Chapter 10: Xetha
Spotting the Shiboka citizens working the mines in the distance, the Wanderer spoke to Mari. "In my pockets, there's a bag of credits. Give those to the droid when he's done." Mari then checked the pockets of the Wanderer's kimono that she lent her, finding the bag of credits she was speaking of. "Wait... but where are you going?" Mari asked, watching as the Wanderer walked away toward the mines hidden behind the stone buildings of the city.
"Something ain't right here, and I'm gonna find out what. Just stay put, I wouldn't want you to get hurt." the Wanderer continued onward, leaving Mari confused. She never experienced a Sith takeover at her village, however, the Wanderer had.
As she walked past the empty, stone buildings, the Wanderer reminisced about her past, thinking about the village that she used to call home. It was as if the city around her transformed into her home as she continued onward with her hand on her hilt, walking past her memories of her own village.
She saw the wooden buildings with straw rooftops, along with the plethora of crops being grown by the many farmers that lived there. Her village was a farmer's town, one where almost every member grew their own crops which were then shared amongst the village. They were a town that believed in collectivism. Everyone farmed unless they were unable and everyone ate.
The Wanderer could see herself, along with her parents, tending to their topato trees, which grew the topato fruit, a sweet, tangy, and rich fruit that was often used in stews. The Wanderer used to eat them right off the tree, despite her parents telling her not to.
While she searched through her scattered memories, the Wanderer smiled, only for that smile to fade when her memories were then invaded by Sith.
She saw her people being slaughtered and killed by droids and starships, their crops being ruined by blaster fire. Before long, her memories showed her an empty village, one that echoed the empty town she found herself in during the present.
After exploring her past through her memories, the Wanderer's mind reentered the present as she continued onward through the empty roads until she found herself walking through the mines.
With her eyebrows furrowed, she watched as people of all ages and genders used vibro-blade pickaxes to mine into the unending stone, searching for Chromium. As she strolled forward with her hand on her hilt, many citizens ceased their mining, looking at the crimson kyber crystals that hung from her ears.
"It's her."
"The Nameless Wanderer."
"The Bloody-Eared Raven."
"The Grey Ronin."
The droids, the ones supervising the miners, looked over at the Wanderer and aimed their weapons at her. "Halt! You are not authorized-" Before one of the droids could finish speaking to her, the Wanderer held her hand at her waist before lifting it upward, causing all of the droids to rise up into the air and drop their weapons.
The civilians looked on with wide eyes, watching as the Wanderer then clenched her fist, crushing every single droid as if they were bottles of water. As the droids' corpses hit the ground, the Wanderer looked around and spoke to the miners. "Bring whoever's droids these are to me. I'm sure they'd want some compensation for their damaged goods."
The civilians were frozen in place, though one of them, a young boy, ran off to fetch the Sith who took over their town. As she waited, the Wanderer sat on the ground, covering her face with her hat. "Y'all better get on outta here. I don't want none of you to get hurt." the Wanderer spoke without looking up, though everyone was still frozen. "I said, GO!" As the Wanderer changed her tone, shouting to the city folk, they all cleared out of the mines, leaving her by herself.
Before long, Xetha, the Sith who took over the city just a few days prior, appeared at the top of the mine, looking down at the Wanderer who was still sitting on the ground with her hat covering her face. "A Jedi? On this planet?" Xetha was surprised to see the Wanderer. The planet of Inskako was so far removed from many other systems, the rumors of the Wanderer, the ronin with the grey lightsaber, had not reached many.
Using the Force, Xetha lept from the top of the mine and landed in front of the Wanderer gently, smirking at her with glowing Sith eyes.
"Are you surprised to see someone like me here, one-armed Jedi?" Xetha teased, though she could sense the malice from within the Wanderer through her single eye. Xetha chuckled, removing her lightsaber's hilt from her black cloak. Just as she did before, she extended the handle of her lightsaber, and a scythe-shaped blade appeared at the end of it. She then spun it in her hands so fast, the blade whurred and became a blurred, crimson circle surrounding her.
The Wanderer said nothing, pulling her lightsaber out of her scabbard with an electrifying hiss resonating from it before holding it with a forward grip. 'I ain't ever seen a lightsaber like this. I gotta play it defensive.' the Wanderer thought to herself, holding her blade at the center of her chest, pointed slightly at her opponent.
Xetha then stopped spinning her lightsaber, pointing her curved blade at the Wanderer. "I am Xetha, your reaper. Fear not, gray Jedi, for I will make your death swift."
The Wanderer still did not speak, inching her way toward Xetha with her lightsaber at the center of her chest. Running in blindly would be a mistake and she knew that she needed to watch Xetha and learn how her weapon was used, only then could she formulate a strategy to destroy her.
Seeing the Wanderer moseying over to her, Xetha had grown impatient, kicking off of the ground and lunging toward her. "Then I shall come to you!" she shouted, slashing horizontally at the Wanderer with her scarlet scythe. The Wanderer blocked and their blades collided, generating sparks as the two held their blades in place.
Seeing the distance between the two of them, the Wanderer grimaced. 'There's no way she'll let me in close. I'll need to end this in one quick move.' the Wanderer then pushed her blade off of Xetha's giving herself some space to think.
Xetha, with a sly grin on her face, laughed as she noticed the intense glare coming from the Wanderer. Her teeth were still clenched and her eyebrows were still furrowed, contrasting Xetha's carefree expression. This was her favorite part, watching her opponents struggle to formulate a plan to defeat her.
Quickly, the Wanderer stepped forward, aiming an upward slash at Xetha, though her crimson blade blocked it and shoved it away before the Wanderer could get close. 'She's fast.' the Wanderer thought. 'I need to be faster.'
The Wanderer and Xetha began shuffling in circles, staring at each other with contrasting glares. Xetha continued to giggle, smiling at the Wanderer as if she were trying her patience, taunting her to attack. However, the Wanderer's patience was unbreakable while in combat, that last attack of hers was simply a test of Xetha's speed.
Lacking patience herself, Xetha aimed a horizontal attack directly at the Wanderer's neck, letting out a grunt to truly sell its lethality. Despite the attack appearing as if it were aimed at the Wanderer's head, Xetha feinted the attack and quickly flipped her blade while spinning clockwise to slice at the Wanderer's leg.
The Wanderer wouldn't let such a novice technique fool her, blocking the attack before it could even come close to hitting her leg. As their blades clashed beneath them, Xetha smiled at the Wanderer, her eyes glowing bright orange as she could feel the exhilaration of combat consuming her. "You're quick, Jedi! But how quick are you!?"
As if her last attack was nothing more than a sample of what was to come, Xetha's speed doubled. Using the bottom of her hilt, Xetha smacked the Wanderer's wrist causing her hand and lightsaber to fling upward, exposing her mid-section. 'Shit!' the Wanderer thought to herself, quickly stepping back to avoid whatever attack Xetha had planned for her.
In spite of the Wanderer's hasty retreat, Xetha still grinned as she lowered her grip on her scythe, extending her range before slicing at the Wanderer's exposed abdomen. The Wanderer screamed as the flesh on her body melted at the surface, though Xetha's blade barely grazed her.
Without giving her any time to recover from the pain, Xetha lunged forward, aiming a diagonal slash at the Wanderer before using everything she had to cut her down. "Now you die, Jedi!" Xetha shouted, though, to her surprise, the Wanderer's willpower was unmatched. The one-armed ronin blocked this attack, shuffling backward to get space between her and her opponent.
Though the ronin continued to retreat, Xetha did not let up, stepping forward as she slashed from right to left, aiming for the Wanderer's legs once more. Even if she were to just graze her leg, the Wanderer would lose the one thing keeping her in this fight, she'd lose her speed. "Hah!" Xetha shouted as she attacked, nearly striking the Wanderer's left leg, however, the Wanderer blocked the attack with only milliseconds to spare.
"Hah!" Xetha shouted again, flipping the scythe in her hand before swinging widely on the opposite side of the Wanderer's body, this time aiming for her right leg. As soon as their blades clashed once again, sounding as if two bolts of lightning crashed into each other, Xetha had already begun the wind up for her next attack, flipping her scythe in the opposite direction before delivering yet another mighty, wide swing. "Hah!"
Despite her own impressive speed, combined with her overwhelming strength, Xetha's attacks were failing, which then infuriated her. "Die! I said... Die!" Xetha continued the pattern of wide, powerful, horizontal strikes, only for them to be blocked by the Wanderer's grey blade. She adjusted her aim, aiming for the Wanderer's neck, then her body, only for those attacks to be blocked as well.
"Look's like you're strugglin'." The Wanderer told her, speaking her first words of the entire battle, strategic words that would prove to be just as powerful as an attack from her blade. She knew of how Sith fought using their emotions, and she knew Xetha was growing frustrated, so she was prepared to use that to end this battle. Xetha's expression then shifted. She was seen gritting her teeth, looking at the Wanderer with eyes quivering not from fear, but from hatred. A vein even started to pop out from her forehead due to the Wanderer's words.
"RAAAAAH!" Xetha shouted, aiming an attack straight for the Wanderer's skull. "PERISH!" she screamed, only for her eyes to widen as the Wanderer ducked beneath the blade, looking into her eyes with her single, lone eye as she held her lightsaber with a reverse grip. With her crimson blade above the Wanderer's head, Xetha could not defend herself from the Wanderer's oncoming attack with it.
With her colorless saber in hand, the Wanderer aimed for Xetha's torso, right below the pommel of her scythe. Using all of her speed and power, the Wanderer slashed at Xetha horizontally and the sounds of her lightsaber colliding with something were heard.
However, these sounds were not a lightsaber colliding with flesh, no, it was the sound of two plasma blades crashing together like exploding stars. With a wide eye, the Wanderer looked down at her own blade being held back by a secret blade at the bottom of Xetha's scythe, its crimson light reflecting off of her aghast expression.
With a crazed look in her eye, Xetha laughed before pushing her bottom blade forward, along with the Wanderer to make space for herself.
Standing a few arms lengths apart, the Wanderer glared at her opponent's lightsaber, which then took the form of a double-sided scythe. 'Blast it!' she thought, coming to the conclusion that her one shot at winning this fight had been wasted. However, despite her plans being foiled, she did not let herself give up. 'No, I can still win this.'
"Consider yourself lucky, Jedi. You're the first to see my blade in its true form. Though it is quite a shame that you will not live to share its story." Xetha spoke arrogantly, her blade humming as she twirled it in front of her face before stopping it, holding it horizontally with one hand.
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TheWanderingWriter
TheWanderingWriter Excuse the typos if there are any, I feel a bit sick and I'm already terrible at proofreading when I am healthy lmao.
I'll fix them later.
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