THANKS to the safe passage coordinates found onboard the shuttle of the Unnamed King, Agent Sluka and Sal safely passed into the MORKAI ANOMALY and exited hyperspace within a system whose details did not appear on any chart. Twin white dwarf stars rapidly revolved around one another and there was a gas giant, listed as MORKAI 4 on the charts obtained from the Unnamed King's shuttle, so massive that it was all but a star itself, and left a trail of Tibanna gas streaming behind it as it revolved in a complex orbit around the twin stars. There was more in the stellar system, two planets within the orbit of the gas giant, Morkai 1 and Morkai 2, and a large asteroid field named Morkai 3 which appeared to be the remnants of a planet destroyed long before also circled the twin dwarfs within the orbit of the giant.
But those other celestial bodies mattered not.
For Agent Sluka and Sal knew to where they must head. They felt it drawing them there. Drawing them to orbit around Morkai 4 and then to land on one of its moons. A moon rich with life, a veritable paradise. Morkai 4.3, where their DESTINY awaited them.
Thus begins THE TEMPLE OF THE UNNAMED KING, EPISODE 7 of THE ADVENTURES OF AGENT MALGO SLUKA, ISB…
Outer Rim
Morkai Anomaly
Morkai 4.3, one of four major moons in orbit about the supermassive gas giant Morkai 4
The shuttle's loading hatch opened. Agent Sluka and Sal were first stunned by the heat and humidity which quickly entered the shuttle and then slowly made their way down the hatch ramp, looking about for danger. Sluka was dressed in an Imperial black flight suit and Sal was in a blue flight suit she had picked up on Svobrum before they left for the Anomaly. Each carried a blaster pistol and a lightsaber on their belts. Agent Sluka looked up to see Morkai 4 filling the sky and granting it light. Then he looked down to where they had landed. The shuttle was sitting in a small clearing surrounded by jungle. Colors abounded. The trees were covered with their rich green leaves and flowers of varying colors. On the edge of the clearing in front of them stood two trees. The one on the right was covered with a vine using it for support, its green leaves and countless flowers sunning themselves in tandem with those of the tree, a symbiosis. But the tree beside it was likewise covered with a vine using it for a support, a vine whose leaves and flowers were not only thriving but whose stems were choking the life from the tree. The air was filled with the sounds of insects buzzing and birds squawking or whistling while they hunted each other or the many insects.
Such was life upon the moon. Living, dying in an eternal dance.
"Now what?" Agent Sluka asked. "Where do we go?" he glanced at Sal. Her big blue eyes were wide open in an expression of disbelief, as if she could not believe where she was standing. Is that the look I have on my face right now? Agent Sluka asked himself with a laugh.
"Pick a direction," Sal replied. "Let our feelings guide us."
"Is that what Inquisitor Altoson would have told you?" Agent Sluka asked.
"No," she snapped back with a grimace. Her face softened to a small smile. "It's what my Father would have told me to do."
"Sounds like a good plan to me," Agent Sluka answered as he stepped off the ramp and began walking in a direction to take him between the two trees.
As soon as they passed between the two trees, the air became quiet. The birds stopped whistling and squawking. The insects stopped buzzing. Even the wind stopped. But the leaves moved in the tree which stood in front of them.
A long sinuous yellow form became visible as it slowly moved along a branch and pulled its head high, a serpentine head with a horn over each eye. Its body stretched away from the branch, reaching out toward Agent Sluka, eyeing him with its serpentine eyes.
The Horned Serpent.
"Be careful," Sal said. "It might be poisonous."
Agent Sluka paid her no mind, transfixed by its eyes. I have been waiting for you, a voice slowly hissed in his head.
"Waiting for me?" Agent Sluka asked aloud, looking at the Horned Serpent.
"Is it talking to you?" Sal asked, glancing back and forth between Agent Sluka and the Horned Serpent.
Agent Sluka did not hear her question.
Yessss, the Horned Serpent answered. Waiting for you for longer than I can remember. Follow me. It pulled back and began to slither its way around the tree.
Agent Sluka glanced back at Sal. She simply nodded at him, concern on her face, and he proceeded to follow the Horned Serpent. Once again, the jungle came to life. Insects flew about and buzzed incessantly. Birds cawed and whistled. Things moved everywhere that Agent Sluka stepped. This whole place is alive, he realized. The Serpent picked up its pace, moving from limb to limb and tree to tree. Agent Sluka struggled to keep up with it. First, he followed it easily, then he was cut off by a patch of briars. He hurriedly backtracked and circled around, all the while keeping his eyes on the Serpent. He passed a couple more trees than came face to face with a tree which had several trunks, a wide obstacle. Quickly, Agent Sluka raced around the trunk bundle watching the Serpent while he did, finally catching back up to it. Agent Sluka became certain of one thing as he followed the Serpent.
He had no idea where he was or how to get back to the shuttle.
The jungle opened wide and beyond its edge rose a great hill covered in vegetation. Wait, Agent Sluka said to himself, realizing what was before him. That's not a hill. A pyramid shaped temple rose out of the ground, white stone visible in spots not covered with vines and dirt and flowers. A temple with a long set of white clear steps leading up through an arch of tree branches to its apex. Agent Sluka began climbing the steps while the Serpent slithered through the branches and leaves overhanging the steps. Statues of countless animals lined either side of the steps, stone statues of every shape and hue. Some were species whose form and shape were new to Agent Sluka, but he recognized four of them in particular. Amid the statues on the left was a green wolf and a black spider. Amid the statues on the right was a purple avian and a blue feline. And as he neared the top, he saw the statues that were there.
Flanking the steps at the apex were twin statues of yellow horned serpents, each wrapped around a white stone representation of a sapling. Twin serpent heads looking down the steps at Agent Sluka.
He walked between them and stood upon the summit, staring out at the tops of the trees beneath him. This is so beautiful, he said to himself. He turned around, scanning the jungle below. There is so much alive down there, Agent Sluka realized. He took a deep breath and listened to it, felt the countless multitudes of life throbbing beneath him. Suddenly, realization struck him. Where's the clearing we landed in? Agent Sluka asked himself in concern. What now? Where did the Horned Serpent go?
I'm right here, answered a voice in Agent Sluka's head with a sharp twist that it had not shown before.
He whirled around.
The head of the Horned Serpent was right over him, ready to strike. It launched forward impossibly fast and latched onto his neck. A burn instantly filled the side of his neck from the venom as it entered his body. Then the burning spread, almost instantaneously, to his chest and head, arms and legs. The great Serpent slowly wrapped its body around Agent Sluka and began to squeeze. The fire in his flesh died and was replaced by numbness.
Blackness filled his eyes.