My master always told me the Force would guide me, so why is it that I am so lost? Shorurra thought, swinging his training sabre through the motions of practice combat. There was so much that was undetermined in this world, so much that one could do or effect, and yet there was so little he had done. His whole life had consisted of training, reading, meditating, practicing skills again and again. He thought he was ready to become a Jedi but for some reason his master still wanted him to wait. 

It was midday when Shorurra emerged from the Jedi Praxeum that had been his home for almost a year now. What is holding me back? he thought to himself, walking towards the fountain in the center of the grounds. Why am I still not a Jedi? He did not know what his Master's motives were or if he was just testing his patience. But Shorurra was determined to figure out a way to bring himself up to the level of the esteemed Jedi. But how? he thought tossing a pebble into the fountain and seeing the ripples cascade out from the point of impact. How do I elevate myself to Jedi?

Gon Doru strolled across the courtyard of the Jedi Praxeum, looking around at the serenity, the peaceful state of this once chaotic world. He couldn't help but feel a slight disturbance in the Force, a sort of tugging that pulled from his very soul, black as it may be. He turned looking around trying to see the source of the disturbance. His cybernetic implants whirring and clicking as they filtered the air and perceived the sights around him. He could not find anything out of place. There were Jedi younglings practicing their meditation, Jedi walking back and forth, looking totally at peace in their new home. 

Then, he saw what he had been searching for, a young Wookiee, standing at the fountain in the center of the courtyard. His tangled and matted fur a sign of rushing out of bed yet again. The unique headband of white fur that encompassed his eyes, looking like he had been scarred there at some point. His head slightly tilted showing he was deep in thought. What would such a young Wookiee have on his mind that is so prominent? Gon Doru thought walking towards his student. 

"Shorurra, are you alright, my young apprentice?" Gon said, his cybernetic voice seeming to crackle over the air itself.

"Hmm?" Shorurra said, his concentration breaking, "Erm, yes, Master, I suppose I am alright." The young Wookiee said his hand lowing into the water of the fountain. "But there is something that I have been meaning to ask you." Shorurra added, bringing some water up from the fountain and splashing his face, the water running down his sleek seeming coat of fur. 

"What would that be?" Gon enquired. He was never one to mince words as some Jedi did, he had a much more straight forward approach to his teaching methods.

"Why am I being held back from becoming a Jedi?" Shorurra said his hazel eyes seeming to pierce right through his Master, a subtle tone of irritation on his voice.
"Why?" Gon said looking back at his apprentice, seeing how much and how fast his young apprentice had grown in strength. In less than a year he had climbed the ranks of the Jedi journeymen, reaching the rank of Padawan in less time than any of his other students. He is strong in the Force, Gon Doru thought, but his demeanor is still such of a child, his thoughts still so simple, so brash, and yet, he is wise beyond  his years. "Walk with me, apprentice," Gon said, motioning his apprentice to follow.

Shorurra turned from the fountain, the smell of wet fur assaulting the senses of a few Jedi younglings as he passed. "Where are we going this time?" Shorurra asked, a tone of impatience heavy on his words.

If Gon could have smiled he would have grinned as he walked, "To the hall of meditation," he said striding ahead as though he was on an urgent mission. 

"Meditation?" Shorurra said anger creeping into his voice, "Again you want me to meditate instead of giving me an answer." Shorurra said a snarl blasting the air in front of him.

"Yes my young apprentice, but this time, it has a purpose." Gon said motioning his apprentice into the halls of the Jedi Praxeum. 

It is not like my Master to be so secretive about my trials, Shorurra thought his demeanor changing from angry to confused in a split second. What could he be planning? he thought as he entered the Hall of Meditation where he saw many Jedi deep in meditative trances. He saw many Jedi Consulars meditating on the possible events of the future. Perhaps that is what he wants me to do, the young wookiee thought walking into the center of the room matching his Master stride for stride. 

"Now, as I am sure you have deduced, I wish for you to meditate on what you future will be." Gon said looking to his apprentice. "Look thirty years into the future and see yourself. See what you will be, what you could become, what you wish to be" Gon said, hoping his apprentice would see what he was looking for. 

"Thirty years?" Shorurra said his eyebrow spiking to one side in a curious demeanor. "Why so far into the future?"

"Because the future can change," Gon said motioning for his apprentice to sit. "The future is constantly changing and our actions bring about what will happen. You are on a dangerous path my young apprentice. You are walking the line between light and dark and I can not see which side you will fall on." Gon said as Shorurra plopped himself down on the ground in a meditative fashion. "I worry that you will fall to the dark side if you continue down this path and, having been there, I do not wish for you to fall into that dark way." Gon said ghosts of his past seeming to haunt him as he subconsciously reached up and felt his cybernetic implants.
"I see," Shorurra said closing his eyes, and preparing for a deep cycle of meditation. "Then I shall look to my future and see what I can to find my answers as you wish," Shorurra said. With that, he heard his Master turn to walk away. A pang of remorse skirted through his mind at that moment. "Don't worry, Master," Shorurra said his eyes still closed, "The Force will guide me back into the light." 

Chuckling Gon Doru walked from the hall. Such innocence in such a powerful young Jedi, he mused as he walked from the hall. Perhaps he will be fine after all.

********

Shorurra opened his eyes but he did not know where he was. He looked around and saw nothing of familiarity, he seemed to be standing in the ruins of an old temple. But no matter how much he tried, he could not remember which temple it had been. He knew he had been here before. He looked down and saw the body of a grown Wookiee. His muscles sculpted from years of training under a finely groomed fur coat. He had robes on, but they couldn't be his robes. They were black. His robes had been light, coloured with patches of green, grey and brown, providing an almost perfect natural camouflage. Now all he saw was darkness. He looked to his belt and saw what looked like a spear. It was nothing like the training sabre he had once used but it seemed familiar.

Igniting his sabre pike, he saw a blade of crimson energy emit from the base of the staff, its glowing energy searing the air around him. A red blade? Shorurra thought, his eyes seeming to pierce right through the blade. Could I be? Shorurra shuddered at the thought of him being a Dark Jedi. Could he have fallen from the Light, could he have let his Master down so? He did not know but he could feel something around him. Something evil, something that was hate incarnate. He did not know exactly where it was. It felt like it was all around him and nowhere all at the same time. Who or what is this evil? Shorurra thought as his blade receded back into his sabre pike. 

Looking around, he saw a cloaked figure, he seemed to emanate hate from his pores, He looks old, Shorurra thought as he studied the figure in front of him, his pale skin looking like he had died and his will refused to let him fall to the ground. Emerald eyes seemed to pierce right through him, hatred seething through his every movement. His black hair, short enough for a soldier was neatly groomed, and his face free of facial hair kept him looking like a proper diplomat. While looking at him, Shorurra had a feeling sweep through him, a feeling of fear, fear of disobeying his master. 

Master? Shorurra shuddered at the thought, could this evil man really be his Master? Could he have fallen so far from the teachings of his old master, Gon Doru? It sure seemed as though he had fallen from the Light. "Are you ready apprentice?" His master said a tone of hatred in his voice. "Today you kill your former Master and become a true Sith." 

Kal di Plagia Vorrac did not seem to be a very dangerous man, but Shorurra knew that if he disobeyed his master even in the slightest that fallout would be brutal. Shorurra gulped, his memories flooding back to him in a rush of agony and dispair. He suddenly saw his anger, his despair, his will to succeed bringing him closer and closer to the Dark Side, he saw himself earning his lightsaber. Being knighted, then he saw himself wanting more power. Hating his master for holding him back. Feeling like everything he did was never enough. He saw himself meeting a man in a cantina on Coruscant. A man that seemed to know exactly how he felt, promising him power. Promising him that he would become stronger than his Master if he came with him. He saw himself leave his master behind and study under this man. He saw himself being beaten, his hatred growing every day. He saw the power that it gave him. 

He hated the man in front of him. He hated him more then anything in the world. But he knew that if he challenged this man he would die. His power was immense, he was stronger than any he had ever seen or met in his life. Stronger than he would be for years to come. With a shudder he looked to his Master, hate seething from himself now. "Yes, Master," he replied a smile cracking his lips. He was ready he thought, to kill his former master and take the mantle of Sith.

Looking to the ruined temple he suddenly realized where he was, this courtyard had seemed familiar because he had been here years before. This was the ruins of the Jedi Praxeum on New Tython. Looking to the crumbling steps of the temple, Shorurra saw someone emerge from the smoke. He couldn't make out who it was at first the smoke still rising off of the charred rubble that was strewn across the land in front of him. As the figure cleared the smoke hatred filled the young Dark Jedi. He looked up to see red skin covered in sweat bringing the appearance of blood, and sith tattoos covering his arms and torso. His right arm deformed from acid burns looking stuck in an eternal state of decay. His face twisted by cybernetic implants. The figure he looked upon was his old master, Gon Doru.

With a snarl Shorurra ignited his sabre pike, leaping through the air at his former master  hearing a hiss as their blades met. Slashing again and again Shorurra bobbed and weaved, making his strikes flow seamlessly, the crackle of saber's blasting again and again as he attacked his former master without mercy or regret. Only hatred flowed through his mind, a need to kill the man that had failed him.  

Breaking away from the wookiee Gon Doru had a horrifying realization. That this Wookiee that was attacking him, this ball of anger and hatred was his former apprentice. "Shorurra?" Gon Doru murmured his cybernetic vocal implants whirring and clicking as he spoke. A tremor of guilt assaulting his senses. Hearing yet another snarl of hatred the young Wookiee attacked again his  sabre pike, hissing through the air like a viper its moves deceptive, yet they seemed familiar to him. Like the moves of another, the moves of someone Gon thought he had escaped from years before. The man that had marred his face so, the moves of Kal Vorrac.  Throwing the sabre wide to the right he saw a fist coming for his stomach. He could not move in time to avoid the massive blow heading for his ribs, blasting the air from his stomach and knocking him back a few feet. 
With a chuckle Shorurra brought his sabre back up into a ready position, "What's wrong,  Master?" he sneered, hatred dripping from his lips. "Seeing a ghost?" he mused, the enjoyment of striking his former master evident in his cocky demeanour. Charging forwards the massive wookiee assaulted his old master with another flurry of stirkes his blade darting back and forth like a viper. Powerful strikes blasting Gon's defenses again and again.

How is he so powerful? Gon thought as he narrowly avoided another strike aimed for his heart. What drives him so? Stepping to the side he caught a back handed strike in the side of the face shattering one of his cybernetic eyes. The power of the wookiee's strikes battering his defenses down. Could there be someone behind this power? he thought as he jumped backwards to avoid yet another strike from the seemingly tireless Wookiee. The he saw him standing in the courtyard entrance. The man that was responsible for years of agony and torment. The man that had turned him into a weapon of hate, the man that had brought all of his fears to light, the man that had ruined his face. Tortured his body and broken his will. 

With a gasp Gon Doru lurched forward. Looking down he saw a red blade piercing his chest. His former Master's distraction had been all the time his former student had needed to plunge his saber into his back. "Why?" he sputtered, his cybernetic voice not more than a whisper. Air failing to fill his lungs, he turned his head slightly, catching a glimpse of the Wookiee in the corner of his shattered cybernetic eye.

"Because you failed," the Wookiee said, pulling the saber from his Masters back and swinging it at his neck severing his head from his body. With a sickening thump Shorurra kicked the dead body of his master from the steps of the ruined temple snarling once more. Walking from the steps he looked down at the head of his former Master seeing the lifeless cybernetic eyes lose their light.

Looking up from the head he saw his true Master, the man that was responsible for all of this. Kal looked back at his apprentice seeing his prodigy slay his former apprentice. A sickening smile spread across his lips, with an evil cackle Kal looked to the corpse of Gon Doru, evil seething off of him. "Now my young apprentice," he said looking back to the Wookiee, "your true training begins".

With a look of horror Shorurra had a sobering realization, that he would never become more than he was, a mere pawn in the horrifying story of Kal Vorrac.

*******

With a scream Shorurra awoke from his meditative trance, coated in a thick layer of sweat. He frantically looked around, searching for some sign that it was all a dream, that he had not killed his former master, that he was not evil. Then his eyes fell on a familiar sight, the sight of cybernetics, the sound of the gears whirring and clicking as he inhaled and exhaled. "Master!" He cried out leaping to his feet and tackling his Master to the ground in a hug of relief.

"Whatever you saw, was for you alone," Gon Doru said a laugh bursting from his lungs as he fell to the ground. The innocence of a child, he thought, musing as his apprentice lifted him from the ground in a massive hug. 

Tears fell from the young Wookiee's eyes - tears of relief. He knew now why he had not been elevated to a Knight, that the reason for all of these trials was to prepare him for the journey he would take in his life. That if he rushed and tried to hard to obtain power, he would only find misery and regret. "I know now what I must do," the wookiee sobbed clutching his Master in his arms.

The child that had immersed himself in the meditative trance, the innocence that had been so rash, so eager. The youngling that had entered that hall was gone. What stood now was a padawan. Fear, it seemed, was the only way to teach this young one patience. Fear of losing someone that he loved. 

It would only be a few months before he obtained the mantle of Jedi Knight, but it seemed like he had grown immensely in the past few hours, it was incredible the journey that he had taken, Gon Doru thought. But somehow, whatever he had saw had brought him to a place where he would be able to learn. To learn not only how to control the force but how to stay in the light, to become, a Jedi.

Putting his master down Shorurra smiled. Placing his hand on his Master's shoulder he simply said, "I'm glad you are alive, my friend." 

Gon Doru looked at his young apprentice with awe, what had he seen to humble him so, to bring him from a brash over-eager young Wookiee into the seemingly patient student that stood before him. Whatever it was, Gon Doru thought, I'm glad he saw it. Turning from his apprentice, Gon Doru started to walk away. "Come my apprentice," He said striding towards the door of the Hall of Meditation, "Now your training truly begins."