CHAPTER 4: A VISIT WITH MASTER MUERGOTH

The turbolift was surprisingly quick; Telon and Occala were at their floor in no time. They stepped off the lift and immediately it returned to the top floor, stranding them in the depths of Khal-Du-Rim.

Beneath the ceiling of solid rock stood two sheer cliff-faces, each lined with dozens of catwalks and each catwalk lined with dozens of cells. Between the two cliff-faces was a bottomless chasm, and a few interconnecting catwalks that only the brave or suicidal would dare cross. The cliff-walls ended against two other walls making a large rectangular structure.

The two end walls were much smaller than the sidewalls, which housed the cells. On one of the smaller end walls sat the tower for the turbolift and on the other were several small, semicircular holes.

"Those must be the tunnels." Telon said pointing to the holes on the opposite wall, his voice followed by a booming echo.

Occala just nodded. This place gave her the creeps. It was eerily quiet, other than the occasional scream of madness and the repetitive pitter-patter of the dripping pipes, the sound of which was enough to drive one mad itself. It was dark, lit only by small dim lights, which hung above every tenth cell. Being underground meant that no sunlight was ever seen. There was no day in Khal-Du-Rim, only perpetual darkness.

The air was musty, and everything was damp; but perhaps the worst element of all was the cold. It was not the sort of cold that chills your skin and numbs your fingers and toes; not the sort of cold that turns your nose and ears and cheeks red; but rather a deep cold, the kind that plants itself at the base of your spine and travels up and down and steals the warmth of your entire body.

In the eyes of these padawans, Khal-Du-Rim lived up to its reputation and then some. Occala gave Telon a look that expressed her discomfort with the present situation. Telon returned the look before he spoke.

"You wanted to come." He reminded her, again.

"I did." She admitted. "As much as I hate to admit it, I may have been wrong about wanting to come."

"Is Occala Sil actually admitting she's wrong?" Telon teased, knowing her obsession with being right.

"I said I may have been!" Occala snapped. "But I wasn't."

"Let's go." Telon said with a chuckled and headed for the catwalk on the right.

The padawans headed down the catwalk along a row of cells. They stayed close to the railing and far from the cell bars as they had been instructed. Telon noticed the cells had old-fashioned bars made of durasteel, rather than plastoid like most modern prisons. The dungeon's primitive facilities added to its harsh nature.

They went unnoticed by some of the inmates. Those that noticed them either made catcalls and lusted after Occala or pleaded with the two to help them escape. Those that did not notice them were either writhing about in their cell or curled up in a ball, mumbling to themselves. Most who took no notice were weeping. Neither padawan had seen so many grown beings weep before.

The two friends were about half way across when Occala made the mistake of looking down. She looked down into the bottomless chasm and became dizzy at the thought of plummeting. She took a step back to regain her balance, and was immediately grabbed by a leering Hutt.

The Hutt ran his slimy tongue all over her. She balled up her fists and struck the creature repeatedly, but it did no good, the large beast overpowered her. Telon eventually turned to see his friend in the clutches of the Hutt. He grabbed on to his friend's legs and together they broke her free of the creature's grasp.

"Ew!" Occala gasped as she scraped globs of Hutt saliva off of her.

"You wanted to come." Telon reminded her again.

Occala said nothing, she just looked up at Telon, her body was dripping with goo and her eyes had a fiery anger in them.

"Sorry." Telon said, realizing now was not such a good moment to remind her of the truth.

The two finally made their way across the catwalk to the wall of tunnels. They headed down the tunnel marked "six." The tunnel was narrow and winding. The tall Telon had to duck his head until they came to an opening. The opening was a small, domed room with numerous ancient devices of torture.

The floor of this torture room was crawling with small rodents and insects. The padawans continued through the room and down the tunnel until they came to another, small domed room. This room was littered with thousands of skeletons from every type of creature imaginable. The stench was horrid as it hit their noses and each of them had to hold themselves back from vomiting.

At last they came to a corridor lined with cells with heavy durasteel doors. Each door had a small circular window with bars. The two examined the numbers above the doors until they came to it: "1138."

"Here it is." Telon said.
"Are you sure about this?" Occala asked with concern in her voice.
"I can't explain why," Telon said, "but I have to."

The young Jedi then pressed the green button on his remote. A few seconds later the durasteel door swung open with a loud clang. The padawans went inside, they could see very little, the cell was dark. Telon pressed the button again and the small door slammed shut.

Their eyes strained to see anything in the darkness; it was so thick it seemed to consume them. They couldn't see their hands in front of their faces, let alone Master Muergoth. Then they heard a voice so chilling, it was as if the darkness itself was speaking to them.

"I don't often receive visitors. I'm surprised to say the least." The voice oozed with a hypnotic yet eerie charm.

"Master Muergoth?" Telon wondered.
"Yes, Padawan Kilnu, it's me. You may not remember my voice, but I certainly remember yours." The voice said.
"From your class, is that where you remember me from?" Telon asked.

"Yes, and I remember your blue-skinned friend, Padawan Sil, as well. A teacher always remembers those students who think for themselves. It's always such a breath of fresh air." Muergoth said. "Now, I'm assuming your visit isn't a social one; what is it you want?"

"I came to ask you about your holocron." Telon, said bluntly.

From Muergoth, there was only silence; then a faint chuckle. "Has the council finally become foolish enough to send padawans to interrogate me?" He asked.

"Well- -" Occala began, not sure how to answer.
"It doesn't surprise me. Those old fools have worn out what little wisdom they had long ago. They are an arrogant bunch, long deprived of honor." Muergoth spat.

"I hardly see how sending two padawans to do what you could not is arrogant. In fact, the action carries a great deal of humility." Telon argued.

"Indeed Padawan Kilnu." Muergoth agreed. "That's why they did not send you."
"What do you mean?" Telon asked.
"Just as I said, the two of you have always been independent, and just as I said the Jedi council is arrogant. You came under your own accord." Muergoth said.

"How did you kn- -?" Occala began, and then caught herself.
"I'm afraid you're mistaken, Muergoth." Telon said, trying to recover from his friend's slip.

"Oh no, dear boy; you'll find it is you who are mistaken, about a great many things." Muergoth sneered.

"What do you mean?" Telon wondered.
"There are many things that the Jedi council keeps from you. They have many skeletons in their closets." Muergoth said.

"And yet you're the one in jail." Telon reminded.
"I am here because they want my secrets. They want what you and I have." Muergoth said.
"What's that?" Telon wondered

"You looked in it didn't you?" Muergoth asked.
"Yes." Telon confessed. "But only briefly."
"You were intrigued by what you saw?" Muergoth wondered.

"Yes." Telon admitted.
"You have no need to lie, Padawan Kilnu." Muergoth said.
"I am not lying." Telon said. "I was intrigued."

"That's not what you lie about. You said you opened it briefly, yet I feel the darkness so strongly from you. You must have spent hours discovering it's secrets, and now you're here to be in my service and the service of the darkside." Muergoth declared.

"That can't be true. Telon only held it a moment before Master Sarla took it." Occala argued.
"The council has it?" Muergoth asked.

"That's right, your days are numbered." The Twi'leak gloated.
"On the contrary my dear, my days are just beginning. My plan was to let the council get their hands on it. Soon they will open it and see my beautiful vision of the darkside. They will turn to it of succumb to madness from the chilling images they behold." Muergoth gloated back.

"What's in it?" Occala wondered; just like her friend, her curiosity had gotten the best of her.
"Knowledge is power my dear, and if that is true than there is no object more powerful in this universe than a holocron." Muergoth said. "Inside the three triangular holocrons lie the secrets of the darkside."

"Three holocrons?" Telon asked. "I thought the council only found one."
"Skeletons in their closets, young Telon; skeletons." Muergoth said. "Among the many other difficulties of being a padawan, there is also the disadvantage of never being told anything. When they first took me into custody, they also took the first two holocrons. They contain the basic secrets of the darkside and are not as powerful as the great holocron."

"The third; is that the great holocron? Is that the one I looked into?" Telon wondered.
"Yes, young one, the third is the most powerful of all, it contains the deepest of the darkside's secrets. With this holocron, one could learn the very mysteries of the universe. One could create life or destroy it within the blink of an eye. They could be a god! That's why Von-Dil took his life, the bumbling fool wasn't ready for the awesome power of the darkside!" Muergoth declared.

"Many say it was because the darkside is evil, and he was too pure of heart." Occala said.
"They are fools. I know what they would say. They would say we should not use the darkside. They would say no one should have too much power; but the power came to us. The force chose us and so we should exhaust it to it's full potential; we were meant to have it." Muergoth said.

"Just because someone is given something, it doesn't mean they deserve it." Telon said, in his typically logical way.
"Jedi wisdom, Padawan Kilnu? I thought you were above that. I feel the darkness in you. Don't you understand? When those fools on the council open the holocron and fall to madness, it is beings like you and I who will rule!" Muergoth declared.

"Well, I guess there's a flaw in your plan then," Occala shot back, "the council can't even open it."
"Why can't they?" Muergoth asked. "Where's the key?"

"Key?!" Occala gasped and then turned to Telon. "Is that why you wondered if holocrons had keys?"

"Well, I- -" Telon stuttered.
"You!" Muergoth spat. "You took it! You took it from Von-Dil. You have it with you, that is the great darkness I sense."

"Yes, I have it." Telon said as he pulled it out of his pocket.
"Give it to me." Muergoth demanded.

"No." Telon insisted.
"You fool; don't you understand that in your hand you hold the key to the greatest power in the galaxy? You can not hope to wield it until you know the secrets of the first two." Muergoth said.

"Why do you care?" Telon asked. "I'll just be among the dead Jedi. Why do you want it so badly?"
"Because we know his plan and we and warn the council now." Occala answered.

"Still, the crystal should be worthless to him." Telon said.
"That's true." Occala said. "You created the holocrons, you ought to know their secrets. Why do you want the key?"

There was only silence.

"Because he doesn't remember." Telon realized. "He must have created them in a force-trance. He doesn't remember the secrets of the great holocron, that's why he wants the key."

"I want it because it is mine! Give it to me!" Muergoth said as a white, shriveled hand reached out at them from the darkness.

Quickly, Telon pressed the red button on their remote. Muergoth grabbed for the crystal in Telon's hand but before he could pry it from Telon's fingers, a large host of prison guards entered the cell and began to beat him with force pikes.

The two padawans left the cell, and the guards escorted them out of the dungeon. Once outside the gates of Khal-Du-Rim, Occala tried to catch an air-taxi to take them back to the Temple. Telon stood a few steps behind her, staring at the crystal. Occala grew frustrated because no taxies would stop; that's when she turned and noticed Telon.

"Can you believe thi- - What's with you?" She asked.
"Nothing." Telon said, quickly closing his fingers around the key.

"You're thinking about it, aren't you? Your thinking about what Muergoth said. Your thinking about the power of the holocron." Occala said.

"Of course not." Telon lied. "Why would I care? Power like that does not interest me."
"So you're going to give that thing to the Council, right?" Occala asked.

"Of course." Telon said. "Only, I wonder if I should."
"Why shouldn't you? If you tell them what Muergoth told us, to look in the others first, they're in no danger." She said.

"It's not that, it's just- -" Telon began.
"It's just, what?" Occala wondered.
"I only glimpsed into the holocron and the things I saw were good. What's wrong with using the secrets of the holocron, to achieve good things?" Telon rationalized.
"But at what cost would those good things come, Telon? How many people would you have to hurt to make your life better?" Occala wondered.

"You may be right Occala, but I still don't see why I should give it up. It is mine, I found it. Perhaps it was the will of the force that I find it. It was given to me, I'm meant to have it." Telon said.

"Just because someone is given something, it doesn't mean they deserve it." Occala said, reiterating the words Telon used against Muergoth.
"You're right." Telon said. "The crystal must be given to the Council."

Occala was finally able to hail an air-taxi and the two headed home. As the taxi sped away from Khal-Du-Rim Telon looked again at the crystal.

'Occala is wrong.' He thought. 'How could I not be meant to have it? I will keep it."

Although he didn't realize it at the time, that night Telon had taken his first step down the dark-path. He had no intentions of taking the crystal to the Council; he had lied to Occala and for the first time in their lives she believed his lie. He was finally good at doing something bad.

The whole journey home, Telon held the crystal in his hand. It was so cold it felt like it would burn him. He used to hate the feeling of holding the crystal, but for some reason the knowledge that this tiny object was the key to unparalleled power comforted him. The discomfort of the cold was a small price to pay for the awesome power of the darkside.