd been trying to integrate them all into his own Form VI but lacked the spark of inspiration to try it so far. But even without turning himself into a copy of Dyanameez, his own practice with each of the six Forms had exceeded what was required of an Initiate.

When Master Dyanameez first saw Rayleigh running through the trees, he could have sworn he saw something inside her die, and every once in a while he would hear her mutter the words, 'monkey child,' to herself. He didn't really care. There were two reasons he continued with this form of training.

The first was inspired by an episode of Samurai Jack where Jack learned to Jump Good. Though not entirely realistic, the ability to physically improve oneself until one was capable of leaping great heights was incredibly important for a Swordsman. The power of a mighty sword does not originate from the wrists, arms, or waist. It came from the ground through the feet and ankles, and was transferred through the joints into the limbs and through the blade's edge. The ability to Jump Good would vastly increase his Swordsmanship foundation if he wanted to fight like Samuari Jack and Kenshin Himura.

The second reason was a piece of information he learned from a Ninja Player in the General Chat. They apparently played Tag in the trees, making what was a difficult training exercise for him into a casual children's game for them. He couldn't be sure if they were trolling, but due to this and reason number one, Rayleigh decided he would perform the same training so the Ninjas would not leave him behind.

He even tried to add to the training in every way he could think of. While jumping from tree to tree, he would add front flips, back flips, side flips, spins, rolls, hops, controlled falls, bounces, cartwheels, and go through multiple trees backward or solely on his hands. He was quite a spectacle for observing wildlife. Some days, he would pull out his Lightsaber and go through multiple Velocities along the way, usually from Form IV. It gave him flashbacks of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. He would internally count up points for every trick and continuously try to beat his high score.

Rayleigh's path through the forest spanned several kilometers and ended near the landing pad where the Jedi parked the shuttle. If he wasn 't wearing the weights, he'd turn back and return to camp. Since this session included his weights, he jumped over the cliff overlooking the waterfall and dived into the river beneath. He would then sink to the bottom and start to meditate at the base of the falls. The rolling waters battered him in every direction, and only the weight of his training gear prevented him from getting swept away.

Normal humans could hold their breath for two or three minutes if they were out of practice, and five or six minutes if they practiced enough. Rayleigh's aim was a bit higher. He used the Force skill, Breath Control, to directly shut off his body's need for oxygen and practically put himself into stasis.

After a body has exercised for a long period, it builds up acids that destroy the muscles. When new muscles are grown after the acids are washed away, they are stronger than the old ones. Oxygen is the key element needed to remove those acids from his body, so shutting down his ability to use oxygen right after exercising drastically extended the amount of damage his exercise did to his body. Force Healing costs a Jedi their lifespan, so it should not be used to instantly heal from exercise-based damage like this, but maintaining a constant connection to the Force did speed up the recovery, allowing Rayleigh to do something this crazy once a week.

Although masters of Breath Control could hold their breath for hours or days, Rayleigh was not a master and was certainly not using the skill as intended, so his limit was about fifteen minutes. At that point, Rayleigh opened up his Menu and disabled his weights, causing them to vanish off his body, leading the currents to whisk him away.

The pounding of the water beneath the falls hammered every centimeter of his flesh evenly, which was part two of this insane training regime. It was something he'd read in a few Light Novels, and though he wasn't sure if the pressure would actually strengthen his internal organs, he was at least quite certain it was strengthening his skin, muscles, and bones.

After a few minutes in the power wash under the falls, Rayleigh used the Force to propel himself out of the cycling current and to the surface, where he took a much-needed breath of fresh air. Then he dived back down and started swimming, beneath the water's surface, back to camp. One nice thing about the Tythos River was its lack of predators, making it quite safe, relatively speaking.

Once free of the pounding currents, Rayleigh would swim at max speed along the river to see if he could make it all the way back to camp in a single breath. He had yet to succeed, but he was already able to swim a full kilometer on that breath, which was much better than where he started.

Rayleigh had completed most of his Initiate Studies and, outside of personal training and meditation, spent the rest of his time either helping the team or using Psychometry.

He used Psychometry for transcribing 90% of the time. Papers, documents, stone tablets, and physical hand-written logs did not withstand the test of time, but when Rayleigh touched them, he could see the author writing down the information in front of him and he would directly transcribe what was being written. He could even feel the emotions and intent of the one writing it and add notations on various elements of the writing that were unclear, though such notations were not always appreciated.

On occasion, he'd be asked to use Psychometry on an artifact, but it was rare. The team was extremely picky when it came to what to allow and not allow him to use Psychometry on. Still, there was no end to the documents discovered, and Rayleigh had to be extremely careful in handling them as his transcription was worthless unless paired with the source material.

One of the more interesting discoveries was that several of the Stone Pillars in a few meditation rooms had words engraved into them. They had been worn smooth, but Rayleigh's gift allowed him to see and transcribe what was once written into them, as they had been carved by the hand of a Jedi Master.

He was effectively a video camera that could record the past.

There was a limit, though, and Master Dyanameez claimed he was not to use Psychometry for more than two hours a day to prevent himself from being permanently affected by what he connected to.

Outside of using Psychometry, every member of the team had tasks for him to perform.

Master Viz used Rayleigh to bounce off ideas, having found that the little human had a unique perspective and would often come up with out-of-the-box insights about a problem. Though they were technically there to learn about the Jedi who made this temple their home thousands of years ago, Master Viz usually went off on a tangent and would end up discussing the Je'daii of thirty thousand years ago. He often asked about Rayleigh's training and wondered if this was how the Je'daii younglings trained. Rayleigh doubted it, as he had a Chat Room to stave off boredom and memories of a past life to draw inspiration from.

Master Drista organized and repaired everything. Rayleigh was happy to assist when asked as the Twi'lek Jedi would passively teach him how the technology worked. Rayleigh felt he might one day try to build a body for HK-47, so he always paid attention to the dry and dull technical explanations of how things worked and how to fix them.

On occasion, Master Drista would also tell him stories. Not just about the Jedi, or the past, but the current Jedi as well. According to Master Drista, the current Jedi Grandmaster, Grandmaster Yoda, had a hobby. He was secretly a Master Pastry Chef. When he was especially proud of a group of Younglings, he would cook up a batch of cookies, cakes, or small but delicious sweets for them. His signature recipe was his Special Baked Sweet Story Custard Cakes. He insisted that when sharing them, everyone who ate one had to tell a small story about a time they overcame some hardship before eating it.

What Master Drista claimed was interesting was that no one else could make those pastries like Yoda. The recipe wasn't difficult, but Master Drista claimed Yoda used the Force while cooking to add something special to the flavor.

Using the Force to flavor sweet treats is probably not something the Jedi Code would approve of, but no one questions the Jedi Grandmaster, so he can get away with it easily. Master Drista claimed Yoda probably only did so when cooking for others and doubted his personalized meals were as special.

Though disappointed that Rayleigh was an anti-civilization monkey child, Master Dyanameez didn't change how she treated him. As the leader of this team, she documented their group's daily activities, sent and received messages to and from Coruscant, and directed the team on what projects they would do next while approving or rejecting suggested project ideas. Most of Rayleigh's assistance to her was used to organize electronic documents. She'd often use the time to tell him stories of her own past. Before becoming the Head of the Exploration Corps, Master Dyanameez had once found a cache of Dark Side relics and tried to learn from them for the benefit of the Jedi, behind the council's back. She almost turned to the Dark Side before she realized the danger, which was why she was always hard on Rayleigh. She wanted to make sure he'd never make the same mistakes she made.

The red-skinned Zabrak, Master Scoffmo, liked to use Rayleigh for tasks better suited for a droid and claimed it built character. From what Rayleigh remembered, character was just a way of saying bad experiences that made other experiences look brighter and nicer in comparison.

The brown-skinned Zabrak, Master Meed, was probably the worst. Rayleigh's complete and utter absence of civility annoyed him to no end, and anything Rayleigh did which was lacking in his presence resulted in a lecture demanding Rayleigh act like a fifty-year-old high society gentleman's gentleman at all times, even while he slept. Rayleigh was sure at some point the Zabrak was just making stuff up. The main problem he had with Rayleigh was that many of the texts Rayleigh transcribed ran counter to some of his theories, basically telling him he was wrong. Rather than admit his mistake, he claimed Rayleigh was at fault for performing an inaccurate transcription. There were several occasions where Rayleigh was asked to transcribe the same thing multiple times so he could check if they were identical. If any were different, even by a single word, he'd use that as justification to claim it was completely inaccurate.

In Rayleigh's opinion, the man was a Karen, through and through.

Although Rayleigh's life had been simple, the other Players were having their own adventures and problems.

One of the biggest discoveries for the Players was the presence of the Main Characters. This matter was first brought up by the Wizards. They claimed there was a Main Character in their world named Harry Potter. Apparently, he defeated a Dark Lord as a baby, had multiple books written about his adventures, and was the same age as the Players.

Although Metaknowledge was sealed, that didn't stop every Player from trying to figure out the secrets their worlds possessed. Though no one knew where Harry Potter actually was, his presence as a Main Character seemed likely. This led the other Classes to search for their Main Characters. So far, only the Ninjas had any luck.

According to the Ninja Players, there was a blue-eyed, blonde-haired prankster in the village that filled out all the checks for the Main Character. He was an orphan. He stood out like a sore thumb. And he was shrouded in mystery. All the adults either hated him or were wary of him, and none of the Ninja Players had been able to discover why, as no one would speak of it. They did, however, suggest that he could be the child of the 4th Hokage, who apparently died the year they were all born.

The only reason that brat had not won first place for the 'Most Likely to be the Main Character Award' was the presence of another strong contender that appeared last year.

The Uchiha Clan of the Village Hidden in the Leaves was wiped out. Only one adult Uchiha, a civilian, and the kids eight years old and under were spared. According to the Ninjas in the General Chat, the Ninja Chat had almost exploded that night. Some adult Uchihas woke up the kids and had them take the smaller kids and evacuate with a civilian Uchiha while the rest of the clan held off the murderer. The twist? The murderer was also an Uchiha. He was the eldest son of the Clan head and the older brother of another Uchiha the same age as the Players. After that night, that little brother Uchiha transformed into a hardcore emo who swore vengeance on his brother. So the race for Ninja Main Character is currently a tie between the prankster and the emo.

There were no candidates for the Main Character of the Hunter World, Warrior World, Pirate World, or Jedi World.

[Lord_of_Madness: Main Character Spotted. Repeat, Jedi Main Character Spotted.]

Rayleigh sighed. Never mind.

[Ninja_Lord: Is that so? Why do you think he's the Main Character.]

[Monkey_King: He's trolling. Why would a Galaxy's Main Character be obvious when he is nine years old?]

[Kung_Fu_Panda: Perhaps that's exactly what he wants you to think.]

[Lord_of_Madness: Hehe, our Main Character is pretty much Jesus!]

[Pacifist: Yeah, he's not trolling. I heard about it too. We've got a prophecy around him and everything.]

[Immortal_Beauty: Wait, you have a Jesus Jedi?]

[Pacifist: Yeah, born of the Force, he will bring balance to the Force. Something like that, according to my Master.]

[Ninja_Lord: Born of the Force? So he doesn't have a papa?]

[Lord_of_Madness: Jedi Jesus incoming!!!]

[Daniel Rogers: There's gonna be a World Martial Arts Tournament when we're twelve in Warrior World. I bet our Main Character will show up there and win first place.]

[White_Knight: I doubt the Pirate MC will show up anytime soon. The Class is called Pirate, so the MC won't be a Marine. If he shows up too young and is too outstanding, he'll likely be crushed, so I need to head to Jedi World or Hunter World until then. Maybe look into the MCU.]

[Demon_Hunter: The Hunter World has its Hunter Exam every year, but who's to say when the Main Character will show up? I'd guess 12 or 13. Growth Spurt range to get stronger fastest.]

[Immortal_Beauty: Puberty range? Do you think the Hunter MC will have some love interests pop up?]

[Ninja_Lord: All the MCs are male, so I wonder if any of the lady Players can hook up with them. Our suspected Uchiha MC has already become a Brooding Edgelord and gets a lot of female attention in Ninja School.]

[Immortal Beauty: I'll hook the Pirate MC. He'll definitely become King of the Pirates, and I'll be his Queen!]

[Ninja_Lord: Is Pirate King considered a good occupation?]

[Immortal_Beauty: It's a cultural thing, you wouldn't understand.]

[Ninja_Lord: No, I get culture. The Leaf Village has the same thing with the title of Hokage, but I wouldn't take that position if they begged me.]

Rayleigh dried himself off after reaching the riverside next to the camp and read through the random arguments Players had across various worlds. Rayleigh used the Force to dry his clothes in a way that the Jedi would probably frown upon, but it saved him time. Once dry, he returned to camp.

Upon arrival, Rayleigh immediately noticed the mood was different than it had been two hours ago when he left.

Master Viz was the first to spot him and called him over. Master Meed gave an unfriendly smile as he passed by.

Ignoring Master Meed, Master Viz motioned for Rayleigh to follow him to Master Dyanameez's tent when he entered without knocking.

She was on a terminal and turned to confirm that Rayleigh had arrived. "Sit," she motioned to the chair next to her,

Rayleigh complied, and Master Viz stayed next to the door.

Master Dyanameez looked over Rayleigh once or twice in silence for a moment before releasing an exasperated sigh. "The jig is up. Master Meed informed the Council of your presence on Tython. We have all been called back to Coruscant. Officially, you are eligible for the Initiate Trials, and if you pass, you can take part in the Gathering and obtain your own Kyber Crystal and become a Padawan. Unofficially, you have not been officially trained and the Council of First Knowledge will insist you be transferred directly to the service corps."

Rayleigh asked, "There's no way I can keep working with you?"

"No. They know about your Psychometry and will restrict your access to any relic you can use it on. That means you will never be allowed into the Exploration Corps. Most likely, you will be sent to the AgriCorps."

Rayleigh wondered if the presence of the Main Character was stirring up the Temple. He asked, "Can I plead my case before them?"

"Of course. I'll be with you while doing so."

"Okay then, I'm ready when you are."

Master Dyanameez smiled. Rayleigh's response to being screwed over was a perfect Jedi response.

"We won't be leaving until tomorrow, so pack up your things."

Rayleigh asked, "Since we're probably not coming back. Well, since I'm probably not coming back, can we see that mummy Master Viz told us about in the caves?"

Master Dyanameez did not expect such a request. Rayleigh had been allowed to wander the forest but was forbidden from entering the caves. He had a tracker on him, and they'd know if he got lost or went anywhere he wasn't supposed to be. It didn't work very well in caves, and they were dangerous to begin with, so Rayleigh had never been inside of one.

Rayleigh was not just asking permission to see the Mummy, he was also asking permission to use Psychometry on it. The Mummy in question was a common topic of debate among scholars as it wore the robes of a Jedi Grandmaster but there was no record of a Jedi Grandmaster dying in those caves. The clothes were tailored for the long-dead Jedi as they were for all Jedi Grandmasters, but they could never agree on who it was. They couldn't even figure out how he died.

Rayleigh was once asked in a joking manner to check the body, but at the time, Rayleigh politely refused. Now he seemed interested, and truth be told, Master Dyanameez and the others were also interested.

"Alright, one last adventure."

The cave in question was about ten kilometers south, further away than Rayleigh was allowed to travel, so after coming to a consensus, they agreed to use some speeder bikes to travel there and back as a quick trip.

Masters Dyanameez and Viz came, of course, but so did the ever-argumentative Master Meed.

The cave system was extensive and formed when Force Storms rose the level of the Tythos River. There were periods when much of the canyon was underwater, and the rolling currents broke through cracks in the cliffs which became a massive cave system over time. The fact that the roof of the cave was more than ten meters high showed how strong the current was during those Force Storms.

Master Viz had a theory that entire self-sustaining ecosystems existed within the deepest parts of these caves, which he thought might extend to every continent like a hidden subterranean world. When the heaviest of Force Storms finished wiping the planet clean of life, the creatures within those hidden ecosystems would emerge and return to the surface to restore the animal population. He had no evidence, of course, but it was as good a theory as any for how this planet could undergo such massive changes.

The mummy they were looking for was about three kilometers into the cave system. Motion-activated light sources had long been secured to the walls along the correct path, which would lead them to their destination and lead them back. There were many other paths that split off into the darkness, but most were unexplored. The possibility of getting lost was too high.

Rayleigh didn't care about the mummy, he had other ideas. When Rayleigh was first asked about going to see the mummy, he saw a broken panel of glass form in front of him, and an image could be seen on the other side of it. It shocked him at first, but he'd been able to hide it at the time. In the years since he started training with the Jedi, he'd gotten very good at hiding things.

What he saw was a Shatterpoint. Rayleigh's mastery of the Force Precognition he learned from Form III had already reached the minimum required level to access the skill and Rayleigh trained it during Missions. Shatterpoint allowed one to perceive the weak spots in places, people, and events. It was not fully under his control as he had no power over when he could perceive such weak spots, but when Rayleigh was asked about the mummy, he saw something that would break his current lifestyle and lead him to get separated from the Jedi and end up on his own on the planet.

That was his goal at the moment. He had no intention of going to Coruscant. Rayleigh's Metaknowledge was sealed, but after a few years and some tidbits he heard over the General Chat, Rayleigh guessed why his Metaknowledge didn't want him to go to Coruscant. Why learn from the student when you can learn from the teacher?

Tython taught the ancient Force-sensitives the secrets of the Force, and Rayleigh wanted to learn here rather than from the Jedi.

The Jedi trained their Padawans using Force-Bonds. The Master-Apprentice Force-Bond between a Padawan and their Jedi Master had two notable effects. It allowed a Padawan to quickly raise their connection to the Force to the same level as their Master. If a Padawan without a Master tried manually strengthening their connection to the Force, it was like climbing a cliff. If a Padawan with a Master-Apprentice Force-Bond tried strengthening their connection to the Force, it was like being pulled up the cliff by a rope to the same height the Master already reached on the cliff.

The second effect was that a Jedi using Impartation through their Force-Bond to their Apprentice would see a greater effect, allowing them to teach decades' worth of skill in only a few years.

This was why Jedi don't magically pop up among the abandoned younglings sent to the Jedi Service Corps. Regardless of talent or dedication to practice, there was a massive difference in skill between a self-taught Force User and a Padawan who inherited their Master's connection to the Force and skill through a Master-Apprentice Force-Bond. This was also why many Padawans on Coruscant desperately wanted a Master. No amount of self-training could compare to training through a Force-Bond. It was the difference between sprinting a thousand kilometers or being driven a thousand kilometers by car.

Even if Rayleigh went to Coruscant, showed off his talent, got a Master, and formed a Master-Apprentice Force-Bond, he would only learn the skills a Jedi knew and reach that Jedi's level of connection to the Force. Rayleigh wasn't certain, but since his gut was so adamant about avoiding the Jedi, Rayleigh figured there must be something wrong with it. Thankfully, Rayleigh had an alternative.

Tython was extremely rich in the Force. This did not actually make using the Force here easier. Using the Force here was actually harder as there was all kinds of interference. Learning how the interference worked and learning to mimic or bypass or strengthen the interference was how the Je'daii trained themselves. They did not rely on Force-Bonds, they relied on themselves.

Of course, many Padawans died on the path to becoming a Je'daii Ranger. That only made Rayleigh more excited, though. There was only one thing he could learn better from a Jedi Master than he could learn from Tython, but since it had come to this, he decided he'd just cheat to get around that.

"You're going to love Coruscant. The towering structures, the glittering Senate, and the jewel of it all, the Jedi Grand Temple."

Throughout the trek through the cave, Master Meed refused to shut up. If Rayleigh was actually going to Coruscant, he might actually care, but his complete lack of rebuttal only caused the Zebrak to try harder to elicit a negative reaction from him to prove Rayleigh was not Jedi material.

Thankfully, Rayleigh was not the person in the caves most annoyed by the mouthy Jedi. Surprisingly, it wasn't Master Dyanameez or Master Viz either. No, the person most annoyed with the talkative Zabrak was the Terentatek slowly stalking the group.

Terentateks tended to go dormant when the Dark Side of the Force waned in the Galaxy, but the one sleeping in this cave was awoken by the annoying Zabrak's hour of incessant jabbering. It would have gone back to sleep if it was just that, but the scent of the Force woke its hunter's instinct. Terentateks had a taste for the flesh and blood of those strong in the Force and could detect them quite well. The group of Jedi that entered the cave system had a strong, hunger-inducing scent that prevented it from returning to slumber.

The Terentateks were feared for a number of reasons by the Jedi. They were called Jedi killers, but the biggest problem with them wasn't that they killed Jedi, it was how they killed Jedi. They prized the taste of the Force, the concentration of Midichlorians in the flesh and blood, but Midichlorians tended to leave the body when one was killed, so Terentateks preferred eating their prey alive. There was once a great hunt to eradicate the species from the Galaxies, but the survivors of the hunt practically went crazy from everything they saw and the fact that most witnessed at least one friend devoured alive by a Terentatek.

The Terentatek was an ambush stalker and evolved to be one of the only creatures the danger sense of a Jedi was unable to detect. Their claws and fangs contained a deadly poison that a Jedi had to really concentrate to remove, leaving them vulnerable to further attack. A Jedi could prevent a deadly poison from killing them or use the Force to outrun a Terentatek, but not both. Multi-tasking wasn't something the Jedi were good at. The Terentateks were fast too. Their charging speed far exceeded that of a sprinting human. A Jedi could use the Force to amplify their speed to become faster for a short burst, but they could never outrun a Terentatek for long. The only way to outrun a Terentatek was to go someplace it couldn't follow or outrun the Jedi next to you. Killing them wasn't an option without preparation. Their skin couldn't be easily cut with a Lightsaber and they were heavily resistant to Force abilities.

This Terentatek was already about ten meters from the group and the talkative Jedi. It smelled the strong scent of the Force coming from there, from where that noisy Jedi was talking to the little one.

Although no one sensed the danger approaching through the Force, Master Dynanameez's instincts were strong enough to feel something was wrong a moment before the attack. She jumped in front of Rayleigh as the three-meter-tall spike-covered beast's arm swung past him. Master Meed was the actual target, but Rayleigh would have gotten hit as well due to the Jedi's proximity to him had it not been for Master Dyanameez's protection.

Having revealed its presence and poisoned two Jedi, the Terentatek bellowed with an earth-reverberating roar that shook the bones of its ambushed prey. Master Dyanameez and Master Viz instinctively took out their Lightsabers, but when the glow of the blades revealed their opponent, their hearts sank further. The Terentatek swiped its arm at Master Dyanameez as she was closer, knocking her to the ground. A Terentatek's arm was almost twice the length of its body and much longer than a Lightsaber, meaning if a Jedi could attack it, it could attack them.

Dyanameez's Lightsaber fell from her grasp, and Rayleigh did something no one expected. The fear-inducing effect a Terentatek had on Jedi only made Rayleigh's heart beat with excitement. He wasn't proud to admit it, but he'd become a total battle junkie. He leaped forward and jumped off the Terentatek's forehead spike and jumped behind it an instant before a claw shredded through the spot he had just stood.

Terentateks were not considered intelligent creatures, but they were easy to provoke. That and the fact that it could now tell that the strong scent of the Force in the group was concentrated on the kid, caused it to turn around and chase after Rayleigh.

Shouts from Dyanameez and Viz were ignored as Rayleigh lured it away and down a dark and unexplored path.

Rayleigh had no idea what he was doing. He knew if he ran, the Terentatek would chase him since he had a massive Midichlorian count. He didn't know that coming here would result in meeting a Teretatek; he just knew that coming here would result in a separation of himself and the Jedi. As for the finer details, he figured they'd work themselves out. And now he was running from perhaps the deadliest creature in the Galaxy. And if that wasn't good enough, his body was still heavily damaged from that crazy exercise routine from earlier, reducing his maximum speed and causing every step to cost more energy than it should.

Still, Rayleigh ran. The Terentatek's rapid steps were never far behind. Even if Rayleigh outran it, the beast would not stop or lose his scent, preventing Rayleigh from ever catching a breath.

Before running, Rayleigh had used the Force to snatch Master Dyanameez's fallen Lightsaber and was using it to light his path with its emerald green glow. It also made him a nice shining beacon for the Terentatek to follow, but that was beside the point. There were no other light sources in the cave, and he had no confidence in outrunning his predator in the dark.

Rayleigh spent the next six hours running. His already burned muscles felt like they were melting. They were almost numb, which wasn't a good sign as the moment he lost all feeling in his limbs, his ability to use them would be severely hampered. The only reason he could still move was that he was used to running with hundreds of kilos of weight and he was lightly using Force Valor to make him feel even more weightless. Though in a tough spot, Rayleigh didn't panic. He was a long way from that inexperienced youth who froze up at the sight of a Goblin. Panicking wouldn't help him. His eyes scanned every wall and surface for any sign of hope, and after running for as long as his legs could carry him, he spotted something useful.

On a far wall, about five meters up, was a bit of rock jutting out large enough to rest on. Rayleigh ran over to that wall and used his hidden card, the skill that gave him the confidence to antagonize a Terentatek. Rapid climb.

The Terentatek jumped at Rayleigh the moment he started ascending, but Rayleigh was small, nimble, and experienced. He hopped to the side along the wall and secured his grip as the leaping monster slammed its claws into the spot he was just in which left deep gashes on their way down. Rayleigh quickly climbed to the little ledge and pulled his feet up. Terentateks were many things. Climbers were not one of them.

Though Rayleigh had never seen one before, he learned about them because Tython's red moon of Bogan was actually filled with Terentateks. Rayleigh would likely never visit Bogan, but its proximity was a good enough reason for him to be taught extensively about the dangers of the Terentatek.

The monstrous creature roared at the denial of its meal. Rayleigh could now use Force Healing to recover his broken body and then outrun the Terentatek at his max speed.

The Terentatek, though, had other ideas. Though not classified as intelligent, the Dark Side creature was incredibly stubborn. It was not able to climb, but it could dig. A mighty swipe of its claws at the wall beneath Rayleigh's resting spot nearly shook Rayleigh off the rock. The next swipe that followed it was even more damaging to the wall. The creature was going to dig Rayleigh's resting place out from under him.

With every crushing blow, cracks rose from the floor to the ceiling around the jutting stone Rayleigh perched upon.

The creaking sounds above him and his danger sense caused Rayleigh to jump away from the wall as the roof fell and massive slabs of stone crashed atop the Terentatek.

The dust and debris that clouded the space were illuminated by his stolen Lightsaber's glow. As it dispersed, an unexpected sight was revealed. The wall that the Terentatek had been attacking completely collapsed and an open space was revealed behind it. Rayleigh walked over the rubble and stone into the hidden space and saw an enormous cavern that the green light he carried had no hope of reaching the edges of. What the light did reveal was the pyramid-shaped structure in front of him. It was a Tho Yor.