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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3363040" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 437: Another Kind of IceVery little on Yavin IV was ever cold. Even the food that was supposed to be chilled had a way of becoming room temperature, at best, within seconds. Some said it was the humidity...but Tobias figured it was just the Force having fun with people. It seemed appropriate enough to him.    However, the moment he set foot inside the dark, empty opening chamber of the ancient temple the air felt as cold as ice. This was a shock to Tobias, who was, like most Alraxians, accustomed to a tropical climate and not at all used to anything near a cold temperature. Because he was attending the Academy as a human, the cold didn’t kill him, but it stopped him in his tracks and forced him to lean against the ancient stone wall nearest to him.    As he began to slowly work through the cold, which took some time as he was also trying to figure out what, exactly, was causing it, Tobias also noted that the corridor, or room, or whatever it was in front of him was completely pitch black. After a few moments of shivering, Tobias knew he couldn’t turn back and so instead reached to the object left on his belt...a small glowrod. An Alraxian wouldn’t need it, but, currently, he wasn’t Alraxian and so, couldn’t see a thing.    When the light was switched on, Tobias couldn’t help a sigh that it gave off no heat. What he wouldn’t have given for a simple flame on a stick right now...    But now he could see a good distance ahead. The light from the entrance behind seemed to be sucked into the cold, disappearing into it...but the glowrod provided enough light to see that he was in an ancient, crumbling corridor that looked much like the ones in the Great Temple. The only difference he could really see, however, was a great deal of inscriptions that lined the walls that were in a language that meant absolutely nothing to him. Because of this, Tobias didn’t stare at them long, simply getting a general idea and then starting in the only direction he could go...forward.    He needed to find the room described to him by Master Ral, which was apparently straight at the end of the corridor he entered from. At least that meant he didn’t have to navigate this place. But as he started to walk forward to what he hoped was the chamber, Tobias’ eyes caught a shift of dark movement at the very edge of the glowrod’s light. It went left to right, wall to wall, then disappeared into the darkness of the cold again.    “Who’s there?!” was Tobias’ first reaction...and not the smartest one, either. But it had been too late and he’d said it. His second reaction, moments later, was much more thought out...he reached out with the Force. This provided him with a result he hadn’t been expecting, though. Instead of seeing something...he saw...something that he couldn’t even describe to himself. It was as if cold, itself, was manifested into the Force. He looked at it from a distance, but the second he did, it froze him in place and looked right back.    Somehow, Tobias managed to wrench himself away from the icy presence, stumbling back a few steps in the process. He nearly fell over, but reached out with his free hand to grab onto the wall as he tried to catch his breath. What had just happened?! What had he seen?! What had...seen him?! There wasn’t supposed to be anything dangerous in here, but...    “The only danger is the danger you bring with you...”    The voice echoed through the corridor, coming out of the cold itself and sending a shiver of fear down Tobias’ spine. It wasn’t Master Ral. It wasn’t...anyone he knew...and yet...he felt a familiarity with the voice and it terrified him to his core.    “Who are you?!” Tobias yelled out again, trying to keep himself up and waving his glowrod defensively in front of him.    “You know who I am, Tobias,” the voice, this time, came from behind him. There was a twisted sound to the voice that made it sound like the speaker was on the edge of sanity.    Immediately upon hearing this behind him, Tobias spun around with his glowrod as if it was a lightsaber, swinging it in a long arc in front of him and revealing...nothing but the corridor he’d been walking down. Even though he saw nothing at all, Tobias yelled towards the entrance to the temple, “Tell me who you are!!”    This time, there was a cold brush across the back of his shoulder, but no words to come with them. The touch was enough, though, and Tobias spun around again, swinging his light source. This time, though, he did hit something...the ancient, stone wall. The glowrod hit it hard and fell from his grip, its casing shattering upon hitting the ground at his feet and the entire corridor collapsing into blackness. The shock of hitting something, even if it was just the wall, send Tobias stumbling back again, but this time he couldn’t keep his balance and fell flat on his back.    He only heard the thud of his impact echo once, and was thankful for half-catching himself so that his head hadn’t snapped back and sent him into unconsciousness.    It was then that the voice returned, this time laughing, “Look what you have become, Tobias! Soft! Terrified! You’re more a child now than ever!”    Still feeling panicked, Tobias’ hand found the wall and used it to help him scramble up to his feet, “Stop taunting me and tell me who you are!”    The faintest of glows returned to the shattered glowrod at Tobias’ feet. It pulsed slightly, a dim light compared to what it had been before, and fading slightly before returning again every few seconds, but it was a light again. And in the light, dim though it was, Tobias could see a figure. Standing in front of him was an adult Alraxian, as tall as Jyren and built just as strongly. He wore the same armour that Marix wore...Tam’Day’U armour. His face was hard to see in the light, but Tobias could make out hardened features and a maniacal smile as two red-orange eyes watched him with that piercing gaze. The Alraxian’s hair looked a mess, but was cut fairly short and the colour was hard to see in the darkness...but one feature, of all of the ones that Tobias could see, stood out in his mind...the Alraxian only had half of a tail.    “You know who I am, Tobias Halpak,” the Alraxian said in that same voice, sending another chill through Tobias.    “That’s not my name!” Tobias screamed at the figure, taking a few steps back while doing his best not to fall over again.    The Alraxian in front of him did not seem phased at all, and simply took two calm steps forward, “You cannot deny your lineage, and you know who I am. You can feel it. You can even remember it, too...from before they made you so soft and weak...you remember when I made you strong,” the smile on the Alraxian’s face grew and somehow, in that, became more terrifying, “You cannot hide behind your illusions any longer, Tobias...you know your true father is Ket Halpak...and you know that I am him.”</blockquote>

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