Chapter 9

Anakin opened the cockpit canopy to a whirlwind of ice. The frozen fury took the breath from him. He hated Ilum. It wasn't necessarily the planet itself that disgusted him, it was the lack of temperature whatsoever. Within minutes, lacking tundra gear, a human would become a block of ice. The exchange of warmth and cold in his skin cells began to process instantly, sending chills through his thick cloak and down his spine.

He fought the wind back enough to hop out of the craft. Only a few meters away, blanketed by the opaque blur of wind, Obi-Wan did likewise.

"R2," Anakin shouted over the wind. "Turn the heating engines on high. If you don't, we'll be returning to a sliver of frozen metal." He attached the thick cloth mask around his lower face, and sealed the thick goggles to his eyes. The drawing up of the cloak completed the ensemble.

"Master, the astromechs have set the heating at maximum, and I'm ready if you are." He adjusted the intercom within his heated mask. Obi-Wan muttered something that couldn't be distinguished. Anakin took it as an affirmative, and proceeded to follow the white silhouette through the white blanket.

The two traveled side by side across the plateau until they reached a large crevasse that reached downward into an abyssal darkness. There was no way of telling with the human eye how deep it went. They stood at the edge, peering down and measuring the distance to the opposing ledge.

"It's close enough that we can jump it," Anakin said.

"Wait a minute, Anakin. We need to wait and try to think about this." His reply was a snow covered brown blur running by him, leaping across the crevasse. "Anakin!" Obi-Wan could only follow him, taking a running start and diving over the ledge.

Anakin landed on the opposite edge, skidding to a stop in the thick snow. Before he could spin around, Obi-Wan came tumbling by him, thrashing about the ground. His landing was anything but graceful. Quickly standing up, Obi-Wan turned to look at the young man. He felt through the force the emotions that came with a grin. Anakin was teasing him!

"Umm," Obi-Wan stuttered. "My goggles fogged up right as I jumped."

Anakin didn't reply, but that grin was definitely registering via the force.

"Alright, there's a small hovel up the far slope. That's where we'll stay."

Anakin peered through his frost coated goggles to see a small building built directly into the side of the mountain. It was particularly difficult to see due to the high amount of snow blowing by his face, as well as the icy coating on his goggles. He hoped things would improve once they reached the hut.

"Master, how did we find the hovel so quickly?"

Obi-Wan didn't look directly at him, but kept his eyes on the hovel far above them. "There a countless ancient hovels carved from the mountains of ice on this planet. For millennia, the Jedi have used this planet as a way to connect deeper into flow of the force." Then, without hesitation, he began to climb up the slope that lay before him.

Eros, smothered in layers of black clothing, including a cloak embellished with the Crest of the Sith in red upon his shoulders, began to power up his new ship, the Puff adder. Thus far, the Jedi had no idea what had happened to him, and obviously had considered him M.I.A. in the Clone Wars. He was given the gift of surveillance and surprise. He could walk about the Temple on Coruscant without so much as a fleeting glance. No one would suspect him as the new apprentice to Sidious. No one.

He reached into the Dark Side of the force, and picked up several heavy containers that were most likely filled with supplies, and guided them up the ramp.

The Puff Adder stood two stories tall, thin and long. It took on the familiar shape of Sidious' former protégé, Lord Maul's Sith Infiltrator. There had been a few modifications to the particular model, but all in all it looked the same. He, of course, would not land at the Jedi Temple in a craft of ill repute, but would change ships on the planet of Corellia before returning to his homeworld.

He glanced back at the base where his new master waited. Deep within his soul, he felt the bubbling lava of guilt and fear, but instead of living with the dread, he charged it through the will of the Dark Side, fueling his power. Indeed he would need all the power he could utilize to walk within the halls of the Jedi unnoticed.

As he made his way up the ramp, the image of himself was caught in a reflective metal plate along the underside lip of the hull, and he stopped. For what seemed like forever, he gazed into his ghostly pale face. It had changed so. What was once a relatively handsome young man had become a grizzled flaw of nature. If the Council asked, he would give some sob story about being a victim of a mangling Starfighter explosion. Only by the will of the force had he survived. He looked deep into his own blue eyes, searching for whatever redemption that lay within. Nothing responded. The remaining cells in his body that were controlled by the light side were quickly dying off. Or rather they were being killed off by the Dark Side. With a final moment of staring, his face curled into a vicious snarl, and he spat at his reflection.

Anakin dropped to his knees in the snow. Even with his strong body, the climb in the frigid temperatures had drained most of the energy from him. He crouched to the side of Obi-Wan, watching as the Master didn't even hesitate at the stopping point, but continued climbing upward into the higher elevations. Anakin groaned.

"I heard that," Obi-Wan said, pulling himself onto another ledge and looking down. "We haven't far to go now Anakin."

"I know Master," He replied, short of breath. "It's just this temperature, it takes the life of me."

Within a few hours, the two stood before the small hovel, high above the plateau from where they had come. The hovel was definitely built into the side of the mountain, and had obviously been constructed millennia ago. There were no windows, and no doors. Only a small hole, barely large enough for the Jedi to squeeze through. Anakin didn't enjoy the fact that he would have to stay in a hole of ice, but he quickly reassured himself on the idea that it would keep him from howling wind.

As they squeezed through the hole, they were met with a single room, seemingly glowing with reflections of light from the outside. The floors were not coated with a single flake of snow, but gleamed like polished marble. At the rear of the room, another similar hole lead into blackness.

"That goes into the crystal caves," Obi-Wan mumbled while taking off his supplies. "That is the heart of the Jedi."

Anakin was quite surprised at the warmth of the cavern. It still wasn't truly habitable, but could tolerated with just a thick cloak. He curiously watched his breath as it floated up and away from him. The heat gathered atop the cave walls and warmed it within. Soon the heat from the two Jedi would warm the room even more. Anakin couldn't wait.