Winter Wonder What

[Vexillar]

He sat in a ship in the middle of Ziost just a few kilometers to the temple's west. He had instructed the Acolyte he'd be training to show up at his location...but rather, gave the Acolyte coordinates that would put him to the South West of the Arcanist. It wouldn't be terribly far, but far enough that time would be of the essence.

Raith despised teaching conventional classes. What did anyone learn in a controlled environment? Or at least when they were sure they were in such an environment. Outside, in the wild, just about anything could happen. And in this situation that anything was hypothermia.

The Arcanist loved putting his students into situations where it was quite literally, do or die. Of course he'd never let them die, but they didn't know that. Because of this, everyone he taught learned the ability exceptionally fast. Because that's the nature of one's mind. Within the Force, it is one's own doubt that will surely be their undoing. Nobody is exactly eager to die, and so their mind demands to understand, to use, the ability at hand in order to survive. Raith was taught like this, though he didn't know it at the time of course. Looking back, Nox was as much a friend as he was a teacher and a father to him. Sending a silent prayer to the Twin Spirits he began his work.

There was an ability within the Force that produced exceptionally wild results, with little effort on the user's part. He was still but a novice in this power, but the more he studied up on related skills, the better he became. At this point, however, what he wanted to do was simple since it required little change.

Turn the gentle snowfall into a raging blizzard.

He focused on the Force Energy of the clouds above him. Pulling on their strings until their power was his, until he could see the stones that required pushing. With a gentle nudge here and there the snowfall began to pick up. Faster, faster, and faster still, the snow began to build at an unnatural rate. Raith continued to meditate on this, pushing until anyone caught outside in the effected area would surely be blinded. The effective range was only within his ship and the Acolyte's coordinates. The temple was left unaffected as Raith didn't command enough control to spread this that far.

The Tuk'ata shifted uncomfortably on the lounge couch. The sound of malicious winds battering against the ship's walls made him uneasy, a gentle touch from Raith seemed to relax him though. The Acolyte's lesson had begun...

 

[Shantigam]

After leaving the shuttle from Korriban, Evir ran with haste to coordinates received from Arcanist Raith. This was his first training, first step on long path with a huge prize at the end of it. But this path was dangerous, full of traps, betrayal and (he didn't like it one bit) savage fight for dominance. And first thing he was to learn is how to anticipate those dangers, from Evirs point of view it was the most important thing. To evade danger is to survive and strike another day, maybe not stronger, but with plan, perhaps lure the opponent into a trap.

So he ran, as fast as he could. "Never to let down, never fail again." - the only thought he had in mind. Evir was given a chance and he intended to fulfill any task ahead. He slipped several times, got some bruises from those falls. The harsh, cold enviroment on Ziost gave him a nice first lesson, once he received message, he grabbed all he had, stole pair of gloves and a coat form one of the other apprenticies and took first shuttle to this cold hell. During his short time on Korriban, he already got used to the climate there, it wasn't bad as long as you didn't spent all the time outside, otherwise you'd be roast. What he was encountering here, was entirely different story...

He was around 0,25 klicks away from the place he was heading to, when the blizzard started. He couldn't see a thing, so the only thing left to do was going forward, where he thought the Arcanist was. He thought the weather before the storm came was harsh, now he felt the cold with every inch of his body, the pain on the skin, panic in his head, he could almost feel his bones freezing He would go forward until datapad would stop beeping and showed "ARRIVED TO DESTINATION". But apart from him, there was nothing here...

 

[Vexillar]

Eezeo beeped confirmation that their student was at the assigned location. Rairh nodded and threw out his mind. A green mist would roll in around Evir's location. It was all in his head, but nonetheless it was as resl as he believed it to be. Raith was formed from the strange mist and shook his head a bit.

Hello, Acolyte. I apologize. It seems the wrong coordinates were relayed to you. I am not far, but I'm far enough it seems. You'll have to find me using the skill we were to learn today, as my communication array is down and Eezeo lacks the signal strength in this weather to reach you.

A strong gust blew through but Raith kept talking, since he was speaking directly into the Acolyte's mind, it would be as if he were right next to him.

The basis for all Sensory abilities is calmness. You are liable to freeze to death out there. It is a real possibility, but you must ignore it. Focus on the Force. Feel it's energies around you, in you, and cycle it through your body. Slow it down as it passes through your eyes, let go of your earthly self and see yourself as the Force, as a primal energy. Breath gently, Evir, and close your eyes. Hear everything, and picture it in your mind. Allow the Force to fill in the blanks.

 

[Shantigam]

"Death." - this simple word stroke Evir. The panic he was in was growing as the whole situation was becoming clear to him. He was tricked, the Arcanist left him here to freeze. So thats the way the Sith teach their students...

He had to calm himself, focus, nothing good will come from the state he was in. The lesson began, not only he has to start sensing the way to safety with Force, but in order to do that he had to throw away all his emotions. "This can't be so hard, can it?" - he already posessed this abillity, his con artist experience required him acting perfectly and in order to do this, you have to be able to swap your real feelings with emotions the situation requires you to use and exert. But he never faced such danger before. Will he be able to do that?

He close his eyes, and began to respire deeply, slowing and extending each next breath. This was quite difficult, considering the howl of blizzard around him. He concetrated at this sound, made it the only thing to feel, the rumble but pehaps he could find something more in it. He tried to organize the sounds, find some repetative parts in it, a pattern. He failed to do so, but he was focused enough to begin the hard part.

 

[Shantigam]

Feeling himself, the energy inside him was no easy task. From the very begining he could feel some "aura" around other Force-sensitives or places (like Korribans Tombs) that were somehow connected with Force, but he never sensed anything inside him. He came to conclusion that it was like with smell, a person can scent everything but himself.

Now he was to focus so hard that he could feel it, the energy inside him. Evir figured that the best way to do so is to concentrate on one thing and when the focus is high enough, he would be able to reach out from this one thing and see what he normally coudn't. The easiest thing to focus on was the beating of his own heart, so he did just that. He wasn't triying to extend the interval between the impacts, on the contrary, he was to feel the rythm and maintain it, so it became a natural thing, something not special at all. The time between has become repetative, the pattern was found so the process began.

As the beating became the main object in his mind, he tried to expand the area, so he could feel the other sounds in his body. And so he heard, first the sound of blood taking each step forward in his circulatory system, then the hiss of acids in his stomach that were consuming crackers he ate during flight. After that, the particles of oxygen entering his blood through lungs and beeing delivered to every system, every cell of his body. Now he was to expand this consciousness.

 

[Vexillar]

Raith's form nodded slowly. Good. Keep going. Allow the sounds you hear to form images in your mind, images delivered by the Force. Open yourself to the galaxy and see your sight blessed. Focus, Acolyte. When you are at peace, when you have centered yourself, you will see as the Force sees. With every breath, take in the Force. And with every release, let go of doubts, fears, concerns. The Force will show you what you need to see.

He fell silent again and just observed the student. The blowing wind didn't seem to bother him anymore. Occasionally Raith's form was flicker out for a moment, not that it would be noticed by the guy with his eyes closed, and that was just to ensure that the storm didn't become too deadly. The point of this was to force Evir to do what had to be done. Not die in a blizzard. Raith had lost 0 Acolytes to his way of teaching. He wasn't going yo start now.

With the storm kept in check, Raith projected his image once more to the Acolyte to check in on his progress. Most didn't see everything right away. But the Acolyte would know when the power was working because...well his eyes would be closed but he'd see. Snow would appear gray and lifeless, and he wouldn't see very far ahead of him. It would appear to be a disadvatsge to his normal sight, but as time would go on, and as he grew in the Force, he would find this Sight to have a world of advantages.