STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- Broken

What is it?

Myraline's lightsaber...

That is when you hear the war cries from above as Arneth jumps down and kicks you right in the back of the head.

Vash does not try anything so daring, instead fairly dropping down behind Vera-Kin and igniting his lightsaber.

Ouch...

Rianna ignites her own lightsaber while whirling around to face Arneth, calling Myraline's lightsaber to her.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Rianna asks, angling her lightsaber towards her attacker.

"Can't let you interfere with our plans," Arneth says, snapping his lightsaber out and stepping toward Rianna. "I'm sure you understand."

Vash is not so cocky as Arneth, and cautiously watches Vera-Kin whilst edging in, lightsaber held in a forward guard.

"Oh, we plan on more than simply interfering," Rianna says, ready to strike.

Vera-Kin ignites her lightsaber, having already been holding it.

"I would reconsider your position, boys," Vera-Kin says. "Neither of us is shy with our blades. Back down or be destroyed."

"Has Rand ever mentioned my talent at duelling? He would know it well, after all, he witnessed me fight often enough at the Temple," Rianna adds with a grin.

"Hah, fat chance, Wrinkles," Arneth says. "We're going to chop you five ways to Oovoo IV. And your little brat too."

"Shall we start this already?" Vash asks, tiring of Arneth's banter.

Arneth gives a curt nod, and together they step forward to engage...

...which will carry over to the two-on-two duel! Which I will post shortly.

... and we return, with Rand having defeated Vera-Kin and Rianna in a climactic duel.

Rianna- you have been stabbed straight through, but... you think Rand deliberately went for a non-lethal blow. He did not hit anything particularly vital to your continued existence...

Vera-Kin- the lightsaber slash through your shoulder has severed several muscles important to moving your arm. As such, it is slack and you are in a great deal of pain. Also, part of your ear is lying in front of you, smouldering.

To make matters worse, Rand now viciously stomps on your face. Repeatedly.

Vera-Kin falls unconscious.

Sure, non-lethal, but it's still certainly a nasty - and painful - wound, I bet...

"Why, Rand?" Rianna asks quietly. "Why cause all of this chaos? Why go for the Box, and whatever else it was you had planned? And...why me? What is so special about me?"

"You have potential," Rand says, deactivating his lightsaber and hooking it on his belt. He produces a hankerchief and begins wiping Vera-Kin's green blood off of his boot. Her face has become a distorted, bloody mess. "I have often seen Jedi students... who do not start training... because they carry traits not fit for Knighthood. They are either corrected... or expelled."

Satisfied that the blood is gone, he tosses the hankerchief down on Vera-Kin's face.

"You, Rianna, were 'corrected,' according to the Council. And now you've come loose again. You were never meant for the Order. Not ever. But I knew that from the start."

Rand reaches over to one side of the room, into the shadows... and from the darkness, the Box flies into his hand.

"I want you to be the start of something new, Rianna. The Jedi Order must fall. I want to start my own Order. You will be its first Knight."

Rianna shudders involuntarily at his words; she is completely helpless at this point, and there is nothing she can do. She's also still deepy upset at learning why Vera-Kin had been sent along with her.

"You are insane..." she finally says, glaring at him. "I would rather die before joining you."

"You say that now," Rand says, "but you won't after everyone you know has died."

He sets the Box down gently at his feet and places a foot on it, then reaches out with the Force again. This time, a strange looking thing flies out of the shadows and lands, softly, in Rand's hands.

You first notice that, despite the dust and scorch marks on this thing, it is beautifully crafted and delicate. It reminds you of an hour glass, except for the glass section is a singular tube. The framework on the thing is a work of art- gold wires shaped perfectly around the glass tube. The bottom is a metal casing that seals off the bottom of the tube, whereas the opposite end rounds off.

"This is what I came down here for," Rand explains. "Want to know what it is?"

Rianna is tempted to simply say no, but she still wants to know exactly what Rand is up to, and her own ever-present curiosity is just far too strong.

"...what is that? And how could it be so important?" she asks.

"It is called the Geometamorpher," Rand says. "Do you want to know what it does?"

He holds it one hand by a handle on the side, then waves his hand repeatedly; the gold wire covering starts to spin outward and remove itself from the glass tube, manipulated by the Force. The wires settle around the metal casing at the bottom. He detaches the casing, opening the glass tube with a pop!

"Obviously, it can't be anything good if you were looking for it..." Rianna says, trying to prop herself up against something so that she's at least partially sitting up.

Rand closes his eyes, clenching his teeth.

"It reshapes the planet," Rand says.

The glass tube and the metal casing levitate into the air; so does the Box, once he removes his foot from it. As these objects start to levitate around him, he reaches into his overcoat and produces a small, rusted key. He places this into the keyhole on the front of the Box and... it opens.

Within the Box is one very long shard of a crystal, which now floats from the Box. The Box itself Rand lets fall; it rips at its hinges and the two halves bounce away.

While this is happening, Vash has limped into the room. He leans up against the drilled entrance to rest his leg, but says nothing.

"But...what are you planning on doing with it?" Rianna asks, horrified at the destruction that could be caused with such a thing. "And do you really think that killing everyone I know, as you put it, will make me want to join you?"

"No," Rand says. "You'll do that of your own accord, in time. I am merely helping things along."

He snatches the metal casing out of the air and locks it onto the glass tube again. The ornate gold wiring replaces itself, tightly entwining around the glass tube. It beeps.

"Tell me, Rianna... how do the surface of planets reshape themselves? How do continents move? Explain it as curtly as you can..."

Rianna's annoyance flares at his continued insistence that she'll join him, but she tries to push it back - giving in to it will help nothing at this point.

"You're asking me about that now?" she asks, incredulous. "If you want an answer to an academic question, while I'm laying on the floor after having been stabbed through the stomach with a lightsaber is probably not the best time to ask."