Author's Note

Hey guys'n'gals! Heres the next chapter of Luna's Dark Knight.... have fun ;D

Darkness and Light: Ch 7

Perspective: Aurora

A massive storm of electricity formed over us as the creature I had just been fighting lifted his arm up towards the heavens and unleashed an ungodly amount of power forth from his fingertips, The skies began to change drastically after began taking shape, the moon was blotted out, and a heavy rain then set in upon the entire town.

It was an experience in and of itself to see my opponent warp the elements to his very design... HE had to be a demon or something to have this much power at his will to bend and shape as needed. The being before me set me on edge; his black robes, his weapons that could cut through anything, but an enchanted sword... HE was covered in cuts and gashes, enough that it would have stopped any normal being in their tracks. His clothes were almost completely shredded above the legs... though he only had what could be reminisce of a tunic on the upper half of his body, it was almost gone... only leaving a dark hole ridden undershirt and a bit of fabric hanging down his side.

And even now, with this creature, which called itself Darth Corpus, standing by my side after my own men had turned on me... HE still sent chills down my spine... He had the will to float several things around us and protect us from my ex-comrades wrath. But for what ever reason he trusted me... Maybe it was my want to uphold my honor when fighting him, making sure to just have it be the two of us and to not kill the other... But even then he was a strange one, asking for a duel... but not to the death... Right now I just hope we get out of this shit storm, no pun intended...

But hell he even gave me one of his own weapons, So I guess he does think we'll get out of this... I just hope it's in one piece!

Perspective Corpus

I lowered my hand from the sky, cutting my connection with the growing storm. I looked down to Aurora and saw that she was shaking, though in fear or otherwise was yet to be seen. I took two blades off my belt and ignited them... Both shining a deep blood-red... much darker than the almost pink blade that I had given to Aurora. I then motioned out with my right hand and sent the blades on my right out to address my eastern attackers, I used my fingers to direct their flow of wanton destruction, turning all those arrayed against them to piles of dismembered limbs and or heads. I then lifted my other hand and directed the other blades in a similar fashion, becoming an orchestra of death and destruction.

Aurora just stared on in wonderment as I directed this orchestra of death, with only the use of my hands, though she did move forward and defend our position from the approaching gryphonian soldiers. She would hack and slash though their armor, taking off limbs or even bisecting a shield and taking the arm off in the process, she was a devil with that saber, though not as good as I. One of the fully armored gryphons then came into arms reach and was able to deflect her saber thrust, seeing as he had an enchanted sword I stepped in.

"Die... WHELP!" I growled out as I let the Dark Side flow through me, letting my rage and pain fuel my power even more, turning the low flame in my chest into a roaring fire of destruction. I lurched over Aurora, tumbling over her awkwardly flying through the air, I lashed down at the offending Gryphon, digging my sword into the base of his neck, severing his spine. He almost instantly fell to the ground in a heap, dead, as I landed a foot from his right. I recalled my blades and let them fall at my feet. Each of them had turned off the instant I called them.

There were about Two hundred Gryphons left in the Village Proper, waiting for us to go in and look for them, though we just stood there and waited for them to attack us, having dealt with their long range support.

"Aurora, we need thou to stay here and hold this position... Just yell out if thou need us... Understood?" She nodded and grabbed a shield and hunkered down as I strode into the village... knowing what lay within.

"Rain... Rain... Go... away... Come again ...Some other day..."I sung to myself as I strolled the streets of Sunny dale... I had seen the town banner as I walked about, It was sitting in a ditch covered in blood and mud. The entire town was deserted... There were hundreds of blood splattered spots all over the place... I could only assume that the citizens had put up some form of a fight... seeing as there was more bloody spots than there were people that lived here. As I was walking about I came across a four way stop, feeling a malevolent presence about the area I decided to stop and extend my senses...What i found was a little disconcerting.

There were several Gryphons around me, twenty to be exact... I located the biggest mass of life forces, clipping the saber in my right hand I raised it towards a large tavern that stood on the north eastern corner of the street, it was to my immediate front right. Raising my hand at the tavern I concentrate through the force, enveloping it in my minds eye, and I start picturing the structure... being crushed...Slowly at first as I hear the screams and terrified shrieks of the Gryphons, then faster as my rage sets in, having no mercy for these twisted birds, save Aurora, I speed up the process. I soon hear the shrieks quiet down as the sound of wood breaking and metal bending, stops... I looked up and saw a large dripping mass of wood and metal... Many liquids were dripping from within the mass of rubble... But the most apparent was blood... there was already a large pool of it under the floating ball of refuse. Seeing that my objective was reached I let go of the ball of death and let it crash to the ground, the entire thing falling apart as it hit.

I could then hear terrified yells and commands coming form the other gryphons in the other buildings as they tried to move from them. I moved onto a small cafe on the other side of the street, lifting my hand again I charged the force into my hand, storing up the energy until it almost hurt to contain it... Where upon i released the pressure and sent the energy flying at the building, tearing it to nothing better than splinters and shards of glass... all of which impaled the lightly armored gryphons within. Several of them were still alive as I walked towards them screeching and cawing at me in horror, my other blood-red blade still on and humming, I let the blade bow towards the ground some, letting the four foot long beam of power drag through the wood, setting it aflame, and melt the glass on contact. I was less than a foot from one of the crippled gryphons, this one happening to wear armor. I knelt down next to the sorry bastard and gave him a tilt of the head, reaching out with my right hand, I was charging the force into the tip of my index finger as it got closer. I kept my hand little over an inch from his chest plate as I looked him right in his terrified eyes.

I give him a few more seconds of terrified relief before I make my move, I cured my index finger up and swiftly thumped it against his plate armor, making a resounding 'DING' noise, one that is much louder than it should have been. He looks from me to his armor and gives me a terrified questioning look. Suddenly his chest piece just disintegrates... turning to metal dust and falling to the ground around us, showing his chain mail covered chest. From there he started screaming like a banshee, being mortified at what I had just done, several other bird like voices started screaming as well, looking around I saw some of the others coming too and having witnessed what I just did, they were all terrified of the new power I had just revealed to them. Taking my other saber in hand I aimed the emitter nozzle at his chest, a sadistic grin creeping across my lips as I did so. He looked at the nozzle expectantly, then at me, the instant he looked at me I depressed the activation stud and the signature snap-hiss of the blade was heard as it punched through his body and into the stone behind him. This punctured both lungs and severed his spine in one go... ending him quickly as it cooked his insides. He slumped over moments later, dead, with a trail of smoke coming from his body, this only served to make the other wounded gryphons even more furious and terrified of me.

Once the body of the gryphon in front of me gave its last twitch I deactivated the blade and stood to my full height, my torn robes fluttering about my body in a dead wind. I turned around to one of the gryphons that seemed to be trying to run away, though crawling would be a better term. I slowly, purposefully, strode over to the broken gryphon, letting my blades mark the earth with ever dip of my stride, leaving long glowing streaks in the earth where they touched. Coming to a stop right behind the gryphon, watching him futilely crawl away, I raised my left saber in salute fashion and then brought it down like an executioners ax, it cut through the gryphons spine like a hot knife through butter, bisecting the poor bastard from beak to sternum. He died instantly and without a thread of pain, seeing as the blade had obliterated his brain first and foremost.

Let it not be said that I did not have a shred of mercy in my body... though it came out in very odd ways back then.

I then looked to a small group of the birds trying to hobble away from the lot, trying to go down the remains of a alleyway, seeing them, and them me, I jumped into the air and disappeared into a blanket of fog that had started to come in during my destruction of the city. I flew through the air, away over their heads and field of vision, and landed directly in front of them, no more than a foot from the first ones beak, making them squawk in fear and surprise.

"Thou hast tired to harm the only living creature that was close to us... Thou hast been judged and thy judgment is death... Will thou fight it...?" I asked of the three birds laying at my feet.

"WE plead guilty... All WE ask is that you make it quick..." The lead one said in a defeated tone, resignation could be seen on his face, knowing that he was going to die.

"For thine transgressions against the throne... Of both this country and the Demi-Empire of the Sith... We give this... This one chance to go to your leader and beg for his or her hand in peace with this nation... Or WE WILL COME AND DESTROY THINE ENTIRE KINGDOM... Art we not clear?" I asked, a grim sort of grin on my lips, it did not reach my eyes... it was small and dangerous, giving only a moments notice before death came.

"We under stand! Thank you... Thank you and we will do as you say... WE will not forget this mercy!" The leader cawed, the other two nodded their heads vigorously in assent to his words, knowing their lives depended on it.

"Then go..." I growled out, watching as they quickly scurried away. Now I could only hope that their king or queen would listen to reason... I did not want to have to go to war again... not after all I've been through recently anyway... Turning back to the rest of the gryphons I called upon the force charged thunderstorm over head, I did so by walking back to the clearing and shooting more power through it and then using said power to shoot the stored up lighting back towards the ground, hitting many of the houses and setting them ablaze, granting some of the thatched buildings contained gryphons I did not care, for this was bringing back a cathartic sense of elation, causing all this damage and unrelenting destruction, even in the name of peace it was glorious!

During the light show about fifty gryphons charged out of the side streets and alleyways, running at me with sword and spear, each one hoping to land a hit against me. Seeing their charge I ended my attack and brought my sabers down and lurched forward at the closets combatants, spinning my blades in an extreme show of dexterity, making two over lapping figure eights in front of my body I beat the m back as they tried dodging and jumping out of the way, though each time they did I took something off of them, be it a limb or a digit.

I finally broke through their charge, wounding almost all of them, and killing the less fortunate. I came to a rolling Stop and came up twirling my sabers in an overly flashy move to deflect the small amount of rocks and pieces of wood some of the gryphons had managed to throw at me. Looking back I saw that only about thirty or so of the gryphons had made it through my counter charge unscathed, we'll in huge sense that they were still alive or able to move... I counted five dead and fifteen severely injured.

seeing that some of them were still alive I switch my grip on the hilt of my blades. Raising my right hand I pointed to them all with my index fingers extended.

"We command thee to return to thine kingdom and never return!" I commanded them, pushing my will upon them with the force, I had enjoyed the slaughter moments ago... But I did not need to venture back into old habits to fuel my powers... Seeing as this place holds a sliver of redemption for me. The gryphons nodded dumbly and picked up their fellows before leaving the intersection, leaving me alone to my thoughts.

My inner turmoil was coming out in questionable ways as of late, seeing as the dark had almost completely taken over when I faced the gryhpons no more than ten minutes ago... Setting fire to houses and butting them with little chance of a fight... I needed to end this little conflict quickly or else I was going to become the thing I had come to hate... The monster of the Sith...

I walked out of the now abandoned lot, the very same one that I had also let myself succumb to my rage and hatred for these avian predators... I turned left on to the same avenue I had walked down earlier and started to make my way back towards the outer limits of huge city, back to where my friend, of convenience that is, was waiting for me.

Going down the cobblestone roads I walked through many muddied intersections and rubble strewn walk ways... I took in the bare bones structures around me, each and every one reminisce of a medieval township. The houses were grey stoned with dark, almost black, brown wood and yellow straw for the thatched roofs. They matched well with the businesses that seemed to be built from the same cloth... Nothin overly pleasing to the eye when looking at the buildings here... It seemed like such a bleak place indeed...

While passing by one of the houses, I could feel the presence of a very young mind, one reaching for comfort of a sort. I could tell that this... Presence... Who ever It was, did not belong to any of the gryphons that I had sensed in the town and before that around us in the clearing. So, not knowing what this presence was, I set off in search of it... Hoping that I would not be to late to help.