The Main Gate
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Kel Var-Maren
- Posts: 11
- Joined: Mon Dec 30, 2019 11:14 am
The Main Gate
A large portal, sturdy and ancient with engravings of yore. Cleaned by the everlasting rain of Bakura even in the dim light of clouds it was less intimidating rather than impressive, inviting even as it offered shelter and security as it seemed.
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Kel Var-Maren
- Posts: 11
- Joined: Mon Dec 30, 2019 11:14 am
Re: The Main Gate
Kel walked towards the main gate of the Jedi temple. His mind was gravitating back to the words he had heard before. Two months top. Decide who and what you are. Make up your mind. Let go, you have done so much already!
Everyone wanted him to give in, to lay to rest when there was still so much more to do, so much that he had to do. For sure there were others but what if they needed him? The galaxy had moved on and on, the Jedi, the Republic, the Sith had all moved with it and somewhere in the shadows in the darkness of existence he had lurked, wandered around, skulking, fighting, burrowing through mud of the eternal struggle between light and dark.
The Jedi Shadow had asked Lidaya to stay back. His guts had told him that it was up to him to go first. To open up the gate. It should be a Force user to open the temple once more for another struggle between Ashla and Bogan. Once more he carried the burden on his shoulders. Once more he remembered who he was fighting who he had become a Jedi Shadow for. He saw his old master die by the hands of a cultist. He remembered the two younglings running from the clones while he himself had to stay put for a greater good. Protecting newer generations and leaving the current one out to die. His own father lifeless to his feet as he couldn’t be convinced not to start a war with the Jedi. A crowd of people left behind to hunt down a powerful Sith Sorcerer before he could infect more people with a plague turning them into Force sensitive husks, barely alive.
Duty and honour had guided his way all the time. He had done what he had to do, protecting the innocent and fighting for the light. Close to the dark side of the Force but thanks to his training as a Mandalorian he never had fallen. Now there he was. Another duty and so he placed his hand on the gate to open it.
But it was no hand was it? A glove with beskar. A Force-sensitive Mandalorian dubbed a Jedi Knight to open the gates for a newly awakening Jedi Order. He hesitated. Who had he been? What Order would be restored when his glove pushed at the gate? A hand clenched to a fist and opened again. The old man looked down at it and closed his eyes.
He saw a young baby girl dead next to a tortured woman he had never seen. He decided to save her even if it put his mission at risk. He saw children afflicted by war and despair and took them in. Gave them an education and prepared them for life. Tried to open their minds and offering them a future. He remembered an afternoon in the courtyard full of music. Jas Ca’lech and Yolem joking around. Ilaria’s soft touch on his skin. A tea with Kaytren Li and Rain relaxing as she couldn’t read his mind and having peace even though there was someone close. Fer Vengea cradling up as he had offered her a new family, not judging her but seeing her as the broken young woman she had been. Sarian Kofuri, once a Sith and enemy but later on a dear friend. And Plant Boy of course. The young man with the blue hue. Jarod had convinced him to teach younglings once.
With each memory he had removed another part of beskar’gam. Placed everything gently on the ground, like a ritual of cleansing. There he was. An old man in the tunic of a Jedi. His hands bare, his face getting wet due the rain of Bakura. The Order could only be restored by fully fledged Jedi, not a partly Mandalorian warrior.
Emotion, yet peace.
Ignorance, yet knowledge.
Passion, yet serenity.
Chaos, yet harmony.
Death, yet the Force.
“My emotions are part of me but how I approach them makes who I am;
I cannot know everything and have no need to but my mind is to be open, ready to learn and grow;
Moments can be intense and push you forth, at one point step aside and think, get to learn about yourself and learn how not to be but a leaf in the wind;
Life is ever changing and it has to be, good alone is never able to shine, but your own light, the lives you touch and give hold to when everything fails is your legacy.
I leave behind strife and darkness, I open my mind for the Force and allow it to guide me and comfort me. This teaching I shall offer: inspiration is the heart of a Jedi. No weapon and no fight will ever accomplish as much as inspiration. Figure out what this means to you.”
Kel stood tall while the gate in front of him opened. With each word burden and despair, fight after fight washed away from his shoulders and confidence and serenity surrounded him like the robe of a Jedi. He looked at the computer at his wrist and entered a few commands before he placed it with the rest of his gear.
The first command was that Lidaya was the new alor of clan Maren. The clan needed someone who was not a Force User, after all they were Mandalorians not Jedi.
The second was rather a message to Ashlin, one he hoped she would be able to read one day. One he hoped would inspire her to leave her pain behind and find peace every time.
He was ready to trust in the Force and let it guide him. His body was frail and wouldn’t hold out much longer, the instability a danger to others as his dreams swept over and shook the ground. If the Force willed so he would return in the last clone of himself if not he would have done all that needed to be done.
He opened his hand the palm showing towards the sky and the Solari imbedded into his chest, levitated out hovering above his fingers. Perks of becoming one with the Force, physical limitations were only partly hindering. He looked up, above there was a small crack in the door, large enough to keep the Solari in place and so he used the Force to place it there. Finally he stepped over the threshold and stood still once more. The faces of old friends looked at him in solemn dignity. He had come home and here they were to welcome him. Friends who had returned from their graves to welcome him. He nodded towards the blue hues of the Force Ghosts: “I could use your help.”
Kel had never been big on asking for help but this time was different. He turned around and looked back through the gate. A lone guardian of the portal. He focused his mind and directed a Force Light into the Solari crystal just above the portal lending energy from the Force Ghosts of old friends. Yolem, Jarod, and many more. Brighter and stronger than even before Ashla manifested in the crystal.
“I am Kel Var-Maren, Master of the Jedi Order and I ask you: let hope mark the return of the Jedi.”
The words spoken, his past left behind, a Jedi and nothing else he smiled, reconciled with his inner self. Then there were only his clothes left.
And so ended the journey of the Jedi Shadow.
Everyone wanted him to give in, to lay to rest when there was still so much more to do, so much that he had to do. For sure there were others but what if they needed him? The galaxy had moved on and on, the Jedi, the Republic, the Sith had all moved with it and somewhere in the shadows in the darkness of existence he had lurked, wandered around, skulking, fighting, burrowing through mud of the eternal struggle between light and dark.
The Jedi Shadow had asked Lidaya to stay back. His guts had told him that it was up to him to go first. To open up the gate. It should be a Force user to open the temple once more for another struggle between Ashla and Bogan. Once more he carried the burden on his shoulders. Once more he remembered who he was fighting who he had become a Jedi Shadow for. He saw his old master die by the hands of a cultist. He remembered the two younglings running from the clones while he himself had to stay put for a greater good. Protecting newer generations and leaving the current one out to die. His own father lifeless to his feet as he couldn’t be convinced not to start a war with the Jedi. A crowd of people left behind to hunt down a powerful Sith Sorcerer before he could infect more people with a plague turning them into Force sensitive husks, barely alive.
Duty and honour had guided his way all the time. He had done what he had to do, protecting the innocent and fighting for the light. Close to the dark side of the Force but thanks to his training as a Mandalorian he never had fallen. Now there he was. Another duty and so he placed his hand on the gate to open it.
But it was no hand was it? A glove with beskar. A Force-sensitive Mandalorian dubbed a Jedi Knight to open the gates for a newly awakening Jedi Order. He hesitated. Who had he been? What Order would be restored when his glove pushed at the gate? A hand clenched to a fist and opened again. The old man looked down at it and closed his eyes.
He saw a young baby girl dead next to a tortured woman he had never seen. He decided to save her even if it put his mission at risk. He saw children afflicted by war and despair and took them in. Gave them an education and prepared them for life. Tried to open their minds and offering them a future. He remembered an afternoon in the courtyard full of music. Jas Ca’lech and Yolem joking around. Ilaria’s soft touch on his skin. A tea with Kaytren Li and Rain relaxing as she couldn’t read his mind and having peace even though there was someone close. Fer Vengea cradling up as he had offered her a new family, not judging her but seeing her as the broken young woman she had been. Sarian Kofuri, once a Sith and enemy but later on a dear friend. And Plant Boy of course. The young man with the blue hue. Jarod had convinced him to teach younglings once.
With each memory he had removed another part of beskar’gam. Placed everything gently on the ground, like a ritual of cleansing. There he was. An old man in the tunic of a Jedi. His hands bare, his face getting wet due the rain of Bakura. The Order could only be restored by fully fledged Jedi, not a partly Mandalorian warrior.
Emotion, yet peace.
Ignorance, yet knowledge.
Passion, yet serenity.
Chaos, yet harmony.
Death, yet the Force.
“My emotions are part of me but how I approach them makes who I am;
I cannot know everything and have no need to but my mind is to be open, ready to learn and grow;
Moments can be intense and push you forth, at one point step aside and think, get to learn about yourself and learn how not to be but a leaf in the wind;
Life is ever changing and it has to be, good alone is never able to shine, but your own light, the lives you touch and give hold to when everything fails is your legacy.
I leave behind strife and darkness, I open my mind for the Force and allow it to guide me and comfort me. This teaching I shall offer: inspiration is the heart of a Jedi. No weapon and no fight will ever accomplish as much as inspiration. Figure out what this means to you.”
Kel stood tall while the gate in front of him opened. With each word burden and despair, fight after fight washed away from his shoulders and confidence and serenity surrounded him like the robe of a Jedi. He looked at the computer at his wrist and entered a few commands before he placed it with the rest of his gear.
The first command was that Lidaya was the new alor of clan Maren. The clan needed someone who was not a Force User, after all they were Mandalorians not Jedi.
The second was rather a message to Ashlin, one he hoped she would be able to read one day. One he hoped would inspire her to leave her pain behind and find peace every time.
He was ready to trust in the Force and let it guide him. His body was frail and wouldn’t hold out much longer, the instability a danger to others as his dreams swept over and shook the ground. If the Force willed so he would return in the last clone of himself if not he would have done all that needed to be done.
He opened his hand the palm showing towards the sky and the Solari imbedded into his chest, levitated out hovering above his fingers. Perks of becoming one with the Force, physical limitations were only partly hindering. He looked up, above there was a small crack in the door, large enough to keep the Solari in place and so he used the Force to place it there. Finally he stepped over the threshold and stood still once more. The faces of old friends looked at him in solemn dignity. He had come home and here they were to welcome him. Friends who had returned from their graves to welcome him. He nodded towards the blue hues of the Force Ghosts: “I could use your help.”
Kel had never been big on asking for help but this time was different. He turned around and looked back through the gate. A lone guardian of the portal. He focused his mind and directed a Force Light into the Solari crystal just above the portal lending energy from the Force Ghosts of old friends. Yolem, Jarod, and many more. Brighter and stronger than even before Ashla manifested in the crystal.
“I am Kel Var-Maren, Master of the Jedi Order and I ask you: let hope mark the return of the Jedi.”
The words spoken, his past left behind, a Jedi and nothing else he smiled, reconciled with his inner self. Then there were only his clothes left.
And so ended the journey of the Jedi Shadow.