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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2445732" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 254: Of GravityOne thing that Jyren always found to be vaguely interesting was that nearly all the planets he always ended up on, the gravity was about the same. It made him wonder if there really was any difference other than no gravity and some gravity. But the simple fact that he’d been on enough planets to experience the strength of its gravity didn’t say much for his intelligence. It was, sadly, not the first time he’d jumped off a building...and it probably wouldn’t be the last. It was, however, the first time he’d jumped off a building and come to the full realization of just how high up he had been prior to the jump. Usually, there would be something to land on relatively close below. Nothing a little assistance from the Force couldn’t handle. But now...    In all honesty, all that Jyren could really be sure of was that there was, in fact, some kind of place down there where he would, eventually, hit. There was a vague greenish colour all the way down, which gave him the idea that it was one of the many courtyard areas...but there weren’t any walkways or other areas anywhere near. Suddenly, Jyren became aware that his so-called ‘plan’ had been nothing more than pure insanity.    Maybe Shadow was right.    No, she definitely was. If anything confirmed it, the rushing air as he fell did. Jyren was, without a doubt, an idiot.    Not so far below Jyren, though, was Ket. The Alraxian hadn’t ‘righted’ himself in the air at all, still falling backwards and looking straight up towards where Jyren was. He hadn’t even attempted to morph! Jyren hadn’t either, but that wasn’t the point. After only a couple of seconds, Jyren felt a heavy grip on his body before he was yanked down faster. For obvious reasons, he wasn’t happy with that.    Suddenly, he was falling much faster than Ket and the other Alraxian was growing much closer(as was the green blur that was the ground, but Jyren was trying to ignore that part). Out of reflex, Jyren thumbed the activation switch on his lightsaber. In the loud roar of the rushing air it was impossible to hear the snap-hiss of the blade. Not that it really mattered, though.    In another short second Jyren was almost on top of Ket. And again, instinct took over where other more rational parts of the brain probably would have acted differently. Despite the fact that the two of them were falling at a very rapid speed to a quickly approaching and very solid ground below, Jyren swung his lightsaber in a long arc to cleave Ket in half.    Ket’s sword deflected the swing before pushing the weapon off to the side. A second later, Jyren’s faster momentum sent him slamming into the other Alraxian hard. Ket’s response was a sharp kick to Jyren’s gut that sent him ‘back’(or rather, up) very slightly. It was immediately followed by a quick, horizontal slash from Ket’s blade.    Jyren couldn’t avoid it, but managed to swing his lightsaber in and catch the metal sword before it cut across his chest. When Ket pulled back to thrust the blade and impale him, Jyren took the half second he had to kick Ket hard in the chest. The kick added enough speed to Ket’s fall that his sword-thrust fell short.    Short.    The thought yanked Jyren’s focus away from the Alraxian in front of him and instead to the ground beyond...or rather, below. There was, quite definitely, a very short distance between them and a painful landing now. So short, in fact, that Jyren was finally able to see the tops of trees and other plants throughout the large area. Ket obviously caught Jyren’s reaction to this new information, as he turned and glanced behind him.    The second he’d turned back, Ket put all of his strength into launching the sword the short distance up to Jyren. The point of the blade skyrocketed up the half meter distance in a blur, and Jyren could only attempt to twist away from it. He managed to avoid being completely impaled, instead one edge of the blade shot across his torso and left a long, deep gash before it shot up past him. Through the red that blurred his vision, Jyren caught sight of Ket changed shape before a large hawk-like bird shot off the other direction.    Cheater.    Jyren had never been very good at the whole morphing thing when it came to anything more than fixing simple wounds. Adding that inexperience to the unavoidable sight of the ground below and it was impossible for him to focus at all to even think straight. Except one thought continued to make it through.    He was an idiot.    But there was something just slightly off about that. If Jyren could have attached a word to it, the closest would have been distant, but then again that wasn’t all that right. The thought wasn’t distant...it just...wasn’t...his.    The realization of this hit Jyren about as hard as he expected the ground would. In the quick few seconds that he knew were still open for further living, Jyren spun around. He did not see the large cream-coloured, flower-like building that he had left not a minute before. Instead, he saw a brown colour. So much so that it completely encompassed everything in that direction. Jyren then quickly looked...back...no, up. The brown shape tapered off into a disturbingly familiar shape. His head snapped left and right(which were, thankfully, still left and right) to spot the two swept back, almost fish-like ‘wings’. The last place to look was ahead of him...which also happened to correspond with down. The brown shape came to a point at a nose.    As the whole shape slowly pulled out of its dive and started to arc up towards Jyren, he couldn’t help a slight grin. Maybe he would have grinned anyway...but it wouldn’t have been the same kind at least. Slowly, the entire shape began to tilt up, with Jyren inching closer and closer and almost sliding down the surface of it without even touching it.    Loki evened out about five meters above the tops of the trees in the courtyard. Jyren didn’t know this, though. Instead, he finally hit the top of the Kanyak, bouncing painfully on the strangely soft surface of the ship before realizing that he’d probably broken at least half of the bones in his lower body. Why that didn’t hurt, Jyren didn’t know...but it was better than the alternative.    He came fairly close to the alternative, however, and before Loki had set down on a nearby pad, Jyren had blacked out.</blockquote>

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