Selected for their strength and affinity for the Force and its application to combat, they are the elite. It is their sole purpose in life to safeguard the Imperial Family from the shadows; a secret cabal of men and women who have devoted themselves to Death. For by their deaths may the Emperor be kept safe and their duty fulfilled.
That is the purpose of the Shadow Guard. Nothing more, nothing less.
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The combat training arena was wide and formed in the shape of a circle. Various traps and hidden dangers covered its floor and walls. A single misstep could lead to a quick and ugly death. But that was the least of any combatant's worries when spending time in the arena. Above the arena was a single viewing platform, from where the senior members of the Shadow Guard could watch and direct the performance and training of the younger, newer members that joined their ranks.
Kandar, known by his rank of “Shadow Leader,” watched with interest as one of his newer apprentices fought the various challengers that had been provided for him to face for today's challenge.
Besides the automated traps, which were deadly, there were more than a dozen assassin droids in the arena armed with everything from exotic to mundane weapons. They were the latest design of combat droid for the use in assaulting high profile personages and killing them with extreme prejudice.
To his apprentice, Adaric, they were little more than toys.
Wearing the black knit armor of the Shadow Guard, Adaric twisted below a sudden plume of super heated plasma, barely escaping the radius by which his skin would have been scorched and his bones turned to ash. His jumped carried him away and into the waiting arms of three assassin droids. Two were armed with blaster rifles and the third with a pair of whirling lightsabers.
Using the Force, Adaric increased his spinning speed and passed beneath the legs of the lightsaber-armed droid. A quick jerk and and foot stomp, and he launched upwards, bringing his lightsaber in a whirling arc that cut the second assassin droid in half. The third opened fire, dousing the area in blaster fire. Adaric deflected it all, aiming some of the shots at the droid he had just passed up, causing several of the bolts to hit it in the back and fall forward.
Smiling, Adaric raised his hand and closed his palm. He reached out with the Force and crushed the third droid like a child would a tin can.
He couldn't celebrate his victory however, as four more droids appeared at his side, armed with melee weapons. On managed to hit the edge of their blades against his right shoulder guard, putting a scratch down its black, mirror-like surface. Cursing, Adaric returned the favor with an upper cut inside the droid's guard, and sliced both its arms and head off.
More droids began to fall before his glowing, gold lightsaber.
“I've never seen him smile like that,” said a voice behind Kandar. He had sensed her coming more than three hundred meters away, but he acted surprised none-the-less when he turned to face her. He fell to one knee and bowed his head in respect.
“Your Majesty honors us by her presence,” said Kandar.
Princess Dheinalia Kushrenada walked forward and stood next to Kandar at the edge of the viewing platform. A look of confusion was on her delicate face as she looked down upon Adaric as he dismembered three more droids whilst jumping over a sudden, gaping pit opened up in the floor with stakes at the bottom of it. A wide, Cheshire-esque smile was on Adaric's face. It was probably the only emotion she had seen on his face in over a year.
Kandar stood up and nodded as the princess looked down upon Adaric. “I know what it is that makes him smile. It is part of what it means to be a warrior. At this moment, right now, anything that does not directly involve him, Adaric will ignore. What he is feeling is not life, nor is it death. But an elusive and deep feeling of extreme happiness.”
“Happiness?” asked Dheinalia, obviously horrified by the prospect that anyone could be happy with the destruction that Adaric was inflicting. The princess closed her eyes and Kandar unconsciously became more tense. It was a carefully kept secret, that the princess had telepathic powers. Nothing too extreme or impressive; however she did have the power to project herself into another's mind and read his thoughts and heart. It would make her a good ruler one day, even if it made Kandar very uncomfortable.
“I see his thoughts, and they are filled with nothing but bloodshed,” said Dheinalia. She was careful not to let Adaric sense her intrusion to his mind. Part of what gave her an advantage when it came to dealing with Force-users was that they had a hard time sensing her power. “How terrible.”
“He is a warrior charge with your protection,” commented Kandar, quietly. He knew better than to argue directly with the princess. She was too sharp. “His abilities with a lightsaber and combat in the Force are commendable.”
Dheinalia turned and faced Kandar, looking deeply into his being. What Kandar saw there was enough to make him stop breathing for a second. The princess was filled with sorrow and regret, almost consumed by it.
“There might have been a time when he need not have learned such things,” whispered Dheinalia.
“Princess?”
She cleared her throat. “Have him come to the audience chamber once he is done. I will speak with him.”
“As you command,” Kandar bowed as Dheinalia walked back out of the arena and into the main halls of the palace. Kandar glanced down to watch as Adaric beheaded the last two assassin droids and dismantled a giant multi-laser turret with a Force crush.
“Just what does her majesty have in mind for you, my boy?” Kandar asked himself aloud.