A/N: Happy birthday, Talicor! This fic is for you.
Enjoy!
Prologue
o.o.o.o
A bright expanse of grass.
A wooden temple, interlaced with metal devices.
Robed men and women milling about its entrance.
The subtle hum of the Force thriving in the air.
o.o.o.o
Crimson light showered it all.
The structure of the great building rotted.
Its denizens shrank and became hunched and feeble.
The glow of the Force faded.
o.o.o.o
Five figures entered.
Two towering males and three radiant females.
Like gods they were, bending all focus to them.
Even the Force obeyed the call, flooding to their presence.
o.o.o.o
The temple burned and its people crippled and died.
Yet not even an eyebrow was raised among those masters of the Force.
With a slightest touch, spectacular feats were accomplished and even the landscape shifted.
Yet in the splendor of those titans, all other life faded away.
Chapter 1: Mysteries
Ketzel Viren awoke, in a daze.
Prophetic dreams were not new for Sith, but this one was different.
More vivid? No.
More personal? Certainly not.
More powerful? No.
Or perhaps yes. Or maybe it was just the wild and fantastic nature of it that stood out so much.
Viren, for the first time, took note of his surroundings. He was on a ridge, overlooking an endless stony plain. A landscape so entirely devoid of color that even the sky appeared pale and listless, and darkened by ashen clouds.
A dead world.
One that made him think back to his dream, to the death of the inhabitants of the mystical place and of the draining of that world.
A world that had all faded to grey.
Viren did not know where he was, or even if this was the same galaxy as the one he had left. Whether there were Sith or Jedi, an Empire or a Republic there was no way of knowing.
All he knew was that those five beings were here, out there somewhere, warping the Force to adhere to their desires and destroying all balance that Viren had ever known.
They were a danger to him, and to the galaxy, and they had to be stopped.
o0o
Hazel Bark's actions had finally caught up with her.
She should have moved directly to her main point of focus instead of letting herself get distracted on Olederadi, but the many remnants of her parents' youth were too good to pass up. Besides, had she flown directly to Taldnornadi, she would have ran right into the search party.
Trusting Radayan had been stupid. He must have snitched to the family or his boss, who happened to be another of Hazel's cousins, and got all these agents sent after her.
She tore across the now-dusty remains of an old military compound, now not able to take the time to give the place any attention. The sun, though dull and pale above her, still heated the metal and the air all around Hazel, making running all that much more difficult. Trying to get away was pointless anyways. Starfighters whizzed above and around her, surely in preparation to surround her.
What ridiculous lengths her family would go to in order to keep her confined.
She sprinted up a flight of stairs and past various rubble to find herself on an old, battered landing pad with no way off except to leap down to the dusty plains below. She stopped and caught her breath. Hazel hated herself for giving up like this, but it was pointless to try and outrun all these pursuers.
Though maybe she could fight them. Not a very pleasant thought, but one Hazel allowed herself to entertain for the time being. Though, if it was who she thought it was commanding the squad of agents, she'd probably end up being convinced to return home.
The Starfighters gathered in a circle around Hazel and slowly descended to land. Their leader emerged first and the sight of her blonde hair and small frame confirmed Hazel's guess. It was Jafria Jeroe—or Rinten, now that she had married Hazel's cousin-, high commander of the Agency of Justice, which was the fancy name for what had basically become the Bark family business. At first glance, Jafria wasn't very imposing, but Hazel knew from experience that she was a lot tougher than she looked, both physically and mentally.
"So what's all this military action against me about?" Hazel began. "Am I not even allowed to leave Arebeddon at all for fear of getting the law sent after me?"
"It was a lot more than a casual trip from home," Jafria said flatly. "You snuck out of headquarters, practically stole a ship, and ignored our messages. We were already planning to go after you when your Uncle Jacien called and told us he sensed where you were planning to go and what your purpose was. If I hadn't gotten involved, the Jedi would have."
"Why is it that none of you can keep to your own business? How I am hurting any of you by trying to learn a bit about the past, our past?"
"Don't pull that one on me, Hazel. You never gave a damn about history. Everyone I talked to about this agreed this has to do with the fascination with power that you've been developing lately. This desire to know more about the Sith, our old enemies."
"I still don't see how that affects you!" argued Hazel, voice raising as she threw her arms out.
"You are going into dangerous territory with this so-called research. To be honest, I don't even know why Jacien and the Jedi are so concerned but if they are, you know I don't fully understand how Force-sensitives work, but even I can tell that this is business you should not be meddling in. You're powerful enough as it is, why isn't that enough for you?"
"Enough of this," growled Hazel. "Just let me go, and nobody gets hurt."
"Don't bring it to this, Hazel," said another voice, as Uncle Jacien stepped out of one of the docked ships, green blade ignited.
"Of course you had to show up and get involved."
"Hazel..." warned Jafria but it was too late. Hazel swung her blade in front of her, counting on the sheer surprise of her brash move to open a hole in the circle of agents around her. It did just that, and as the agents parted, Hazel sprinted to the edge of the landing pad and leapt to the plains below. Her own ship was parked only a short distance away, close enough that she could reach it before the agents could get back in their ships and catch up to her again. She felt a tug in the air around her as Uncle Jacien attempted to slow her but he was not strong, or ready, enough. Soon she heard the zoom of Starfighters behind her but they were too late. Hazel hurled herself into her ship and took off. It was a fast and well-made as those that pursued it, for of course it was the ship Jafria had brought up that Hazel had taken from the AoJ main hangar. Better still, she knew Jafria wouldn't let her guys fire on Hazel, meaning their chase was a futile one. Once out of Olederadi's atmosphere, Hazel entered the coordinates of the neighboring planet of Taldornadi and she was off, leaving the nagging Force-presence of her uncle behind.
Nearing the equally dull planet, Hazel felt something drawing her in. It was subtle, like her danger-sense or the tug on her consciousness when a family member was near, but it was definitely not either of those feelings. As Hazel contemplated it, she almost thought she felt a malevolent hint to it. Perhaps it was just the dark aura of the planet. After all, for thirty years this place had been inhabited by some Sith witch who had harnessed undead spirits to augment her power. According to the stories, Darth Aelitou had been controlled by the Sith spirits and went totally mad, rampaging across the galaxy. This had all been over twenty years ago, when Hazel's parents were younger than she was now, yet no Jedi or member of Hazel's family, the Barks, had ever come there after the war. It was no wonder this place had a sinister aura to it.
Hazel wasn't sure of exactly what she would find her, but she did not doubt that she would find something. There had to be all sorts of dark artifacts here, just waiting to be learned from. And why should Uncle Jacien be so against this? After all, wasn't he always saying how you should never let your vision of the Force be set in stone, to always let your views be adaptable, to expand your knowledge wherever possible? Wasn't that exactly what Hazel was doing? Sure, there was some element of danger, but she could handle it. She had fought in a kriffing war, after all, what could this be compared to that? Who knew what untapped secrets lay hidden to this place, and what clues could be found to lead to more treasures? That is exactly what Hazel was determined to find out.