p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"emstrongTharen's point of view./strong/em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"The rain pelted us as we climbed out of our crashed star ship. Master Slather and Saras scouted ahead of us a few yards while Ranna and I held up the rear. Every few steps I would see Saras' hood turn to face us. She knew that Ranna knew about our relationship and she seemed uneasy about it and I couldn't blame her, I was uncomfortable too./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Ranna limped next to me trying painfully to keep up with the grueling pace Master slather had set us on to the jedi Ruins. The remains of her gray cloak and tunic kept her snow white hair dry from the down pour. I had offered to carry her but my padawan, being as prideful as she was, refused and continued to hobble along behind me, clutching her bruised leg. "Master, there are other jedi on Tython right?" I nodded to the girl's question. "Well why aren't they the ones entering this ruin?" She had a good point, why send us to another system just to retrieve some relic that could easily have been found by a jedi already there./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""The jedi academy here isn't trained for the trials we will face below the temple." Answered Master Slather as we came to a halt at the end of a ridge that overlooked a valley of rubble and dilapidated buildings. "Is only a training academy, like the one on Telos, the teachers there are only scholars and need us to do the actual exploring, how do you think we found out about this holocron?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Slather went into a prone position before crawling to the edge of the cliff and pulled out a pair of macro-binoculars and looked down at the ruins below us. 'Tharen get up here." Ordered the older jedi. The rest of us went into the same position he was in and I crawled closer to the cliff, next to him. "See those huts in the center of the valley?" He handed me his other binocular./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Now that I could get a closer look I could see small, leather huts that comprised the center of the valley. Strange totem poles that contained a mix of metal, cloth, and wood. I shifted my watch to the outskirts of the camp. I almost jumped when I saw it. The creature stood about seven feet tall, with blood red skin, its head was flat and elongated with its two eyes positioned at opposite ends of it's shark like head. "Are those flesh raiders?" I asked Slather./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Yeah." He answered. "We need a way past them into the ruins." He continued before reaching into his pocket and grabbed two spherical objects. "Sonic grenades, they should be strong enough to incapacitate them long enough for us to get in without killing them." We all pulled out our audio neutralizers and placed them over our ears, before he pushed the activator to the grenades and chucked them towards the flesh-raiders, using the force to land them within striking distance of the flesh raider camp./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"By the time they landed we were already down the cliff and running as fast as the mud and rain would permit. Poor Ranna had to block out the pain in her leg to keep up. We reached the jedi temple ruins within moments. It was a circular stone building constructed into the side of a mountain. Dirt and boulders had fell into the collapsed sections of the ancient temple./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Master Slather swiftly pushed the doors open and allowed us inside before slamming the doors shut again and locking them in place with a large, collapsed support beam. then motioned for us to remove our audio-neutralizers "That should prevent any unwelcome guests." He announced before turning to face us. "Saras, you have the map of the temple?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She reached into one of the pouches on her utility belt and produced a holocaster. "Right here Master." She flipped a switch and the interior layout of the temple materialized above the device. She pointed to an doorway on the opposite side of the large hall way. "There is an entrance somewhere in that section, I can't give you accurate directions because of all the cave ins."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Okay, then you're coming with me." Ordered Slather as Saras placed the holocaster back in its pouch. "Tharen, can you and your padawan watch the entrance and look out for more flesh-raiders?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""We got your back, sir." I saluted as the pair turned and walked down the dark, crumbled hallway. I waited until they disappeared before I spoke to Ranna. "Etch, how's your leg?" I noticed that the lower part of her tunic pants had been torn off on her left leg and a bloody bruise had formed./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I'm fine Master." She grunted as she limped over to a pile of rubble. And sat down. I could tell she was lying./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Ranna I know you're lying." I approached her and knelt down next to her wounded leg. "Okay, I'm going to show you how to heal yourself with the force." I explained before lifting up her leg so it rested flat on a fallen stone. After removing the ragged remains of my cloak I hovered my right hand above her bruised limb. "Okay Etch, you're going to want to watch this." I centered myself to the force, feeling it running through me like a powerful river. I remembered what Master Caren had said. "Relax... reach out... inside the pain... touch the force, knit bones, mend flesh... renew!" I opened my hand and a bright green light emitted from my palm, enveloping Ranna's injured leg like a mist./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I watched as the blood disappeared from the wound, then the bruise lightened to a deep purple, then green, and finality a soft pink. I snapped my hand shut exhausted and dropped to the broken tile floor. I blocked out everything around me, Ranna, light, even time, all in an attempt to maintain the strength to heal her./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Tharen are you okay?!" Shouted Ranna as I collapsed on the ground./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I'm fine Etch." I answered with heavy, labored breaths. "Give me a minute, healing has never exactly been my thing." She chuckled as I noticed she was standing comfortably. "Hurt anymore?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Not at all, but you blacked out for a while." She answered as she checked out her now uninjured, slightly raw leg./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""What do you mean?" I asked. My padawan then informed me that an hour had passed during the time I was in a healing trance. It felt strange that an hour had passed without me knowing it but I accepted her explanation. Then I realized something. "Wait, and you haven't heard a single thing from Master Slather?" The half Echani girl nodded, telling me that her communicator had been silent. "And what about the flesh-raiders? Nothing?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Not a single sound." She answered./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""That can't be right, they shouldn't still be unconscious by now." I said confused. I looked up at the high ceiling and noticed a small broken window had been placed above the doorway. there was no way that the small ledge along the window could hold my weight. "Ranna, do you think you could get to that window and tell me if they're awake?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She looked to where I was pointing. "Sure Master." She approached the doorway, took out her grappling hook. She carefully aimed the device and pulled its trigger. A thin metal wire shot from the tubular object and stuck firmly twenty feet above us. Ranna pulled the handle down and attached it to her belt before flipping the trigger again and being pulled into the air. This all happened within seconds./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She landed gracefully on the narrow ledge and stashed her grappling hook back on her belt. "Master!" Her voice sounded frightened. "They're all dead!" She gagged like she might throw up./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""What do you mean they're all dead!" I shouted up to her, just as surprised./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""They're all dead, they're camps on fire and bodies are everywhere!"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I reached out through the force, out of the stone temple walls. She was right, I could since death, cold, malevolent death. That wasn't all I felt though. A dark, deadly power seemed to be inching closer like a fog. The foggy power seemed to grow stronger the closer it got as if it was hunting for its next victim. "Ranna get down!" I ordered. She looked down puzzled. "Now!" I commanded./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She dove from the ledge just as it was blown to bits by a violent explosion of purple lightning. Ranna landed on her feet a few feet away from me with a frightened look. "What was that?!" She shook./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""It looked like the lightning we ran into in the storm." I answered. I could feel the fog outside the door now, I knew it had the power to get inside but did not enter, but it also prevented us from escaping. Which meant it was sentient, or what ever controlled it was. The fog wanted us to go deeper into the temple, and we had little other option./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""You think that's what killed the flesh-raiders?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Possibly." I nodded. "We need to go find Master Slather and tell him what we found here." I motioned for her to follow me into the dark corridor that Saras and Slather had entered./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"~~~•••~~~/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"The corridor was narrow with high ceilings. My padawan cautiously walked behind me, I think having me with helped her remain calm after her near death experience with the storms lightning. I held my lightsaber in front of us to provide lighting to the dark, partially destroyed hall way./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"With every step the wooden floor below us would creek loudly. "Master, are you sure that we aren't going to drop through the floor?" Asked Ranna nervously taking another step forward./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I'm sure, Etch." I lied. I have to admit, I too was afraid the old wood beneath us was going to collapse. The poor lighting in the hall way made it difficult to tell where our feet landed. A few more steps into the corridor a loud emsnap! /emsounded behind me. I turned but it was too late. Ranna had fallen through the broken floor and was clinging to a floor over the dark chasm./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Tharen help!" She screamed./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I dived to the floor just in time to grasp her hand as the board broke. "Just hold on, I'll pull you up!" I soothed, hoping to keep her from panicking. When I began to pull her up, the floor beneath me began to crack. "Can you see the floor below you?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She breathed nervously then looked down. "No, its too dark!"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""What about your grappling hook? Latch it to the ceiling."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""If I do that, the ceiling might collapse and kill us both!" Her sweaty fingers started to slip from my gasp. She started to cry, between the ship crash, the storm lightning and now her dangling by my hand I wasn't surprised she was scared. "Master, please don't drop me!" Tears dripped from her stone white eyes./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Never. I promise, we'll find a way out of this." The board I was laying on began to groan. I felt sorry for Ranna. Only her second month as my student and she had almost died at least five times, quite the master I was./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I'll catch her!" Shouted a female voice below us./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Saras, is that you?" I called. Now only Ranna's small fingers were within my grasp./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Yes!" She answered back. I heard her kick away the wooden rubble below us. Now she turned her attention to Ranna. "Ranna, everything is going to be fine! I am twenty feet below you okay? "/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""That's a long way down, how do you know I'll live?" Cried Ranna, she looked back up at me for the answers./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I looked into her teary white eyes. "I'll be right behind you." I promised. "It'll be okay." She gave me a frightened nod and I released my grasp. A few anxious seconds passed, then she called back up and told me she was okay. "Okay, I'm coming down!" I yelled down before jumping into the hole./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I had to use the force to slow me descent and combined with Saras's more advanced control over the force I landed softly on my feet. I had always been slightly jealous of her power with the force, but she was equally jealous of my skill with weaponry./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I had once asked Master Slather why Saras hadn't been permitted to take the trials. He didn't tell me much, but from what he said, the only thing that was holding her back were her emotions. I was left to assume that if Saras could control herself she too would be a jedi knight./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"It took me less than a moment to realize we were inside the crypt beneath the ancient temple. Large stone arches every few feet supported the chiseled rock walls and deep rectangular holes in the walls contained simple wooden caskets that must have been maintained by the force because unlike everything around them, they looked newly built./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Saras's tunic was covered in black dust and she held her blue lightsaber high above her for light with her left hand. "What makes you two join me down in this emwonderful /emlittle slice of architecture?" Her sarcasm wasn't exactly joyful, more like she wanted to get it over with./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Where is Slather?" I asked as I noticed Ranna leaning against one of the arches, catching her breath. "The storm outside is- I don't know how to describe it, it feels alive." She gave me an odd, confused look. "The storm killed all of the flesh-raiders."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""The dark side of the force must be giving it strength." She hypothesized. She pointed toward the northern side of the dark cavern with her blue lightsaber. "My master went that way." She motioned for us to follow her down the stone tunnel./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"As we walked I grabbed the communicator off my utility belt and tried to contact Master Slather to get a better fix on his location. "Master Slather, this is Tharen, what is your position?" emStatic./em"Mater Slather, where are you?" I said after a few moments. "Blast!" I cursed. "The walls down here must be too thick." I replaced the communicator back on my belt./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I froze as I heard a low grumble just a few feet behind us. Ranna and I both turned, nothing. Ranna clung closer to me as we continued our search. The low grumbling grew more thunderous as we continued./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I could feel the dark energy again, the same fog that had killed the flesh-raiders. It was growing stronger. I had just enough time to turn and draw my lightsaber to defend myself. Powerful lightning struck my lightsaber and arced around me in a lotus of energy./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"All I could see in front of me was an ocean of pitch blackness. I was forced to step back as dark wisps nipped at my feet. I looked to my left, Saras was next to me with her weapon drawn./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""This is but a taste of the dark side." Whispered the fog malevolently as if quoting itself. "To whet your appetite." A deep cackle echoed through the cavern, then a wave of purple energy rippled through the cloud itself. A single orange beam arced from it's center towards Saras. "Learn from my power!" The orange lightning quickly overwhelmed Saras and struck her in the chest. Then the fog disappeared into itself like it had been sucked into a black-hole./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Saras stood there surprised. The energy had burned a hole through her jedi tunic and dispersed across her body, but it didn't seem to cause her any pain, and it worried me. She switched off her lightsaber and returned it to her belt./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""What was that!?" Asked Ranna, behind me./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I think it was a spirit. A force ghost." I answered./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""That's impossible, they're a myth." She denied./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I told you this morning, don't believe everything you-"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""-read in the archives, I know, but that's just crazy." She seemed to think about it for a moment. "When we get back to the temple, I will have to study this further." I nodded to my padawan, assuring her that I would join her./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Can we continue now?" Saras's tone had changed, she seemed more angry, almost demanding. "I think Master Slather is just a little farther."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She started to move further down the cavern but I grabbed her by the forearm. "Saras, are you okay?" Anger had always been difficult for her to control, but she had never acted this way with me, especially after she and I started secretly dating./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I'm fine." She spat as she yanked her arm free and pushed past Ranna. As she passed me I could have sworn her eyes had shifted color from blue to a blood red, but with the dark lighting, it was hard to tell. "Come on, I want to get out of here quickly!" She ordered without slowing down./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"~~~•••~~~/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Slather wasn't too much farther down the tunnel. He stood in front of a large wooden door. Different hieroglyphs were etched into the wood. These weren't jedi style carvings though. Each figure seemed more angular than the rounded, soft carvings back at the temple on Coruscant. Its massive size dwarfed the four of us, it helped explain the high roofed cavern./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"A triumphant grin grew across his tattooed face as we approached. "This is the entrance to the holocron room." Saras quietly joined his side and inspected the door. "I think it requires a password to open it."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Ranna inched closer to the door. "I think I recognize these hieroglyphs." She paused for a moment. "These are Echani."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""How do you know Echani?" I asked./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Master, you do remember my father was Echani right?" I felt stupid for asking. "Do werupra." She chuckled as she continued to analyze the carvings./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""What does that mean?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I may not speak the language." Laughed Slather with his deep voice. "But I think she just called you a moron." A smug grin grew across both their faces./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Can we just get this over with." Demanded Saras./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Just one minute." Answered Ranna, starting to get slightly irritated with Saras's tone./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I took the free moment to explain to Master Slather what had occurred outside. He was shocked to learn the destructive power of the fog, then I explained, much to Saras's disapproval, what had happened just a few minutes before. He asked Saras if she felt okay and she brushed him off like he was some over protective parent. This definitely wasn't the Saras I knew and loved, Master Slather too knew something was wrong, but he didn't say anything./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I think I got it!" Announced Ranna. She stood up from her knee and brushed off the dirt. "Its some sort of story. According to this, after the jedi civil war." She grinned back at me, at least I had thought her something useful. "Six jedi rebuilt the order, one of them was half Echani, like me, she sealed some sort of dark artifacts inside here, following her master's disappearance."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Yeah, yeah, history. Blah, blah. Can you open the door?" Interrupted Saras. I wanted to call her on her poor treatment of my padawan but Master Slather signaled me to let it go./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I was just getting to that." Answered Ranna, growing even more irritated by her fellow padawan's behavior. She looked at me to defend her from my girlfriend's waning temper but I just sighed, showing her I couldn't do anything. "The door will only open when one of equal echani and human blood pushes against this hieroglyph." She pointed to a carving of a jedi in a heavy cloak, wielding a duel bladed saber-staff. "All seems a little too convenient." She laughed as she held her own saber-staff in her hand./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""The force works in mysterious ways." I explained. "It guided you here, to open this door."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She nodded and pressed her hand softly against the door. A soft, silver light leaked out as the doors cracked open, lighting a portion of the cavern with its light. Saras was the only one to flinch as the light flooded in. The doors slowly glided open./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Saras was the first one inside, pushing her way passed Ranna, into the doorway, I followed her after my eyes adjusted to the light. The doorway lead into a large, open chamber with almost ice-like pillars that held up the ceiling and somehow lit the room. The floor was a cold, white marble, and the walls were a light gray stone that displayed even more of the Echani hieroglyphs. A polished, white sarcophagus sat in the center of the room./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""The carvings outside said this is the tomb of a jedi master turned Sith by the name of Atris." Explained Ranna, approaching me from behind. "The jedi I mentioned earlier-"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I could really care less." Spat Saras as she pushed the lid off the casket. "We aren't here for a history lesson."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Slather ran up to the sarcophagus before Saras could look inside it. "Are you okay?" He asked pulling her back away from it./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She pulled back from him again. "I'm more than fine Master!" She hissed before moving swiftly to the other side of the sarcophagus and climbed inside of it./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"The room shifted to a dark, bloody red as she climbed inside. "I have returned!" Cackled a voice I knew wasn't Saras's. "Foolish week minded Jedi. Always so easy to manipulate." A boney hand reached out of the casket and began to lift the rest of it's carcass out of its tomb./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Slather, Ranna and I immediately drew our lightsabers as we saw the full body stand up. A boney figure with dry, leathery skin, cloaked in a tattered, white robe watched us with rotten, red eyes. That wasn't what worried me most though, the figure, who was obviously female, held Saras's limp body under one of it's arms and a lightsaber with a silver hilt hung from one of its ribs./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Put her down!" I ordered stepping closer to the walking corpse. I could feel it was strong with the dark side of the force. "I'm only warning you once."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"It gave me a toothless grin and ran a skinless finger across Saras's flawless, unconscious face. "I sense much power in you, its too bad you weren't a compatible host." The figure closed its leathery eye lids and set Saras back inside the sarcophagus. "Her life force will supply me with enough power to defeat you three though." Cackled the demonic female voice as a black mist began to stream from Saras into the figure. "Your energy will maintain me as I return to power."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Master Slather was the fist one to jump into battle, he bounded over the sarcophagus and placed himself between the undead woman and his limp padawan. His blue lightsaber was a blur as he deflected an onslaught of powerful blows from the zombie sith lord. For a centuries old dead woman, she could move surprisingly fast./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"As Ranna and I slowly split to flank the zombie. Now she was surrounded on by the three off us. Now she resorted to force powers as Ranna and I cautiously advanced. As she defected a glancing blow from Slather's ocean blue blade she released a thunderous shock wave of deadly, purple lightning./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Ranna and I jumped back just in time to avoid being electrocuted but Slather wasn't so lucky. As he was protecting himself from her red lightsaber, he was caught in the blast. The power of her shock wave sent the jedi master flying, he struck the sarcophagus hard enough for one of it's sides to crumble./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Slather didn't move as the the sith lord stiffly marched toward the wounded jedi. "Fear me." She spat on him as she grabbed him by one of his stubby horns and pulled him into the air. "I am no longer Atris ! I am now Darth Traya, prepare to dye." She emitted a loud curdling scream as she plunged her blade into the semiconscious master's chest and cleaved upward, cleaving him in half./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Rage overcame me as I watched a man I had known for a lot of my life be split in half. The only thing that kept me from charging the undead woman was my jedi training, I forced myself to control m emotions. What worried me was Ranna, she might not have known him as well, but she was still young, she couldn't control herself as well./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Anger seemed to radiate from my padawan as she charged Traya. I tried to tell her to stop but it was too late, the undead sith lord had already charged herself up for another force power. She raised up her hand and in a single deafening emboom! /emRanna and I were sent flying across the tomb. I started to pull myself back upright but the undead woman unleashed another wave of force energy. My lightsaber flew from my grasp as the energy collided with me./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Time seemed to freeze as I lost consciousnesses. Everything went a pale white and the sith woman seemed to freeze in time. Everything had a surreal feeling to it and I was unable to move my body. A ghostly form seemed to materialize a few feet from me./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"The ghost was obviously female by her hourglass figure. Her angular face was partially concealed by a spectral, white cloak that covered her body. "Greetings, young jedi knight."Announced the ghost woman as she lowered her hood to reveal her stone white eyes and snowy short hair. It took me less than a second to realize she looked like an older version of Ranna. "I can only manifest this form for a short time." She explained./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I tried to speak but my lips refused to function./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Atris was once a powerful jedi, I am Brianna, last of the Handmaidens, and you will need my help." Warned the female ghost. She held out a single hand and a single crystalline tube appeared in her hand. A lightsaber, it's hilt seemed to be made of polished white crystal with chrome bands that were at the center and an angular emitter. "This is my blade." She explained. My hands started to lift as if they had minds of their own. "Use it well."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She disappeared the same way that the darkness had inside the catacombs. Time began to bleed back into reality. Traya stalked toward me as I pulled myself to my feet. I had just enough time to ignite the ghost's lightsaber and defect the sith lord's attack./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Where did you get that blade!" Hissed the undead woman as she delivered a forceful slash that I barely parried. "The traitor gave it to you didn't she." I took a moment to look at the lightsaber's color, a brilliant silver that provided a stark contrast to the sith's blood red. I tried to counter attack her but she caught by blade with hers and forced me back./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I didn't answer, I was too focused on trying to find my padawan. I looked around the room looking for Ranna. While I was distracted Traya took the advantage and and and stabbed at my heart. I had just enough time to dodge out of her way but not without injury. She had struck a glancing blow to my shoulder./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I pushed through the pain and counter attacked. While I was below her guard, I channeled my control over the force and pushed out with all my strength. To my surprise I had sent her rocketing across the room, crashing into one of the ice pillars and she crumpled under them. I could feel the lightsaber focusing my abilities like water through a faucet. Had that been the help that Brianna had been talking about? Had she given me the blade to strengthen me or simply provide me with a weapon? Either way I hoped that had been the end of Darth Traya./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I looked over at the sarcophagus, the stream of dark fog had dissolved to a trickle. I ran over to it. Saras was laying there unconscious. Her skin had turned a sickly pale and her body twitched painfully. I leaned over and picked her up with both arms. The black fog dissolved as I lifted her out of the sarcophagus./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Ranna appeared at my side as I cradled the woman I loved in my arms. "The dark side has infected her." She said as she brushed her hand across Saras's cracked face. I knew she was right but didn't want to admit it. "Will she be okay Master?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I didn't answer, I was to busy watching Saras's eyes flutter open. "How did we get here?" She murmured./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""You don't remember?" Asked Ranna./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""What do you remember last?" I soothed, holding her tight in my burned arms./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She paused for a moment and thought. It all seemed to be coming back to her now. "I am so sorry." An apologetic tear started to drip down her cheek. "I didn't mean to be so-"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I cut her off mid sentence. "It's okay, it wasn't you acting that way, it was the Sith." I soothed as I helped her sit down on the steps to the sarcophagus./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Wheres Master Slather?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I didn't answer. The ice pillars had begun to crumble more, I could still sense the dark side coming from beneath the rubble. Ranna, help Saras get back to the entrance!" I ordered./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Master, let me help you!" Demanded my apprentice./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Ranna do as I tell you and get her out of here!" She started to argue but I didn't let her. "Etch, If I don't make it, some one needs to survive this to warn the Jedi on this planet. Get Saras to a healer, as a favor to me."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She stopped arguing and nodded. She pulled Saras off the ground and braced her against her shoulder. "Just one second." Requested Saras, Ranna stopped moving forward. Saras grabbed me by the tunic, pulled me closer and gave me a heavy kiss on the lips. "I'm sorry, for everything I've done to you." She apologized as she allowed Ranna to pull her out of the crypt./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Now to prepare. I quickly walked over to the pile of stones my lightsaber had landed on and picked up my blade. Next I placed both blades on my belt and took out my blaster. It's power meter told me that the primary battery had been overloaded, leaving me with just it's stun setting, the worst problem was the barrel had been fused shut when the pistol overloaded. Which meant that if I fired it, the power-cell would short circuit and explode. That left me with two lightsabers and and an explosive blaster./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Knowing it would be too straining and time consuming to heal myself from my injuries, I centered myself to the force around me, the pain from the burns on my arms and legs began to disappear, although I knew they were still there./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"The ruble that had fallen on Darth Traya began to crumble as I prepared myself. I felt a third presence in the chamber, I felt out with the force, the same benevolent force, Brianna. Her essence surrounded me as the I awaited the sith. I could feel her inside me, connecting with my soul, for a moment I thought I might be possessed but dismissed it. I had read about sith ghost possession and this wasn't what it was. Brianna as merging with me, I could feel her strength adding to mine, her knowledge, even her power within the force was now added to mine./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"emCrash! /emA piece of column, that had fallen on Traya, launched from it's resting place at me. Without even thinking I drew both lightsaber's and sliced the chunk in half, sending it crashing to both of my sides./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Now she appeared. The sith lord stalked out of the opening made by the now cleaved chunk of ice. Her face had been pealed away so that her jaw bone protruded out, and her lips were ripped away, revealing jagged, yellow, and rotten teeth./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Stupid Jedi!" She cackled. "So self righteous, you need to learn that helping others only brings pain to those around you, makes them lazy. That child would have died to help you." The sith stalked toward me but did not ignite her lightsaber. "You should have indulged her in that death wish, would have made a great story for my new empire! The death of Master and Apprentice." She used the force to levitate her lightsaber in front of her and watched me with blood red eyes./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""If I must die, so let it be, but I will not allow you to harm another soul on this planet." I answered igniting both my green lightsaber, and the silver one from Brianna./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""One of your so-called emMasters /emcouldn't stop me, what makes you think you can?" I could sense the dark energy flowing through the ice and stone walls that surrounded us. "I will start with this planet, then continue to the next, then the next!"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Her monologue had gone on for long enough, I charged. Her blade ignited midair and she counter attacked, forcing me to block it with one blade, while slashing outwith the other. I missed but forced Traya to slide away from me./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Before she could recover I charged again. This time my silver blade struck it's mark. Her boney left hand fell to the ground and crumbled into a pile of smokey dust./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"The loss of limb didn't seem to phase the undead sith. She only laughed and looked at her cauterized stump. "Stupid Jedi, you are going to need to try harder than that." She pointed with her left arm as if her hand was still there and a blast of deadly force lightning blasted out of her stump./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I used the silver blade to reflect the energy back on her hoping it would inflict enough pain to stop her but she seemed to only absorb the energy back into herself./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Blast!" I cursed. I parried her red lightsaber with my silver blade and slashed across her chest with my green one. She didn't even flinch, the blade passed through her as if she was a ghost./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"emWrong blade! /emI heard Brianna's ethereal voice echo through my head. emYou need to use mine!/em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Blast!" I cursed./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She pressed her offence now. While I was caught off guard by her spectral body, she shoved me to the ground by roughly pressing against my defensive blade with her own./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Both blades flew out of my hands and skidded out of reach./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""And so begins my reign!" Snickered the sith as she stood over me. "I would love to draw this out and watch you suffer but I need be going, the Jedi aren't going to destroy themselves." Her red blade was now just above my chest and her mummified foot held me in place. "Goodbye jedi!" She hissed before the blade struck./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I hadn't realized it but I must have drawn the Brianna's lightsaber to my hands and stabbed her through the chest, this time it burned through her abdomen like magma. Her blade seemed to rust instantly and crumble away. Her limbs turned into wisps, the blood redness of her eyes seemed to fade. Her head was the last thing to disappear. As her head faded I think I caught for a moment a hint of light before she evaporated./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I layed on the ground exhausted for a while until I heard footsteps running down the cavern. "He's this way!" I heard Ranna's voice order. "Hurry!"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Moments later four Jedi entered the chamber with lightsabers drawn, ready for a fight. They instantly lowered them as they noticed me laying on the ground./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Master!" Ranna yelled as she pushed past the four masters and ran to me. "You defeated her! Are you okay?" She helped me sit upright./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Nothing more than a few bruises." I looked toward the four Jedi lifting Master Slather's body onto a stretcher. "Where's Saras?" I asked as I replaced both blades back on my belt. Ranna didn't answer, she only pulled a note out of her tunic. "Where is she Etch?/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I'm sorry Master, there was nothing I could do." She placed the note in my palms and stood up. "I'll meet you by the exit." A moment later I was alone./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"The note was obviously Saras's hand writing. It's fluid letters and her trademark pink ink. It was kind of a joke between the two of us since we had started passing notes during lessons in the archives./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"emTharen, you know how much I care about you right? Well that is why I must go. There is a darkness inside me, I've known it since we first arrived on this damn planet, it must have always been there./em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"emDon't try to follow me, there is nothing you can do, its not your fault, this is something I must deal with on my own. The jedi order isn't the place for me, not after all this./em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"emDon't blame Ranna for me taking off this way, she wasn't going to be able to stop me, and it's easier this way. No dragged out goodbyes, no apologies. Not directly anyway, just quick, like a bandage./em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"emJust remember, I will always love you and if I ever figure out what is going on inside me, you will be the first to know./em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I slowly folded the note into my belt along both my lightsabers and stood up. I searched the room for any sign of Brianna's spirit but found nothing, I couldn't even sense her through the force. Just a cold, half demolished burial chamber./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I walked over to the sarcophagus. A lone, glowing cube sat at the bottom. "I hope all of this was worth it." I sighed as I grabbed it. "Because none of this should have happened." Moments later I joined my padawan by the entrance. She led the way silently through the tunnels toward the exit, she must have understood that I didn't want to talk./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"~~~***~~~/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"It was a week before Ranna and I were able to return to the Jedi temple on Coruscant. I was alone inside my chambers, on my bed, looking at the holocron we had retrieved from Tython. It's bright red glow illuminated my palm as I analyzed it's intricate outer layer./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""So Master Slather's dead?" I looked up from the cube to see Master Caren standing in the doorway. "Is Saras dead too?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""No, she disappeared, I have no idea where she is now..." I looked back down at the holocron. "Ranna and I searched for her but... but we found nothing." I glanced over at Saras's note tucked inside my cloak a few feet away. "Before she left, she said something about having a darkness inside her."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Then there is nothing we can do for her." Answered my former master before sitting next to me on my bed. "The force has other plans for her."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""None of this would have happened if it weren't for this blasted holocron!" I almost threw it against the wall but Master Caren grabbed my wrist and took the device from me./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""There is no way anyone could have known what was down there." She soothed."I know you two were close." She looked into my eyes. "Maybe a little emtoo /emclose."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"emHow did she know about Saras and I? Ranna must have told her. /emI thought to myself./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""But nobody is responsible for Slather's death and Saras's disappearance." She stood up and walked towards the door. "Go meet your apprentice in the Hanger bay, we have a mission for you./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"The rain pelted us as we climbed out of our crashed star ship. Master Slather and Saras scouted ahead of us a few yards while Ranna and I held up the rear. Every few steps I would see Saras' hood turn to face us. She knew that Ranna knew about our relationship and she seemed uneasy about it and I couldn't blame her, I was uncomfortable too./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Ranna limped next to me trying painfully to keep up with the grueling pace Master slather had set us on to the jedi Ruins. The remains of her gray cloak and tunic kept her snow white hair dry from the down pour. I had offered to carry her but my padawan, being as prideful as she was, refused and continued to hobble along behind me, clutching her bruised leg. "Master, there are other jedi on Tython right?" I nodded to the girl's question. "Well why aren't they the ones entering this ruin?" She had a good point, why send us to another system just to retrieve some relic that could easily have been found by a jedi already there./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""The jedi academy here isn't trained for the trials we will face below the temple." Answered Master Slather as we came to a halt at the end of a ridge that overlooked a valley of rubble and dilapidated buildings. "Is only a training academy, like the one on Telos, the teachers there are only scholars and need us to do the actual exploring, how do you think we found out about this holocron?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Slather went into a prone position before crawling to the edge of the cliff and pulled out a pair of macro-binoculars and looked down at the ruins below us. 'Tharen get up here." Ordered the older jedi. The rest of us went into the same position he was in and I crawled closer to the cliff, next to him. "See those huts in the center of the valley?" He handed me his other binocular./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Now that I could get a closer look I could see small, leather huts that comprised the center of the valley. Strange totem poles that contained a mix of metal, cloth, and wood. I shifted my watch to the outskirts of the camp. I almost jumped when I saw it. The creature stood about seven feet tall, with blood red skin, its head was flat and elongated with its two eyes positioned at opposite ends of it's shark like head. "Are those flesh raiders?" I asked Slather./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Yeah." He answered. "We need a way past them into the ruins." He continued before reaching into his pocket and grabbed two spherical objects. "Sonic grenades, they should be strong enough to incapacitate them long enough for us to get in without killing them." We all pulled out our audio neutralizers and placed them over our ears, before he pushed the activator to the grenades and chucked them towards the flesh-raiders, using the force to land them within striking distance of the flesh raider camp./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"By the time they landed we were already down the cliff and running as fast as the mud and rain would permit. Poor Ranna had to block out the pain in her leg to keep up. We reached the jedi temple ruins within moments. It was a circular stone building constructed into the side of a mountain. Dirt and boulders had fell into the collapsed sections of the ancient temple./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Master Slather swiftly pushed the doors open and allowed us inside before slamming the doors shut again and locking them in place with a large, collapsed support beam. then motioned for us to remove our audio-neutralizers "That should prevent any unwelcome guests." He announced before turning to face us. "Saras, you have the map of the temple?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She reached into one of the pouches on her utility belt and produced a holocaster. "Right here Master." She flipped a switch and the interior layout of the temple materialized above the device. She pointed to an doorway on the opposite side of the large hall way. "There is an entrance somewhere in that section, I can't give you accurate directions because of all the cave ins."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Okay, then you're coming with me." Ordered Slather as Saras placed the holocaster back in its pouch. "Tharen, can you and your padawan watch the entrance and look out for more flesh-raiders?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""We got your back, sir." I saluted as the pair turned and walked down the dark, crumbled hallway. I waited until they disappeared before I spoke to Ranna. "Etch, how's your leg?" I noticed that the lower part of her tunic pants had been torn off on her left leg and a bloody bruise had formed./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I'm fine Master." She grunted as she limped over to a pile of rubble. And sat down. I could tell she was lying./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Ranna I know you're lying." I approached her and knelt down next to her wounded leg. "Okay, I'm going to show you how to heal yourself with the force." I explained before lifting up her leg so it rested flat on a fallen stone. After removing the ragged remains of my cloak I hovered my right hand above her bruised limb. "Okay Etch, you're going to want to watch this." I centered myself to the force, feeling it running through me like a powerful river. I remembered what Master Caren had said. "Relax... reach out... inside the pain... touch the force, knit bones, mend flesh... renew!" I opened my hand and a bright green light emitted from my palm, enveloping Ranna's injured leg like a mist./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I watched as the blood disappeared from the wound, then the bruise lightened to a deep purple, then green, and finality a soft pink. I snapped my hand shut exhausted and dropped to the broken tile floor. I blocked out everything around me, Ranna, light, even time, all in an attempt to maintain the strength to heal her./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Tharen are you okay?!" Shouted Ranna as I collapsed on the ground./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I'm fine Etch." I answered with heavy, labored breaths. "Give me a minute, healing has never exactly been my thing." She chuckled as I noticed she was standing comfortably. "Hurt anymore?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Not at all, but you blacked out for a while." She answered as she checked out her now uninjured, slightly raw leg./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""What do you mean?" I asked. My padawan then informed me that an hour had passed during the time I was in a healing trance. It felt strange that an hour had passed without me knowing it but I accepted her explanation. Then I realized something. "Wait, and you haven't heard a single thing from Master Slather?" The half Echani girl nodded, telling me that her communicator had been silent. "And what about the flesh-raiders? Nothing?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Not a single sound." She answered./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""That can't be right, they shouldn't still be unconscious by now." I said confused. I looked up at the high ceiling and noticed a small broken window had been placed above the doorway. there was no way that the small ledge along the window could hold my weight. "Ranna, do you think you could get to that window and tell me if they're awake?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She looked to where I was pointing. "Sure Master." She approached the doorway, took out her grappling hook. She carefully aimed the device and pulled its trigger. A thin metal wire shot from the tubular object and stuck firmly twenty feet above us. Ranna pulled the handle down and attached it to her belt before flipping the trigger again and being pulled into the air. This all happened within seconds./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She landed gracefully on the narrow ledge and stashed her grappling hook back on her belt. "Master!" Her voice sounded frightened. "They're all dead!" She gagged like she might throw up./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""What do you mean they're all dead!" I shouted up to her, just as surprised./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""They're all dead, they're camps on fire and bodies are everywhere!"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I reached out through the force, out of the stone temple walls. She was right, I could since death, cold, malevolent death. That wasn't all I felt though. A dark, deadly power seemed to be inching closer like a fog. The foggy power seemed to grow stronger the closer it got as if it was hunting for its next victim. "Ranna get down!" I ordered. She looked down puzzled. "Now!" I commanded./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She dove from the ledge just as it was blown to bits by a violent explosion of purple lightning. Ranna landed on her feet a few feet away from me with a frightened look. "What was that?!" She shook./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""It looked like the lightning we ran into in the storm." I answered. I could feel the fog outside the door now, I knew it had the power to get inside but did not enter, but it also prevented us from escaping. Which meant it was sentient, or what ever controlled it was. The fog wanted us to go deeper into the temple, and we had little other option./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""You think that's what killed the flesh-raiders?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Possibly." I nodded. "We need to go find Master Slather and tell him what we found here." I motioned for her to follow me into the dark corridor that Saras and Slather had entered./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"~~~•••~~~/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"The corridor was narrow with high ceilings. My padawan cautiously walked behind me, I think having me with helped her remain calm after her near death experience with the storms lightning. I held my lightsaber in front of us to provide lighting to the dark, partially destroyed hall way./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"With every step the wooden floor below us would creek loudly. "Master, are you sure that we aren't going to drop through the floor?" Asked Ranna nervously taking another step forward./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I'm sure, Etch." I lied. I have to admit, I too was afraid the old wood beneath us was going to collapse. The poor lighting in the hall way made it difficult to tell where our feet landed. A few more steps into the corridor a loud emsnap! /emsounded behind me. I turned but it was too late. Ranna had fallen through the broken floor and was clinging to a floor over the dark chasm./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Tharen help!" She screamed./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I dived to the floor just in time to grasp her hand as the board broke. "Just hold on, I'll pull you up!" I soothed, hoping to keep her from panicking. When I began to pull her up, the floor beneath me began to crack. "Can you see the floor below you?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She breathed nervously then looked down. "No, its too dark!"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""What about your grappling hook? Latch it to the ceiling."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""If I do that, the ceiling might collapse and kill us both!" Her sweaty fingers started to slip from my gasp. She started to cry, between the ship crash, the storm lightning and now her dangling by my hand I wasn't surprised she was scared. "Master, please don't drop me!" Tears dripped from her stone white eyes./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Never. I promise, we'll find a way out of this." The board I was laying on began to groan. I felt sorry for Ranna. Only her second month as my student and she had almost died at least five times, quite the master I was./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I'll catch her!" Shouted a female voice below us./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Saras, is that you?" I called. Now only Ranna's small fingers were within my grasp./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Yes!" She answered back. I heard her kick away the wooden rubble below us. Now she turned her attention to Ranna. "Ranna, everything is going to be fine! I am twenty feet below you okay? "/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""That's a long way down, how do you know I'll live?" Cried Ranna, she looked back up at me for the answers./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I looked into her teary white eyes. "I'll be right behind you." I promised. "It'll be okay." She gave me a frightened nod and I released my grasp. A few anxious seconds passed, then she called back up and told me she was okay. "Okay, I'm coming down!" I yelled down before jumping into the hole./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I had to use the force to slow me descent and combined with Saras's more advanced control over the force I landed softly on my feet. I had always been slightly jealous of her power with the force, but she was equally jealous of my skill with weaponry./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I had once asked Master Slather why Saras hadn't been permitted to take the trials. He didn't tell me much, but from what he said, the only thing that was holding her back were her emotions. I was left to assume that if Saras could control herself she too would be a jedi knight./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"It took me less than a moment to realize we were inside the crypt beneath the ancient temple. Large stone arches every few feet supported the chiseled rock walls and deep rectangular holes in the walls contained simple wooden caskets that must have been maintained by the force because unlike everything around them, they looked newly built./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Saras's tunic was covered in black dust and she held her blue lightsaber high above her for light with her left hand. "What makes you two join me down in this emwonderful /emlittle slice of architecture?" Her sarcasm wasn't exactly joyful, more like she wanted to get it over with./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Where is Slather?" I asked as I noticed Ranna leaning against one of the arches, catching her breath. "The storm outside is- I don't know how to describe it, it feels alive." She gave me an odd, confused look. "The storm killed all of the flesh-raiders."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""The dark side of the force must be giving it strength." She hypothesized. She pointed toward the northern side of the dark cavern with her blue lightsaber. "My master went that way." She motioned for us to follow her down the stone tunnel./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"As we walked I grabbed the communicator off my utility belt and tried to contact Master Slather to get a better fix on his location. "Master Slather, this is Tharen, what is your position?" emStatic./em"Mater Slather, where are you?" I said after a few moments. "Blast!" I cursed. "The walls down here must be too thick." I replaced the communicator back on my belt./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I froze as I heard a low grumble just a few feet behind us. Ranna and I both turned, nothing. Ranna clung closer to me as we continued our search. The low grumbling grew more thunderous as we continued./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I could feel the dark energy again, the same fog that had killed the flesh-raiders. It was growing stronger. I had just enough time to turn and draw my lightsaber to defend myself. Powerful lightning struck my lightsaber and arced around me in a lotus of energy./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"All I could see in front of me was an ocean of pitch blackness. I was forced to step back as dark wisps nipped at my feet. I looked to my left, Saras was next to me with her weapon drawn./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""This is but a taste of the dark side." Whispered the fog malevolently as if quoting itself. "To whet your appetite." A deep cackle echoed through the cavern, then a wave of purple energy rippled through the cloud itself. A single orange beam arced from it's center towards Saras. "Learn from my power!" The orange lightning quickly overwhelmed Saras and struck her in the chest. Then the fog disappeared into itself like it had been sucked into a black-hole./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Saras stood there surprised. The energy had burned a hole through her jedi tunic and dispersed across her body, but it didn't seem to cause her any pain, and it worried me. She switched off her lightsaber and returned it to her belt./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""What was that!?" Asked Ranna, behind me./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I think it was a spirit. A force ghost." I answered./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""That's impossible, they're a myth." She denied./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I told you this morning, don't believe everything you-"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""-read in the archives, I know, but that's just crazy." She seemed to think about it for a moment. "When we get back to the temple, I will have to study this further." I nodded to my padawan, assuring her that I would join her./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Can we continue now?" Saras's tone had changed, she seemed more angry, almost demanding. "I think Master Slather is just a little farther."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She started to move further down the cavern but I grabbed her by the forearm. "Saras, are you okay?" Anger had always been difficult for her to control, but she had never acted this way with me, especially after she and I started secretly dating./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I'm fine." She spat as she yanked her arm free and pushed past Ranna. As she passed me I could have sworn her eyes had shifted color from blue to a blood red, but with the dark lighting, it was hard to tell. "Come on, I want to get out of here quickly!" She ordered without slowing down./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"~~~•••~~~/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Slather wasn't too much farther down the tunnel. He stood in front of a large wooden door. Different hieroglyphs were etched into the wood. These weren't jedi style carvings though. Each figure seemed more angular than the rounded, soft carvings back at the temple on Coruscant. Its massive size dwarfed the four of us, it helped explain the high roofed cavern./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"A triumphant grin grew across his tattooed face as we approached. "This is the entrance to the holocron room." Saras quietly joined his side and inspected the door. "I think it requires a password to open it."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Ranna inched closer to the door. "I think I recognize these hieroglyphs." She paused for a moment. "These are Echani."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""How do you know Echani?" I asked./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Master, you do remember my father was Echani right?" I felt stupid for asking. "Do werupra." She chuckled as she continued to analyze the carvings./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""What does that mean?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I may not speak the language." Laughed Slather with his deep voice. "But I think she just called you a moron." A smug grin grew across both their faces./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Can we just get this over with." Demanded Saras./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Just one minute." Answered Ranna, starting to get slightly irritated with Saras's tone./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I took the free moment to explain to Master Slather what had occurred outside. He was shocked to learn the destructive power of the fog, then I explained, much to Saras's disapproval, what had happened just a few minutes before. He asked Saras if she felt okay and she brushed him off like he was some over protective parent. This definitely wasn't the Saras I knew and loved, Master Slather too knew something was wrong, but he didn't say anything./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I think I got it!" Announced Ranna. She stood up from her knee and brushed off the dirt. "Its some sort of story. According to this, after the jedi civil war." She grinned back at me, at least I had thought her something useful. "Six jedi rebuilt the order, one of them was half Echani, like me, she sealed some sort of dark artifacts inside here, following her master's disappearance."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Yeah, yeah, history. Blah, blah. Can you open the door?" Interrupted Saras. I wanted to call her on her poor treatment of my padawan but Master Slather signaled me to let it go./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I was just getting to that." Answered Ranna, growing even more irritated by her fellow padawan's behavior. She looked at me to defend her from my girlfriend's waning temper but I just sighed, showing her I couldn't do anything. "The door will only open when one of equal echani and human blood pushes against this hieroglyph." She pointed to a carving of a jedi in a heavy cloak, wielding a duel bladed saber-staff. "All seems a little too convenient." She laughed as she held her own saber-staff in her hand./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""The force works in mysterious ways." I explained. "It guided you here, to open this door."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She nodded and pressed her hand softly against the door. A soft, silver light leaked out as the doors cracked open, lighting a portion of the cavern with its light. Saras was the only one to flinch as the light flooded in. The doors slowly glided open./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Saras was the first one inside, pushing her way passed Ranna, into the doorway, I followed her after my eyes adjusted to the light. The doorway lead into a large, open chamber with almost ice-like pillars that held up the ceiling and somehow lit the room. The floor was a cold, white marble, and the walls were a light gray stone that displayed even more of the Echani hieroglyphs. A polished, white sarcophagus sat in the center of the room./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""The carvings outside said this is the tomb of a jedi master turned Sith by the name of Atris." Explained Ranna, approaching me from behind. "The jedi I mentioned earlier-"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I could really care less." Spat Saras as she pushed the lid off the casket. "We aren't here for a history lesson."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Slather ran up to the sarcophagus before Saras could look inside it. "Are you okay?" He asked pulling her back away from it./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She pulled back from him again. "I'm more than fine Master!" She hissed before moving swiftly to the other side of the sarcophagus and climbed inside of it./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"The room shifted to a dark, bloody red as she climbed inside. "I have returned!" Cackled a voice I knew wasn't Saras's. "Foolish week minded Jedi. Always so easy to manipulate." A boney hand reached out of the casket and began to lift the rest of it's carcass out of its tomb./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Slather, Ranna and I immediately drew our lightsabers as we saw the full body stand up. A boney figure with dry, leathery skin, cloaked in a tattered, white robe watched us with rotten, red eyes. That wasn't what worried me most though, the figure, who was obviously female, held Saras's limp body under one of it's arms and a lightsaber with a silver hilt hung from one of its ribs./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Put her down!" I ordered stepping closer to the walking corpse. I could feel it was strong with the dark side of the force. "I'm only warning you once."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"It gave me a toothless grin and ran a skinless finger across Saras's flawless, unconscious face. "I sense much power in you, its too bad you weren't a compatible host." The figure closed its leathery eye lids and set Saras back inside the sarcophagus. "Her life force will supply me with enough power to defeat you three though." Cackled the demonic female voice as a black mist began to stream from Saras into the figure. "Your energy will maintain me as I return to power."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Master Slather was the fist one to jump into battle, he bounded over the sarcophagus and placed himself between the undead woman and his limp padawan. His blue lightsaber was a blur as he deflected an onslaught of powerful blows from the zombie sith lord. For a centuries old dead woman, she could move surprisingly fast./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"As Ranna and I slowly split to flank the zombie. Now she was surrounded on by the three off us. Now she resorted to force powers as Ranna and I cautiously advanced. As she defected a glancing blow from Slather's ocean blue blade she released a thunderous shock wave of deadly, purple lightning./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Ranna and I jumped back just in time to avoid being electrocuted but Slather wasn't so lucky. As he was protecting himself from her red lightsaber, he was caught in the blast. The power of her shock wave sent the jedi master flying, he struck the sarcophagus hard enough for one of it's sides to crumble./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Slather didn't move as the the sith lord stiffly marched toward the wounded jedi. "Fear me." She spat on him as she grabbed him by one of his stubby horns and pulled him into the air. "I am no longer Atris ! I am now Darth Traya, prepare to dye." She emitted a loud curdling scream as she plunged her blade into the semiconscious master's chest and cleaved upward, cleaving him in half./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Rage overcame me as I watched a man I had known for a lot of my life be split in half. The only thing that kept me from charging the undead woman was my jedi training, I forced myself to control m emotions. What worried me was Ranna, she might not have known him as well, but she was still young, she couldn't control herself as well./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Anger seemed to radiate from my padawan as she charged Traya. I tried to tell her to stop but it was too late, the undead sith lord had already charged herself up for another force power. She raised up her hand and in a single deafening emboom! /emRanna and I were sent flying across the tomb. I started to pull myself back upright but the undead woman unleashed another wave of force energy. My lightsaber flew from my grasp as the energy collided with me./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Time seemed to freeze as I lost consciousnesses. Everything went a pale white and the sith woman seemed to freeze in time. Everything had a surreal feeling to it and I was unable to move my body. A ghostly form seemed to materialize a few feet from me./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"The ghost was obviously female by her hourglass figure. Her angular face was partially concealed by a spectral, white cloak that covered her body. "Greetings, young jedi knight."Announced the ghost woman as she lowered her hood to reveal her stone white eyes and snowy short hair. It took me less than a second to realize she looked like an older version of Ranna. "I can only manifest this form for a short time." She explained./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I tried to speak but my lips refused to function./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Atris was once a powerful jedi, I am Brianna, last of the Handmaidens, and you will need my help." Warned the female ghost. She held out a single hand and a single crystalline tube appeared in her hand. A lightsaber, it's hilt seemed to be made of polished white crystal with chrome bands that were at the center and an angular emitter. "This is my blade." She explained. My hands started to lift as if they had minds of their own. "Use it well."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She disappeared the same way that the darkness had inside the catacombs. Time began to bleed back into reality. Traya stalked toward me as I pulled myself to my feet. I had just enough time to ignite the ghost's lightsaber and defect the sith lord's attack./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Where did you get that blade!" Hissed the undead woman as she delivered a forceful slash that I barely parried. "The traitor gave it to you didn't she." I took a moment to look at the lightsaber's color, a brilliant silver that provided a stark contrast to the sith's blood red. I tried to counter attack her but she caught by blade with hers and forced me back./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I didn't answer, I was too focused on trying to find my padawan. I looked around the room looking for Ranna. While I was distracted Traya took the advantage and and and stabbed at my heart. I had just enough time to dodge out of her way but not without injury. She had struck a glancing blow to my shoulder./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I pushed through the pain and counter attacked. While I was below her guard, I channeled my control over the force and pushed out with all my strength. To my surprise I had sent her rocketing across the room, crashing into one of the ice pillars and she crumpled under them. I could feel the lightsaber focusing my abilities like water through a faucet. Had that been the help that Brianna had been talking about? Had she given me the blade to strengthen me or simply provide me with a weapon? Either way I hoped that had been the end of Darth Traya./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I looked over at the sarcophagus, the stream of dark fog had dissolved to a trickle. I ran over to it. Saras was laying there unconscious. Her skin had turned a sickly pale and her body twitched painfully. I leaned over and picked her up with both arms. The black fog dissolved as I lifted her out of the sarcophagus./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Ranna appeared at my side as I cradled the woman I loved in my arms. "The dark side has infected her." She said as she brushed her hand across Saras's cracked face. I knew she was right but didn't want to admit it. "Will she be okay Master?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I didn't answer, I was to busy watching Saras's eyes flutter open. "How did we get here?" She murmured./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""You don't remember?" Asked Ranna./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""What do you remember last?" I soothed, holding her tight in my burned arms./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She paused for a moment and thought. It all seemed to be coming back to her now. "I am so sorry." An apologetic tear started to drip down her cheek. "I didn't mean to be so-"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I cut her off mid sentence. "It's okay, it wasn't you acting that way, it was the Sith." I soothed as I helped her sit down on the steps to the sarcophagus./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Wheres Master Slather?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I didn't answer. The ice pillars had begun to crumble more, I could still sense the dark side coming from beneath the rubble. Ranna, help Saras get back to the entrance!" I ordered./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Master, let me help you!" Demanded my apprentice./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Ranna do as I tell you and get her out of here!" She started to argue but I didn't let her. "Etch, If I don't make it, some one needs to survive this to warn the Jedi on this planet. Get Saras to a healer, as a favor to me."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She stopped arguing and nodded. She pulled Saras off the ground and braced her against her shoulder. "Just one second." Requested Saras, Ranna stopped moving forward. Saras grabbed me by the tunic, pulled me closer and gave me a heavy kiss on the lips. "I'm sorry, for everything I've done to you." She apologized as she allowed Ranna to pull her out of the crypt./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Now to prepare. I quickly walked over to the pile of stones my lightsaber had landed on and picked up my blade. Next I placed both blades on my belt and took out my blaster. It's power meter told me that the primary battery had been overloaded, leaving me with just it's stun setting, the worst problem was the barrel had been fused shut when the pistol overloaded. Which meant that if I fired it, the power-cell would short circuit and explode. That left me with two lightsabers and and an explosive blaster./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Knowing it would be too straining and time consuming to heal myself from my injuries, I centered myself to the force around me, the pain from the burns on my arms and legs began to disappear, although I knew they were still there./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"The ruble that had fallen on Darth Traya began to crumble as I prepared myself. I felt a third presence in the chamber, I felt out with the force, the same benevolent force, Brianna. Her essence surrounded me as the I awaited the sith. I could feel her inside me, connecting with my soul, for a moment I thought I might be possessed but dismissed it. I had read about sith ghost possession and this wasn't what it was. Brianna as merging with me, I could feel her strength adding to mine, her knowledge, even her power within the force was now added to mine./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"emCrash! /emA piece of column, that had fallen on Traya, launched from it's resting place at me. Without even thinking I drew both lightsaber's and sliced the chunk in half, sending it crashing to both of my sides./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Now she appeared. The sith lord stalked out of the opening made by the now cleaved chunk of ice. Her face had been pealed away so that her jaw bone protruded out, and her lips were ripped away, revealing jagged, yellow, and rotten teeth./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Stupid Jedi!" She cackled. "So self righteous, you need to learn that helping others only brings pain to those around you, makes them lazy. That child would have died to help you." The sith stalked toward me but did not ignite her lightsaber. "You should have indulged her in that death wish, would have made a great story for my new empire! The death of Master and Apprentice." She used the force to levitate her lightsaber in front of her and watched me with blood red eyes./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""If I must die, so let it be, but I will not allow you to harm another soul on this planet." I answered igniting both my green lightsaber, and the silver one from Brianna./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""One of your so-called emMasters /emcouldn't stop me, what makes you think you can?" I could sense the dark energy flowing through the ice and stone walls that surrounded us. "I will start with this planet, then continue to the next, then the next!"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Her monologue had gone on for long enough, I charged. Her blade ignited midair and she counter attacked, forcing me to block it with one blade, while slashing outwith the other. I missed but forced Traya to slide away from me./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Before she could recover I charged again. This time my silver blade struck it's mark. Her boney left hand fell to the ground and crumbled into a pile of smokey dust./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"The loss of limb didn't seem to phase the undead sith. She only laughed and looked at her cauterized stump. "Stupid Jedi, you are going to need to try harder than that." She pointed with her left arm as if her hand was still there and a blast of deadly force lightning blasted out of her stump./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I used the silver blade to reflect the energy back on her hoping it would inflict enough pain to stop her but she seemed to only absorb the energy back into herself./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Blast!" I cursed. I parried her red lightsaber with my silver blade and slashed across her chest with my green one. She didn't even flinch, the blade passed through her as if she was a ghost./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"emWrong blade! /emI heard Brianna's ethereal voice echo through my head. emYou need to use mine!/em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Blast!" I cursed./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She pressed her offence now. While I was caught off guard by her spectral body, she shoved me to the ground by roughly pressing against my defensive blade with her own./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Both blades flew out of my hands and skidded out of reach./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""And so begins my reign!" Snickered the sith as she stood over me. "I would love to draw this out and watch you suffer but I need be going, the Jedi aren't going to destroy themselves." Her red blade was now just above my chest and her mummified foot held me in place. "Goodbye jedi!" She hissed before the blade struck./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I hadn't realized it but I must have drawn the Brianna's lightsaber to my hands and stabbed her through the chest, this time it burned through her abdomen like magma. Her blade seemed to rust instantly and crumble away. Her limbs turned into wisps, the blood redness of her eyes seemed to fade. Her head was the last thing to disappear. As her head faded I think I caught for a moment a hint of light before she evaporated./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I layed on the ground exhausted for a while until I heard footsteps running down the cavern. "He's this way!" I heard Ranna's voice order. "Hurry!"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Moments later four Jedi entered the chamber with lightsabers drawn, ready for a fight. They instantly lowered them as they noticed me laying on the ground./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Master!" Ranna yelled as she pushed past the four masters and ran to me. "You defeated her! Are you okay?" She helped me sit upright./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Nothing more than a few bruises." I looked toward the four Jedi lifting Master Slather's body onto a stretcher. "Where's Saras?" I asked as I replaced both blades back on my belt. Ranna didn't answer, she only pulled a note out of her tunic. "Where is she Etch?/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I'm sorry Master, there was nothing I could do." She placed the note in my palms and stood up. "I'll meet you by the exit." A moment later I was alone./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"The note was obviously Saras's hand writing. It's fluid letters and her trademark pink ink. It was kind of a joke between the two of us since we had started passing notes during lessons in the archives./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"emTharen, you know how much I care about you right? Well that is why I must go. There is a darkness inside me, I've known it since we first arrived on this damn planet, it must have always been there./em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"emDon't try to follow me, there is nothing you can do, its not your fault, this is something I must deal with on my own. The jedi order isn't the place for me, not after all this./em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"emDon't blame Ranna for me taking off this way, she wasn't going to be able to stop me, and it's easier this way. No dragged out goodbyes, no apologies. Not directly anyway, just quick, like a bandage./em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"emJust remember, I will always love you and if I ever figure out what is going on inside me, you will be the first to know./em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I slowly folded the note into my belt along both my lightsabers and stood up. I searched the room for any sign of Brianna's spirit but found nothing, I couldn't even sense her through the force. Just a cold, half demolished burial chamber./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I walked over to the sarcophagus. A lone, glowing cube sat at the bottom. "I hope all of this was worth it." I sighed as I grabbed it. "Because none of this should have happened." Moments later I joined my padawan by the entrance. She led the way silently through the tunnels toward the exit, she must have understood that I didn't want to talk./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"~~~***~~~/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"It was a week before Ranna and I were able to return to the Jedi temple on Coruscant. I was alone inside my chambers, on my bed, looking at the holocron we had retrieved from Tython. It's bright red glow illuminated my palm as I analyzed it's intricate outer layer./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""So Master Slather's dead?" I looked up from the cube to see Master Caren standing in the doorway. "Is Saras dead too?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""No, she disappeared, I have no idea where she is now..." I looked back down at the holocron. "Ranna and I searched for her but... but we found nothing." I glanced over at Saras's note tucked inside my cloak a few feet away. "Before she left, she said something about having a darkness inside her."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Then there is nothing we can do for her." Answered my former master before sitting next to me on my bed. "The force has other plans for her."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""None of this would have happened if it weren't for this blasted holocron!" I almost threw it against the wall but Master Caren grabbed my wrist and took the device from me./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""There is no way anyone could have known what was down there." She soothed."I know you two were close." She looked into my eyes. "Maybe a little emtoo /emclose."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"emHow did she know about Saras and I? Ranna must have told her. /emI thought to myself./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""But nobody is responsible for Slather's death and Saras's disappearance." She stood up and walked towards the door. "Go meet your apprentice in the Hanger bay, we have a mission for you./p