Finally, to Anakin's relief, they saw a small building appear out of the trees. Anakin raised an eyebrow.
"That is the great Jedi Memorial? It's so small."
"Judge not by outward appearances", Obi-Wan answered. Anakin gave him a funny look. "It goes underground," he explained. He stepped up to the small building's door and began looking for a button to open the door. He found none and frowned.
"Please step away from the door." a voice suddenly said seemingly from nowhere. Obi-Wan stepped back and Anakin stood beside him. "Please tell me your name, your title, and your business here."
Obi-Wan and Anakin exchanged looks. "I am Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, and this is my Padawan Anakin Skywalker. We have come to pay respects to a fellow Jedi."
"Let me see your lightsabers." Obi-Wan's frown deepened, but he unhooked his lightsaber. Anakin sighed and unhooked his.
"I don't like this," he grumbled as he handed his weapon to Obi-Wan. A small slot opened up on the side of the building and Obi-Wan slid the lightsabers into it. They stood waiting for a few minutes. Finally Anakin lost patience.
"What is going on here? Where did that guy take our lightsabers? Something's messed up around here!"
"Anakin!" Obi-Wan snapped, just as the doors in front of them hissed open. Obi-Wan stepped inside first, with Anakin close behind. Anakin was looking around the circular room when the sound of footsteps caught his attention. An Ithorian was limping towards them. He reached the two Jedi and bowed to them.
"Greetings. I am Kelchu Omaaz, Jedi Master. I apologize for all the added security, but we had a break-in a few days ago." He handed Obi-Wan the two lightsabers. Obi-Wan replaced his on his belt and handed Anakin his.
Anakin stared at the Jedi Master. "What did you need these for?"
Kelchu chuckled. "Many things, young Padawan. Each Jedi has their own lightsaber design, so I check that. I also check fingerprints. And when your Master told me his name, it checked his voice."
"Every type of security needed," Obi-Wan remarked. "Why did someone break into the Memorial?"
"Beats me. But if you are going back there, be careful. There's been some reports of some kind of dark spirit floating around in the halls."
"Dark spirit?" Anakin asked.
"Yes. Other Jedi say that you can't see it, but you can see it through the Force very clearly. It has a very dark aura about it. It can attack you too. It attacked one Jedi, and he died. He was brought out by another Jedi in a coma, but he later died. Of what, we don't know. And we don't know what it is or how to get rid of it. So my advice to you is to go in there and get out as fast as you can."
Obi-Wan bowed his head respectfully. "Thank you for the warning. We will be careful. I just wish to add something to my Master's memorial and show my Padawan a few of them."
The Itorian nodded. "May the Force be with you." He turned and went back through the door he came from. Anakin stared after him, then looked up at Obi-Wan.
"You think that's what has been bothering us all day? That spirit thing?"
"I don't know Anakin. But he did say it was of the dark side, so it could be. But come," he began to walk to a large door," the sooner we get in there, the sooner we can leave."
Anakin followed Obi-Wan through the door and down a long flight of stairs. The stairs exited into what looked like a long hallway with small domed holes carved in them. But Anakin noticed that as they passed the domes, a holo of a Jedi would pop up. Then it would disappear as they reached the next one. Anakin was so engrossed in watching the holos of the dead Jedi appear that he didn't realize Obi-Wan had stopped. He ran into Obi-Wan from behind and nearly fell down,
Obi-Wan looked at him with a warning look on his face. "You should keep your awareness up, Padawan."
"Yes Master. I know." He was about to say something else when he noticed the holo that Obi-Wan was standing in front of. It was Qui-Gon Jinn. It was a holo taken not long before his death, and to Anakin looked just like the last time he saw him alive. Strong, full of life, and so wise.
He looked away from the holo and watched Obi-Wan take a wrapped parcel out of the pocket in his cloak. He unwrapped it carefully and pulled out a familiar object. He placed Qui-Gon's lightsaber in a small indention in the dome. Anakin looked around at the other domes and noticed, for the first time, that most of them also had a lightsaber.
Obi-Wan reached into the dome and pulled out a small square object; a holocube. He flicked it on and handed it to Anakin. Anakin scrolled through the pictures. All of the first ones were of Qui-Gon as a child; playing in the lakes in the Room of a Thousand Fountains, or in a class. The next holo was of a teenage Qui-Gon standing proudly, with his new Padawan haircut and braid. Anakin stared at picture after picture. Some of Qui-Gon and a teenage girl; his first Padawan. A few others were of Qui-Gon and a dark-haired boy. Finally Anakin reached a holo of Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. The Obi-Wan in the holo was no more than fourteen years old, his face bright with excitement. There weren't too many holos after that, and finally after one with a twenty-five year old Obi-Wan dueling Qui-Gon, the holocube shut off.
"He died only a few weeks after that last holo," Obi-Wan commented sadly.
"Oh," Anakin said quietly. He looked up at his Master, but Obi-Wan seemed lost in his memories. Suddenly Anakin felt sorry for him for the first time. Maybe that's why he's so unsure of himself... He thinks he wasn't ready to be a Knight when he became one. He misses his Master a lot. I hear him talk to Qui-Gon sometimes, when he thinks I'm asleep.
Anakin was about to try and comfort his Master when a strange darkness crept into his senses, like fog through a small crack. Anakin involuntarily took a step back, then turned to look at his Master. Obi-Wan was standing a good way from Anakin, stiff and with hands clenched tightly. Anakin looked up at his face, but was bothered by the look in Obi-Wan's eyes. A haunted look had just come over them, like he was seeing his worst nightmare.
Then around a corner, the source of the darkness came at them. Invisible to their eyes, they had to look at it through the Force. They watched the highly defined disturbances it made as it seemed to turn around in front of them. What Anakin assumed was the front turned to regard him for a moment, but then turned to Obi-Wan with seemingly greater interest. It sped through the air and came to a stop mere inches from Obi-Wan's face. Obi-Wan instinctively took a step backward, but the spirit seemed to follow him.