Old Darkness Return.

Leah had been training almost non stop since she arrived on the Protoss homeworld, Aiur. And during her time on the planet, she learned Aiur has furious seas and stormy weather, which happen on an almost regular basis. Its summer storms appear over its high plateaus and disappear in the blink of an eye, making them hard to predict. Aiur's atmosphere is slightly heavier than that of most planets Leah had been on though she could still survive on the planet even without to much protection. She also had to be careful of the fauna, as many of the planet's wild life weren't to friendly. But Leah was starting to get tired of being on Aiur. She's been here for so long, and wanted to head out in to the galaxy and do something more exciting.

So she decided to go and speak to Artanis about it. She found him meditating by himself, he was lightly hovering over the ground. Self levitation, Leah heard that was an rare ability. She honestly wanted to learn it herself one day, would be fun to fly around. But she had to add it to her wish list for another time, right now there was something more urgent she wanted.

"Excuse me, Artanis" Leah spoke.

Artanis opened his eyes and lowered himself on to the ground "What can I do for you, Leah?".

"Look... I really appreciate what you've been doing for me these past few weeks. But... I feel a little trapped. I want to leave the planet for a bit, just to look around for a bit" Leah said nervously.

Artanis narrowed his eyes "You do remember why you were brought here to begin with?".

"I know, but I can feel the dark side's hold on me growing weaker. I believe I can keep myself in check long enough for a quick journey and then we can return here to continue my training. Please, just for a little while" Leah pleaded.

Artanis looked at her for a few seconds before he stood up "Very well, we can make a quick trip. But only to a planet of my choice, understood?".

"Yes Artanis!" Leah said happily, she was fine with Artanis choosing the location, just as long as she gets of Aiur for a while.

After packing a few thing, the jedi headed of world for their short vacation. And Artanis picked a pretty good planet. Naboo, a beautiful green planet with a lovely nature. It's a planet with a few human settlements in the Mid Rim of the Galaxy and the homeworld of the gungans, who Leah always thought had a funny way of speaking. Not many people came here, making it a good planet for some alone time. Once they landed Leah was so excited she kicked of her boots and ran around barefoot in the beautiful green grass.

"Careful Leah. Naboo is indeed beautiful, but it has it's own fair share of dangers" Artanis warned, though he was slightly amused by Leah's excitement.

Leah stopped and smiled "Sorry, it just feels so good to be free for a while. I can feel that the force is special here".

"Indeed, Naboo is a unique planet, with both light and dark elements, just like the force itself. I brought you here so that not only you could spend some time away from Aiur, but also experience true balance in the force" Artanis explained.

"I can feel it. I like this planet already" Leah said as she noticed some animals "What are those?".

"Those are Shaaks. They are herbivorous wanderings animal, and can be found in multiple regions of the planet. But they mainly stick to dry areas, avoiding the many swamps of the planet" Artanis answered.

"Are they dangerous?" Leah asked.

"All animals can be dangerous. But shaaks are for the most part not aggressive" Artanis assured.

Leah looked at the animals for a few moments "I'm going to ride one".

"What? Leah wait!" Artanis called out as Leah ran over and jumped on to a Shaak.

The animal began running around as fast as it's small legs could carry it, trying to buck Leah of. Leah only laughed as she held on like a rodeo. She even stood up while balancing on the Shaak's back, she hasn't had this much fun in years as she spent most of her life at the jedi temple and Naboo was the first time since Aiur that Leah could explore a new planet. The Shaak continued running around with her until it finally managed to knock her of and almost trampled her. Despite that Leah was in a good mood and watched the animal run of before she sensed someone behind her and looked to see a displeased Artanis.

"What? You said it wasn't aggressive" Leah said.

"Normally, yes. But jumping at them out of nowhere like that is more than likely going to annoy them" Artanis said.

Leah rubbed her head sheepishly "Still fun...".

Artanis shook his head, but let it slide for now. They continued to explore the planet for a while until they reached a nice looking river. Leah smiled again, she hadn't bathed in a river like this for weeks, so not caring that Artanis could see, she removed her clothes and went skinny dipping. Artanis once again shook his head, wondering if this was a human thing or if Leah is just very strange. Regardless he decided to meditate while Leah went for her swim. But he could not calm his mind like he normally did. He could sense something dark on this planet... something evil... It wasn't the darkness within Leah, no this was different and... draining? What was happening on this planet?

As for Leah herself, she floated in the water for a but giggling as some fishes brushed against her. But she suddenly sensed something in the water. Curious she dives under the surface and began swimming to the deeper parts of the water. It was dark down there, but not so much that Leah couldn't see what was around her. She explore the depth for as long as she could hold her breath, until she saw something, almost looked like a tablet with some text on it. She swam over to it, but the text was clearly old and Leah could never hope to translate it on her own, so she began pulling on it and with some effort she managed to pull it free. She began swimming up, which was easier said than done with the stone tablet in her arms.

However, on her way up she was noticed by a predator. An Opee sea killer, a large carnivorous sea creature and a hybrid of crustacean and fish. It normally inhabited the watery planet core of Naboo and was the third-largest predator on the planet. However, this one was much smaller, meaning it was very young, and somehow ended up swimming away from it's normal hunting grounds. Once it notice Leah, it immediately swam after her. Leah was nearing the surface until the long tongue of the Opee caught her foot and began pulling her down.

Panicking, Leah quickly tried to free herself from the creature's grip as she was getting closer and close to it's mouth. When all looked lost, Artanis suddenly dives in to the water, igniting his lightsaber and cut of the Opee's tongue, freeing Leah and forcing the predator to flee. Artanis dragged Leah to the surface, while she still held on to the tablet. Once they were finally on land, Leah coughed violently as she desperately tried to catch her breath.

"I told you to be careful Leah! Naboo may be beautiful, but there are still many dangers here" Artanis scolded.

"Sorry... I just... saw this..." Leah said as she held up the tablet.

Artanis scolding turned to curiosity "What is it?".

"I don't know, some kind of text. Can you read it?" Leah asked.

Artanis took the tablet and looked it over "It seems to be some kind of old Orcish text. I am rusty on the Orcish language, and the text is old... But I do recognize the symbol".

"What does it mean?" Leah asked.

"It's the symbol of the old Orcish Warlocks..." Artanis said with a grim look.

"Warlocks?" Leah asked.

"They are the most volatile and insatiable of force users. Their desire to understand darker force abilities and exercise unwavering command over dark side magic has lead to unspeakable atrocities... Warlocks peer into the dark side without hesitation, leveraging the chaos they glimpse within to devastating ends in battle. Their greatest abilities are fueled by the life force they've harvested from their victims. They exploit powerful dark side magic to manipulate and degrade the minds and bodies of their enemies. This grants them access to powers even most Sith don't know about. They can create and command horrifying monsters to do their bidding, or even to be sacrificed as the Warlock sees fit, empowering and protecting the dark master from harm" Artanis explained.

Leah gulped at that "So what do we do now?".

"There is a good thing neither of us understands the text, but we can still be tempted by it's hunger if we do not contain it. Get dressed, we need to inform the council about this find as soon as possible" Artanis declared.

"Understood" Leah said as she hurried to get her clothes back on.

Artanis did not like this. Why would a Warlock tablet be on Naboo? Then he remembered how rich in life the planet is, making it an ideal place for those horrible beings to practice their dark power... Likely draining both animals and plant life to fuel their powers. Warlocks are the bane of all life. Empowered by a part of the dark side even the Sith think twice about learning. They can inflict great torment upon their foes, pain that harms the very soul of their victims. To replenish the dreadful energy their spells expend, warlocks drain vitality from their victims, similar to the Sith power Force Drain. Warlocks are feared above all else for their singular wickedness and cruelty.

If they have been here... or worse, if they are still here, this trip just became a whole lot more dangerous... And Artanis knew there was one specific Warlock that was the cruelest and most twisted of them all, who's hunger for power scared the galaxy itself... Artanis prays he's only being paranoid... but he could sense that something truly evil was here... Little did her know, he was right.

Elsewhere on the planet deep within a cave, a cloaked figure was stood in front of several tablets. He was an orc, but he was different. He had spikes growing out of his back, making him hunched over, and he was old, even needing a cane to walk and stand. But he cared little about his physical health, once he gains the power he seeks, his physical body would be disposable. These tablets on ancient Orc power was a good start, but he lacked the full set and could not complete his work without it.

He looked up as he sensed something "Well looks like we have visitors... and they found the last tablet. Good, very good. Fine them, bring me the tablet and the ones who have it".

Behind him stood a large two headed Ogre who grabbed a large hammer and headed out. The figure smirked, the power he desired was so close he could taste it. His power was slowly but surely returning. He lost in the war but that was only a setback and he had learned his lesson. This time he would be more prepared, soon he would be even more powerful than before. And soon the galaxy would feel his wrath once again.

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Tell me what you think.