Disclaimer: I own none of the characters except for the two ancient sith mentioned in the title, and maybe some more that will show up on the way - these are my creations. Everything else is the property of Lucasarts Ltd.
The Ancient Sith
Upon coming back from an extremely tiring mission in the outer rim, Ahsoka Tano was hoping to finally have at least one day of rest, but as another cruel twist of fate unfolded to answer her hopes, she and her master Anakin Skywalker didn't even have chance to get to their apartments before being summoned by the Jedi High Council.
"Why can't they just give us a break?!" was the most common saying among the master and his padawan nowadays.
"Probably because we're too good to set aside..." answered Anakin while entering the lift that lead to the council chamber.
Upon arriving there, both Anakin and Ahsoka noticed a strange disturbance in the force - like the entire council, all twelve members, were in a very sad and worried mood. Seeing their faces after entering the room just enforced that feeling. The entire council sat silent awaiting them (a very unusual feat since they ALWAYS have something to discuss), and when they stood in front of the council, Master Yoda spoke in a very silent and rather weak voice:
"Disturbing news, the council has received. A Jedi was killed, and not by droids, he was. By lightsaber, slain he was."
Seeing the confusion on Anakin's and Ahsoka's faces, Master Windu continued:
"It happened on Alderaan, while Dooku was leading a separatist parliament meeting on Raxus Prime. We could have suspected it to be the doings of Darth Sidious, or some other assassin, but..."
"A red eagle, in the skies was seen soon afterwards. The sign of bigger mystery, it is." Yoda continued "Long ago, an ancient Sith there was. His name, long forgotten is, but his legacy was not. So powerful was he, that achieved long life he has, and recorded, his death never was. Fear we must, that come back he has."
"That is why we send you to investigate;" Windu took the speaking once more "You will go to the Sith Temple on Thule. It is abandoned for millennia now, and recent intelligence confirms it is abandoned still, but our archives mention that the Temple holds a vast library inside it, and it should contain some information we might be interested in. Master Kenobi will accompany you. May the force be with you."
And with that Obi-Wan stood up and lead his former padawan's padawan, and the former padawan himself out of the room. Obi-Wan could give no more explanations, since none of the council members actually knew anything else, except Yoda, and Windu who has learned a few things from the former. They boarded their ship soon afterwards, and took off for Thule.
*********************************Thule Sith Temple******************************
All the way to Thule, Obi-Wan didn't waste a single moment he could use for lecturing on how dangerous it might be to be digging out information from an ancient Sith Library, and on how careful they should be. Repeating the same idea ten times in a row, changing the order of the words each time he did it, he also tried to change the words, only to find himself repeating the very same sentence three times in a row with no changes at all. When they finally got to Thule and found the Temple, Obi-Wan's lectures turned into exams - every now and again asking about what should be done in the case of... or what shouldn't be done at all.
"Would you please stop it Master?!" shouted Anakin as Obi-Wan began repeating his lectures again.
"Sorry Anakin, but I'm just trying to avoid complications and..." his words were cut off again by Anakin's annoyed voice.
"You were trying to avoid complications for the last three and a half hours! I think that is more than enough to..."
"Would you please stop arguing?" Ahsoka cut them both as Obi-Wan opened his mouth to answer, but now he closed it back again.
They were now walking down a long and dark corridors, that apparently lead to the main hall. The whole corridor was full of tall cloaked figures of long dead Sith Lords, each holding a cold and lightless lantern.
"This place gives me the creeps," said Rex pointing his flashlight to one of the statues "it almost feels like their following us with their eyes!"
"Are you sure there's no one in here master?" asked Ahsoka in a worried voice.
"Relax," answered Anakin, "it's an old Sith Temple. If there was anybody home, we'd be dead by now."
"Very relaxing, master..." groaned Ahsoka stepping a little closer to the Jedi Masters.
Soon afterwards they arrived onto a balcony overlooking a great hall. In front of them the passage continued some fifteen metres more, until it turned into another corridor on the right. On the left was an extremely narrow and borderless passage along the main hall's wall, with the passage being some twenty metres off the hall's floor.
"According to Yoda's description, the library should be on the far end of that passage over there." announced Obi-Wan pointing to the corridor on the other side of the balcony. "Ahsoka, Rex, you stay here. Anakin and I will go to investigate the library. If you see anything strange, call me immediately. Do not engage with anyone unless it is inevitable. Understood?"
"Sir, yes sir!" answered Rex affirmatively, with Ahsoka just nodding slightly.
"Master, can I go with you?" plead Ahsoka,
"No, young padawan, you stay here," answered Obi-Wan, "a Sith library is no place for padawans"
"But..." protested Ahsoka,
"Ahsoka, do what Obi-Wan says." Anakin closed the discussion.
"Yes master." groaned Ahsoka and sat near the wall.
It seemed to be a long time since the Jedi left the padawan and the captain alone on the balcony, and now some dim sunlight appeared through narrow windows in the high ceiling of the main hall. With the little light that appeared, Ahsoka saw a strange shape near the wall, not far from her. It was something small and dark, of a rectangular shape. Soon afterwards, like by a personal request, the sun appeared through a window straight above the spot where the strange object lay, and lighted up the whole area around it, just to reveal an old, dusty and weathered book. Ahsoka made her way towards the book, and picking it up she took the book's former place and sat in the sunlight.
The book wasn't large, but it was old. Very old. It looked like it's been lying there for millennia! The book itself was written by hand - in a very unusual handwriting. It was written in basic, a little old fashioned though, but the letters were a cursive version of the High Galactic Alphabet, and Ahsoka could barely read them. The book had no title, but it looked as if some ancient Sith Lord just recorded his entire life of dark force studies in it. Opening a random page, Ahsoka began reading:
"Two and a half centuries have gone by since I beheld the true prowess of the Dark Side, and now finally I begin to pass my knowledge to a new generation. I have taken myself an apprentice, whom I shall call a name later if he proves strong enough to survive my training. He is strong with the force, and through despair and pain, he will learn to rise to power! The days of darkne..." The rest of the page was burned, and she couldn't understand much of it. Scrolling onwards, she also discovered that half of the pages were missing. Finally, when she did find a readable page, she continued:
"Ragsalt becomes stronger by the day. His talent is incredible, but his lack of discipline is enraging. For once I hope to have a rest from punishments - having him beg me for mercy each and every day, again and again and again. Training is tiring, and as I train him, I more and more tend to remember the past - the long forgotten past that I have left behind more than half a millennium ago. Ah, so the years go by. One by one they are taken away by the eternal darkness. Deep is the abyss of the darkness, and powerful are the waters of the dark well, but prevent me from making count they always do. How old am I? How long have I trained him? Now I look upon him training, frustrating himself and exploiting his rage... I remember the years better. I am a score of scores counted thrice and seven years old, eight centuries since I empowered myself with the dark, now almost five centuries since I took him as my apprentice. Six and eighty and four hundred years to be precise. So I count upon his sight - and so his name will be - the counter of years, of souls, of despairs. From now on, he shall be called the dark counter - Darth Contabilous."
Reading the last words Ahsoka thought that old Sith books did influence their readers that weren't strong enough, since she heard the last two words being spoken. But she soon realised that the book didn't speak, nor did any voice in her head, but one of the two cloaked figures standing in the now well-lit main hall, facing each other. The closer figure, and the slightly taller, was clad in black robes, with a long black cloak and a deep hood drawn upon his head, overshadowing his face. The other one was clad in muddy-brown robes and with no cloak, while his hood was recently removed from his head by himself. The taller figure spoke:
"Darth Contabilous, you demanded my audience. Speak now, ere I leave!"
"My old master! Am I glad to see you!" answered Darth Contabilous in a sarcastic tone. "And I thought you wouldn't come!"
"If you ever did think I would not come, you wouldn't have come hither as well." answered the black-clad figure in a calm tone.
"You're wrong. You know I don't bother travelling, especially when searching for thee!" shot Contabilous in an even more sarcastic tone.
"You might not be bothered by this, by you are well aware my former apprentice Darth Sidious will not allow you to interfere in his business, and yet, you go and slay a Jedi on Alderaan as if nothing will happen?" although extremely old, neither of them sounded like being old. Both sounded like being in their mid-thirties, and as for Darth Contabilous, he also looked like that.
"And what would actually happen, in your ingenious and eternal opinion, old friend?" asked Contabilous in such a sarcastic tone, that it almost seemed as if he was drawing sadistic pleasure out of it.
"What might happen in the future, I cannot tell you, but I am aware of my surroundings. Two Jedi Knights are now searching the library only a hundred metres away from here and there's an entire fleet above the planet. You think you can handle them all?" the tall master asked, in a still calm tone, beginning to circle around Contabilous, who circled around as well.
"The Jedi will find nothing in that dusty library." dismissed Contabilous,
"The Jedi will find nothing just as most Togrutas are born deaf." said the old master, causing Ahsoka to wonder why in the name of the force would he mention Togrutas in a sarcastic manner? Now his face was revealed to Ahsoka and Rex watching from above. He was half smiling, yet his expression was buried in years of experience, most of which seemed extremely unpleasant as shown by his stern seriousness. His eyes where deep brown, and Ahsoka catched a small and strange glint in them - as if a reflection of himself - as if he was seeing through her own eyes.
"Or do you suppose Togrutan padawans and clone captains are both deaf and blind, to be standing above us and notice naught?" continued the master, now looking at Ahsoka straight in the eye. For some reason, she could not move. She wanted to run away and find her master, but she couldn't move a muscle. She was amazed by the speed at which Darth Contabilous leaped upon the balcony, dragging Ahsoka and Rex down to the hall. There, he threw her on the floor, laughing madly.
"No Jedi scum will survive a meeting with me!" shouted Contabilous reaching for an old fashioned lightsaber hanging on his belt. Moments before his hand could reach the saber, the black-clad Sith master behind him arose his hands, and by that Ahsoka blacked out, and remembered nothing more.
Author's Note: Hope you liked it, let me know what you think. This is my first submission to Fanfiction, so I would dearly appreciate building criticism. If there are any grammatical/language issues, let me know and I'll correct them as I can - English isn't my native tongue...