Praxeum (Ending #1)

Is everything I have ever cherished… gone?

One moment, the young Jedi known simply as “Kam” had been meditating alongside his peers, the evening sun over Almas illuminating the chalky white pillars and stone structures of the open courtyard at the center of their small Jedi praxeum. The next instant, that same sun was blotted out by billowing clouds of smoke and ash and steam rising from the charred remains of his fellow initiates.

What had happened? A bomb? A missile? From who? And why?

Kam looked down at his leg realizing it was completely shredded, his femur and tibia now partially revealed. He gritted his teeth and he fought to keep his eyes from completely rolling back into his head from the shock.

Remember your training.

The young human took a deep breath, allowing the Force to flow through his body. He felt it rush over his exposed bones, dulling the pain and giving him a momentary sense of comfort. If he could just find Almas Academy’s Jedi consular, Akial, he might be able to salvage his lower leg.

He also needed answers.

Are we still in danger?

Now fully aware of what had transpired, Kam glanced around at the other Jedi he had been meditating with only moments ago. 

Kolabi, the young Sullustan girl, was sprawled out against a pillar, her head twisted at an ungodly angle.

The hand of Jaresh-rai, a Vurk student that Kam had never much cared for, was lying to his right. It was fully detached from the rest of the saurian’s missing body, but still tightly clutching his lightsaber hilt. 

Had he sensed the attack?

Finally, Kam’s best friend, Valeera, was nowhere to be seen. There was, however, a crater full of blood and cloth and metal located directly where he had last seen her seated before he had closed his eyes to meditate.

Fear and pain now seeped into his mind, and he could hear the voices of other Jedi throughout the ancient academy crying out in terror before being silenced. 

Were more bombs going off? Or was someone or something executing the survivors?

Kam had now propped his body up onto his one functional leg, but he froze as a sound began to resonate throughout the entire facility. A metallic scraping, followed by what could only be described as a hundred pistons firing in rapid succession. This haunting sound echoed on repeat throughout the doorways and halls of the school… and it was progressively growing louder.

I need to move.

Kam exited the darkened courtyard and limped his way into the main stone structure, his leg now dangling and dragging on the floor behind him. Almas Academy’s Jedi Council room was only a few halls down, as was the student med station. 

As he walked through the once lively halls, now empty aside from the nearly unbearable clouds of sulfuric smoke, he realized there were other craters and openings in the ceiling that dotted the compound’s many ornate rooms and pathways. Clearly this had been some sort of attack from above..

But who would target us? We’ve made peace with the Mandalorians. And the Nihil have all but disappeared, not that they were ever operating close to this sector in the first place.

The slow, metallic lumbering sound was still resonating throughout the stone corridors, but Kam had no way of telling which direction it was originating from.

He finally rounded the corner that would lead him to the council chamber, and was met with a noise that was simultaneously familiar and completely foreign.

He heard the sound of lightsabers clashing. But unlike the subdued parries he was used to hearing during sparring practice, these swings and strikes were ferocious. Someone in the council room was fighting for their lives.

Kam could feel himself quickly losing blood through the open wounds on his leg, and he glanced down to see that his arm was now a mixture of pale white and deep purple. Using all of his strength, he clumsily and furiously hopped towards the chamber entryway.

As he peered inside, he saw the back of a Bith Jedi Knight he had met once named Po’halowan. The Jedi’s lightsaber was locked with another wielded by a partially cloaked figure. 

The mysterious entity was covered in gray armor and droid parts, with piercing red eyes and a crimson blade to match.

“Master!” Kam called out to the Jedi, causing the Bith to peer over his shoulder and lose concentration.

Did I just make a mistake?

Fortunately, when the metal-clad figure attempted to use this shift in his favor, he lunged forward to strike and Po’halowan rearranged his footing, swiftly slicing the assailant in half.

The Bith spun around, “young Kam, are you alright? Did any of the other students survive?”

Kam stumbled into the room, propping himself up against a chair. “No… no I don’t think so, I’m the only one left.”

The young Jedi gulped as he continued, “Where is Master Akial? I really, really need him to look at my leg…” 

The Bith’s eyes were quickly directed to the young human’s eviscerated shin and calf. Then he looked around the disheveled room, “I’m sorry Kam…”

Kam momentarily stared into the Bith’s emotionless face before surveying the room. Along with the dead assailant, chairs and rubble were scattered everywhere, as were robed bodies. He saw the remains of Masters Mel Frackness and Krin D’bis against the far walls, and towards the center of the room was a bundle of burning cloth.

Is that… Master Akial?

The small Jawa Jedi was now a pile of ash and flesh crumpled on the floor of the council room-turned-crater. 

Kam fell onto his knee and pressed his hands against his temples as tears streamed from his eyes. His head pounded as he realized his only chance for healing and future mobility was gone.

Is there any hope for us?

“Get up, young Kam,” Po’halowan called out as he pulled his brown hood up over his bulbous head and motioned towards the pieces of their now bisected attacker lying on the ground, “we have to keep moving. There are more of these enemies in the school. I’ve already defeated three of them, but we need to-”

A flurry of blasterfire punched through the wall beside the doorway and cut the Jedi down where he stood. Chunks of the busted wall peppered Kam, and his prayerful stature and proximity to the floor were the only things that had saved him from an instant demise.

A moment later the wall collapsed as a massive machine pushed its way through and into the chamber. From what Kam could see, it was an amalgamation of tubes, wires, and mechanical eyes supported by four thick, beast-like legs. It’s head was disproportionately small but equally as horrifying, and it’s sides were flanked with missile pods as its underbelly flaunted a monstrous rotary blaster cannon. It’s most distinctive trait, however, was the inconceivable amount of dark energy he could feel spilling out of it’s crevices and joints.

Sith alchemy…?

Kam cowered behind one of the heavy stone chairs as he watched the machine crawl into the room. He no longer felt the pain from his leg, nor the sadness of seeing the corpses of his fellow Jedi, not even fear from the dire situation at hand. He only felt a complete and overwhelming feeling of absolute, unadulterated hopelessness.

What has been the point of my life…? Taken away from my family as an infant, trained in intense physical and spiritual practices, struggling with all my might not to form any attachment to any of my friends… to Valeera.

Has the Force abandoned me, or was it never with me in the first place? It’s clearly with this machine that’s about to take my life, I can feel it flowing through every tube and ligament. So why is it not with me? Why was my entire existence devoted to something so quick to desert me for my enemy?

He heard the beast readjusting its menacing stance to take aim. He would be dust in mere seconds. He couldn’t stand, he couldn’t speak, and he would die utterly alone.

If anyone or anything can hear me, I am desperate. Save me.

He was met only with spiritual silence among the deafening whir of the killing machine standing mere meters away.

The rotary cannon began to spin.

Living Force… if you cannot save me, then show me that my life was not a waste. Please, I need to know.

Again, he was met with only stillness. Time around him slowed, and he felt the heat begin to emanate from the dark beast’s muzzle.

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And then he saw it…

A premonition.

A vision.

The Force.

The future whisked past him. Visions of melancholy and despondency and anguish and a looming darkness vaster than he could ever fully comprehend. But there was a light. A vergence. A point in the Force at the end of a seemingly endless tunnel that shone brighter than the bluest star the galaxy had ever birthed into motion.

A hope. A lineage. The Jedi. 

All of the Jedi.

The light side would prevail.

The Jedi at Almas would not be forgotten. They would inspire the next generation to fight harder and place their whole reliance on and in the Living Force.

He only wished he could have lived to see it.

But that was not the will of the Force.

Kam exhaled one final time.

I am one with the Force…

A millisecond of silence was followed by a barrage of hot red lasers.

He felt a searing pain.

Then an internal boiling.

Then nothing.

Nothing but the Force.

He was one with the Force.

And the Force was with him.

Always.