Squeezing himself between a very narrow crevice for about 10 minutes was a pain in the arse. Jack could feel how his back and his body was slowly ripped up by the sharp edges of the cold stone.
'It's better worth this dumb crystal. I should have just taken out the one from the lightsaber that I have in my Inventory.', he grimaced in annoyance while continuing his crawling speed.
[That is an option, but who knows what awaits you at the end of this tunnel - literally.]
'Very funny...', he responded to Terra. 'The ice probably also sealed shut behind me. I have been walking and walking in this damn deep cave for hours now. Just thinking about the path back is enraging me to no end.'
[Keep calm. You should be used to this, no?]
'Well, at least in my training I did something that put my mind to rest. And shutting off your mind while you feel an extremely sharp pain from all these cuts is not exactly making it easier.'
His initiate clothes were already drenched in various dark maroon spots from his blood. Most of them being at his back and legs. The warm jacket that he had previously was already back in his inventory or else he could not squeeze himself through this space.
[Why don't you see this as a small test of the flesh? Clearly the crystal is testing you. This whole cave changes according to the individual coming inside it. It's very mystical. Even the map function doesn't really work here.]
'Right...I nearly forgot about that. How am I even supposed to go back if the map just goes plop and changes? Fuck this entire annoyance.'
[Easy there. Looks like puberty is hitting you rather hard.]
'Pu.....You got to be kidding me.' Thinking about it Jack really could not explain his high annoyance and rather agitated state. 'Another thing to be careful about. How long does it go for Sith?'
[It depends. Since it started for you now, that would be about 7 years. At age 20 a Sith reaches adulthood and the way to reproduce.]
'What!? 7 whole years!?'
[It will lessen in intensity. And with your meditation, you should be able to counteract most of it.]
'Hmm, I guess you are right. By the way, what was that about reproduction? Sith only can get children that late in life?'
[Late? That is barely about 10% of your lifespan. Just like humans if you compare it to them. There are also other species that have it rougher in that regard.]
'Wait...Are you telling me someone like Yoda is only an adult at 60 or something since he is rather old at nearly 900?'
[Bingo~. That is the correct assumption. His race is in its infancy and adolescence for about at least 100 years.]
'What the hell...Good thing no one of us revived as that race. Or we would have been babysitters for about 80 oncoming years...Anything else I should know about my reproduction while we are at it?'
[Are you trying to occupy your mind or why the sudden interest? Everything else is about the same. It would have been a different case if you were female.]
'That does mean?' Jack was not too thrilled hearing her say that. It practically meant there were some differences.
[One would be the change of the menstrual cycle to an estrous one. Meaning you would only have a chance to get pregnant about 3 to 4 times a year. While in those estrous phases you would feel a heightened restlessness and libido. And there are many other changes. Should I really continue?]
'No thanks...I get the feeling you would get to the rather unpleasant parts from here on. So you are basically saying my race goes into heats. And since you said that is a female problem then I guess I don't have to worry about it?'
[Who said that you don't have to worry about your libido? It's a natural occurrence, no?]
'That's not what I meant!'
[Hehe~ Anyway, you should maybe just be careful about thinking that going raw is alright or something along that line. Sith have a much higher reproductive rate than Humans. The chance of a pregnancy happening is about three times as high because of the higher sperm count. Why do you think the hybridization was so successful and the Sith slowly thinned down to extinction.]
'That...Even if you tell me that, that only means that I will never have a hope of something like reviving my race. If hybridization is going so well that means at some point the race wills till go extinct.'
[That is about right...Hey, look, you reached the end.]
Just when Terra said that Jack squeezed himself out at the other end of the pain tunnel and breathed deeply in and out.
Then injecting himself with a bacta stim, the bleeding slowly stopped. Concentrating on the Force increased that healing factor even more until his wounds closed up. That took another 15 minutes but at least he felt revitalized.
Jack also probably wasted about 5 stims in this damn tunnel. But that also increased his body skill what made him smile in return.
Turning around from the tunnel he looked at the place he was at. His eyes were glimmering in yellow light because the light of the crystals in the cave reflected on it.
The cave in front of him soon let his mouth gape open because he could see the vastness of space again.
Of course not the real space but the image of darkness on all walls and the glimmering of bright stars that were depicted by the crystals.
There was even some kind of altar in the middle that a path leads towards.
Walking along that path Jack slowly came closer to the altar. He could feel the aura that was coming from it intensify by each step.
At some point, it even became harder to breathe and Jack had to force himself standing and walking on.
With perseverance and an iron will to not let this trip go to waste he pushed on and finally stood at the altar and looked at what was placed on it.
The dark energy surrounding the object was so visible it even could be touched directly. It traveled from the center towards the walls and seemed to have painted it in this vast beautiful scene.
Yet for its dark beauty, it was cold and Jack could feel some sweat trickle down his forehead that brought him some shivers. If he had as many body hair as a human then he would definitely have goosebumps by now.
Focusing his mind he slowly reached out toward the black crystal that was imbedded in the crystal. It looked like a Y and Jack tried to grab it by the stem.
The moment his fingers touched the stem the energy suddenly stopped as if time stopped. Then as if a beast found its prey it jumped right at him. Even the darkness that was on the walls traveled back to the altar and invade his body.
"Grrrrr!" Jack felt a sudden attack on his mind and it felt like his very being was ripped apart from this. It didn't even take a second and he shouted out loudly in pain.
"Damnit! FORCE DOMAIN!!!" When he shouted that he felt a sudden drop of pressure and slummed over the altar in exhaustion. The darkness was collecting around his domain like a black sphere. It could not penetrate that boundary and Jack smiled in relief.
But he could also feel his energy being drained like crazy. Not long and he would run dry. Even with all the training he did, he could barely maintain this ability for a minute. He grabbed the stem again and tried to break it to take it with him.
Even though he tried the crystal seemed to glim lightly and didn't budge at all.
Feeling irritated again Jack enhanced his strength through the Force. While that also sucked on his reserves even more and he could barely maintain this for 30 seconds now, it at least was the solution and the kyber could not withstand it.
The moment it broke from the altar an electric current traveled outwards and shocked Jack.
That let him faze out of consciousness for a second where his ability stopped functioning and the darkness could bombard his body again. But it did not do so and actually collected itself into the now two floating black kyber crystals.
Breathing heavily because of exhaustion Jack looked up and saw the crystal that was also now split into two separate even chunks.
A rumbling got him back to his senses and he grabbed the crystals and tried running back to the tunnel but just a short distance away from it the ground gave in and Jack fell down a dark pit that surrounded the frail altar.