Setting: Jedi Temple – Hall of Trials
Theme: Mastery Through Wisdom | What It Means to Win | Living the Balance
The Hall of Trials
Cain stood alone in the Hall of Trials, lights dimmed, the faint hum of the Temple echoing off polished stone.
His gold lightsaber with a black hue hung at his side. It pulsed, like a heartbeat. Quiet. Ready.
He took a deep breath.
Not to conquer. Not to prove. But to embody.
The blade is a reflection of the soul.
The first door opened.
Duel One – Obi-Wan Kenobi
Form: Soresu (Form III) vs Cain's adaptive blend of Form IV and III, laced with Shatterpoint perception
Obi-Wan entered calmly, no tension, no pride—only focus.
"You don't need to defeat me," Obi-Wan said. "Only show me who you are."
They bowed.
Lightsabers ignited.
Cain struck first, swift, elegant. Obi-Wan parried with the ease of a river resisting a pebble. The Soresu master danced around Cain's bursts, grounding every motion with purpose.
Cain flowed into Form IV's aerial footwork—flipping, circling—but read Obi-Wan's breathing patterns, using Shatterpoint perception to see micro-openings between rotations.
He found one—struck low—but Obi-Wan twisted, used Cain's angle to disarm him.
Cain leapt back, caught his saber mid-air, and froze.
Then… he lowered his blade.
Obi-Wan blinked. "You surrender?"
"No," Cain said. "I've already won."
Obi-Wan deactivated his saber. "Explain."
"I saw the moment I could win. And I saw how that would teach me nothing. You don't fight to win. You fight to protect.
Obi-Wan smiled quietly.
"Lesson learned."
Duel Two – Cin Drallig
Form: Cain's refined Form IV / V vs Drallig's Form V mastery and complex Saber blade discipline
The Hall reshaped into a wide platform.
Cin Drallig entered with a rare look of approval.
"No clever words," he said. "Just the blade."
They bowed.
Lightsabers ignited.
Cain struck first, flipping into a whirl of Form IV sweeps, forcing Cin to backpedal.
Cin retaliated with hammering strikes—his saber style a storm of relentless pressure. Cain blocked and redirected, stepping backward—but absorbing, not retreating.
Cain then shifted his rhythm, using Bastila's emotional clarity training to stay centered even as the blows quickened.
Cin pushed harder.
"Don't defend. Command it!"
Cain's gold-black saber flashed.
He stepped inside Cin's arc, past the storm.
And shut his blade off.
Cin stopped—blade inches from Cain's chest.
Cain met his gaze.
"I could've broken the rhythm. But that would've been for me. Not the lesson. You wanted me to command without control. So I chose the moment. And let it go."
Cin grinned.
"Well played."
Duel Three – Mace Windu
Form: Cain's precision-based adaptive style vs Vaapad
Silence fell.
Then… thunder.
Mace Windu entered.
Eyes unreadable. No lecture. No commentary.
Only presence.
This is not just a test.
This is a gauntlet.
They bowed.
Lightsabers hissed to life.
And then Vaapad exploded.
Mace moved like a hurricane wrapped in glass—each strike a test of resolve. Cain barely kept up, forced to use Shatterpoint just to see the tiny gaps in Windu's motion.
Cain danced, flipped, twisted—but Mace kept advancing.
At one point, Cain saw it—a Shatterpoint in Windu's stance.
He leapt for it.
And was caught midair, slammed into the floor.
"Instinct over patience," Mace said coldly. "Try again."
Cain rose.
This time, he waited. Felt. Breathed.
He let Windu strike.
Strike again.
Then…
He didn't strike back.
He blocked one blow—twisted—and tapped Windu's saber hilt with his deactivated blade.
Windu froze.
Cain whispered:
"I see it now. The way Vaapad draws in the darkness. The storm around your calm. I see the fracture in the code that birthed it—and I choose not to feed it."
Mace deactivated his blade.
"Enough."
After the Storm
Cain stood before the three Jedi—lightsaber at his side, breath steady.
Obi-Wan: "You chose restraint."
Cin: "You chose rhythm."
Windu: "You chose clarity over power."
Then Mace stepped forward.
"You've passed. Not because you fought better—but because you chose what represents leading with clarity."
Cain bowed.
"We chose the Jedi we could become."
Windu stared at him.
"Then may the Force be with you. You've earned access to the holocran."
The Holocron Awakens
That night, in a quiet chamber watched by Fay and Plo, Cain opened the silver-and-blue holocron.
Satele Shan's image appeared—regal, composed, brilliant.
"If you are watching this… then the Council has decided you are ready. I was Grand Master in a time of war. My every breath was weighed between survival… and meaning."
She turned her gaze directly toward Cain.
"I will not teach you to win. I will teach you to endure. To lead. And to become the flame that survives the storm."
Cain exhaled slowly.
Then let the storm come.