The three were deep within the tunnel. Taran's flame illuminated the hallway as they pressed forward. The light revealed old Sith writing and an illustrated history of the Sith using what looked like cave painting. In one painting was the foundation of the Sith Order, in another when the Sith took over nearly the entire galaxy, and one coming up the torture of a Jedi.
"They sure were creative when it came to drawing," said Taran sarcastically. Up ahead the tunnel led down even lower. Here the ground was slippery.
"Don't worry about that," said Taran. Using his left hand he bended the water down the tunnel, keaving the hall dry.
"Thanks," said Anakin. They pressed forward, ever looking for any signs. When they got to the end they were in a massive room filled with sarcophagi.
"Is this where they buried the Sith Lords?" said Ahsoka.
"I think so Ahsoka," said Anakin. Taran had never felt so close to the dark side before. There were 21 sarcophagi were in the room, one in the center of the room the others lined on the walls. Each one radiated with dark side energy.
"I don't think it's a good idea to check out those bodies," said Taran.
"Taran, they're already dead," said Ahsoka.
"That's not what worries me," he said. Anakin looked at the sarcophagus in the middle of the room. He headed over to it, trying to prop the lid open, but with no luck. He used the Force, but still it wouldn't move.
"Taran, can you bend the lid opem," said Anakin, seeing that the lid was made of stone. Taran hesitated, then bended the lid off. The lid was flung to the other side of the room and a pillar of dust came out from inside the sarcophagus. They hesitantly looked inside to see the mummified remains of an ancient Sith Lord. The outside of the lid read: "Here lies Sith Lord Ruusan, leader of the Sith Empire." His body was covered in wrapping so his face or any other part of his body wasn't seen. His hands were folded across his chest. Anakin peered at his hands and noticed a faint, red glare coming from it. Anakin started to try and move the hands away from it.
"Master Anakin, what are you doing?" Taran said urgently.
"Trying to see what this guy is concealing," said Anakin.
"Do you have any respect for the dead?" Taran said.
"This guy is a Sith, ergo not violating anything," said Anakin. Taran groaned. Anakin pried the hands open to reveal a small, red glowing pyramid with Sith writing etched around it.
"What is that?" said Ahsoka.
"It looks like a Sith holocron," said Anakin.
"I've only seen them in stories, but never this close," said Taran. Anakin started to place his hand on the holocron.
"Master, that may not be a good idea," said Ahsoka.
"Ahsoka, there's nothing wrong," said Anakin.
"I don't know Master Anakin, those holocrons were made by the Sith, for the Sith. It may not be wise for a Jedi to touch one," said Taran.
"There's nothing to worry about, I am using my right arm, the robotic one," said Anakin. Taran and Ahsoka tensed as Anakin placed his had on the holocron, then sighed in relief as nothing happened.
"See, what did I tell you? Nothing," said Anakin. He took the cube off Ruusan's body. Still nothing happened. "Now we have something to take back to the Jedi Council, they'll no what to do with it," he said. Ahsoka felt someone's hand on her shoulder.
"Taran, you don't need to put your hand there," she said annoyingly.
"Ahsoka, I'm over here," said Taran from the other side of the sarcophagus near the feet. Ahsoka was at the head and Anakin near the left side of the sarcophagus. Ahsoka saw that Anakin's hand were nowhere near her.
"If it's not you, and not him, then who is it?" she said, fear sounding in her voice. She slowly turned her head around and saw a bandaged, arm on her shoulder. A deep groan erupted from the figure it was attached to. A mummified Sith bodyguard was what it was, it's face bandages removed to show a grotesque, decayed face. Ahsoka turned on her lightsaber abd slashed the arm off. The mummy howled in agony. Ahsoka saw with horror that the arm was still moving, and watched with even more horror as the mummy reattached it back on. The three watched as the sarcophagi on the wall's lids open up to reveal undead mummies coming out of it.
"We should put the holocron back," said Taran, seeing that the mummies were shuffling towards them. Anakin happily obliged and put it back, but looked with disbelief as the mummies still kept coming. They activated their lightsabers and charged into the mummies. They hacked, slashed, and cut at their mummy assailants, but watched in disbelief as they reattached their limbs back. Taran chopped a mummy in half, but it's top half crawled back to it's lower half and reattached itself. The three saw there was no way to stop these things and ran to the door, only to see it was sealed. They retreated to a corner and prepared themselves to fight to the death.
"These things can't die," said Ahsoka.
"They were already dead to begin with," said Taran. A mummy came up and grabbed at Taran's throat. Taran's free hand glowed red hot with firebending and he hacked off the arm's. He expected to watch the limbs reattach themselves, but saw with joy that they wouldn't. He got an idea and led the mummies toward him on the opposite side of the room. The mummies formed a semicircle around, which is what he was expecting. He bended a huge jet of flame at the attackers and watched as they howled from the flames that were slowly consuming them. In one minute they had all burned to dust.
"I though you said you had difficulty bending huge amounts of flame?" said Ahsoka.
"They were dead anyway so I felt no remorse," he said, his goofy smile playing out on his face. Ahsoka smiled a bit. Anakin went back to the sarcophagus of Ruusan and took the holocron out. Taran expected the dust to come alive and try to kill them, but it didn't.
"Master, that thing almost got us killed, maybe we should leave it," said Ahsoka.
"Snips, the mummies are charbroiled and we could use this knowledge to our advantage," said Anakin.
"As much as I hate to say it, he does have a point," said Taran. Anakin took out the holocron and placed it in one of his packs. They also saw that the door to the entrance was open.
"Oh, so it decides to open now?" said Taran in disbelief. They walked back up the tunnel and back to the entrance. Obi-Wan was waiting for them.
"So, what did you find?" he asked. The three jnew they shouldn't tell them about their mini-battle with the mummies, so they lied.
"Nothing really," said Anakin.
"Just some drawings," said Ahsoka.
A lot of rocks and stuff," said Taran.
"We did find this," said Anakin. He held out the holocron. Obi-Wan looked at it with wide eyes.
"A Sith holocron? So it's true that the Sith made these as storage places for their knowledge," said Obi-Wan.
"We should bring this back to the Council," said Anakin.
"Right. We're preparing to ship out. Does anyone smell something burning?" said Obi-Wan. The three went wide-eyed.
"Umm, must have been the torches," said Taran.
"Right, they must have been very old," said Obi-Wan.