During the day, the planet Tython can be a rather noisy and busy place. Ever since the Jedi Council moved their main headquarters back to the old temples, people from all over the galaxy had come to fill out the ranks of the Jedi. Padawans, trainers, Masters, not to mention the essential staff of non-force sensitives that maintained the property, all of them bustling in and out of the area, making noise. You could hear the main temple long before you could ever see it through the brush.
However, nighttime on Tython changed the dynamic considerably. When sun went down, most of the Jedi would retire to their quarters. The Masters would meditate, or hold private training sessions. Trainees would eat their dinner in the mess hall, or convert a classroom into an impromptu theater and watch holo-vids until late into the evening.
Out in the forest, however, the nightlife would come alive. The hum of insects, the sounds of life, would fill the thick, dank air, and by moonlight you could see an entirely different side of the Jedi planet. Once the sun rose again, one sound would soften as the other increased, but for a few short hours in the dark, the native life of Tython would reclaim their planet.
So it was that during the night, there was one person in particular that you would not find in her quarters, or watching vids with the padawans. She was not to be seen in the archives, nor sharing a meal in the mess hall. The young Cathar called Adara preferred to spend her evenings out in the jungle air, enjoying the sounds of nature at their apex, and slinking through darkness unseen and unheard.
Adara was a small, lean figure of a Cathar, and could easily slip through the dense jungles of Tython. Of course, this was forbidden for the trainees. Tython is a dangerous place at night, with many natural predators that would not hesitate to seek out a nighttime snack among the young and uninitiated. Of course, even when she was a trainee, Adara made it habit to sneak out anyways, preferring the peace of the natural world over the peace offered by the Jedi.
Even better, now that she had formally completed her training as a Padawan and was officially a Jedi, she no longer had to hide her habits. She was free to do as she pleased, and though the limitation had never stopped her in the past, it was liberating to have once less thing to worry about.
Adara loved to climb the tall thick trees of Tython, to peer over the canopy and see what mysteries she could find. The planet was littered with ruins of the past, and while most had been picked over time and time again, now and then she could find little treasures among the forgotten ruins of the old world. There was no shortage of baubles and broken devices one could play with if one had the time and patience to look. And tonight, Adara was looking for something in particular.
Two nights prior, she had been exploring a section of ruins that had almost completely been reclaimed by the forest. Thick brush and creeping vines had nearly entirely hidden a small stone stairwell that led down into what once might have been a laboratory or classroom of some kind. Very little had survived over the years, but in the rubble a small broken device had been recovered. Adara had no idea what it was originally supposed to do, but it was small, and fixed with a lever that still operated. Of course, it lacked a power source, as well as whatever attachment it was originally meant to operate, but Adara found fondess in it, and had kept it in her quarters.
Tonight, she set out for that same ruin to try and see what else she could recover. The twin moons of Tython lit her path into the jungle, but once inside, light became scarce. Cathar had a degree of night vision, which served her well in retracing her steps back to her destination, but once she arrived, she pulled a small lamplight from her satchel and clipped it to her belt.
As she descended into the murky darkness of the old ruin, she flicked on the lamp and illuminated the path in front of her. Cobwebs and dust had claimed the area for their own, but Adara descended deeper into the old structure, the floors slowly began to look cleaner, and even the corners seemed devoid of any signs of life, as though not even the spiders dared to stray this deep.
Eventually, Adara came to a large, cavernous room. The floor was still paved with broken stone, but the ceiling had surrendered to the course of nature, and whatever natural carved rock housed this structure was all that was visible up above.
As Adara turned to look around, a small flash caught her attention. Something metallic reflected the light of her lamp and sparkled from a small cropping of rock and stone. Adara dug through the brush until she found another small device, similar to the one she had found before. The lever of this one was jammed, but it had two small buttons that the other did not have. And unlike the first one, this one had some kind of power source within it, for when she pressed the button, small faint lights could be seen firing up under the mesh lining. Adara smiled, having found another treasure, and tucked it away in her pack.
She swept her lamp across the area, and caught another reflection. This one was faint, but large and round. It was nestled in a broken section of wall, and seemed intermittent. One second the reflection could be seen, the next second it was gone.
Adara hurried over to the broken section of the wall and shined her light in. All she could see was some kind of thick leathery surface, and a faint smell of moisture and decay filled the air. Adara looked around the room, again. Perhaps there was some small creature in here, one that had carried off the yellow reflective orb she had spotted?
When Adara turned back to the wall, the orb was back. It was large, about the size of her head, and had some kind of black imperfection in the middle. Adara unclipped the light from her belt and raised it to the hole in the wall, and when the light struck the orb, the black crack in the middle contracted, and Adara could see plainly what it was.
Oh no
The enormous eye blinked, and a deep growl rumbled from within. From behind the wall, a clawed hand emerged over the top, and eye disappeared as the creature raised its tusked head over to look at the intruder.
not a flesh raider, far too big far too big, what is that?
Twin tusks appeared as the creature slowly raised its head over the wall. As it rose, overgrowth from hundreds of years of slumber peeled back and revealed a series of spines and overlapping plates and scales.
Adara's adrenaline surged, and a word from her history lessons about Tython came back to her in a flash, popping into her head like a warning light and sending her heartbeat racing.
Terentatek
The beast roared, revealing row upon row of vicious teeth, and Adara stumbled backwards, tripping over a stone. She fell on her back, and the lamp fell from her hand and shattered. The beasts mouth was closing as the light faded and the world was pitch black darkness.
ksccchhh!
Adara ignited her lightsaber, and the bright orange beam illuminated the room. The beast reacted instinctively to the sight of the blade and swung a claw down to grab her. With a quick swipe of the blade, Adara severed a finger off the creature clawed appendage, and the beast shrieked in pain.
Adara fled.
It was dangerous attempting to find her way back to the surface at top speed, and that danger was doubled by the lightsaber she held out in front of her to light her path. But she had no choice. She could hear the creature following, growling and snapping at her heels. The corridors were two small to fit the creature, but it pushed through anyways, lurching and leaping and pushing its way through to its prey.
Adara stumbled once again, and felt the beast's clawed hand wrap around her ankle. It snorted as it began pulling her back into the depths.
No time for half-measures
Adara clicked a switch on her saber, and the second beam descended from the bottom of the pommel. With a quick backwards flick of the wrist, the beasts entire clawed hand was separated, and Adara was released as the beast howled in pain. Adara scrambled to her feat, and didn't stop running until she was back in the light of the moons.
Dirty and tired, Adara leaned against the wall of the Jedi Temple to catch her breath. She gasped for air and sank to the floor, her heart still racing.
"Are you alright?"
Adara jumped, startled. A Jedi Master in a black robe was approaching her with a look of concern on his face. She scrambled to her feet.
"Yes, Master."
"You look like you've been through it." The man smiled, "Find some adventure out there tonight?"
Adara took a deep breath and nodded.
"Thats excellent." He extended his hand. "I'm Michael."
She took his hand and gasped out. "Adara."
"Yes I know. Adara. You're actually the reason I'm here."
Adara looked up, and her hood fell back from her face.
"Me?" She asked in disbelief.
"Yes. You've got another adventure ahead of you. C'mon, you can sleep on the way."
A few moments later, a ship was carrying the two off-world. The sun rose, and sounds of the Tython night faded once again.
