Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Kissai

I'd wanted to set out that night to find the crystal Darth Bane had spoke of. Everything in me was itching for power...for the power he had the ability to show me.

Finally I had a master that I had chosen. One that was going to show me my place in everything. Give me a purpose. Guide me towards a better future...towards something more than just myself.

Still, as I had exited the tomb into the chilly desert night, I found the planet crawling with Dark Side presence. I may have been learning more...but I still felt fear. I knew that the creature I'd seen prowling above in the destroyed structures was not alone. And I knew that I could not fight them all, especially in the dark.

This place was unfamiliar. As I'd left behind the presence of Darth Bane and returned to my shuttle, his commanding presence had begun to recede. I'd felt him weakening in his tomb, as if physically revealing himself required a lot of effort. Even his presence in my mind had disappeared, drawing back to his sarcophagus.

I'd felt less angry in that moment. Less powerful. It upset me, but I felt drained. My sense of powerful resolve diminished, revealing it as cockiness, rather than true confidence.

My doubts began to creep in. Was I really that angry at Rex? Back on the Republic ship, I'd been more sad. Even thinking back, I recognized the remnants of my use of the Dark Side that had fueled my anger at him. Having felt Bane's real presence, I recognized his whispers in my mind as I faced the man I…cared for...deeply.

I shook my doubts away. Did it matter?

No matter our feelings in any capacity, Rex and I couldn't be together. It was a foolish thought, even before my heritage was discovered. Before I could openly use the Force.

I rubbed my eyes as the sun began to rise, stirring me from my relaxed reflection within my shuttle. As I'd said...I'd wanted to look the night before, but had found my wisdom somewhere deep down and elected to rest in the enclosed safety of my ship instead.

Now, with the sun casting an orange glow over the planet's dusty surface, I emerged again, armed with my pistols. The surface was dusty as the wind swirled, prodding me to pull my mask up around my mouth and nose, donning my goggles.

The part of me that was connected to the Force told me of the creatures that still lurked in the valley, though they seemed to be giving me a wide berth, despite curiosity. I felt that they had their own purposes, and perhaps it didn't pertain to me.

I tried to reach out with the Force to locate crystals. I had felt the crystals in the Darksaber, which was hopeful beneath an endless sea of bloodlust. And then there was Obi-wan and Anakin's, both of which had pulsed with the Light Side. And even the Mandalorian blade had once been that of a jedi. Despite its tainted past, it wasn't a sith blade. It wasn't a synthesized crystal-one made by the Dark Side like Bane had mentioned.

How did I look for that?

I was surprised when I opened myself that I felt kyber crystals. Many of them. And they were screaming.

I followed the sounds within my mind, wary of the four-legged predators that loomed in the structures around me, their glowing eyes watching cautiously. After clambering over stones the size of starfighters that had fallen from the crumbling statues, I found what had been calling to me.

Or, at least, it felt like I did. I stood in the entrance to what looked like another tomb, its entrance broken and torn. Whoever had been here before had raided the place...whenever that was. By the looks of the erosion on the broken stone doorway, I guessed it was a long time ago.

Already my eyes found the smallest glimmer of metal beneath the shifting sand. Digging it free, I was met with a sturdy looking lightsaber hilt, the metal worn and rusted with age. Inside, I felt a kyber crystal. I recoiled at its nature. Its power practically hissed at me, making me lunge back and drop the blade. It landed with a heavy-sounding thud in the sand-filled corridor, my heart racing.

It had shown me death. The souls it had reaped when wielded by its dark master. The crystal was synthetic, I knew, forged by the power of the Dark Side.

Darth Bane had said there was a crystal calling to me. This one had practically slapped me away.

While I was curious about the lightsaber, I decided to forge on. I was about to turn away from the tomb in search of more of the calling crystals when my eyes caught a shadow of movement.

I rolled to cover immediately, drawing my pistols to aim into the darkness. I would have spoken, had I thought anything sentient still lived on the planet. Bane...Bane didn't count as living.

The presence receded down the dark hall, the sound of fabric sliding gently over stone reaching my ears. My heart in my throat, I debated pursuing the shadow. It was likely one of those creatures that lurked outside. Then again, I'd heard fabric and was certainly sounded like only two, particularly light-footed steps.

Suddenly, a shadow shifted again, my fingers squeezing the triggers before my mind even thought. Two blasts lit up the hallway for a split second, revealing a female humanoid clad in flowing robes. The blasts met her before we fell back into darkness.

I quickly turned on my flashlight, searching for the downed female...only to find no trace of her. I was sure my shots had hit her...they were aimed right at her chest.

The Force flickered in my mind, making me turn with a start to see her at the end of the hall again, her posture elegant and proper. "Stebe," she whispered in a tongue I didn't understand. Still, she didn't seem threatening, despite her red skin and glowing yellow eyes. It occured to me that she was likely a Sith Pureblood, given her bone spurs protruding from her brows and jawbone. "Stebe," she repeated, motioning with her hand before disappearing.

I started as she more or less dissolved under the beam of my flashlight, only to appear again further down the corridor. She gestured again. "Stebe."

I didn't understand her language, but I could tell she was telling me to follow her. My gut told me to do it too.

I listened.

My feet led me carefully down the corridor, following the echoing sounds of her voice. It was soft, despite the hard sounds of her language. Her presence felt...old. As did the signature of the tomb itself. I wondered if it was her tomb for a moment.

My boots caught on something, nearly sending me sprawling forward. Catching myself on the stone structures that lined the walls, my flashlight swept back to reveal bones. Old, holding no sign of flesh left apart from a few tattered remains of a robe. There were deep gauges on some of the bones-teeth marks from something big-likely those creatures that lurked outside.

Goosebumps rose on along my arms at the thought that I may have trapped myself inside with one of them. Or that this apparition I was following had perished while raiding this tomb, rather than being the one laid to rest in it.

Parts of the passage had crumbled, leading me to an intersection of what looked like dead ends. I turned my gaze to the female Pureblood, seeing her walk gracefully through one of the crumbled halls as if nothing blocked her path. I followed as far as I could, peering through one of the sizable holes to see her on the other side in the darkness.

"Tu zinot tukodi visitija stai," she said from the other side. I had no idea what she was saying, so I rolled my eyes, frustrated.

"There's no way in there," I called back, unsure if she could understand me either.

To my suprise, the Pureblood returned my expression, seeming equally as frustrated. "Tu zinot midwan. Elgtis zhol." While I couldn't understand her words, she gestured to the crumbled doorway with enough frustration and emotion that I could gather that she wanted me to figure it out anyways.

I stood back, thinking to what Bane had taught me in our first lesson together. He had made me move stones larger than these...by tapping into my anger. Still, when I had left Bane's presence, my anger had lessened significantly. While this planet was pulsing with Dark Side power, I couldn't find the rage Bane had found in his tomb chambers.

Yet, I reached out with the Force and found the connection easier now, letting my frustration with this female flow. The rocks shifted-slower than they had with Bane's help-but they moved nonetheless. I merely slid a few sideways, nervous to move the whole lot in case they were holding the structure up.

The last thing I wanted was to be buried alive on this forsaken planet. Slipping past the remaining stones, century-old dust staining my armor, I entered the next room. The moment I stepped foot inside, I nearly leapt backwards in fright, fires springing to life.

Lining the edges of the room-which I now understood housed a stone sarcophagus-were metal bowls alight with flames. I didn't know how they lit, but I figured it had something to do with the Pureblood before me. She stood near the sarcophagus, looking down at it with an expression I couldn't comprehend.

"Is it you?" I asked slowly, watching the female's searing gaze lift to me. She shook her head. Ah...so she could understand me. "Who is it?"

Her words, while accented, were certainly not in the Sith tongue. She spoke a name with venom on her tongue, as if the words hurt her physically. "Sorzus Syn." I didn't know the name, but the room nearly trembled with the words.

"Who was she?" I asked, but the Pureblood merely looked at me sadly, as if not sure what she thought of me yet. She shook her head slowly, her lips pressed together, before stepping around to the opposite side of the sarcophagus.

"Stebe," she said again, gesturing to the stone coffin. I approached slowly, wary due to my last encounter with an undead sith. When I neared, she gestured to the stone lid, as if asking me to remove it.

"No way," I grumbled, taking half a step back. "That's a one-way ticket to getting cursed." Yet, something whispered from within the sarcophagus. It called to me. It wasn't a kyber crystal...so what was it?

The Pureblood gave me a look of disbelief at my worries, shaking her head with a roll of her eyes.

"Alright, fine fine," I grumbled again, planting my feet to push the heavy lid aside. "If I get cursed, you're the first one I'm coming after, though." I only pushed the top half aside, a foul stench lifting from it as I did. Steadying the top so it didn't clatter and break on the floor, I leaned back from the smell as the Pureblood looked inside.

Her red nose crinkled in disgust, her yellow eyes full of unshed tears-tears of sadness or anger, I couldn't tell. When she met my gaze again, they were gone. She pointed into the sarcophagus to a talisman that sat around the corpse's neck. It pulsed with power, but it frightened me. I knew it was dangerous.

The Pureblood gestured again, more urgently this time. "Vykti zhol!"

I swallowed slowly, reaching into the sarcophagus to draw the talisman free. It was on a chain that had once been around the female's neck. A red stone sat in the middle, seeming to glow in the firelight. Around the center were six metallic triangular wedges, each engraved with symbols I didn't know. It was heavier than I thought it would be.

"Tu aras tave wo kuris uud girdim tave visita," the Pureblood said, looking at me as I regarded the talisman.

"What?" I asked, getting annoyed, but feeling the power of the talisman in my hands. "I can't understand-"

She cut me off with a lift of her hand, her face set firmly. "Tu aras tave wo has heard the call."

I blinked. "What did you just say?"

"You are the one who has heard the call."

"You're speaking basic."

"No," she responded, offering me her first smile. "You are merely finally understanding." It occured to me that she was still speaking Sith. Beneath the words I understood in my mind, I could still hear her harsh language. I was about to question how that was even remotely possible without a language implant when she cut in. "The talisman," she said softly. "It was called the Sith Abattar by Sorzus Syn."

"And it...translates?"

She nodded. "Put it on."

I obeyed, feeling a heavy weight on my neck as soon as the chain hit it. "It's heavy," I complained slightly, more out of surprise than actual annoyance.

"As all power is," she responded. "It allows one to communicate in any language, and makes it easier to converse with the dead."

"Are you...dead?"

"Of course."

"But you're not…" I gestured to the corpse in the sarcophagus.

"No," the Pureblood spit as I slowly slid the lid closed again, having retrieved what we apparently needed. "Sorzus was no Pureblood."

"Who was she?"

"A fallen jedi. One of the first to come to this planet and enslave my people. And the one to discover how we could crossbreed." The last part seemed to upset her even more so than the enslavement.

"You were there, weren't you," I asked, feeling her emotions through the Force. "You witnessed the rise of the Sith Empire. The enslavement of your people."

"Yes. My name is Yilria. I was a Kissai when I lived."

That rang a bell. The scholar, Veris Hydan, had mentioned the classes of the Purebloods.

"You were a priest. I was told I descended from them."

"You did," Yilria said slowly, her eyes watching me. "What is your name, half-breed?"

My eyebrow arched immediately. "Watch it," I growled. Even though half-breed was likely giving me more leeway than I deserved-considering I was more like a smidge sith and a whole lot of everything else-but I still didn't like to be insulted. "My name is Kida." The Pureblood watched me carefully as I looked around the room. "Why did you show this to me?" I asked, gesturing to the amulet.

"So we could communicate. And so that I could help you find what you're looking for."

That peaked my interest. "You know where the crystal is that I'm supposed to find?"

She shrugged slightly. "I'm not positive, but I have a good idea about what you're meant to find."

"How?"

"The lightsaber of your ancestor is in this very tomb. Elsewhere, of course, but I am willing to guide you."

"My ancestor… wait why are you helping me?"

Yilria stopped in her slow pacing towards the door. The Force rippled in sadness and anger. "My people were enslaved. Wronged."

"You want revenge? How can I give that to you?"

"No. The chance for revenge was lost long ago," she sighed. "I merely wish to keep more from enslavement."

I followed her warily, finding no lies in her words. She moved easily through the debris of the inner parts of the tomb, while I clambered over them in the dim light of my flashlight. "I hate to break it to you," I huffed as I climbed over a particularly large fallen rock. "But I was a slave once already, so you're not going to save me from anything."

"Are you a slave now?"

"Well...no. Thankfully, I was freed years ago."

Yilria turned to me abruptly, nearly making me run into her. I wasn't sure if I'd actually make contact with her or run right through her...but I didn't really want to find out. Her gaze was intense as she watched me. "Did you free yourself?"

"Um...no ma'am. A bounty hunter did."

"Then you are not truly free."

"I beg your pardon?" I asked, frustrated by this woman as I followed her again. "I'm a respected bounty hunter. No one would dare enslave me."

"Yet here you are," she said softly as she entered a circular room, a pedestal in the center. Again, the torches along the walls lit as we entered.

I wanted to ask what she had meant by that, but was drawn by the soft whisper of a kyber crystal. It was sad. Lost. Alone.

On the pedestal laid a sith burial shroud, neatly folded and tucked beneath scrolls and a shining lightsaber hilt. I lifted the lightsaber easily, the dust falling away under my touch. The kyber crystal wasn't happy...but it wasn't upset at me either. It's unhappiness didn't stem from me. It was...bleeding. Injured.

I immediately understood that this was a real crystal, like the jedi had used for centuries. Yet, as I ignited it, the blade glowed red. Still, I knew it was my lightsaber. It was my crystal that I was destined to connect to.

"Thank you," I whispered as I sheathed the blade. Yet, as the red glow disappeared, as did the flaming torches. I was left in darkness with only my memory to guide me out. Yilria, the Pureblood Kissai, was gone.

Author's Note:

I apologize for taking forever to update. A lot going on right now. Hoping to get back to writing more often if I can!

I also chose not to have the Sith translations because Kida didn't understand either.

As always, reposts, shares, likes, and reviews are welcome!

-Ryder