Chapter 33

Year 4 Month 2 Day 04

After the near destruction of the Red Fang, the organization was reformed with Blake and Ilia as some of the leaders, though it is still fragile. Soon after he finished reading the journal of the Grandmaster, Karel has been haunted by a vision.

The sight of that lightsaber haunted Karel in his sleep. He spent most nights recently thinking of only that lightsaber. Even at the wedding of his best friend, he still couldn't get the image out of his head. While Karel was meditating with Rouge, he saw it again. The lightsaber sat next to a journal in a house away from all major cities. He knew it. He's seen it more than once. It was the grandmaster's house. He also knew he had the key to get in.

That Kyber crystal that the grandmaster gave him before she died wasn't a Kyber crystal at all, but a key. It took him so long to finally figure it out, but he finally did it.

Rouge spoke first

"What's the point in me doing this while we could be training me with a lightsaber?"

Karel opened his eyes.

"If being a Jedi just meant you can wield a lightsaber, then there would be thousands of us, not dozens. The force is necessary for a jedi to study, and after careful self-reflection, I have realized that I have failed to teach you that aspect. For that I am sorry. You remember Vuren, right?"

"Of course." Rouge said. "She did take me under her wing for a week or two."

"Well, I've asked her to come here to show you what being attuned to the force can do. Do you remember that she picked up a Sith's lightsaber?"

"I do. Why?"

"That's something you'd have to ask her yourself. She'll show you something miraculous."

"That sounds like you're going off on another mission." Rouge said. She seemed disappointed that she wasn't going with him.

"I am… it's a simple thing. Nothing I can't handle. And besides, I'm going with my sisters on this one." Karel said. Jira wasn't coming. She was busy, but Alex and Adi were joining him and Bora. Just in case.

Soon, Vuren came by, and started training with Rouge. Alex and Adi got their armor, which they both heavily modified. Alex took away a lot of the actual armor, for more movement, and Adi made her armor colorful. They both abandoned the helmets. Adi did get a face mask though.

"Let's go." Adi said.

"We don't need to rush this. Bora's not even ready yet."

As if on que, Bora came out of their room. "Oh, hey guys. You ready?" She asked. Adi raised her fist in the air.

"Guys, we're just going to a house. No big deal." Karel said.

Adi and Bora already left.

"Come on. We need to get going." She said. She handed Karel's lightsaber to him. It was the yellow one. He looked at it. It really wasn't his. Its owner was long since dead. He grabbed the sword, and his purple lightsaber. They entered the ship, and Karel put the yellow lightsaber in the armory aboard the ship. He had feelings like this for a while.


Bora got the ship flying. He could tell that she was a bit distracted. She had been thinking about Blake. She's been spending most of her time on Menagerie ever since her parents… were murdered. By Salem. But Why? What was her end game? Karel went to his meditation room. He had a quick meditation session to think about it.

He still didn't know what Salem's end game was. Oscar couldn't tell him. Why did she start this war? Why did she bring back Adam to lead the Black Fang? Why did she kill Blake's parents? It all circled around his head, but he had a fear that soon, she would spring her trap. He suddenly felt the need for air. He heard a chime in the room. He looked around but found nothing. There wasn't anything that could cause the noise he heard.

"I must be hearing things." Karel stood up and left the room. They were just landing. Karel took his sword and placed it in his meditation room. He held onto the necklace the grandmaster gave him. They left the ship and walked to the house. It was a large house. Seemingly old. The paint was chipping, and the grass seemed chaotic… at first. From what he read, the grandmaster abandoned this home years ago, but here it was with grass only about a foot high. No windows were cracked either.

"Be careful." He said. Karel opened the door and stepped in. He saw lights and felt the urge to use the force. He did, and the lights turned on. The inside looked great. Like it had someone living in it. Bora pulled out a pistol.

"You said she abandoned this place almost thirty years ago." Bora said.

"It was. And that's at the very least." Karel felt a call to a room. It was at the end of the main hall.

A door opened, and a droid walked through. Everyone let out a sigh. Karel let the force led him to a library at the end of the hall. Finally, he saw what was haunting him. But something felt off. He felt this would be dangerous. Why has nothing happened. He saw three lightsabers sitting on the desk with two journals and a box. He opened the box and found ten spheres. He recognized them and closed the box. He handed them to Alex.

"We need to get that to Oscar." Karel said. He put the two journals in his jacket. He picked up one of the lightsabers and turned it on.

A red blade shot out. Karel almost dropped the blade, but he quickly put it down. He turned on the other lightsabers. A white lightsaber, and a blue one. He placed these lightsabers on his belt. A droid came in the room.

"Excuse me Sir, but others have arrived." The droid said. The four go outside and see four stormtroopers and an inquisitor walking towards them.

"Alex, put that stuff in the ship." Karel said. He took out his purple lightsaber, but he didn't turn it on.

"So, the information was right. Good. A god like me has no time to waste with liars. Troops, kill the traitors."

Adi brought her blaster up and fired at the closest stormtrooper.

Alex put the stuff down carefully and left the ship. She fired at the stormtrooper farthest from her. Her shot hit, and the trooper fell.

Karel pushed the inquisitor away from his family. The stormtroopers tried to get cover from the ships they came in. Bora pulled out a dust grenade and tossed it. It blasted and killed one of them.

Karel rushed forward towards the inquisitor. They both turned on their lightsabers.

"You know, the prisoners told me what you did. All those years ago. You failed to kill another inquisitor. A weakling. A failure of an inquisitor."

Karel noticed that the inquisitor was fighting only a few levels higher than the last inquisitor. Did he have such a high opinion of himself?

"But you did sin against me. And I send Sinners down to Hell!" His lightsaber started to spin. Karel wasn't taken back by this. The inquisitor threw the lightsaber and took out another one. That shocked Karel. He blocked the hit from the first lightsaber, and quickly blocked the hit of the other one. The inquisitor started laughing. He started slamming his lightsaber against Karel's. Karel more than capable of keeping his guard up. Why was the inquisitor acting like this?

Karel wondered if there was someone behind him, but he didn't sense anyone. Why didn't he sense anyone?

"Did you come alone?" Karel asked

The inquisitor smiled. His mask opened. He recognized the inquisitor. He was a Jedi from his clan. He was one of the older people in the clan when he was younger. He was a human with unnaturally pale skin. His eyes turned a shade of Yellow.

His face showed that this wasn't the first time he had fought. A large scar crossed his face. One eye had been replaced.

"I remember you" Karel said. The inquisitor pushed Karel back.

"You know, I wasn't able to say the same for you for so long, then I read the report from when you stole some of my people." The inquisitor rushed for Karel. He blocked the attack.

"You still haven't answered me." Karel said. The inquisitor closed his helmet again. He rushed forward and started his attack again.

Aifohogu watched the battle with interest. Ever since she had been brought back by Salem, she's wanted to get revenge on those who killed her last time. She still remembers it well, even thought that was almost five years ago now. She wanted to kill that brat Jedi who decided she wasn't the more powerful inquisitor. She noticed that the empire sent another inquisitor, but no one she knew.

"Palpatine had more than one inquisitorium." She realized. She got angry. She took out her lightsaber and jumped down next to the two other force users. They stopped and looked at her.

"Boy." She said

"Salem brought you back to life?" Karel asked

"Yes, now I get my revenge."

She dashed at Karel. The inquisitor blocked it.

"He's mine!" He said

"Who even are you" Aifo asked.

"I am the great Rudbil!" He swiped at Aifo, and she blocked it. Karel force pushed them both.

"Don't forget about me… wait, if Salem sent you then…" Karel turned around and started running towards his ship. He found Bora and his sisters gathering the last of the things and putting them in the ship. Karel sighed a breath of relief.

"Don't you run from me!" Rudbil said. Aifo came towards them, but she became all stiff.

"Why hello Karel. You've been a pain in my side for so long. Too bad that I won't risk this one." It was Salem's voice. A portal opened behind Aifo and she went in it.

Rudbil rushed Karel. He blocked the attack again. While there was a break in the fighting, Karel used the force and a lightsaber from his hip came to his hand. He turned it on, and a white blade came out.

Rudbil sent out a force push, but Karel blocked it. He looked at Adi and started to charge towards her. Karel reached out and stopped him. He flung Rudbil at a stone wall a few meters away, close to where they were previously fighting. Rudbil pressed a button on his wrist, and the ship he came in turns it blasters at him. They started firing. Karel blocked them, but he had to move to the side. Alex fired once, and it hit Rudbil's wrist. The ship stopped firing.

Karel charged forward and slashed at Rudbil. He wasn't using the white blade. Rudbil was on the defense, and quickly losing. Out of desperation he turned on the spinning feature of his lightsaber. Karel quickly stuck the white blade in the grip of the saber and flicked it upwards. The blade was destroyed, and the red crystal flew to the ground. Rudbil fell to the ground and started crawling backwards. Karel moved towards him, with the blades.

He raised the blade on inch away from Rudbil's neck.

"Never threaten my family again." Karel said. Karel used the force to gather the Kyber crystal on the ground, made to bleed. He would change this.

"Karel Watch out!" Adi screamed.

Rudbil used the force to pick up a blaster pistol from one of the stormtroopers. Karel turned around and reached for his lightsaber. Adi fired and hit Rudbil. His head fell to the ground. Karel turned to look at his sister.

"Thank you."

Soon they were flying back towards the house.

"What are these?" Adi asked, holding up one of the siren spheres.

"Please be careful with that. It's dangerous." Karel said.

Adi placed it back in the case.

"How are they dangerous?" She asked.

"Those are siren spheres. They were created by mass human sacrifice. The people of Remnant have semblances and aura as you can tell, but that's not how it used to be. The people of this world once had access to magic. And that's why they were sacrificed. They were sacrificed for that magical energy inside of them. Thousands were killed for just one of those spheres. They are powerful, but I don't trust them." Karel explained

"So these aren't the only ones you've seen before?" Alex said

"Yeah. They belonged to the woman who's house we just left."

Karel got up and got the red lightsaber once again. He used the force to feel the history of it. He saw the Grandmaster using it to kill someone. She saw a room full of beautiful women look at her.

Karel went father back.

He saw a flash of the grandmaster making this weapon with a woman standing behind her.

The farther back he went, the more the images became just flashes.

The crystal was once a Jedi knight's green crystal, then a cave appeared in Karel's mind. That was the end of his vision.

When he opened his eyes, he let out a sigh.

"I need more context."

Karel took out the first journal he had and opened it. It was the older one.


Many years ago

Diamond Raye was her name, the grandmaster. She was a fox faunas who was born so long ago. She was born to her faunas mother, and a human father, though he wasn't important to her at all. Her mother was a prostitute so her father could have been any number of men. That wasn't important. When she was born, she was separated from her mother as all sirens are. She most likely died soon after. Diamond was raised with several children. The boys were separated to the warriors/lore gatherers. Diamond knew she wouldn't see most of them alive in twenty years. She was separated from the other girls. He along with nine other children.

She didn't care about those girls who she was separated from. Most of them would become prostitutes like their mothers. Those who wouldn't, would become the secret warriors that the sirens had. They were nothing compared to her. They were regular people. Pathetic people. She was greater than them.

That's what she was told all her childhood by the instructors. They were the leaders of the Sirens. They were called once called Sith, but they dropped the name after they dropped any aspects of religion. It more of a business transaction the force and them. Diamond by the age of six was already going on missions. She had to kill one of the men who killed one of the many sirens who sold their bodies. They didn't care that she was dead, what they cared about was that she was murdered, as the sirens saw it as this man destroying their property. Diamond expertly used all her skills and quickly killed the man. It wasn't the first dead body she saw. It wasn't hard to kill him. He didn't expect her to be carrying a knife. Diamond shoved the knight into his hip. He screamed as he fell to the ground, where she stabbed him in the back again. There was something that seemed wrong to her about this. She punctured the man's lungs. She heard him choke on his own blood, and she ran back to the instructors.

"Good. You preformed excellently." Her main instructor told her. It was rare for her to hear praise in her youth.

Soon, by the age of ten, she had killed so many that it seemed as natural as breathing. Even after having to kill another one of the nine of the apprentices, she felt nothing. She was better than her. And she soon started to show that.

The sirens at this time had multiple headquarters all over Remnant. Even in the badlands, which were nowhere near as bad as they were now. They were the secret rules of all of Remnant. They were only challenged by one force on the planet, the Jedi. They have been enemies for centuries, but they were unable to end each other. Diamond was told how the Jedi kill their members and disrupt the lives of everyone.

"The Jedi are our enemies. Show them no mercy."

Diamond was taught that for her entire life. She was taught how to fight a Jedi without a weapon, with the force, and eventually with a lightsaber. They were training sabers for a time. But soon, that safety was taken away, secretly.

"Safety is for the weak." The instructors said. Their approval was needed for it showed who was worthy of life, until one day she would become an instructor and become her own master.

In her young life, the Sirens gave diamond a surgery. It was to make her loyal to only the sirens. They took away her ability to become a mother. A worthy sacrifice she thought. One of the others decided that they were going to parent a child and ran away. They were hunted down by the remaining students and slaughtered.

"Loyalty to us is as important as life."

When she finally became 18, she was given her first mission to kill a Jedi. If she failed, she would die. Her body would rot, and most likely be eaten by a Grimm. She didn't care. She needed to impress the instructors.

She met a man in Jedi robes along the side of the rode to Vale. She acted like a hurt dog and fooled the Jedi. When he lowered his guard, Diamond went for the lightsaber she had on her. The Jedi saw it and jumped back.

"Sith?"

Diamond spat on the ground.

"Siren." She said. The Jedi turned on his lightsaber, a green blade. She started the fight. The Jedi was her strongest opponent yet, which wasn't saying much, but he was strong. She worried that she chose the wrong opponent. The Jedi started to talk to her. She didn't listen to him.

"They're just using you. They're going to throw you away."

They weren't. They couldn't. She was too important to the Sirens to just throw her away.

The Jedi started fighting again. He used the force to throw a rock at her. She dodged it and rushed forward. The jedi used the force to push Diamond back into a tree. He knelt and was gathering the force inside him. Diamond rushed forward and got ready to strike him down.

He blocked the attack.

"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could ever imagine."

He pushed her backwards again and threw away his lightsaber and knelt once more. Diamond used the force to pick up the lightsaber and turn it on. She rushed forward and ended the Jedi. His body fell to the ground. She started breathing hard, wondering about what she spoke.


She looked at the hilt of the green lightsaber. A curved hilt. She kept the blade a secret. She took out the crystal and made it bleed. She was told to make a lightsaber. So, she made one. She was one of four remaining students now. Two of them were her rivals, the other one… she had no idea how she was still alive. She would take her out the first opportunity she got.

She soon got that opportunity when she was ordered to kill another traitor. She finally learned why she was kept alive, to gather information, but she finally became useless.

"The Jedi are compassionate, kind! They don't treat us like trash to be thrown away later!"

She didn't put up a fight at all.

"I will become one with the force, what about you?"

Diamond killed her.

She tried to put what she said out of her head. Then she started to hear words in her head.

She recognized the voice haunting her in her sleep, in her meditation, and in any quite moment. That first Jedi she killed.

"Abandon the darkness." She tried to ignore it. But she was starting to be haunted.


Year 4 Month 2 Day 04

The next few pages were ripped out. Karel stopped reading for now and put the journal back. They landed and went back to the house.

"What did it say?" Bora asked

"It was about the grandmaster's past. She was born into the Sirens, who were run by the Sith. So, for many years, she was a Sith… and that's not all." He stopped before entering the house. Bora turned to look at him.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Look at the Date." Karel showed the date to Bora and her eyes widened.

"There's no way she's that old."

"Master Yoda was almost nine hundred years old, but his species lives a long time. Even jedi don't live that much longer than their natural lifespan."

The grandmaster was a few hundred years old. She was a part of the Sirens when they were at their height. Karel suspected that she had a hand in their downfall. He remembered one detail. The curved lightsaber. The grandmaster kept that Jedi's curved lightsaber. Maybe she used it to make her own lightsaber. When they entered the house, Vuren and Rouge seemed to just finish changing the lightsaber crystal from red to white.

"Master, was your mission a success?" Rouge asked

"It was…" Karel said. He took out the lightsabers, journals, and siren spheres.

"These were the grandmaster's. She hid something from us. We need to get Oscar here.

Oscar quickly got to the house.

"I came here as soon as I could. What is this about Siren spheres?"

Karel opened the box. Oscar's eyes opened wide.

"Ten? Where'd you get this many?"

"The grandmaster had them."

"What? I have questions, but I don't have time to ask them. Give me the spheres, and I will take care of them. I know where this should go… Karel."

"Yes?"

"I think you should know this now, when we fight Salem. We're going to have to use these to open the door to the portal." Oscar said

"Why?" Karel asked with shock on his face.

"Well, the last time I went there, I locked Salem in, but that cost most of my magic that I had. I don't have enough magic to close it on our end, and if I don't, she can come back. And…" Oscar turned away from Karel.

"Yes?"

"As I just said, I don't have much magic left… so that will mean that when I open the door for you, I will you up the last of my magic. When I close it… I'll die."

Karel looked at the spheres

"Won't they stop that?"

"No. I'm going to need them to just open the door. I haven't told Ruby yet. This is going to be my last life. We're going to have to fight Salem soon. I think we both know that. But first we need to find the rest of the Maidens. And then there's the thing with the autumn maiden. I fear that Pyrrha's going to have to fight whoever stole the other half of the maiden's power. Then there is finding the spring maiden. Finding Raven."

They moved to the kitchen. Karel got Oscar a drink.

"But I thought we didn't know who the spring maiden was." Karel said

"We don't, but I have my suspension."

Karel widened his eyes

"Speaking of suspension, I think we have a traitor in the council. Just a little bit ago, I went to the Grandmaster's house, and an inquisitor showed up. He said that he got information from someone. I think someone in the military gave away my information." Karel said

Oscar sighed "So it's true"

"What's true?" Karel asked

"Ironwood and Goodwitch both had suspicions that we had other traitors in our ranks. We're going to have to find them."

An image of Cobe flashed in Karel's mind

"We lost one of our best spies very recently. Have I ever told you how much I hate espionage?"

Karel slouched down into his chair. He took out the journals that he still had in his pocket.

"What are those?"

"The grandmaster's journals. Her earliest ones. These are what we went there for, but it turns out that the grandmaster was a Sith, and worse a Siren." Karel said, having almost no faith in the grandmaster left. Once he thought very highly of her, but now? He didn't know what to think of her.

"I remember her back then." Oscar said. "She was the one who helped me defeat the Sirens once and for all. That was nearly five lives ago. Or was it eight. I don't remember."

"What do you mean?" Karel asked

"She was a Jedi. That much I can tell you. She was also a brave woman. She led the attack against the sirens. You should finish reading the journal before passing judgment." Oscar got up and took the spheres.

Karel opened the journal again where he left off.


Many years ago

Diamond watched as the Jedi splintered. Some of them wanted to stay the pure jedi. The others wanted to allow some levels of Grey into their ranks. The Grey Jedi split off. They were fewer in number but… they did recruit at a high rate. Some of them were recruited like Diamond was recruited into the Sirens. She wouldn't be surprised to see one day that they outnumber the Jedi. Then there were the Jedi. She had killed a few. Each one of them haunted her in her dreams.

They talked about the dogmas of the Jedi… but they were convincing. She hadn't told any of the instructors.

At the age of twenty-one, it was time for her to become a full Siren. Greater than any in the order. The prostitutes who use the name would work for her. What she said would become law to the Sirens. She just had to finish one task; she still had a rival. The last of the students that grew up with her. She would fight with her to the death. She hated the girl and would enjoy this.

She gave the other woman no rest, no chance to catch her breath, no chance to do anything but fight. Diamond rushed forward, and quickly attacked her rival. She was on the back foot the entire battle, and Diamond knew it was her victory that she was delaying. Diamond made her opponent fling her arms up, and that was what she was waiting for Diamond quickly sliced the hands off. The woman's knees fell to the ground. Diamond picked her up by the neck and snapped it. She threw her worthless opponent's body to the ground. Shortly after she was made a Sith, and a Siren. But she was still haunted every day.

"Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering."

But she wasn't suffering, she was at the top of the world. She was the best, and no one could take that away from her.

"The Sith betray one another. It is in their nature."

One day, she went on a mission, and found a man walking alone. She realized it was the same area that she killed that first Jedi in. She still heard his voice and had his lightsaber. It was starting to make her crazy. Her dreams… They were the same. The Jedi teaching her of the light side. She even felt it start to convince her.

On the last page of the first journal, Diamond wrote about getting a new journal, and wrote one final line.

"I also met a man named Oliver."

Karel closed the journal and sat back. He had an idea why she would mention hi. Almost immediately he went for the other journal, but Bora stopped him.

"It's night. You need to eat. The book can wait." She said. Karel looked around and realized how long he had been reading. The truths he learned from this journal would be controversial at the very least. The Jedi had a Sith as the grandmaster. It seems that she left that life behind. He sat down at the table, and saw his family join him. Gwen made a pasta. Lance helped her make it. Karel's head was somewhere else now, and everyone could tell. Erik hit his elbow.

"You alright?" He asked.

Karel sighed.

"Sorry, I just need more information to understand this mystery. How? When? Why did the grandmaster choose me to find out her secret? She knew more than she's letting on. I have all the journals so that's where I'll find the answer" He said

"That was a long-winded way of putting it. Is that usual for Jedi?" Jira asked

"Sorry. I've got a lot on my mind…" Karel said, not knowing what to do.

Author's Notes: Where have I been? Not dead, not sitting on the couch. I'm an essential worker, but that's not all…

I've Been writing a book.

Yes, a Book, mostly done, the rough draft that is. I've not got much too tell you about it yet, because you know, it's not done, but I've felt guilty about this so, here's a small sample of what I've been writing.

There is one form of Magic that is outlawed, punishable by death, Necromancy. Yet there are still some who follow the dark magics. These people have lived in fear of death for many years, gathering, and teaching others. These worshipers of the night went out into the world, trying to gain more followers through the suffering of others, but were quickly snuffed in their attempts. Now very few remain to practice the art. Only one group still exists hidden from the light of the Goddesses

My opening Paragraph.

Goodbye.