Chapter 23
Year 1 Month 3 Day 21
Karel defended the Empire's attempt to go past Mount Glenn. After he was assigned to become a Master to a young Jedi girl named Rouge. After the last battle Legion 122 was assigned to investigate a strange Ruin in the Vacuo desert.
During the month long break from war, Rouge went with Karel to complete her first trial. She smiled when she got her Kyber crystal. Karel helped her build her lightsaber. It was a simple design, meant for a more practical use than anything else.
Karel entered her room and saw her putting her crystal in her lightsaber. She turned on her lightsaber, and a green light came out of it.
"Good. Now you don't need my lightsaber anymore." Karel said.
Rouge took out the yellow lightsaber and handed it back to Karel.
"I've completed my first step to being a Jedi." Rouge said.
"Yeah, you have. Come now, we've just landed." Karel said.
Rouge clipped her new lightsaber to her belt. Bora was standing outside the door.
"Look Bora, I did it." Rouge said.
"Wow, soon you'll be able to take this old man down." She said playfully tapping on Karel.
"You're older than me." Karel said. "And besides, if I was getting to be old, I would have a beard."
"You're not doing that." She said.
Rouge smiled.
Gael walked out of the ship first. She scanned the area, but didn't find anything. Xar came up behind her.
"What is it that we're looking for?" Xar asked.
"I don't know, but we had reports of the Empire snooping around this area. Commander Allusis will know more than me." She said. Troops started to leave the ship. Xar walked to a Pillar in the sand. He felt a wave of the Dark side.
"Gael, I think I found something." Xar said.
Gael walked over and looked at the pillar. Xar put his hand out and started to channel the force. The Pillar started to rise out of the ground with a shake. A door rose out of the ground, with a skeleton in the door way.
"Get the Commander out here."
Karel walked up to the ancient temple.
"We never scanned this before. It must be an ancient Sith temple." Six grey Jedi came to the entrance with their troops coming with them.
"Looks like the empire found it first." One of them said.
"Let's go, we're going to leave a tenth of the troops behind. Major Onyx, you're going to stay here."
Onyx took the place of Major Roy. He saluted and ordered his men to stay.
Only half of the 122nd was with Karel. The other half was guarding Vale.
Two grey Jedi stayed behind to raise the temple back up when they needed it to come back. Karel started the trek into the temple with Rouge and Bora next to him. They descended down the stairs and found a room with multiple stone statues. They heard the door at the front of the temple close behind them.
"Looks like we're stuck down here." Xar said
"You're not the only ones" A voice came out of the darkness.
"Wait, I know that voice." Karel said. He turned on his lightsaber, and all the lights in the room turned on. Lord Soule was standing in the room, with Sno, both having seen better days
"What happened here?"
"There's an ancient Sith buried here. We tried to find out more about him, but we ran into a problem. We can't fight if we're going to survive this place." Soule said. Karel looked for troops, but didn't find any.
"Where are your troops?" Karel asked.
"Some are dead. Others trapped. Don't split up." Soule said. A door slammed shut behind the group. Karel turned around.
"What just happened?" he asked.
"Squads 40 to 43 just went through a door."
"They can't even listen. Be careful. Every room has traps lying in it." Soule said.
Screams could be heard.
"And that's why we don't split up. Here's something I noticed jedi. This place is built like the tombs on Korriban.
After some of the troops entered into the chamber, the Door behind them closed. Xar and Gael were with Karel and Bora, but the Grey Jedi got separated with them, along with half of the 122. The stone statues started to make noises and they started to move.
Bora took out her pistols.
"They don't have weapons." A troop said.
"Doesn't matter." Soule said. He turned on his lightsaber.
The arms on the statues started to fall apart, and metal came out. Vibroblades came out of the arms of the statues, and their mouths opened. Metal pipes came out. Something came out of the mouth and fired out bullets. Karel blocked the shots and rushed forward. He jumped up and slammed his lightsaber down, cutting a statue in half. Rouge turned on her lightsaber and rushed forward. Gael and Xar got ready. Soule quickly cut one in half. The troops fired at the statues, and the stone was slowly shot away. The statues were droids. Soon, though with some trouble, the droids were destroyed.
Karel turned off his lightsaber and went to the droid. He checked them, and noticed that they were hollow. Karel reached his hand in the hull of the droid. He felt something, and pulled it out. He pulled out a rib bone. Rouge took a step back.
"I see." Karel threw the bone to Soule. He caught it.
"So, looks like all the servants for the Sith became it's guards."
"That belonged to a Miralan, so whoever this Sith was, he brought others with him." Karel said.
"Commander…" Major Violet came up.
"Yes?"
"We lost twelve in that attack."
"I see… That's a lot worse than I hoped for. Have we been able to open that door?"
"No sir. It seems that the Grey Jedi have taken the troops down two separate paths."
"I see, well we can only hope for their success now." Karel said.
"Where's Zia?" Bora asked
"Right here." She called out. She looked at Bora.
"So, we meet again. Sorry about not lending a hand, I just needed to stop those hounds from getting to us." Zia pressed a button, and there was an explosion nearby.
"How long have you been in here?"
"Two days now."
"But we didn't see any sign of you above the temple." Karel said.
"Probably Salem. We figured something out about this temple. The largest part of it is in the center, and all ways lead to it. It's probably where the Sith Lord rests. If anyone goes down there, he'll be able to take over their bodies."
"Where did you find that out?"
"Follow me. We have a lot to learn about." Soule said. Karel and his people followed Soule.
They got to a room that looked like a library. The lights were on, and the air in here seemed fresh.
"As long as we're in here, or one of the other three spires, we won't run out of air. Come to the wall." Soule grabbed a glow rod and walked to the wall.
The wall was covered in Aurebesh.
"Look familiar?"
"By the force." Karel said under his breath. He read the prophecies of the Sith'ari and the Chosen one.
"What are these doing here?" Karel asked.
"The Sith came from our Galaxy. Looks like he did more than we thought possible. Look right here."
The word was Semblance.
"He has a Semblance, though he was born in our galaxy. Keep reading." Soule said.
Karel kept reading. He read of a prophecy of a "Priestess of Ashla and a Priestess of Bogan going to war."
"The Moons of Tython, what do they have to do with this?"
"I don't know." Soule said. Rouge came up to Karel and looked at the wall.
"What's this?" She asked.
"This is called Aurebesh. It's writing from the galaxy that the Jedi order originates from. Probably an ancestor language to Remnant basic." Karel said.
"Do not get comfortable little one. If you do, this place will be your grave." Soule said.
"I'm not afraid." Rouge said. Soule kept reading.
Zia came up to Soule and handed him a Scroll. He opened it and read it.
"I see now." He closed the scroll and out it in away.
"What was that?" Karel asked.
"The powers of the Maidens."
"Why do you want to know about the maidens?" Karel asked, moving his hand closer to his lightsaber.
"That's for us to know."
Bora came to Karel.
"Do you remember that piece of paper you had at the Jedi temple?"
"About semblances? Yeah, why?"
"I think we found the whole context."
Bora handed Karel the text. He read it.
"Legends talk about a Jedi and a Sith who once obtained aura and semblances. They received these through an the elixir of the Gods. A rare elixir that even we haven't found much of. The Master made us look. We think we have found it, though it may be wrong. There are three beings who embody the light and dark sides, along with one who keeps both in check. These three seem to be the Key to the gaining of an aura…" Karel put the journal away and ordered his men to get ready to leave. Some of the troops took some of the books and scrolls.
"We'll have to thank the Sith Lord ourselves." Karel said.
"If we want to get out, probably. If we could find a map in here, then we'll know where we're going." Soule said.
"Men, look for any map we can find in this place. If we're lucky we'll find the one we need." Karel said.
His troops started taking the books of the shelves, and the scrolls. They looked, but they found nothing. A few more books were taken.
Sargent Violette brought her hand up and moved towards Karel.
"Here we go." She unwrapped the scroll she was holding and laid it in front of them. Karel looked over the map.
"Well, let's hope the Grey Jedi are doing better than we are."
One of the Grey jedi, Auron Artis opened a door. He had the men come in with him. There was a single mummified body in the center of the room. After three squads entered the room, the door closed behind them.
"Men, separate. I don't like this."
"Jedi…"
"Sir, did that corpse just speak?" One of the troops said.
"Good, I wasn't the only one hearing that." He took out his lightsaber. The blue light lit up the room. The mummy took out a red lightsaber. It rushed forward, and ended up with its lightsaber jammed a squad leader's chest. Its fingers cut holes in his neck and it sucked his blood. Color was returning to its face.
"Blood."
Auron spun around and tried to land a hit on the creature, but it blocks the attack.
"I need Blood"
Karel saw six strange markings across the Temple. They were unique. Soule looked over and nodded his head.
"So, we that's where they are?"
"Where who are?"
"Those markings are for the apprentices of the Sith Lord. We killed two of them, but it seems like to open the way to the main entrance, we're going to have to kill all of them."
"How do we know the Grey Jedi haven't killed them yet?" Karel asked.
"There have only been two shakes inside the temple." Soule went back to the wall. Rouge came up.
"He's lovely." She said.
"He wants to kill me. This is the second time we've had to work together to survive."
"Where are we going next?"
"I guess we go after the next apprentice."
Auron was the last one. The mummy returned to their human self. He blocked the attacks, but he was getting tired. He got a hit on the Sith, and she got one on him.
"My master will enjoy your head" She charged at Auron, He ducked under the hit, then rolled under her legs. He brought his lightsaber behind him, as he cut the left leg off the Sith. She dropped to the ground, and Auron cut off her hands. She turned.
"Strike me down."
Auron plunged his blade into her heart. The Temple began to shake, as the blood from the Sith poured on the floor, flowing in a pattern. The door opened up, and more troops entered. They saw the sight and were shocked.
"We need to find a way to get to the others." Auron said.
Auron took the lightsaber with him as he left.
The temple shook.
"That's another one down. We only have half of the apprentices to deal with. One more on our half, and two on the other half." Zia said.
"Then we better get to the next fight" Xar said.
"It's going to be better than being stuck in here a minute longer." Gael said. She put two books into her pouch and left the room. Soule led them to where the third apprentice was. All the force users, and the Mandalorians entered the room, with some of the best troops they had. The door closed behind them, and they all turned on their lightsabers.
"Heresy." The Mummy said. It got out two lightsabers and rushed forward. Karel and Soule blocked the attack. Gael and Xar used the force to push the apprentice against the wall. Zia and Bora tied up the apprentice. Rouge and Sno rushed forward and went for an X cut. The Apprentice turned into dust in front of them.
The imperials were on edge. Every became uneasy and they knew it wasn't done.
They heard it before seeing it. They turned around and saw one of the troops having their blood being sucked out of them. The apprentice dropped the body and quickly cut two more troops down. Gael and Xar rushed forward, and stopped the attacks from continuing. Zia fired her blaster in its body. It hit. Blood came out.
"That's the real one… right?" She asked.
"Only one way to check." Soule said. He jumped over Zia and spun in the air. The Apprentice pushed Gael and Xar back to block the attack. Karel rushed forward, and plunged the lightsaber into the apprentice.
"Is it dead?" He asked. The Apprentice slumped its head. Karel took out the lightsaber, and the body sat there, not moving.
It's head shot up, but Soule sliced the head in two.
It collapsed to the ground, blood coming out, and the temple shook again.
The grey Jedi stationed outside the temple watched as it started to move up. They weren't using the force. The tip of the Temple was now visible. A small amount of light was able to puncture the darkness of the entrance.
"Soon, they'll have this thing completely out of the ground." One of them said.
The sky turned dark all of a sudden. Everyone turned around and saw the legendary swordsmen. The grey jedi took out their lightsabers, and got ready for the fight. Major Onyx ordered his men to stand ready.
The user of Oblivion stepped forward holding onto their sword.
"I killed Ozpin. Who among you thinks you can stand to me?"
No one responded.
"Just as I thought." He rushed forward, slightly touching twenty troops with his sword. They all screamed in agony.
Carmine Angel, master of Eclipse rushed forward and cut down another twenty troops. The user of Fate came and took out even more troops. Major Onyx knew this would be the end of his division.
"Die well!" He yelled. He just wished he knew why they were attacking. He didn't have much time to think as the sword Silencer entered his chest.
Salem brought back her swordsmen.
"They're still in the temple."
"I know, but they won't make it out of there, but if they do, what's the chance of them finding what I've hid." She held up a book with a single page missing.
She put the book back on her bookshelf and turned back to the seer. She sent Grimm to revive the dead and to bolster her army. She was going to use them for a special purpose, and with two more force users, it was going to be easy.
Karel went to the door of the Sith's chamber, and noticed it was surrounded by more of the sentinels like before. As soon as he entered the room they stood up, and all the stone fell off them. Twenty metallic hounds came out of the ground.
"This is where we got to, before everyone died." Soule said. He turned on his lightsaber and used the force to grip one of the Hounds. He crushed it. The beast's body leaked oil.
Karel created a shield as a metal hound bit down. Karel jammed his lightsaber in the hound. It screeched, but Karel forced it off his lightsaber. It stopped moving.
"Let's hope the others are doing better." Karel said
Grey Jedi Teal was a faunas used to terrain like this, but not the constant traps. She got separated from the others and now had to lead her troops out of here. She found a door and opened it. When she opened it all she saw was a mummified body. Her troops entered the room.
One of her troops took off their helmet and looked at the mummy.
"Blood" The mummy said. The troop tried to step back, but his head was cut in half before he could move away. The mummy picked up the half, and brought it to its mouth, drinking the blood. It dropped the head then got up. It got up and took out a lightsaber.
Teal force pushed the mummy. It blocked the hit. She sent rocks at its way. It used the force to crush them. It turned on its lightsaber and pointed at Teal.
"Jedi"
She turned on her green lightsaber.
"Everyone, be ready for an attack."
The mummy rushed Teal. She started to block the attacks, but she couldn't find a good way to get a hit on the creature. They were both primarily force combatants, but she didn't have enough to work with yet. Then she remembered her semblance.
She smiled, and pushed the Sith back. She put her hands together, and a bubble was created around the mummy. It started to shrink. It tried to get out but the bubble was too strong. She ordered her men to get ready to fire. They made a circle around the mummy, and she dropped the bubble. The troops fired. Only a small fraction of the hits landed, but even so, it caused the mummy to start slowing down. Teal took out a knife and used the force to send it to the mummy. It didn't block it, and it was pinned to the wall. Teal walked over slowly, and saw that it was still alive.
"Execute it." She told her troops, and she took its lightsaber. She walked back, and watched as the troops killed the mummy. The temple shook more. The doors opened and the remaining group started walking to where the red glow was leading them. They saw the others fighting droids and robotic dogs.
Auron beat them there. Now, it all depended on the last group.
The temple shook again, and only two people came through the doors this time. Sergeant Ross, and one grey jedi.
Soon the hounds and droids were defeated. Everyone looked around at the survivors.
"Looks like this is the last room. Let's be careful. We've lost a lot of people today." Karel said. He looked over at the door and saw a few more troops coming.
"We found them!" one yelled.
Most of the separated troops were gathered together now.
"Alright sir, what's our next order?"
"We need to finish the mission. The Sith should be on the other side of this door." Karel said
They looked in the room and saw four mummies, all pointed at the center of the room, where a sarcophagus laid.
"Can you guess where the Sith is?" Bora said.
"We could fire from here." Zia said
"I doubt that would work. They're already moving. It must have taken too long for us to get in there. They have no patience." Soule said. He took out his lightsaber and walked in.
"I guess we have to go in now." Karel said.
Xar walked in before the other Jedi. He went up to one mummy, and started to fight it. Gael went to his side. Rouge followed Karel as they started their fight. The troops did their best, but after they went in the room, more droids arrived. They fought them while the force users fought the last of the apprentices.
Karel finished fighting his opponent with a quick slash across the chest. He looked up to see the others finishing off the apprentices, and the droids started to shut down. The room began to shake. The sand started to fly towards the center of the room. Then the lid to the Sarcophagus flew off.
The body looked almost like it never died.
The man started to float in the air, then he landed on the ground. His hair was grey, his eyes yellow. His skin white, like Salem.
"You have defeated all my apprentices. That shows your skill. I am Darth Vettom! Member of the Dark Council!" The walls shook. He outstretched his hands, and two lightsabers came flying out of the walls. He turned them on and landed on the ground.
Soule took the first step.
"History forgot you." He said. Zia got ready. Sno was a bit afraid, but was ready to stand with her master.
"Did it now? I guess the Emperor failed then. No matter, I didn't need him." He turned on his lightsabers. One was red, the other was black.
Karel took a step forward.
"We will stop you here and now."
"Is that right? Well then, jedi, come, Fight me!"
Vettom charged Karel. Karel blocked the starting attack, but it knocked him off center. Soule saved him when he sent out force lightning, taking Vettom's attention off Karel for a moment. Xar threw his lightsaber at Vettom, but he blocked it. He didn't think it would do much, and he was right.
Vettom knocked the blade back.
"Looks like I can't focus on just one of you." He said. His body started to split in two. Each body had a lightsaber.
"Here's my Semblance." Vettom said. "Separation, I call it."
They prepared to fight Vettom. He charged at Karel and Soule. Soon Karel realized that Vettom was slower. Karel was able to keep up now.
Gael and Xar came up and joined Karel. They were able to keep up with the Sith, and even start to push him back. After Karel pushed him back he twirled his lightsaber and pointed it at him.
"You'll die for good soon."
"Is that so?" He asked. His eyes glowed for a moment, then the ground under Karel shook. Two hands shout out of the ground, and started to drag him down. Karel slashed at the ground, and cut a small hole in the ground. He looked into the hole, and saw the most horrifying sight he'd ever scene. It wasn't real, but that didn't matter. The blood…
Karel felt something hit him, and he saw Bora flying him away. When he landed he looked at his lower half and didn't see any blood. He knew for sure it wasn't real.
"That was horrifying." He said.
"What'd you see?"
"I can't describe it." He tried to get himself to move, but he felt a force blast make him hit the wall. Vettom didn't want to give Karel any air to breath. Gael came up and slashed him on his shoulder. Vettom's armor took the hit. Karel dropped down. He looked up and realized that he would have to deal with what he saw later. He charged forward, and right before hitting, he jumped over him and tried to get a hit on him. He turned around and blocked the attack. That's when Karel used the force to bring his purple lightsaber, which he 'dropped' after he hit the wall, to him. Vettom turned around, and spun to avoid it. It hit his side lightly, burning him. He held onto his side, then sent out a blast of force lightning. Karel took the full force of it, and hit the ancient coffin. Rouge jumped up and tried to slash at Vettom, but he just grabbed her by the face and threw her into Karel. Karel got up enough to catch her.
Soule wasn't doing much better He was on the defensive against the Sith. The grey jedi helped him, but one of them must have taken too much of a beating. He didn't last long against Vettom.
Zia got behind him, and fired the rope, but he quickly got out of it. He grabbed onto it and pulled Zia towards him, but Soule rushed forward. He almost got a killing blow, but Vettom turned around. The lightsaber went through his side. Vettom was in pain, but not dead. He grabbed Soule by the throat and slammed him into the ground. Sno jumped and landed a hit on Vettom. He turned around to see her shaking. He used the force to pick her up and throw her at his sarcophagus.
Sno looked at Rouge.
"This sucks." She said
"Yeah." Rouge said.
"My name's Sno. After all this is over, we're going back to enemies."
Karel got up.
"You're still on that?" He said. "Get over it." Karel jumped back into the battle.
"Rouge." Rouge got up, but fell back down.
"Looks like we're going to be sidelined today." Sno couldn't move.
Xar got three good hits in on Vettom.
"You're better than a regular Jedi. Where you Sith before?"
"Yes."
"Then I'll have to kill you."
Vettom rushed Xar. He could tell that Vettom was starting to tire out.
Gael jumped behind Vettom and slashed at his hand. He almost lost his hand, and the lightsaber, but he was quick enough that he only last a finger.
"That was good."
Gael and Xar sent out a large force push, sending Vettom away.
At the same time Teal and Auron pushed the other half of Vettom in the same direction. The two bodies collided together, and they reformed into one body. Everyone charged him. With all his injuries, and the exhaustion, he was almost out of energy. After everyone slashed at him, they took out his red lightsaber.
Karel rushed and landed a strike against his back. Teal hit him along his chest, but not a hit that killed. Xar cut off his arm. Soule came up to him.
"Are you a Darth?"
"No, only a Lord."
Vettom laughed.
"Then let my last action be this! I Darth Vettom, of the Dark council name you Darth, Dark lord of the Sith!"
Soule sliced through his chest.
The temple shook. Every door opened. A hidden door opened, and sunlight shown through it. There were two rooms off to the side. One was a treasury, the other an armory.
"Let's leave this place." Karel said. Darth Soule left ahead of them. He called for Recon Zero. They came quickly. Soule, Sno, and Zia left.
Karel walked out of the temple, and he saw dead bodies. His men were massacred, their bodies lying everywhere. There were fewer men than before. Only one was left alive. He saw fading.
"The Black Fang appeared." He died right after saying that. Karel closed his eyes. Rouge looked around.
Bora came up to Rouge. She looked around. Bora put her hand on her shoulder.
"This is what war is like. Lose, for a hope of victory." Bora said.
"Is it worth it?" Rouge asked.
"Not all the time, in fact most of the time it solves nothing, just a waste of life. Sometimes it makes things worse. Karel and I both know that first hand."
Karel came over to Bora.
"Onyx is dead." Karel handed Bora the dog tags.
"Then we have to start again."
"And we've got to report back what happened here."
Month 3 Day 23
Karel and Bora walked in the high council room. The Grandmaster and Roni were the only ones who were physically there. The others appeared through hologram.
"What happened?" Roni asked.
"The ruins were a temple to an ancient Sith, Darth Vettom. He was a former Dark Council member."
"Did you defeat him?"
"Yes, but it cost a lot of my men, and three Grey Jedi. We weren't the only ones there. The empire beat us there. We only found three left alive when we got there. Soule, his apprentice, and the Mandalorian with them." Karel said.
"Vettom had a semblance." Bora said. The masters looked at one another. "He called it separation. He split his body into two versions of himself."
"This is intriguing. Did you find anything else?"
"There was library. We've been bringing them here for them to be added, though I suspect that most of it will become forbidden." Karel said
"That will be determined later. Now, how was the Sith defeated?" Master Ray asked.
"We fought alongside the Sith. We were able to defeat the Sith, but he named Soule a Darth." Karel said
"That may shake up things in the empire." Master Brock said.
"Probably not. Soule isn't the type to lead a country. He wants to fight more than anything." Karel said
"You seem to know a lot about him." Master Ray noted.
"He's tried to kill me more than once. And we've had to work together more than once. I know it's odd."
"And how has your padawan been taking this new life?" Roni asked.
"She's been learning a lot, and rather quickly. She'll get to the level of the average Jedi of her age quickly. She's been taking to the ways of the force quite well actually." Karel said.
"And she's the sweetest." Bora added.
"Good." The grandmaster said. "Refill your ranks. We'll send more people to learn about the Sith."
"The Black Fang killed my men on the outside. I think Salem doesn't want us to learn about something in that temple." Bora said.
"Noted." Roni said.
Bora turned to leave, but Karel stayed there.
"Karel, do you have more to add?" Roni asked.
"Yes, we found a prophecy about a war between the 'Priestess of Ashla, and Priestess of Bogan' What, or who is that?"
The masters looked at each other with Confusion.
"We don't know." The grandmaster said.
Karel bowed and left.
Soule walked into the throne room. The thrones were more like command chairs. It could bring up holograms. It was the most technologically advanced chair on the Planet.
"Darth" She said, mockingly.
"Empress" Soule took out a book from his pack. He handed it to his sister.
"This book tells us everything we need to know about the Maidens." Soule said
"Except for who they are." Vox said. "Did you get anything else?"
"The Alliance took most of the knowledge, but not all. I found our largest clue as to how we can obtain semblances."
Vox turned to her brother.
"The God of light had a place where people went before the destruction. He gave all their semblances." Soule brought up a hologram of painting of a fount.
"If this god gave these people powers, does he have a connection to the force?"
"Who knows."
Emperor Sym walked into the room.
"We're one step closer to attacking Atlas."
"What?" Soule asked.
"We turned an Alliance council member. A member that well help us walk right into Atlas."
Author's Notes: This chapter's got a lot of plot important things.
I wanted to get another one out before the end of the month.
I've thought of doing a RWBY Chibi chapter (on the side of course.) Just something that interests me.
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-DragonZlayerx12
