Iac stood in the centre of the chamber, his size dwarfed by the larger council masters like Oppo Rancis yet in the force he stood firm.
"Resigning from the jedi order as a youngling is unheard of, it has not happened in a thousand years, are you sure?" Master Windu said, his usual strict demeanour replaced with a more worried and confused look. Iac sympathized with him, everyone knew that Mace was going to choose Iac as his padawan once the youngling trials were finished. Despite that he had made his choice, he knew his fate and that of the jedi, he could not survive let alone fix anything if he stayed a jedi.
"If so sure you are then accept it we do, but your lightsabres keep you cannot. A weapon of the jedi they are and jedi you no longer will be." Yoda said.
"No. Lightsabres are of force-users not jedi, the sith have lightsabres yet they are not jedi." Iac responded.
"Hmph, my old padawan the same he said." Yoda said wistfully. The grandmaster looked back at Iac and nodded. "May the force be with you if decided you have."
"Yes, and I must thank you all for the guidance over all these years."
"Much you have pestered us, an avid learner you are, how without the holocrons and library will you do?" Yoda asked only half-joking.
"I'll figure it out, trust me."
He was soon dismissed and was let out of the council. His mind felt free for the first time in ages, as if a burden -no a chain- had been taken off. He walked solemnly through the halls of what had been his home for nearing a decade, half of which had been filled with studying laughter and life. Yet he had to let go.
He had already taken all his meagre belongings, that being his hoard of notebooks and a collection of mementos and nothing else. The life of a jedi was not one of material wealth, had he been born in any other time he would have gladly dedicated his life to the spiritual, yet he could not. No mortal could choose when they are born but he would make do with the deck given.
He reached the main exit, the breath-taking cityscape that still awed him lit by the orange sun of dusk. He stood there, feeling every creature, every being simply live. Millions of skycars full of billions of people. Buildings the size of small villages being the norm with the whole surface covered in them. The life did not stop just at the surface.
For thousands of levels the cityscape went down, the whole planet was life, more than Naboo, more than Earth, more than any other planet in existence. Coruscant was in every sense of the word a true Ecumonopolis, greater than the Greeks had ever thought possible. It struck the image of the true potential of humanity. It alone held the power to dominate to such an extent that the power solely of Coruscant outweighed a fourth of the entire galaxy on every metric, be they economy, influence or population.
It was the beating heart of life and he had to leave. He could not stay in the uroboric safety of Coruscant, it was not his destiny despite all his desires. No he had to go out, into the deep black and beyond.
"It's beautiful, the beating heart of the Republic." Mace Windu said, he had arrived minutes earlier but had stayed silent admiring the view. "For every planet I visit, for every year I live its beauty grows. There is nothing I have seen that surpasses it. I am willing to die for it as is my duty as a jedi."
Iac looked over at the one who had dedicated so much time in helping him, learning Vapaad or just general force related skills, Mace Windu had been the foundation of Iac's journey as a jedi. "I'm sorry." He said simply.
Windu looked at him unmoving. "Promise me, that you will cherish it, protect it and if necessary die for it."
"Coruscant or the Republic?"
"They are one and the same. For without its heart how can a body function?"
"And what if the Republic stops being good?"
Mace stopped for a moment then focused back. "Iacchus, I will not allow that to happen. The republic is civilization itself and the jedi will defend it no matter what."
Iac nodded and turned back to the cityscape sunset. After a while he spoke. "What of my goals, of finding Dooku?"
"I still do not understand why you wish to seek him out, but he was a good man and a good friend before Naboo. Now I am not sure. He is not an individual I would seek out lightly."
"That is all I need to know." Iac said resolutely ending any further talk.
He began walking down the steps of the temple, the sun having finally set; casting the city into darkness. "Iacchus, I sense a great destiny in you. Your shatterpoints are too many to count and comparable only to Skywalker. No matter what your future entails stay by who you are and your duty, duty to life and your duty to yourself. Do not go down the path of many lost jedi, the galaxy cannot afford the loss."
Iac nodded and walked away not looking back. He had made his choice and would stand by it. He called down an aircab and typed in the coordinates of his Coruscant base.
The ride had gone swiftly, descending the levels was always a tiresome affair but it was what he needed, time to meditate and think. He stepped out and thanked the droid driver, no need to be rude to sentients after all. He made his way through the bustling streets, his teen stature making him much shorter than the crowd, yet it also had its benefits, he squeezed and slithered through the crowd like a snake on a rocky beach.
He finally arrived at the Bacci, a bar he had purchased with not so conventionally gotten means and renovated into a centre for pleasure, ecstasy enthusiasm and power. He focused his will for a moment, and he morphed into his Lysios persona, that of an enigmatic and otherworldly barkeeper. His upper robe changed into a black jacket adorned with jaguarlike depictions in a deep purple colour. It remained unclosed leaving his chiselled chest laid bare.
His lower robes changed into black fabric shorts with the edges being yellow. None saw his transformation, their minds skipping over the event as if nothing had ever happened there, leaving only the slightest remnant of its truth as the vague sound of animals. Their howls and roars fading into the background silently and without notice.
Iac pushed open the front doors and entered. He made his way through the roaring ecstatic crowds revelling in the near divine power of drunkenness. He got to the central stairway and walked up. The upper levels were more expensive and thus most often used by the more elite of customers.
He found his target and sat down across him. The Iridonian looked up startled, his gaze was blank and distant, as if the man was in another world entirely and Iac quickly saw why. On the table laid multiple empty bags of essence, the powerful psychedelic drug his establishment sold at a premium.
Iac grabbed hold of the man's head and focused his will. With a flash of purple and horns the man's eyes cleared up. "My lord, Lysios! I have seen! How can I ever thank you!?" The man spoke frantically and enthusiastically.
"The Mystery."
"It exists!?" The man shouted unnoticed. In the uroboric ocean that was the establishment one lone enthusiastic outcry would go unnoticed.
"Serve me once faithfully and your initiation is assured." Iac stated.
"Thank you Lysios! No matter what I shall serve, you need only ask."
"Then I have use of you as of this moment. Your company has worked for the Count of Serenno plenty of times and you are a personal acquaintance of him."
"You wish to meet him? If so then I can arrange the highest luxury of transportation and arrange said meeting."
"Thank you." Iac said sincerely.
"No you my lord, before I found you I had been living in an illusion, now I am free."
Iac nodded and accepted the man's gratitude. He had done nothing other than open his eyes.
With the path forward secure he allowed himself to wind down and join the revelry of the ecstatic masses. For one night he would relax then he would seize his destiny.
AU:
So I began yet another SI story, hopefully this one last longer. Its definetly more 'radical' than my previous one, if that is even a word that you can use in regards to fanfiction. Hopefully you enjoy it or at least find it interesting. if not then I wish you good luck in your search for quality fics.
This fic is also crossposted on ao3.
