Chapter Seven
Arden returned to her head quarters after her discussion with Thrawn, who approved of her mission to free the woman of her visions. But there was one problem: she didn't know where to find this woman and would have to consult the Talisman for the answer. Luckily though, the Kashi Mer Talisman saw all, knew all, and could tell all to those who knew how to wield it properly. Taking it out, she could see how it glowed against the black darkness of the night as if it feared the dark.
But Arden knew better than to believe that the Kashi Mer Talisman feared the darkness of the night. After all, its namesake forged in the depths of an inactive volcano from by the magma its original master managed to carve out of the rock. It was forged in that unique source of dark power and would be destroyed by nothing else but that same power if it still endures. Besides that, the most any who wish to repel it could do was seal it away or hide it in a dark chamber like what Arden was trapped in with it.
Xendor, a descendant of the Kashi Mer line, had taught Arden how to properly wield its power and she still remembered the technique. Holding it in her hand as it glowed, she commanded it to show the location of the woman of her visions and take her there. At that command, the spirit of the creator of the artifact stirred and came to life within the depths of Arden's corrupted mind and told her. The one you seek is a fallen member of the Jedi Council trapped within the bowels of their Temple.
And the Temple is located on a planet more than halfway across the galaxy from us called Coruscant he said to her. "Good, now that I know the location I command you to take me to where she is contained in that Temple," she replied. Be warned, the process of teleportation on such magnitude as this will extract great pain just going there. Going there and getting back will be a whole different story for you the spirit warned.
"I care not for pain for I have already endured much thanks to the Jedi who imprisoned us in that dreadful cave. Take me there or so help me I will find the source of your creation and throw you in it," Arden hissed. Your threats do not worry me or bring any concern for my existence. After all, the planet on which this artifact was created was destroyed four thousand years after your time Kashi Mer replied.
Before Arden could reply and ask what the hell he was talking about, she found herself wrapped in coils of green energy until all she could see was green light. Then she felt the pain that the voice of the Talisman spoke of when her head began to feel like splitting. In addition, her body felt like constricting and she found it hard for her to breath under the crushing pressure of the magic. This went on to last for several minutes, so it felt, and she initially thought that the Talisman was trying to kill her.
It was when she found herself in a strange room with the woman of her visions on a bed of flowers that she was relieved she hadn't died. So, this is the woman of my visions; the one who might possibly be able to train me in the style of Vaapad as Maul suggested Arden thought. She knew she would have to quick in taking this woman out of here. With that in mind, she created a life-sized and realistic replica from dark energies and plucked the real one from her bed.
It was at the moment that the dummy had been placed that Arden once again commanded a teleportation from the Talisman. Much obliged though I assure you won't have the energy to do anything further for four days after this the voice stated. "Just do it already for goodness sake," Arden ordered. Once again, she endured the painful constriction and the splitting headache, a price of using the powerful Kashi Mer Talisman.
Then the field of green energy unveiled to reveal the headquarters Arden had been given on Irkalla once again. Gently, Arden placed the fallen Jedi on an altar near her room and decided that she would wait out the four days before reviving her. At least I managed to get her and myself out of the Temple and away from the Jedi filth that we will destroy together with Maul and his brother she thought as she watched the woman. What she couldn't understand though is why the Talisman had not told her this woman's name when Arden made her request for teleportation.
It knew all, told all, saw all and yet, it refused to reveal one little bit of information that would have been useful to Arden. You only asked for the location of the woman and to be teleported there as well as back here. That request did not intel having me reveal her name to you the voice replied when questioned about it. Arden clenched her free hand into a fist and vowed that one day, she would find a way to destroy the Talisman if it did this again.
Obi-wan Kenobi was awakened by a massive rip in the fabric of the Force that he felt come from the bowels of the Temple. Just as quickly as it appeared, it vanished but it remained there long enough for the Council members and a few other masters to sense it. Even Yoda and Master Windu were awakened from their meditations by it and ran down the halls with Obi-wan to see what it was. Along the way, they were joined by Anakin Skywalker who would tell his Padawan Ahsoka and others to go back to sleep while the masters took care of this.
"Does anyone have a pinpointed location as to where it came from?" Obi-wan asked the Council members with him. "It seemed to come from... Depa Billaba's holding cell," Windu answered. "Then there we must go, taken she may have been by the shadow sensed we earlier," Yoda stated. Not bothering to stop and say more, the four of them journeyed down to where Windu had taken Depa after knocking her into the coma with the Force.
But when they arrived, they were surprised to see that she was still there or so they thought. "Let's test it for blood in case we're not being faked out by whatever came in just now," Anakin said. "Though I don't like the idea of doing that, my former Padawan has a very good point made for us all. On the outside, this matches the appearance of Depa Billaba down to the last molecule; we could be conned with it," Obi-wan said.
Luckily for them, Mace had brought a knife that could produce blood if cut into skin and gave it to Anakin. It was the young Knight who stuck it into her hand just enough to withdraw any blood there might be. All were surprised to see that there was none despite the realism of what was lying before their eyes. "An interesting trick of the eye this is, powerful the source of shadow must be if able to do this it is," Yoda noted.
"Very powerful indeed and probably very ancient as you implied to be able to do this with ease. Kenobi, Skywalker, have your searches for information yielded any possible suspects for who this is?" Mace asked. "We found only one that might be the culprit: a fallen Jedi named Arden Lyn from the First Great Schism," Obi-wan answered. All sat in a moment of fearful silence before Yoda said, "If freed from her trance, great danger Arden could be if able to revive Depa she is."
Everyone agreed with him on that for Depa mastered Windu's style of Vaapad and Arden Lyn had been a magnificent Force wielder in her day. If the legends were true that she had been merely comatose all these years only to be awakened now, her presence alone was bad enough. But if she revived Depa and allied with her, the situation would be made even worse for the Jedi Order. And if they then allied themselves with the Separatists or with Maul and his brother... they couldn't think of it.
Count Dooku and Darth Sidious were in a private hologram conversation when both felt the ripple in the fabric of the Force. "I sense a powerful user of the Dark Side has been awakened after years of slumber. Who could it be, Master?" Dooku asked. "I have no idea though I know of a few possibilities, one of which happens to be a little outrageous," Sidious answered as he rubbed his head.
"And what possibility is that, milord?" Dooku insisted. "We could be looking at the revival of the legendary Arden Lyn of the First Great Schism. There are no reports of her disappearance that don't support the notion of a spell putting her merely into a trance. If she has been somehow revived, accidently or deliberately, she could be a trouble for our plans for the War," Sidious explained.
"But how could that be possible? She was put into that trance in a deep cave on a faraway planet, twenty-five millenniums ago," Dooku inquired. "The Jedi of those days were far more adept with the Force than the ones we face today. In addition, she was cast in there alongside a powerful artifact known as the Kashi Mer Talisman which could have preserved and revived her," Sidious replied.
"What is to be done if it really is her, milord?" Dooku asked curiously. "For now, we will wait this out and see if it really is her or just a false alarm. If it is her, we must focus our efforts on finding her and encouraging her to join our cause. Unless someone else has already gotten to her and persuaded her to join theirs for the ill of us as well as the Republic," Sidious answered calmly.
Inside though, he was about ready to electrocute his apprentice despite being angry at his helplessness against this disturbance in the Force and not Dooku. "Could we be seeing the resurgence of your former apprentice Maul and his monster brother Savage?" Dooku suggested after a prolonged silence. "Kenobi did insist to the Chancellor that they had likely survived the crash and I fear he may be right, after all," Sidious admitted in agreement. "Then perhaps waiting this out won't be a bad idea after all: it will tell us if they survived and it will reveal the truth about this Arden Lyn character," Dooku said.
Though Sidious wished there was a little more he could do about that than sit and wait, he had to agree with his apprentice this time. "Have a fleet standing by just in case one or both of these things turn out to be the truth. We will need an army to destroy either one, never mind both of them," he ordered. "Yes milord, I will see to it as immediately as I can," Dooku replied with a deep bow.
"You do that and let me know when you have done it in case I have more information for you by then," Sidious commanded. "Very good milord," Dooku said before bowing again and disconnecting. Now, Sidious was alone in his chamber on Coruscant and pondering what this massive rip in the Force's infinite fabric could be. Could it be Maul and Savage returning at last as Dooku suggested?
What if it was the resurgence of Arden Lyn as both of them feared? Or what if it was both things with Arden uniting in an alliance with the brothers? If the third thought was the truth, both Separatists and Republic alike were in danger. An alliance like that could be powerful enough to spell doom to all Sidious attempted to create and leave only a galaxy for them to rule in the end of the War.
Thrawn had to admit that he was impressed with both the speed and the efficiency with which Arden Lyn had gone to Coruscant and back two days before. On top of that, he was also impressed to see that she had returned with the comatose body of the fallen Jedi.. Is this truly who Arden was seeing in that vision she told me about before she teleported away? If so, we have gotten ourselves a powerful new playing card to throw against our enemies he thought to himself.
Creon stood beside him and both men watched intently as Arden meditated to mend the damage to her mind and body that the teleportation had done her. None of it was outside according to her but within because of the mechanisms of the Talismans immense and near-infinite power. "The bodies of those who wielded the Talisman used to be too frail to demand as a price for its power. So instead, the artifact was designed to take a piece of a person's soul or their mind," Arden explained.
"In your case, this price it demands is something you can recover from paying via meditation?" Thrawn asked. Arden nodded and said that she would be well again within four hours of meditation though she wouldn't be able to use her power for another day or so on Depa. "If I am not mistaken, Depa Billaba was put into a coma only two years ago. With that said, I am sure she can wait another day before being freed from Windu's little spell," he replied.
Though still comatose, Depa Billaba had felt the rip in the Force that had entered her Coruscant quarters and whisked her away elsewhere. What the hell was it and how had it managed to do that with the ease with which it did it? Was it the woman from the vision she had had nearly a week before or was it someone else interested in reviving her for her power?
She knew that she was in danger of being revived and also knew that she was most likely to succumb to the pressures of the Dark Side once more as she had on Haruun Kal. But what if whoever revived me is doing so to give me a second chance at existence and seeks to erase my memories? she asked herself. She knew she would be relieved if that the intent of whoever had taken her from the gardens in the Temple where she had slept on a bed of flowers. Oh Windu, if only you were here now to stop this whatever it is that my captor may be doing she thought desperately.
Even with having succumbed to the Dark Side and attempting to kill the older Jedi, Depa still found herself fond of Windu. After all, not only had he saved her and her sister from pirates when they were babies but he had also trained her in his arts willingly. It was he who had given her the key to what would eventually lead to her fall to the darkness on Haruun Kal and her enlightenment. He believed she had gone insane after that but she found that she had actually gone the opposite way: she was sane now.
Was the intent of whoever had rescued her to revert her back into those ways? Did they want to use her power for a cause in the Clone Wars that involved galactic conquest? Or did they want something else out of her that she could not yet guess? She didn't know and she hoped that she didn't have to know either for fear of what it could mean if she were revived from this trance.
Maul and Savage sensed the rip in the fabric of the Force and while Savage grasped his head in pain whilst not understanding it, Maul reacted differently. He merely flinched at the disturbance but did nothing more than that though he had to admit his brother had the better reaction. Unfortunately, this also meant that Maul had a better comprehension of what had happened just now than Savage did. Which is why I am still the Master and he is still the apprentice he told himself as he thought about this strange comprehension.
"What was that brother? It's giving me a splitting headache," Savage asked. "It was a disturbance in the Force unlike any that I have encountered before," Maul answered. "But who could have caused it?" Savage demanded.
There was where Maul's guess was as good as Savage's on the matter of the recent disturbance. The good thing about this was that they were still parsecs away from Concordia, which was nearer to Coruscant than Irkalla, when this happened. "I don't know what it could have been nor could I tell you where it came from but I do have a few ideas as to what might have caused it," Maul said. "And what those ideas be, my brother?" Savage inquired with a raised eyebrow and rubbing his head still.
"It could be the witch Mother Talzin that you mentioned had restored my legs back on Dathomir. My master is nowhere near as attuned to the Force as a powerful Nightsister such as her and could not have caused it. Holocron activations can sometimes be responsible due to their rarity, especially if they belonged to a powerful Sith Lord who created them several dozen millennia ago or so. Or could be the use of some other artifact such as the Kashi Mer Talisman by one who knows how to wield it like Arden," Maul explained.
"That's probably who it is that caused it, Arden I mean," Savage stated. "I wouldn't doubt it but what I would wonder if that were so is why. Did she find us a new ally who needed to be brought to Irkalla as quickly as possible? If so, then it wouldn't surprise me if she relied on the Talisman to pluck them off the planet they were on and then get back out fast," Maul admitted.
"But how is it possible for her to do that through an object like the Talisman?" Savage asked. "You'd be surprised what artifacts like the Talisman can do," Maul answered. Savage said no more and it was probably for the better that he didn't considering the lightheadedness they both felt. Power like that had seldom ever been seen in the galaxy in its entire history and those who felt it usually never did so again.
Maul definitely could say that that kind of power would likely never be seen by him again before he passed on to the realm of the dead as sad as it was. But luckily, his brother wouldn't have to worry about his splitting headache after this either. That is, unless Arden decided to use the Talisman for this purpose once again the likes of which seldom ever happened. Or so he was hoping since the likeliness that his brother would survive another one of these headaches was unlikely now more than before.
Thrawn had to admit that he found the sight of a Jedi and Arden Lyn together impressive. What he did not know was that it was about to get better with Creon presently in the chambers now. Especially since, to Thrawn, he had been an annoyance as of late and Arden requested the life essence of a volunteer. "Wait, you didn't say anything about this!" Creon shouted.
"I need the consciousness of one who is willing to become forever comatose like her in order to restore her without taking in her coma for myself," Arden explained. "No, you're not taking me ever!" Creon said. I could always just kill you and steal your soul while it's fresh with my sword and complete the ritual anyway Arden thought but didn't say. Thawn looked at her and nodded his approval as if reading her thoughts before she struck next.
And quick like the strike of a snake, Arden drew out her katana for and touched Creon with the tip of it. A blade of magic lunged from it and went through the Chiss general with the same impact as if the actual blade had hit him before pulling itself back into its source. It was after that that just as quickly as it flew out, the sword was being sheathed once more with no blood on it. Arden slowly pushed the blade into its scabbard, stopping briefly when there were just a few centimeters left, then rammed it in.
As she slowly sheathed it only to be paused, time seemed to freeze with Creon standing like he had been struck only with no blood gushing out. However, when she rammed the last of the blade back into the scabbard, he fell hard to the ground and blood gushed in a fountain. Better yet, one fountain spewed like a volcano out of his abdomen whilst the other went out between the shoulder blades. By the time the light in his eyes was gone forever, Arden had already taken his soul and used it to begin this Jedi's revival.
Though the spell was a little more powerful than that, the consciousness of a dead person helped lessen it enough for Arden's magic to do the rest. "What happens now that you have taken Creon's soul with your sword and inserted his consciousness into her own damaged psyche?" Thrawn asked. "Now I work the rest of my magic to her mind with the intent of restoring her back to normal life. I will have to erase any visions she may have had during the coma so as to allow myself a clean slate with meeting her," Arden answered.
"In that case, I will leave you be to do the work and hope to meet this Jedi when you're finished," Thrawn said with a bow. As he walked away, Arden believed it was for the better that he left now. She could do her work in peace without passing comments from him here and there on it.