Alek ran a hand over his shaved scalp in frustration. Seated on a comfortable flat stone that protruded from the ground, he repeatedly attempted to meditate on his objective. His wound throbbed with a dull pain though. The bacta-drenched bandages that the medic had layered over it were proving inefficient.
Alek soon abandoned meditation to start his trek up the rugged path, a steep climb with numerous jutting formations to scale. The planet's beauty was not lost on him once he was away from the battle. The stony landscape was rich with emerald hills and whithering structures built solely from the strange stone native to this planet. He breathed deeply as he scaled a short outcropping and was surprised to find an inkling of serenity within himself.
Nightfall was moments away when Alek set eyes upon the entrance, an aperture in the cliffside spacious enough for one armed and fully armored trooper at a time. At least two Republic troopers stood guard nearby. They appeared exhausted but were armed with heavy weapons and vibro-swords. Alek couldn't risk either of them alerting the troops inside. Direct confrontation was out of the question.
He waited for nightfall and used the darkness to aid his approach. A thrown rock was enough to draw the battle-weary troops away from the aperture. Alek slipped into the pitch-black passage. He felt his way along the rough walls as jagged textures snagged and tore at his fingertips. After a few steps inside, a faint light emerged at the far end. He could see soldiers as they marched down a corridor perpendicular to the passage. He unclipped his lightsaber, his thumb poised over the button.
A lone Republic trooper stood guard by the mouth of the passage. Alek watched more troops march by, listened as the harsh commands of officers echoed through the passage. He waited until the corridor had emptied before pulling the guard into the dark passage with him. One hand clamped over his mouth and the other wrapped around his throat. With a powerful grip, Alek lifted the trooper off the ground until he lost consciousness. He set him down and stepped out of the passage, delving deeper into the fortress.
Alek came to the end of the corridor where an immense, arched doorway loomed above him. Etched into the ancient stonework were runic symbols, foreign to Alek yet pulsating with raw, primal energy. He took a cautious step through the doorway as if he were expecting an inanimate object to levy an attack on him.
As Alek crossed the threshold, he set eyes on a vast chamber. The domed ceiling seemed to reach impossibly high. A thin layer of mist filled the air. Lush ivy grew up through the cobbled stone floor and scaled the many immense columns that supported the ceiling. However, Alek sensed an inherent darkness underlying the beauty of nature and architecture intertwined.
He ventured toward the center of the chamber and came to a makeshift altar. A hooded figure stood over it, whispering incantations until a white-grey mist started to pour from the hood's opening. Alek ignited his saber, ready for battle, but the figure vanished in the blink of an eye. All that remained was the mist.
He investigated the altar. It was crafted from the vegetation and stonework of the room itself. On it, three different mortars and pestles were arranged to form a triangle—dense smoke billowed from the mortar nearest to him. Alek pondered the purpose of the other two.
"Dabbling in Sith Alchemy . . . how rebellious. Interesting."
The wind off of an unintelligible whisper brushed against his ear. Alek pivoted, ready to confront his adversary. He instead found a growing concentration of the luminescent mist. There was another whisper, now to his left, followed by another, behind him again, all in the same unfamiliar dialect.
Through the barrage of whispers being levied from all directions and the mist that was quickly encapsulating him, Alek received a vision.
He raised his saber just in time to block a downward chop that would have cleaved him in two. The mist receded, drawing in toward Alek's adversary. They hefted an unwieldy sword and appeared to be less than human, a far cry from the Jedi that Alek had once called friend. Their robes were singed, soiled with mud and soot, their skin ashen and wrinkled, their bared teeth yellowed and cracked.
With an inhuman cry, they rushed forward to launch an onslaught of relentless yet crude attacks, struggling to wield the blade to its fullest potential. Even so, Alek's defense started to buckle under the constant flurries of chops and slashes. The force of every attack sent tremors throughout his body and, with every successive clash, the light of his cobalt saber dimmed darker and darker. The sword's blackened, jagged blade held a sinister power beyond what its appearance indicated.
As he was forced to give up ground, Alek stumbled backward over a fallen column. His adversary rushed forward with sword raised. Alek rolled out of the way and scrambled back to his feet, marveling at how easily the sword halved the column and shattered the stonework underneath.
The Jedi cried another incantation as they hurled forward both halves of the column with a slight gesture of their hand. The speed of the projectiles was too great; Alek didn't have time to react. The impact sent him flying backward through two other standing columns. As he sluggishly climbed back up onto one knee, small pebbles started to rain down around him. Alek glanced up toward the ceiling as his adversary reached up and willed the weakened section to give.
Again, Alek didn't have time to react.