Khorehtaal: a short Story about a jedi and Sith

The Story of Khorehtaal Kherigaki

Exploits of Knight Khorehtaal

Prologue

Khorehtaal is a young Zabrak, 21, from the planet Iridonia. His family was a large one, being made up of a mother and father of course, and 9 siblings; 3 brothers and 5 sisters. He is the only force sensitive one of his family. He was raised pretty well considering the parenting mostly came from the older siblings; he was the youngest. Khorehtaal grew into his own by age 7 when he was able to hunt and fend for himself. He loved all people and creatures and hated violence. Soon after he was discovered and brought to the jedi academy on Tython. He grew as a youngling and padawan alongside his close friend Soren.

Soren was born to Mandalorian parents, Rhis and Usta of clan Sa’ath.  For over a hundred years Clan Sa’ath has been under the employ of the Republic, ever since the Empire refused to pay them for a job they’d lost many of their number on. When Soren’s force abilities manifested at age 9, she was taken to the jedi for training. There she became fast friends with a Zabrak boy named Khorehtaal.

They trained together for years, slowly developing a force bond. This continued into their Padawan years though they spent a good amount of time away from each other.
 Soren was taken under the tutelage of Master Kilan Markov, a controversial thinker within the Jedi Order. He believed that the Order as it stood was outdated and idealistic, holding to philosophies that were impractical.
 Eventually, Master Markov disappeared in the middle of the night. Neither Soren or the order could track down the fallen master. She was reassigned to Master Gregor T’ian. It took Master T’ian and herself almost 2 years before they found Master Markov, now the Sith Lord Maldred.
 Naively, Soren sought out her former master in an attempt to turn him back to the light. He struck her down, but before he was able to place the killing blow, Master T’ian came to her rescue and killed the sith Lord.
Soon after, Soren was promoted to Knight alongside her childhood friend, Khorehtaal.

Together they went on many missions as their masters were friends themselves. As late padawans and then knights Khorehtaal and Soren fought in the Zakuul War. They strengthened their friendship and personal bond through these dangerous battles. Soon, however, they grew tired of the new Jedi Order and left to join another order; The Stormglade Order. There they were among the first knights to join.

They grew a force bond and a love for one another, which Khorehtaal was wary of because he followed closer to the beliefs of the Jedi than Soren did. He gave into her as he felt conflicted and thought the only truth he knew in life was his closest friend and now lover, Soren. They stayed romantically chained until Soren began to go off on her own missions and Khorehtaal continued his studies. Khorehtaal began to comeback to his old beliefs and was trying to shut Soren’s mind and love out. Soren was offended and greatly resented Khorehtaal for his decision. Khorehtaal however, was still conflicted on what he really wanted, he wanted his friend, he wanted her love, he wanted her mind.

Part I

Soren eventually broke the bond after Khorehtaal went to Voss to seek further enlightenment and guidance in the force. He was gone for 4 months and gave no contact to Soren in that time. Soren, working for one of the heads of their order, went on a secret mission to infiltrate the Sith Sanctum on Drommund Kaas to get information on one of the Dark Council Members.

Unknown to her, She was being followed by the secret assassins of Darth Kaan, Sphere of Ancient Knowledge. Darth Kaan was a powerful Sith Pureblood and knew the secrets of the force, light and dark, even if he stuck to the darkest depths. He lured Soren into his dark academy in the deep, shrouded jungle of Drommund Kaas; he wanted her to think he was simply asking for her, until he had her in his presence.

Once she was there, he immediately broke and called her by her real name and title. He knew all along and wanted to get a taste of her fear. Soren, however, almost convinced Darth Kaan that she wasn’t scared. But he could smell her fear. He could sense it and taste it. He knew she was afraid. Darth Kaan reached into her mind and saw the young zabrak Knight Khorehtaal. Darth Kaan knew he could use this to his advantage. He reached deeper into her mind and violated it, finding out her darkest secrets and promising that he would find this knight and use their gift to his advantage.

Soren begged him to stop, begged him to leave Khorehtaal out of it. Darth Kaan said he would oblige on one condition; Soren would break the bond and commit herself to his service in secret. And so the bond was snapped in an instant upon Soren’s regretful agreement. Both Soren and Khorehtaal felt a blink of excruciating pain, as if they had their hearts ripped out and shoved back in all at once.

Khorehtaal knew the bond was broken and felt both saddened and relieved. Khorehtaal focussed on himself from that moment on, refocusing his studies to the balance of the force. Over time he found that balance and felt at peace. Nothing could replace this feeling. He came back to the Stormglade Order and tried to preach to Soren and get her to accept the balance.

Unbeknownst to Soren and Khorehtaal himself, the feeling of pure serenity and peace he was feeling was a side effect of force sickness. He wore many trinkets that would aid his intake of force energy in a way to simulate meditation as he moved; an amulet that was cloaked in the darkside of the force, and a many rings that radiated the light. His body could not handle the force that he was intaking. His mind was falling apart and his body was aching to release its energy but he denied it that pleasure.

One day Soren came to Khorehtaal and revealed to him that she was in love with her master and was engaged. Not only that, but she told him of how she was in the presence of Darth Kaan, one of the most powerful Sith Lords. Khorehtaal shifted between his minds and actually felt emotion once more, but only for a brief moment. He went out to face Darth Kaan with Soren who had tried to stop him but was unable to, so she decided to come along.

Once in the presence of Darth Kaan, Soren immediately felt that rush of fear once more anda pain knowing her and Khorehtaal stood no chance of defeating the Dark Lord. In an instant Khorehtaal threw his hands up and tried to bring the full might of the lightside down upon Darth Kaan, cleansing him and purging all the darkness. Darth Kaan being much older and far more trained in the mysterious ways of the force threw his own wave of darkness up into the heavenly rays, barely avoiding persecution. He turned to Khorehtaal and used the same form of dark energy to sweep over the young knight, bringing Khorehtaal to his back, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Darth Kaan proceeded to torment Khorehtaal by forcing him to relive the terrors of the Zakuul War and some new nightmares created by the Dark Lord. Soren, unable to do anything was coerced into further joining Darth Kaan. Soren and Khorehtaal returned to their order in safety and fear. Khorehtaal had unleashed all the built up force energy he had and restored his body. His mind however was still in shambles.

He went on battling himself subconsciously, trying to stay in control and stay sane. He left the Stormglade Order and went on a journey of his own to find a way to fix what has been broken. He needed to piece back together his mind and keep it together. Khorehtaal wanted to bring himself back to the glory and power he once had, but safely. He didn’t want to lose himself to the power again.

Part II

To start his journey he first set out to find the little known birthplace of all creation: The Wellspring of Life. Khorehtaal only knew it was somewhere in the deep core of the galaxy and thought he’d find his way there somehow. Along his way he stopped at small worlds and asteroids to refuel and stock up on necessities. On one of his stops to a deep core fueling station asteroid, he found himself face to face with a Sith Adept.

Coincidentally, she was a zabrak woman from iridonia named Siriki Hatheri. She was on a journey of her own to find the Wellspring of Life. Together they knew they had different beliefs but they had the same end-goal: finding power in the name of balance and the repairing of their spirit. Siriki had her force torn from her by her master and was slowly getting it back through meditation and training.

Khorehtaal aided her in her training by being a stand-in in place of a training dummy so he could give pointers and offer some form of challenge to her. She, in return, taught him the secret to suppressing anger and hatred until you really needed it. You wouldn’t even know it was there until you focussed and concentrated on bringing it forth for a boost in your power and abilities. She taught him how to conjure force lightning and pyromancy.

They came to a small planetoid that was uncharted and teaming with small, rodent-like birds. The small planet was very strong in the force but was not to the par of the legends he the two young force-users had heard. They decided to take a small vacation of sorts from their journey to meditate and mask in the bliss like feeling of bathing in the energy of the force.

Khorehtaal had gotten lost in himself and his love for the force once more and was feeling like he could stay there forever and leave the galaxy behind. Siriki however, felt the same but came to her senses rather quickly because of her training as a sith: Peace is a lie. She snapped Khorehtaal back to reality and got him off the planet. Back traveling through space they had a long talk about Siriki’s worries for Khorehtaal if he were to actually get to the Wellspring of Life. Would be able to keep control of himself?

Khorehtaal made the difficult decision to put his many trinkets on again and focus the energy so he could meditate and work on controlling the force as he takes it in, all with Siriki keeping close watch. Khorehtaal proceeded with his training and came close to losing himself but at the last second before damage could be done he retook control. Siriki had a very worried expression on her face as she rushed to his side to ensure he was okay and nothing had changed. Indeed he was fine and nothing had changed in him. She embraced him, giving him a kiss on the forehead in a spur of emotion overcoming her.

Khorehtaal allowed her to show her emotions as that is what she had always been told to do. But Khorehtaal did not replicate the emotions. He knew from experience how attachments can destroy people and bring them further from their goals. He expressed his concerns and they agreed that they would show emotions when they felt but also that they knew it would not always be reciprocated.

They would continue on their journey through space for a few more months, gradually coming upon fewer and fewer systems and settlements. They reached a fueling and supply station that had a sign saying it was the last one closest to the core. They refueled with what credits they had left and mind tricked the servicers into giving them supplies. They set out deeper into the core, drifting along taking time to check the charts and meditate, stopping to eat small rations. Their journey had become dull and uneventful since when they had first began.

Part III

One standard morning they woke up to their ship having been landed on a sandy shore that lined a sea of clouds. The tree line behind them about thirty feet was lined with luminescent palm trees and tall, white grass. The sunlight was blinding, as if it came from every direction. There no shadows anywhere, no darkness, only light. The two force users could feel the flow of the force, they could tell it was clearly the light side of the force and it was stronger than anything anywhere else in the galaxy. Khorehtaal was overwhelmed but maintained his composure, keeping himself from becoming lost once more.

They left their ship, a little suspicious of their new surrounding. They knew they were somewhere but they couldn’t be sure it was where they thought. They travelled into the forest that slowly became only luminescent green-white oak trees and the same tall, white grass as they saw earlier. They would occasionally find some fluorescent blue rocks that seemed out of place yet also seemed natural to the forest. There was no wildlife in sight, only the flora. The two seemed confused yet intrigued. They could hear whispers coming from all directions but there was no sign of civilization.

They eventually came to a clearing in the forest that had a single dark hole in the middle. The white grass got shorter and shorter the closer it was to the center. The whole radiated a coldness strong in contradiction to the warm, bliss-like feeling of the rest of the strange place. Siriki was drawn to the hole and wanted to go down, but Khorehtaal warned her against it. She pressed on anyway, insisting that it was only natural to investigate all this place had to offer. Khorehtaal hesitantly agreed and went down the hole with her.

The hole fell down twenty or so feet before it came to a hard, rocky landing covered in bright, red, luminescent vines. It went to a tunnel that lead in only one direction for about a mile, lined with the same red luminescent vines. They finally came to a large cavern with high ceiling where the vines were now specks of red. In the middle of the cavern was a tall, dark, hooded figure. The figure turned around to greet them with a mess of the bright red vines for a face. It spoke in a deep, low, whisper of a voice. It told them about the beginning of the darkside and where they could go to find more power. It was an embodiment of the darkside that has existed since the beginning of time, it knew who they were and why they came. It attempted to convince Khorehtaal that the darkside was the way to true power. Khorehtaal strongly resisted the attempt.

The two of them slowly backed up and went back to the surface. When they came out of the hole they were greeted by five female humanoids hovering above them. Each female has a mask depicting a different face. The figures announced themselves as the Force Priestesses. They gave the story of the force and told the two users how they were both wrong in their pursuits. They needed to learn about the force in both aspects to find balance. Only light will lead to true immortality, only dark will lead to true power. Together they serve and aid each other. They instructed the two young force users and told them to leave and search for their truth in other, physical ways.

Part IV

Khorehtaal and Siriki had returned to the main galaxy a month prior. They were living in a small shack town on a mining colony in the deep core. They practiced their beliefs and meditated. Teaching on another along the way, experimenting with new powers. They wanted to see if they could truly command the force and make it do what they wanted. Practical uses, combat and meditative uses were all they tried to learn, granted they had to take many breaks to rest and let their power build up first. They slowly started to grow a relationship.

Khorehtaal realized that his ways of avoiding emotion left him missing out on certain powers that would aid him when he truly needed them. Siriki learned that full indulgence in her emotions would lead her further away from balance. Both had to understand that emotion was an aspect of the force that gave power, but too much emotion blinded, too little deprived. They had to work on finding their balance. Together in a loving, strong, and truthful relationship they went about not only a life journey, but a force journey.