She resurfaced from the lake, all was normal. Nothing was different. It was just like when she dived in. but she knew this was only an illusion, it turns out she had never been alone on the planet. Eran was nowhere to be found, she seemed alone, but she wasn't. She surveyed the scene; nothing. She walked up the stairs to the courtyard entrance; the writing was still there but no other features. She continued to walk through the darkened halls till eventually everything was black. There was no-way she could traverse the scene like this. But suddenly a bright light illuminated her surroundings, she was in the holocron chamber. At its centre was the device that Ezra nearly activated, the shrine that Maul was so desperate to find. She took a few steps before she felt that the ground was uneasy, she glanced down to see her white lightsabers placed at her feet "it's about time" she thought aloud, she equipped her weapons to her belt and continued towards the centre of the room.
"Glorious, isn't it" that all too familiar voice echoed behind her, the one perhaps responsible for all this bloodshed, why was it so interested in her? "It's a bit old" she quipped back to it, "it's incomplete" it replied. Ahsoka cracked a smile because she knew this presence was after the Holocron, and it was safely out of the hands of vader, maul and this new secretive threat. "Come on then, just us here, why don't you answer some questions I have" Ahsoka was going to negotiate with it? It was hopeless, she asked it twice before and both times it's responses were useless. But whatever happened to Malachor this presence knew what is was, she had to know the truth.
"My name is Traya, I was once like you Ahsoka, devoid of hope, stripped of my power, exiled. Now I walk the vast corridors of this planet, my connection to the academy was stronger than death, hence even millennia after my demise I still linger here, clinging to existence" it wasn't an answer to everything, but it was a start. "So you've come to aid me" she assumes "to offer a proposition" this was the catch Ahsoka predicted was coming "I have strived to show you the error of your ways Jedi, your order is dead, like the charred bodies that scatter across the Temple your ideologies are long forgotten" Ahsoka would not stand for this, Traya did not prove anything, she put Ahsoka into a nightmare in which her friends were dead and her master a villain. Sad thing is though, that nightmare was nothing more than a memory, the real experience was far more terrifying. "What do you mean, forgotten?"
Traya lifted her hand to reveal images of order 66, the purge that Palpatine initiated was happening around them. Clones turning against their generals, friends becoming enemies. "In an instant the Jedi were destroyed, a thousand generations of history and knowledge reduced to nothingness. Your once great temple turned to ruin. Your children screamed as they were cut down one by one. Tell me Ahsoka, how does that make you feel?"
Ahsoka looked on as all the people she knew were being killed in front of her, she couldn't stand the pain she felt knowing that she survived, but no-one else had. Kanan was a new companion, not a friend from long ago, he had experienced all this at such a young age. They may have both been Jedi but he was a Rebel, Ahsoka was always uncertain on her place "I feel, pain. Pain for those that had died on that day, but more so for the ones that survived, the ones that had to suffer" the images faded away and the chamber returned to its original state.
"had you ever considered that all this is your fault"
"What do you mean?"
"Your presence creates conflict. Imagine; how many wars were fought with Lightsabers, how many Jedi waged war on the front lines. The Mandalorian and Hyperspace wars, the Sith brotherhood, the clone wars! Every major galactic conflict in history, what one factor appears in all of them? The Jedi" The sad truth was what Traya was saying held some validity, the Jedi always called themselves keepers of the peace but history told a different story. But she couldn't let this creature get into her head, it wants her to have doubt "we fight for peace and justice, the Sith fight for themselves" This was what she was told time and time again, that the reason the Jedi fought was to preserve peace, not to destroy it "you call it peace and justice, but for whom? Yourselves?" Ahsoka did not appreciate these subtle insults and so was quick to respond "for everyone!" Traya began to circle the jedi, like a carrion bird honing in on its prey "as long as they do not follow the dark side or even consider it's concept". Ahsoka had enough, she didn't care about lectures when she was a Padawan, she certainly didn't care now "I've played your games, creature. Now show me the way off this planet"
Traya grabbed a patch of her her cloak and threw it up into the air, it turned the ceiling black and as if it was ink, thick rain began to fall onto her. With every drop the room changed from the Sith sanctuary that was the Holocron Chamber to a rich and vibrant ecosystem. She was surrounded by a dense forest, teeming with life. For once she could hear birds singing in the canopy, the amazing song of life surrounding her. She felt a moment of bliss before the realisation that this too might just be a dream. She is probably still on Malachor, trapped in an endless maze of corridors, where with each next turn a new mystery presented itself.
Suddenly, without warning a massive explosion silenced the bird song. The explosion was far away but its sound still caused damage at this distance. Above her she could see through the tress that the sky was going dark, a huge armada of starships blocked out the sun. around her squadrons of republic forces charged into battle, with Jedi warriors wielding cross guarded sabers as their generals. Machinery cut down the many trees to make way for massive weaponry; tanks and anti-aircraft guns were being dotted across the now declining forest. And from afar racing across in their jetpacks to intercept Mandalorians attacked the republic forces. The once great Armada above was now in an intense space battle, ships and debris came falling down on the battle below. Within minutes the peaceful forest became a horrific battlefield with both sides desperately holding ground.
Ahsoka hated the sound of silence back in the temple, but now she longed for it. She heard the screams and suffering of all these soldiers around her. She had fought in wars before but nothing on this scale. She wanted to get out. She wanted to leave. The cries and screams were proving to much for her, she put her hands over her ears to try and cut out the bloodshed and at the top of her lungs she screamed.
Her eyes opened to a different setting. She was now on a republic cruiser; the bridge it seemed. In front of her stood a shadowy figure, facing outwards onto the planet below. She assumed she knew what planet it was, the very same one she had just experienced on the surface. She could see flashes of red and orange, clearly mass explosions that could be seen from this altitude. The figure turned his back to it, Ahsoka could see he was wearing a Mandalorian mask over his face but his hood and bronze robes suggested he was a force user. Not to mention the two lightsaber hilts attached to his belt. He walked up the bridge's walkway to its exit, he took one look at one of the officers and without saying anything the officer knew what he wanted. With a few buttons pressed at the console there was a tremendous flash of light, it was blinding to her. She realised that the light came from the planet, the entire surface was lit ablaze, all of it was on fire, like a star but far more tragic. All those lives on the surface, all of them extinguished in an instant. The Jedi with the Mandalorian mask didn't flinch at all, his back to the horrific sight, he didn't even acknowledge it, he just simply walked of the bridge as though nothing had happened.
Ahsoka stood there, looking onto the planet, it still shining orange. A great emptiness entered her heart, she barely had the strength to stand, from this great disturbance in the force a great nexus was created. The Force is made by living things, death on such a scale as this was damaging the soul, every jedi in every quadrant must of felt these ripples, and she was at the epicenter. "The planet shook for weeks, the fires burned for years and by the time the dust had settled not even microscopic bacteria survived on the surface" it was Traya, she sent her here to witness that ordeal "what happened here?" she depressingly spoke trying to remain standing "it is called the Scourge of Malachor: the final battle of the Mandalorian wars" Ahsoka somehow knew that the planet she was looking at was Malachor, that feeling of emptiness was with her ever since she stepped onto the surface with Kanan and Ezra. "who could have done something like this?" she spoke, fearing to know the answer. The hooded woman approached her and only said two words "the Jedi"...
