|
|
|
When Serratus arrived in the Garden Square, he inhaled deeply. The mingling smells of the various plants were overwhelming and he coughed suddenly. Whoever had planned the garden, he felt, had not thoroughly thought it through.
Nonetheless, Serratus made his way to an empty patch of grass, crossed his legs and sat down in the dew. There were no other Sith in the garden, meaning there were no other Sith to get in his way. He expanded his Force presence, tentatively at first, and then with abandon, until the entire garden was held within his grip. His own breathing had become more drawn, the effort was unsurprising.
Serratus began probing the various plants as well as the coral and fish in the central pool. He started stealing tiny bits of life from each, not weakening them noticeably, but nonetheless collecting a considerable amount of life within himself. The sudden burst of youthfulness and energy was refreshing but, though he was loathe to, Serratus had to surrender it as part of his experiment. Serratus located a weak and dying plant. He started pumping the life into it, revitalising it. When all the life was emptied, he contracted his Force presence once more and rose from his position on the path of grass.
He made his way to the plant he had just revitalised. Minutes ago it had been grey and whithering, now it was vibrant green and blossoming. But it unnerved Serratus. There was something distinctly unnatural about it. Serratus saw a rather ugly, common plant near by and ripped all the life from it with ease. There was a considerable amount and he started to pump it into the revived plant.
When he was finished, Serratus took a step back in disgust. The plant's leaves and petals had turned to flailing tentacles and its stamen to sharp teeth. Its stem was now thrashing in a snake-like manner and was covered in scaly growths. Holding back his urge to vomit, Serratus quickly destroyed the plant. Perhaps distributing life was not such a good idea.
The plant had unnerved him even in its normal state. He knew why. It was a violation. He had violated nature by reversing the plant's death. He had brought darkness to the plant of a kind wholly different from the dark side of the Force.
But now was not the time for such self-disgust. He had an idea to investigate. He walked over to a particularly imposing gorgt tree. With the Force, he focused his presence into a short stocky limb of the tree. It was extremely difficult and required more effort than Serratus had ever needed to wield the Force. He noted the irony that affecting minute things was so difficult when there were several models of spaceship he could throw at least a hundred feet.
Eventually, Serratus managed to make his Force presence small enough to fit into the limb. With much more difficulty, he started manipulating the inside of the limb, the lightsaber plans he had memorised years ago shining brightly in his mind.
To an outside observer, Serratus would have appeared to be in a trance, but in reality, he was so focused on the task at hand that he could simply not focus on the outside world.
Maybe he was in a trance after all...
Several hours later...
Serratus fell backwards to the ground, weary and his concentration all over the place. He had completed the task at a heavy toll to himself. On a lighter note, he would sleep pretty well tonight.
Serratus reached out with the Force once more, detecting the inside of limb to make sure that he cut at the right points. With the Force, he applied pressure at two points on the branch, cutting clean through one and squeezing one into a single point so that it fell of and looked as if it had never been attached to a tree. Sap leaked from the branch and Serratus scooped it up. He applied intense pressure to it with the Force and it turned into clear, translucent, perfectly formed amber. Serratus removed the fruit of hundreds of hours of work and hundreds of pages of research sold to private companies, a Corusca gem, and inserted it into the stick, then placed the amber on top of the cut end of the stick. Sealing it with the Force and transferring energy from other plants into a bulbous growth at the pinched end, which swelled as more was transferred.
Serratus held up the stick with a certain reverence before pushing down on a knobbly growth near the cut end. For a moment, a long shimmering blade of light appeared but then quickly fizzled out and Serratus's first attempt at an organic lightsaber burst into flame. Serratus removed the Corusca gem and then dropped the lightsaber to the ground.
"It seems my experiment will require more work."
Without a second glance, he swept from the Garden Square, heading back towards the Grand Corridor.
_________________
If you see dreadlocks and a staff coming towards you very rapidly, you're in trouble.
|
|
