You enter one of the dozens of sparring chambers within the Shadow Academy of Lyspair, the simple square room utilized mostly by those learning the ways of the lightsaber. This five hundred square-foot room, rectangular in shape, is nearly barren. The floor is lined with simple padding, while the walls are made of dull, grey durasteel, gauged by innumerable lightsaber strikes, scarring the metal permanently.

The ceiling towers above you, nearly twenty feet in height, allowing for plenty of movement from the more acrobatic of Force users. There are no other adornments within the room, save for the entrance and lighting that bathes the entire room, yet seems to come from nowhere. All corners of the room are perfectly lit, with no visible shadows to speak of. There is nowhere for you to hide within the room, but… there's no room for your opponent to hide either.

As Lexiconus Qor stepped through the doors and entered the sparring chambers, his cerulean eyes locked immediately on Aiden Dru's sparking blue gaze. The Human's devilish grin grew as he too stared at his opponent. A toy to play with when concerning battle and skirmishes. To the Human, this challenge was going to be child’s play for him, he gambled to himself the Quarren would never be able to keep up. Walking slowly further into the chamber and stepping up onto the padded square, Qor unclipped his brown cape which curled and fell onto the edge. Clad in his slim-fit Taldryan robes, Aiden stood patiently and smirked with delight, while the Quarren slowly grasped his lightsaber. The extended coral arm slowly slithered and gripped onto it’s master’s wrist, who stood ready for anything.

“I’m going to enjoy this, Quarren. Mark my words, calamari will be on the menu for me.” Aiden gave a taunting quick wink to his opponent, who didn’t seem phased by it.

“Enough talk, circus clown,” Qor quickly ignited the silver blade as he gripped it with both hands and raised it above his head. His ceruleans eyes remaining on the Human. “I have my orders. so test me if you wish.”

Aiden wasted no time and leapt into the air. His sapphire blade spat to life as he acrobatically weaved cuts against the Quarren’s defence. He shoved and parried the attacks off, then Qor retaliated with powerful thrashes, but Aiden was too quick to be hit. In a nonstop onslaught of flurries and somersaults, the Human struck and was parried away each time with little success in penetrating the Quarren’s defence.

Fed up of the acrobatic attempts, Qor pulled his hand back into a fist and launched out a strong cross-punch into the air. The Dark Side pulsed forward and narrowly missed the Human’s body, then crushed the concrete of the wall behind him. Aiden saw his chance. Weaving his body through the air with a grace and precision, Aiden delivered a swift knee to the back that caused Qor to stumble and grunt out in discomfort. He struck with elbows and the hilt of his lightsaber, then combined fast yet light attacks into the stunned Quarren.

Aiden backflipped and kicked hard into the jaw of Qor, creating a beautiful sapphire ribbon in the sky. The Quarren was sent flying across the room and onto his back. Blood trickled from his cut mouth. Playtime was over. Forcing himself onto his feet while the Human jumped and pranced through the air in order to confuse his toy. Focused on his flourishes he became unaware of Qor’s tactics.

“Catch, Human!” The Dark Side flickered and struck the ground with a sharp crackling sound, the Quarren’s fingers lit up with lightning as he shouted. He whipped his arms forward and caught the Human midair, the Dark Side energy stunned him in his path. Aiden fell and jolted on the floor, grunting out. The Quarren was unable to see much through the glare of lightning, but Aiden’s lightsaber was swiftly shoved forward. To Qor’s dismay, the blue plasma collected the majority of the lightning strikes. Small tendrils crackled off and hit his face, the scent of burning skin and hair filled his nose. Energetic stings against his face caused Aiden to grit his teeth. The pain was unreal. The Human stood up and chuckled to himself. He craved the side-effects for his pleasure. Now, he wanted more.

“Give me more, Quarren! Feed me with your power!” Aiden chuckled more as he shouted out. Qor wasn’t impressed.

“Time to ramp it up,” the Quarren whispered in his mother tongue. Again, the Dark Side energy shot outwards with a flick of his wrists. It crumbled and exploded in outbursts. The sparring room lights fluctuated while the lightning’s electric blue aura lit the room. Using the glow of his lightsaber, Aiden protected his eyes until silence fell and the tendrils of lightning dissipated. Plunging into darkness, the Human was left confused and silently alone.

“I know you’re still here! I have locked onto you!” Aiden shouted out, but only the silence listened. The Human did feel Qor was in this room, but he could not tell where.

“Fine, how about a lightshow?!” Dru shouted out to the darkness as hurled his lightsaber into the ceiling. The sudden spark of the saber as it penetrated the durasteel lined ceiling was enough to surprise Qor, causing enough movement to reveal his position. Dru withdrew his stun batons and closed the gap between himself and the Quarren. The darkness faded the moment Qor was struck in the wrist with a baton.

“That was a nice trick,” Qor bellowed while backpedalling, “but now I have the advantage.” Dru stared at Qor’s lightsaber, then at his own batons as the words were spoken. A wicked smile cracked across Dru’s face. Odds were against him, just what he had hoped for.

Dru rolled forward just as the Quarren swept his saber at hip level. As Dru rose up he caught Qor in the jaw with the left baton. The force of the hit knocked Qor’s head back which allowed Dru an optimal angle to strike. By bringing the right baton down with a hammer fist motion, Dru forced his weapon into Qor’s left set of gills. As Qor was taken off balance both combatants fell to the ground.

“You’re lucky I’m having fun,” Dru rubbed his thumb lightly over the ON/OFF switch of his baton, “otherwise I might press this little button and finish you right now.”

Qor stared at his foe and winced with pain, “Do it human!”

CLICK...CLICK, CLICK

A puzzled look fell upon Dru’s face, quickly followed by a disappointed look, “Frak! You’re a techwea–” Qor thrust his hand into the ribs of the human before rolling him off. “Shorted those things out as soon as I came into the room. I knew you’d use them eventually,” the Quarren spoke as he rose to his feet.

Grinning as he regained his own composure, Dru saw that the Quarren had already healed himself, while the now unlodged baton skid across the floor. “Well I guess I won’t need this anymore then.” The second baton was thrown in Qor’s direction but it was just the distraction. The human was already in Qor’s striking range.

LEFT! an unfamiliar voice rang in Qor’s head prompting him to block left. Dru hit him from the right. RIGHT! the voice arose again. Qor gave into the advice and blocked right. Dru hit left. The confusion continued for a few more blows before the voice became familiar. That’s when Qor knew what was going on.

“Get out of my head!”

Qor quickly called his saber back into his hand from across the room and charged with a flurry of wild slashes. Dru’s eyes widened as he realized his little game had sent the Quarren into a frenzy. Dru continued dodging Qor’s steady stream of slashes. He’s almost on my level in terms of speed...almost. Dru had thought as he narrowly avoided a slash by sidestepping. Really need to learn to stop playing with my food. A whiff of singed hair filled Dru’s nostrils. That last strike was too close. Dru should have been paying more attention to the fight instead of testing his opponents newfound abilities. Qor’s boot swiftly met Dru’s gut. Now doubled over in an attempt to catch his breath, Dru instead caught Qor’s knee with his face.

“I thought you were better than this.” Qor was already gloating. Dru stared at the floor as he tried to get a grip on the situation. His opponent continued to speak, but Dru was ignoring him for the most part. Dru watched Qor’s shadow raise the saber overhead when suddenly, a drip of molten metal fell to the ground.

“HA!” Dru couldn’t help but laugh as he noticed more drips of metal on the ground. “Forget about something, Qor?” Dru looked up at the ceiling as his lightsaber continued to burn at the metal until finally falling onto the ground, but it had already ignited a fire strong enough to continue melting the rest of the durasteel ceiling

Qor wasted no time and dived at Aiden in his hurry, his concentration on the molten durasteel that dripped slowly towards the ground of the sparring chamber. The Quarren didn’t need to be fast at this range, as he delivered blow after heavy blow of punches and knees to Aiden’s stomach. He focused on the weakest point of the Human, to whittle down his strengths and tire him out. But Qor too was tired and sweating into Aiden’s hands, strangely this benefitted him. As the putrid sweat made the Human’s grip slippery and accidental, which the Quarren decided to profit on.

“I forget nothing, Human!” The Techweaver shouted out, as he plunged his open palm into Aiden’s stomach. The Dark Side ignited into a storm of cerulean tendrils that shocked and burnt the Human’s clothing and skin to a crisp. The devastating electrical effects burst from the Quarren’s hand, igniting the duo into jolts and screams in their paralysed state. Qor tried his best to unlatch his hand from Aiden’s stomach, but his fingers latched and tore into the Human’s skin which was forced by the electrical shocks. I have to get off him! The Quarren urged himself onwards, rolling his body away and yanking his hand viciously from Aiden who screamed at each tug. With one large tug, Qor stripped his burnt palm and the lightning bolts disappeared, while the smoke and putrid smell of burnt flesh filled the air.

Drop...Drip...Drop

Large amber molten metal quickly fell from the ceiling and found their way onto Aiden’s own legs, singing his pants clean off and sticking themselves into his skin. Now it seemed impossible for the Human to continue his fight against the Quarren, who could only chuckle at Aiden’s struggle.

“What’s the matter, did you forget something?” Qor winked as he reminded the Human of what he said previously. He watched as the lightsaber deactivated itself due to the button mechanism, and the Quarren tugged it towards his hand as the lightsaber jumped and somersaulted until it landed into his crispy palm. Igniting both lightsabers and aiming them at Aiden’s head, the Qor looked down into his eyes with a cruel expression.

“Any last words, my pawn?” Aiden whimpered at the pain of the cooling metal, about to sputter and curse. But Qor had enough. “You know what? I don’t want to hear it.” The Quarren quickly interrupted and with a swift slice, he parted Aiden’s skull in two. The horrid smell of brain matter and blood filled his gills while it leaked across the floor. Another obstacle was out the way, now it was time to leave.