Elevated over a ravine, the Massassi Arena has withstood the tests of time. It is arranged in a circular formation and made by a slab of stone that connects the opposite slopes of the ravine. On its eastern side, the floating arena leads to a staircase and into a near-vertical cliff face. Because of its nearly unsupported vantage that overlooks a several hundred-meter fall, even the smallest creatures can feel the occasional motion the platform makes as the breeze brushes across its cold surface.

Adding to the adrenaline rush of standing within the slab’s concentric patterns carved into the rock, barriers and obstacles echo the Massassi’s commitment to taking every advantage over their opponents. Pillars ring the outer edge without guardrails linking them, some remaining intact and others having toppled into the arena or over the perilous heights to the ground far below. Weeds and other flora cover each surface as nature seeks to reclaim the ravine and eventually send the arena itself to the depths.

A creaky rope-bridge leads away towards another ancient suspended platform with the same weathered, upturned stones. Mossy footing, and uneven ground make each of these platforms unique in small subtle ways. While there is no seating for formal spectators, the ancient stones of the Massassi Arena hold an omniscient, aged wisdom that speak to the things they have seen and the battles fought through history.

A third rope-bridge leads to yet another platform, completing the triad of battlegrounds that make up the Massassi Arena.

Whatever could be said about the Massassi, they were not without a sense of theatricality. Suspended high above the ravine, with the perpetual roar of the waterfall echoing up from its depths, the circular disc of the arena jutted out from the cliff-faces. Suspended by seemingly little more than a handful of carefully placed stones, it was as if the architect was daring fate to claim his creation, challenging gravity itself to tear down what had been built there. It was the habitual arrogance one would have expected of the ancient Sith Empire. Yet the fact it was still there, with barely a brick out of place, spoke of expertise to back that confidence.

To Tarvitz, such ruins had always been a point of fascination. Such remnants of past eras, ideas and theologies were one part of a larger tapestry woven throughout the galaxy’s history. They were all too often ignored in favour of more pressing matters, or avoided for fear of drawing the attention of any Sith spirit perhaps bound to the place. That was why they made for such effective dead drop locations between members of the Lotus Resistance.

Gingerly making one creaking step after the other across the rope bridge dangling over the ravine, Tarvitz made his way toward the platform. He had made the trip enough times to know where exactly to stand, treading only on those capable of holding his considerable weight. A few broken splinters was usually a good sign that the site had been recently visited, but it seemed to be largely intact. Instead, as he finished crossing onto the platform it was another sign that alerted Tarvitz to the fact he was not alone.

A tinny artificial whine, barely perceptible over the thunder of rushing water, was issuing from a pillar. He had been around enough engines to recognise a repulsorlift system when he heard one and as Tarvitz watched, a regal plated droid hovered into view. It was carefully examining every inch of the pillar, poking every crack and loose slab. It was clearly hunting for something and, as it began to pull away at the weakened stonework, he unbuckled his holster. It was best not to take any chances then. Tarvitz coughed loudly. The droid turned to face him, and he levelled his pistol at its head.

“That’s far enough,” he said, gesturing to one side, “Move away back and deactivate yourself.”

The droid began to follow his orders, even raising both hands in a gesture of surrender, before the familiar snap hiss of a lightsaber came from somewhere to his right. Risking a glance, Tarvitz caught sight of a figure waiting at the forest’s edge. He had been hidden beneath the shade of a tree, a greying cloak hooded blending with the texture of the ashen coloured bark behind him. The violet glow of the lightsaber highlighted his build, and Tarvitz could barely make out plain sable armour and the silver trim of an elaborately designed helmet beneath his hood. Tarvitz had seen the design a scant few times before, on holovids of possible external threats to the Brotherhood, but he knew the armour of a Knight of Ren when he saw one.

“Would you believe me if I said I was sightseeing?” Tarvitz asked, keeping his weapon levelled at the droid. A synthesized hiss escaped from under Knight’s hood. It took him a few moments to realise it was a chuckle.

"Not with that many weapons." the Knight answered, its voice too distorted for Tarvitz to guess anything of the warrior behind the helmet. He began to walk forward, lazily spinning the humming blade in one hand.

Tarvitz sighed, then twisted in place and pulled the pistol's trigger three times. A trio of fat emerald bolts burned through the air, only for his opponent to break into a loping run, deflecting each of them with a precise sweep of his blade. Within a heartbeat the Knight was upon him, hacking through the gun’s barrel before he could fire again. Tarvitz rolled back, ducking beneath a slash toward his head and unhooking his own lightsaber from his belt.

"I don't suppose I could convince you to surrender first, eh?"

“Why would I do that? You were trying to put a hole in my droid!” Kadrol growled through his helmet. He looked over his shoulder to see that his droid had resumed his task looking for a rumored Amulet used by the great Sith Lord Naga Sadow, which Kadrol had tracked down using records of the battles of the Great Hyperspace War, as well as other artifacts from the era. Turning back to the human, Kadrol held his amethyst colored saber in a defensive position, wary of what the Odanite would do next.

“You and that droid are trespassing on Massassi grounds!” Ka barked, briefly turning his attention to the droid, before returning his focus back to the armored figure. Kadrol didn’t move at all. He was busy working out a plan of attack that would allow his analysis droid to complete its task and allow both of them to get back to the shuttle he had borrowed from his clan, Scholae Palatinae, to use for this mission.

Ka was getting wary, as he hadn’t seen the Gray Jedi move during the past couple minutes. The Odanite ignited his lightsaber. The golden blade made a gentle humming sound. From his lower position, the ranger made a sweeping attack at Kadrol’s waist, following through with his left leg, spinning himself into a standing position. Kadrol easily parried the attack, creating a loud crack as the blades met.

Utilizing both hands on his weapon, Kadrol swung the saber in an arc from his left hip up towards his right shoulder. The Jedi blocked the attack, but the lefty wasn’t fast enough, as the very edge of the violet blade sliced through his equally purple armor, leaving a gash of molten plastoid alloy dripping down the exterior of the suit. Ka winced in agony as the very tip of the weapon touched his skin.

The sudden burst of pain died almost as soon as it had begun, dulled by the Force as Tarvitz stepped back from his opponent. The stab had only managed to graze his skin, enough to inflict pain rather than true damage, but any deeper and the fight would have been lost. Tarvitz frowned as the Knight began to walk toward him again, motioning in the air with his lightsaber and driving him toward the arena’s edge by hacking at the air. He was slower than his initial burst of speed had suggested, but that at least could be explained by use of the Force’s amplifying powers. What was more concerning was that there was no obvious rhythm to his attacks.

As Tarvitz tried to decipher the series of strikes and hacking motions his foe made in the air, he came at Tarvitz again, swinging his own blade in a decapitating strike. Tarvitz blocked it, guided more by the Force than recognition of the method behind the attack in question. He was almost at the edge of the arena, a step away from tumbling back over the edge of the crumbling brickwork, before some semblance of the style finally registered in his mind.

“Banlanth, really?” Tarvitz said, bursting out laughing as he finally saw the pattern behind the Knight’s slashing, “Is this the feared power of the Knights of Ren? A style reserved for apprentices?”

“I’m not-” the Knight answered, a flustered note managing to break through the monotone expressions of his modulated voice “You’re hardly one to talk, so far you’ve not landed a single blow on me.”

“A fair point,” Tarvitz conceded, “So, let’s see you keep up with this, then.”

Making a number of exaggerated motions, he dropped into an elaborate stance. Lightsaber held above his head, point directed toward the sky, knees bent in an impractically heroic pose, and the palm of his other hand outstretched with his fingers curled into a claw-like gesture. The Knight simply stood there, head tilted to one side at the sudden display, apparently unsure of just what to make of this.

“Emperor’s Black Bones, what are you trying to-” he started, before Tarvitz pulled back his free hand and made a number of overly-dramatic displays in the air. The Knight was focused purely on him, so utterly baffled at the apparent stupidity, that he apparently failed to notice just Tarvitz reaching out with the Force. Or, for that matter, the sound of straining repulsorlift drives roaring toward the back of his head.

The Knight picked up on what was going on at the last second, either hearing the noise over the waterfall’s roar or forewarned by his own connection to the Force. He dived to one side as his droid swept past, dragged through the air by Tarvitz’s telekinesis. One flailing metal arm clipped his shoulder as it passed, impacting with a resounding crack and sending the Knight rolling away. Tarvitz’s halted his exaggerated distractions as the droid swept toward him, swinging out with its blade and parting its head from his shoulders.

Without pausing, Tarvitz dragged a pair of throwing daggers from his belt, hurling them both toward the prone Knight as he attempted to rise. Caught off-guard, the Knight raised his blade, reducing one to molten durasteel but only striking the other’s edge. Deflected, it missed his chest, instead lodging itself deep within the Knight’s right thigh.

To his credit, the Knight neither yelled nor screamed, offering only a pained grunt as the blade pierced both clothing and flesh. He still tried to rise to his feet, ready to fight again, but another Telekinetic push from Tarvitz sent him sprawling to the ground and rolling to the arena’s far edge.

With his opponent down, Tarvitz looked toward the items held in by the decapitated droid. One an angular white box of a data cube, the dead drop he had been seeking to locate. In the other, a golden torc of an ancient design, bearing a stylised intricate and jeweled insignia of a long-dead Sith Lord. Tarvitz pocketed them both without hesitation.

“I’m going to leave you now,” Tarvitz called out to the wounded Knight, “Alive, not dead, don’t worry about that. But just take this word back to your masters - The First Order aren’t welcome here. Try this again, and none of you will walk away alive.”

Tarvitz turned, departing swiftly without another word, racing across the bridge and back into the depths of the jungle.

The pain of his new-found injury didn’t deter Tarvitz from driving his opponent away from the ancient arena of the Massassi. The Jedi had tasked him with protecting the site, along with whatever contents laid within. The arena, as well as the buildings surrounding it, had been subject to countless raids and attacks by huge Sith creatures, called Silooths, over the last century, and the Jedi of Odan-Urr had decided to step in.

Ka needed to fend off the Acolyte so he could retrieve the data from the dead drop in the pillar the droid had been searching around earlier. The droid was no longer searching the pillar, but had flown back inside the building on the opposite side of the platform from where Ka was. With his blaster in two pieces, the ranger was limited with range, and could only hit his opponent from a maximum of five meters away with his only remaining ranged weapon. He decided to give it a go, and deactivated his lightsaber. The Jedi raised both of his toes up, activating the sensors in his boots, which propelled him into the air using the thrusters strapped to each boot. As he quickly rose to a height three meters higher than Kadrol, he pushed a button on his wrist, which sent a plume of wild, orange fire directly at his opponent.

He held the button down for a few seconds before he noticed that the Gray Jedi was neither dead, nor had moved out of the range of the flames, but the ebbof the violet blade was gone. Tarvitz released the button, and the flames seemed to withdraw back into the flamethrower as the fuel slowly cut out over a few hundredths of a second. Kadrol quickly removed the cloak and stamped out a few of the small fires that had started in the three seconds he was in the flames. Ka took this time to make a strike on his opponent. He activated his lightsaber once again, charging his opponent from the air. Kadrol, who wasn’t entirely paying attention, was caught off guard, and the Force alerted him of the danger just in time for Kadrol to dive out of the way of the yellow blade sweeping just over his body.

Kadrol finished off the diving maneuver with a roll into a squatting position. At this time, Kadrol heard his droid, Bones, make a combination of beeps and whistles. Bones had found the amulet! Kadrol needed to get past the Jedi to get back to his spacecraft. He reached down and grabbed his cloak, quickly rolling it around his right arm as Ka closed the gap between them. Kadrol called upon the Force, entering a dead sprint toward his aggressor before leaping over him, tucking in his legs and doing a full flip before landing on the other side of the Jedi and resuming his beeline towards his spacecraft.

There was nothing Ka could do now to stop him. As Kadrol reached his vehicle, he slowed his pace, and climbed in. Bones was already aboard the shuttle, and had started the thrusters. Kadrol let out a sigh as the platform he had been on shrunk down to a dot as he headed back to Caelestis City to report his findings back to his master.