The Dark Man
Courage
Facts: This post contains exactly 20,100 words. By the average standard of measuring words per page, if this was made into a book that is 80.8 pages. At 20,100 words, this post can be considered a Novella. All characters minus Ko, Ajay and Nadnarb have been or currently are my alts. This means this story is not only about a single character, but intertwines itself with the greater Star Wars Chaos story.
Notes: Whilst the post is indeed complete there will be continuous edits over the next few weeks to make it look pretty.
The Air Bikes roared to life.
Two boys in their last years of primary school stood, admiring their prized possessions. Their mothers had bought them when Leroy was eleven, and Ekul twelve. Although Ekul was a year late, it didn't matter. He threw his leg over the seat, bursting with excitement. The garage door of his home estate grumbled as a remote device began to open the way for them. It was evening and school had just finished. It was a regular thing for the two to ride their bikes around the bushlands nearby after classes had ceased.
Leroy and Ekul couldn't have been any different. Leroy was of pale skin and light blonde hair, with sparkling blue eyes. All the while Ekul had hair as dark as the night sky, and his eyes as brown as mud. His skin faired no better in the sun for it tanned easy. Though they were the best of friends, their personalities clashed. Ekul remained an outgoing child, but his submissive nature and selflessness to others was at times manipulated by Leroy. The boy was brash and self-loving, and often ridiculed other children. A trait Ekul internalised as the other children's faults, and not Leroy's own.
Ekul twisted the throttle. The engine began to rev, he took off the break and they sped out onto the street together. They carved down the road and skidded to the left at an intersection. The hill was long and gradual, so they twisted the throttle harder. The air bikes were cushiony vehicles not designed for high speeds, and the two were really pushing it to its limits. Houses flew past them, the cool breeze sent a chill down Ekul's spine. He looked to Leroy, "You and Sandra still on?" Leroy turned to him with a devious smirk, "Yeah man, we made out at the park yesterday 'arvo. It was epic." He nodded his head, gloating in his lies.
Ekul couldn't always discern lies from Leroy, but he knew this was one of them. The kid was a chronicle liar, and he still hadn't forgiven him for stealing his Hologame a year ago, even though he profusely denied it. "Yeah, well," Ekul said, providing his own devilish smile, "Why was Sandra hanging out with Priya all afternoon?"
"Shut up, it was after that," Leroy said, hitting the throttle to the engines sheer limits. He sped ahead, taking a sharp right down another road. Ekul followed, the road was no different from the others. Houses lined the street with tall trees towering over them. A thin makeshift alleyway cut between a set of houses and dispersed onto a speederway. The two boys snapped left, right, then left dodging the trio of tree trunks that were in their way. They shot out onto the speederway recklessly. Hundreds of speeders flew past overhead, blasting intense winds into their faces. They crossed the speederway and rode onto an open field of grass.
"Wanna go do those jumps? and we'll ride over to Summerland Point afterwards," Leroy suggested. The jumps in mind was a long track of crusted mud and a slight incline and sudden drop over a rather large hill of blood-ants. Vicious little insects that had been imported to the planet several decades ago, and ever since they had been a nuisance. Only the coolest of kids did the jump, and Ekul had yet to attempt the stunt. "Yeah, okay," Ekul said, hesitant. They crossed the large, empty oval resigned for physical sports and moved towards the start of the bush lands.
Ekul reluctantly changed his settings on his air-bike to skim. It would leave his bike barely hovering above the ground. He followed Leroy onto the dirt track, taking a few small bumps with poor grace. The bush lands were full of scrubs and harsh plants that survived during intense heat waves where other plants may wither and die. Much of the ground was cracked earth and there were very few tall trees. "Here we go," Leroy announced as they neared an intersecting path. Ekul's stomach fell when he followed Leroy, taking a slow left and suddenly dropping down a steep incline. For a moment he second guessed, thinking he was about to fly over his handlebars. He squinted his eyes, knuckles white as he held on tight.
He came onto the new track, adrenaline coursing through his veins. Leroy glanced over his shoulder and took off towards the hidden jump. They didn't know exactly where it was, but had a good idea where it could be. Ekul would have invited his brother Nodnarb along, but unfortunately for him he was grounded. It felt like he was always being grounded, or something bad was happening to him. Only last week they were wrestling near a metal pipe, and when Nodnarb jumped up and down, his arms gave way under him, effectively slamming his two front teeth on the metal pole, chipping a tooth.
Leroy gained speeder and began to rise, then the dirt gave way under him. He shot across the air and landed on the other side of the ants nest. Ekul scrutinised the jump, knowing he couldn't make it. "C'mon, hurry up I want some chips," Leroy urged him. Ekul didn't think, he acted. He hit the accelerator and leapt off the jump. His bike twisted, Ekul was thrown from the seat and slammed against the unforgiving dirt with a meaty slap. The air bike crashed into the ant mound, crushing any insect that had been underneath it. He shrieked, both in pain and fear. "Oh kark! you alright?" Leroy said, rushing to his side. Even though he bullied others, at least he had a soft spot for Ekul.
Ekul looked down at his denim trousers and plain white shirt, not scratched and dirtied. "Mums going to kill me," he said through his tears, swiping them away. Leroy held out a hand, Ekul clasped it with his own and allowed his friend to pull him up onto his feet. Leroy was unscathed, his green overalls remaining speck-free. "Kark!" they both exclaimed in unison upon seeing the crashed air bike. Every inch of the bike was covered in blood-ants, there was no way they could retrieve the bike without a high-pressure hose or some insect repellant. Neither of which they had. "We'll have to come get it later tonight, I'll ask my dad if he can help us, just don't tell your mum," Leroy assured him.
Ekul marched to his friends bike, deciding to sit on the handlebars. He hated the feeling of constantly falling off, but to date it had yet to happen. They sped back down the track from the way they came, rather then turning up the steep cliff-like incline, they followed the path. "I still want some chips," Leroy said.
"But I need my bike back," Ekul protested with a moan of annoyance.
"Nah, we can get it tomorrow."
"Yeah, okay . . " Ekul said, defeated. He could always get it back tomorrow, but he knew he would have to face his dad tonight and sit through interrogation as to why his bike is missing.
The day couldn't have gotten any worse, and with the setting sun, darkness began to settle on the world of Rendili. They sat with their air bikes down by the shores, kicking their feet over the edges of a rickety jetty. The white paint was old and had long since begun to deteriorate. "Remember when that 'spider' was on you," Leroy asked with a wide smile. The spider in question had been not overly large, perhaps half the size of a grown males hand. It was orange and flecked with coats of black. It was perhaps the most terrifying thing to ever happen to Ekul, at least he thought so.
After a long swim by this very jetty, they had clambered out of the water and dried off. Ekul grabbed his towel and patted himself down, his eyes honed in on an arachnid on his shoulder, a spider. His voice roared in utter fear, screaming at the top of his lungs and instantly breaking down in tears. He rapidly slapped his shoulders, brushing it off him. An elderly Ithorian couple rushed to his rescue, asking what was wrong. The sobbing human boy explained what happened to him, and they gave him words of comfort. "Shut up," Ekul said, refusing to be ridiculed.
The air bike swept down the natural trails of the bushlands. Leroy took the front as Ekul sat behind, hunkering down, not wanting to find himself a splattered bug against the thick boles of scattered trees. He weaved in and out of the way of natural wildlife that scurried to find respite from the air bikes, not to mention the occasional and disastrous thorn bushes that dotted the landscape. They crested a hill and came upon a clearing in the bush. Though the clearing was not without its own host of air bike riders.
Children ranging from the ages of eleven to thirtreen, from the three-eyed Gand to the four-armed Hekto, it was as though all the minorities in the local town had come for a meeting. And they didn’t look friendly. “Oi, Leroy!” one shouted, and it couldn’t have been worse than the Trandoshan. The scaled reptilian humanoid stalked closer, broad shoulders flexing. “Leave me alone, Peoi,” Leroy protested, looking to turn tail and run. Though a quick glance at the air bikes, and it was obvious they wouldn’t be outrunning them anytime soon.
“I wan’ah fight, I heard what you said to Faix,” Peoi answered, stretching his fingers. Talons as sharp as needles protruded from them. If there was anything to be said about Trandoshan, it was to buy a ticket and watch them fight a Wookiee. It was an even bet. Ekul’s stomach fell and knotted, he wanted to be sick. No, he wasn’t afraid of the group of aliens, but rather for Leroy’s safety. “N-no, I-I’m s-sorry,” Leroy said, becoming anxious. His feet began to tap nervously against the ground as he steadied his bike.
“Too bad,” the Trandoshan quickly closed the distance, looking ready to pounce. “Wait!” Ekul shrieked at the top of his lungs, leaping from his bike and in-between his friend and the bully. “No, I’ll.. I’ll fight you,” the words dripped from his mouth before he could stop himself. “Good,” the word came venomously from the pursed lips of the reptilian. The Trandoshan lunged forward, Ekul raised his knee. It was a cowards move, but Ekul was never taught how to fight. His knee slammed into the weakest point of any male, befalling the Trandoshan in a howl as intense agony boiled in his abdomen.
Ekul was barely given enough time to see the approaching Hekto. Two arms came barreling towards him, striking him full in the face. Everything in his body seemed to suddenly halt at the explosion of pain. His legs hadn’t given way, but they didn’t need to to knock Ekul to the ground. The human was thrown backwards into the ground. His body hit the dirt with a meaty slap. Blood sprayed itself across his face as it quickly poured out of his nostrils like a tap. His fluttering eyes spied the seemingly vertical Leroy as he left him to the mercy of his aggressors, saving his own skin. Everyman for himself, Ekul bitterly thought before all turned to darkness.
When Ekul woke up, the night sky hovered above. Stars twinkled and whispered tales of faraway smugglers and heroic Jedi. He lay there, sprawled and smeared with dried blood. Purple bruises surfaced his skin, barely visible under the moonlight. He had been beaten even after passing out, the Hekto had shown no mercy. His eyes diverted south, seeing rips in his clothes where the Trandoshan had cut through it and caused minor lacerations.
He dare not move for want of peace. He began to think of his place in this universe. He couldn’t understand why he was friends with Leroy. They were polar opposites, and he had proven his loyalty as a friend when he fled, and from what he gathered now, hadn’t returned since. He wondered at the stars of the stories they could tell him. He knew that their light took thousands of years to travel to Rendili.
The drone of an air bike came rushing through the brushes, skirting around the fallen body of Ekul. He closed his eyes, only hoping it wasn’t his parents. The padding feet came closer, and the voice of Leroy broke the silence, “Are you okay?” he shouted in fright. “Please don’t touch me,” Ekul said, almost falling into a sob at the ache of his body. His words were not harsh, for he only wanted to be spared of any further pain. “We’ve got to get you home, it’s past seven o’clock. Your dad is going to kill you.”
With hooked arms under his pits, Ekul was raised off the ground. He screamed and protested, as the real pain surfaced now. If two things could be said about this ordeal it was this; for all his courage, he held a humiliating low pain tolerance. Tougher kids would shrug it off, but Ekul wasn’t tough. Smarter kids would have fled and lost them in the bushes, but he wasn’t smart either. He was just good.
“You’d make a good Jedi, I reckon,” Leroy said with a grin as he helped his friend onto the back of his air bike. Ekul couldn’t find the words in his mouth, he couldn’t speak, and didn’t want to for that matter. He nodded his head as thanks, gingerly holding his hands around the waist of his friend as they took off home. The journey was long and slow, making sure they didn’t hit anything in the darkness. There were no street lights in the bushlands, and the moon offered little in way of light. “When you get home, tell your mum you fell over or something.” Ekul wanted to ask if he was stupid, or had a few bolts missing in his brain. He was bewildered by his friends logic, but surmised that in the moment, it was hard to think of excuses that didn’t involve explaining how Ekul put himself in harms way. To spare a friend the pain, nonetheless.
Four years later . . .
“Morning lecture, it is, wake up you must,” the raspy voice of an aged and unfamiliar species hobbled into his room. Ekul furrowed his brow, wishing to tell his master to find another apprentice today. For all his questioning, Jedi Master Ko refused to part with the name of his species. He had heard others simply refer to him as Yoda’s Species, for it was the only other well known member of his species to participate in the Jedi Order, from current records. Those records were not exactly up to date. Much had been lost eight hundred years ago during the Jedi Purge.
Ekul found his bedsheets thrown from his body, he shook violently for a second in a deep shiver. Cold tendrils leeched against his skin, forcing the human to clench his teeth. It sprang in his mind a deep curiosity. Why would Coruscant be in deep winter, the seasons were often technologically controlled. Nonetheless, he threw his legs over the edges of the bed and stood. He glanced down at the shorter-than-a-meter green creature, taking a deep bow in respect. “Master,” Ekul addressed him.
“To the archives, you shall go,” Ko instructed the sixteen year old padawan. Ekul and Nodnarb Selah had been found to be Force-Sensitive on their thirteenth birthday. The choice to join the academy on the Republic’s capital of Coruscant was offered forth, and the two gladly took it. Though Ekul found himself second-guessing if his brother was the material Jedi were made of. Rude, uncontrollable and quick-to-anger. Much had to be taught to Nodnarb, but so too did Ekul have to learn. Whilst his brother may be quick to anger with frequent bursts of rage. Ekul was calm as the eye of the storm, but when his anger rose from its deep slumber, it showed itself in utter fury.
Ekul eased himself into his black and grey robes, and neatly presented his Padawans braid that was woven in thin slivers of durable leaves from Kashyyyk. He trod down the corridor, watching the retesting back of Ko enter the opposing dorm that held Nodnarb. He could hear his masters gentle voice try and stir his brother, only to be rebuked with groans of annoyance. Ekul turned left and began to amble his way down a staircase. He chose to take the stairs over the lifts, it was a humbling emotion that washed over him each time he chose to do so. There was no such thing as wasted time, for it gave more room for the mind to wander and explore the deepest mysteries of the Force.
Ekul eased himself into an isolated lecture room in the archives. One of hundreds that lined the library that prided itself in containing all knowledge of the galaxy. He knew this was nothing more than a boastful gesture. His eyes surveyed the room, hoping for a hint as to what the lecture may be about. He closed his eyes and reached out with the Force, but no sooner did the doors groan as they slid aside, welcoming Ko and Nodnarb. Ekul straightened his posture, picking up his datapad and assumed a ready position to begin his studies. Nodnarb slunk into his seat, listening but not quite awake yet.
“Space and time, stars and planets, bound by the Unifying Force it is,” Ko began the lecture. “Past and future, the Jedi sense, through this Force. Of this concept, few supporters within the Order. A single entity, neither light nor dark, is this Unifying Force. Open to future possibilities, are the eyes of its followers. Fulfil a destiny, they believe, focusing on the here and now they do not. A means to an end, the Sith do see, an end in itself the Jedi see. Everything is the Force, and the Force everything. Sides it does not take. A choice one must make, abuse and suffer or nurture and enlightenment."
Ko buried himself in his words as the morning quickly vanished. Meals were taken, all the while Ekul held his ears pricked to the lectures of his master. He scoffed down what was placed before him by the stewards and stewardesses of the Temple. Ko seemed all but exempt to exhaustion and weariness, providing on the Force to supply him with the energy he needed to teach for such arduous lengths. Midday rolled into the afternoon, and soon night had befallen them. Such was the mental lectures they partook in. It was considered a serious training event, for it required the minds absolute attention for hours without break. Thus padawans relied on the Force to keep their minds alert and cataloguing the constant influx of information from their master.
When Ko had finished, Nodnarb yawned rudely. Ekul turned and scowled, warning his brother to show better respect. He got no emotional response from Nodnarb, finding that as they went through puberty Nodnarb was growing increasingly more introverted, not to mention he was prone to deep paranoia at nighttime. He told Ekul, nay, he insisted to Ekul that he was being watched and stalked. That someone, or something was tracking his every movement. Such things had been addressed to Ko, and their private discussions were hidden from Ekul. He didn’t know how his brother mentally fared but the news came dire in the night when a visitor knocked on his door.
“Come in,” Ekul called. A Zabrak no older than twelve rushed in, seemingly out of breath. “Ko needs in the Great Hall, now! Your brothers got insane.” There was not a minuscule amount of time spared that Ekul didn’t waste. He threw himself from his bed in a manner that suggested he was attempting to get from the blast radius of a thermal detonator, not come and see his brothers latest antics. He raced down the hall, the Zabrak trailed behind him in a billow of flowing bedrobes. They skipped past the stairs and hijacked an elevator full of younglings being led around by a padawan.
“Emergency,” Ekul called, resetting the elevator destination and entering the ground floor. The elevator began to drop, his stomach rising as it sped with great haste. He craned his neck to see the visible distaste on the padawans face at having her group abruptly halted when they had been on their way to their dorms for bed. “I’m really sorry about this, but its important,” Ekul said, and she seemed to not believe him for a moment. She gave him the benefit of the doubt and nodded in understanding.
The doors opened, welcoming him to the sights of the massive Great Hall. The Great Hall was a four-story tall chamber situated directly beyond the Temple Main Entrance. A large meeting chamber with many tiers and balconies, seats would be brought in for formal gatherings and conclaves. Between many of the pillars lining the hall were passages and stairways leading to small chambers near the Hall. In addition, several banks of turbolifts led into the depths of the Temple, ensuring that the Great Hall could be reached from any level of the complex. From these turbo lifts Ekul and his newfound ally emerged.
It was not the ever-awe-inspiring majesty of the Great Hall that attracted his attention, but Nodnarb with his lightsaber engaged, encircled by a ring of Jedi Temple Guards and a genuinely concerned Ko that tried to soothe the situation. Ekul raced ahead, instinctively he moved his hands to curl around the hilt of his own lightsaber but remembered his training. Form Zero. He pulled back his hand and chose to flench them instead to block out his desire for something to hold in defence. He came close to Ko, asking, “What happened?”
“Visions seen, has your brother. Premonitions, gift and curse of the Force, they are.”
“Narb, please, everything is okay. Everything is going to be okay,” Ekul said, trying to disarm an impending fight. His blade waved around frantically as a wide-eyed Nodnarb looked for his brother that was held behind the group of Temple Guards, wielding ferocious double-bladed lightsaber pikes. “Shut up! I see it now, the Temple in ruins, the Senate smashed, and Coruscant itself shattered by orbital bombardment from immense ships of impossible design. I have seen the end of civilization, Ekul, and we’re with it if we don’t get out now.”
“What’re you talking about Narb? This is the safest place in the galaxy, guarded by the best of the best. No harm will come, just stop, please,” Ekul pleaded. Ko whispered through the Force, hindering Nodnarb from intercepting, “Corrupt, his mind has become. Illness, he is stricken with. Little to be done, there is. To the Jedi Medical corps, he must go. In spirit and mind, heal they cannot. A home for him, they can provide nonetheless.”
“What did you say!” Nodnarb roared with anger, “You’ve always treated me like a child, like I’m lesser than you!” Ekul stepped forward, trembling with his own pent-up rage. His brother had always been prone to outbursts, and constant threats of dismissal hadn’t lessened this. Ekul wanted to tell him everything wrong with his attitude, why he would never be a Jedi, but it was cruel. Schizophrenia seeped into the mind of his brother, Ekul knew this much. Slowing but surely the illness was poisoning his sanity. He had feared it for some time, but never was he so sure of his illness as he was now.
Somehow, neither Ko nor Ekul could comprehend, Nodnarb had heard Ko whisper to Ekul through the Force. He had detected the hidden ripples that were an attempt to prevent him from eavesdropping, it did just thus. Nodnarb raised his blade, ready to strike. A snap-hiss echoed in the hall, Ekul dived forward. Plasma clashed in a glow of cerulean and maize sparks. Nodnarb twisted his arm, slamming his elbow into Ekul, an unexpected blow. He took it with full force, causing him to falter backwards into the arms of the Jedi Temple Guards. They grappled with Ekul, preventing him from continuing any further. Before the guards could detain the rampaging Nodnarb, he fled.
“Fold space,” Ko murmured in amazed shock. The guards released their grip on Ekul in shared expressions of stupor. “Possible it is not,” Ko said in spoken thought, “Only by the Aing-Tii, taught it is.” Ekul found himself falling onto the marble floor, sprawled out once more. His nose wasn’t bleeding but it hurt nonetheless. More than his nose hurt, his anger seethed. Ko snapped his mind from the prodigal display of the Force to the now, resting to a knee beside Ekul. “Run rampant, your anger must not. Control, breathe, one with the Force become.” Ekul closed his eyes, breathing in and out, focusing not on the events but on the ripples of Force that seeped through all living beings. His brow drew inward, frowning at a disturbance in their immediate area where Nodnarb had been. There was a momentary void of the Force, and as quickly as he had noticed it, it was filled once more.
Two months later . . .
“One more time, remind me,” Ko said as the two walked out of the Temple and towards a private landing bay for a J-type Star Skiff belonging to an Umbaran pilot who was known to work with the Naboo royalty from time to time. Ekul said, “Master, as you wish. We’ll be visiting the Tingel Arm to investigate Sith cult activities. We will be expecting to arrive on Mytus VII for our primary investigation, and the outlying habitable zones for further insight if required. As per request of the Jedi Council.” The two were welcomed by the tattooed Umbaran, adorning his families art. Streaks of crimson red traced his jawline and along his lips, it was fearsome for the unacquainted but those that knew him, knew him to be a man of deep respect and honour.
“Welcome to the greatest ship in this sector of the galaxy,” Roe boomed, offering a strong handshake to Ekul, and a bow to Master Ko. “It is with the greatest pleasure that I welcome you aboard the least humble, and most boastful of transports. Luxury isn’t for the Jedi, but if offered, can you really refuse?” he joked, elbowing Ekul to only receive a thick lipped smile in turn. For two months, Ekul had been regularly visiting not only Ko in private, but the council too. Not only was his midichlorian count under heavy scrutinisation, but his mental patterns and adaption to the Force. Along with this, he was being tutored in ways of suppressing his anger. Ekul had become a serious face around the Temple, seemingly lacking most emotions during his stays in the Temple. Though that quickly changed when the Padawans were granted leave to spend their own personal quality time. He didn’t learn to only suppress his emotions, but learnt when to express them, to laugh and to love.
Master and Apprentice nodded in thanks, offering their gratitude to the pilot as they boarded the vessel up the ramp and into the corridor. Ekul delved into the deepest recesses of his mind as he pondered his brother. He could feel him in the Force, such was their strong connection as twins, but he knew not where, or how far he was. He didn’t know how he fared, only that for the moment, he was alive, and that was enough for Ekul. The council hadn’t received news of Nodnarb, and if they had they weren’t telling him. He understood this, knowing that there was a conflict of interest. Deciding that it was best to send Ekul onto the field than to coop him up in the Temple all day, every day where his mind may wander a little too much.
“Now, I understand you can’t tell me why you want to go to Mytuss, but really? Mytuss?” Roe scoffed. “It’s the outermost planet in the Mytus system, and it’s located in Wild Space, further than the reach of the Morellian Commonwealth. Though I hear Stars’ End is ‘round there. Most Oscinin spacers try to avoid Mytus because of that.” Ekul kept to himself, deciding not to comment as it was not his place to, but his masters. “Master, may I take my leave?” Ekul requested. Ko nodded, and Ekul trudged from the cockpit towards the only other room that wasn’t reserved for the pilot. Master and Apprentice would be sharing the same room, but it only humbled them. It gave them a deeper understanding of the lives others must live, albeit theirs was worse by a thousand fold.
Ekul fell onto his bed, almost forgetting to take off his cloak. He shrugged out of the heavy wool and nestled his head into a soft pillow. His feet curled up under his buttocks, and his back arched forward. He lay in a small ball, eyes slowly closing as he began to drift from away consciousness. Ever since his brothers disappearance, he had felt inexplicably exhausted at times. It was as though someone was seeping his very energy from him. His sleep did not provide him rest, waking only to find himself as equally tired as he had been when he had gone to bed.
His mind drifted through the infinite imagination. He could feel the ebb and flow of the force, lulling him into a deeper and more restful sleep by an outside force. It’s signature was unmistakable, Ko. He appreciated his master’s effort to provide him with a rejuvenating sleep. He had known for the past fortnight of his troubles, and why he was lacking in his arduous studies. His mind hadn’t been able to focus as it had once before. Ekul turned his mind from these thoughts and pondered the stars that filled the galaxy. Somewhere out there, his brother was alive and well. It comforted him some. As estranged as their relationship may have always been, he was still blood, and more-so his twin.
When Ekul awoke, it had been two days. He stumbled out into the cockpit, finding Roe with a much smaller identical version of himself. For a moment he was bewildered, “Who's that?”
“Why, that’s my son, Ricardt. Ricardt, say hello to Jedi Selah.” Bright eyes turned to look up at Ekul, a smile burst across his face, “My dad said there were two Jedi on board! But I only saw the small green one. He won’t tell me what species he is, and Dad won’t either. Can you dodge blasters and all that?” Ricardt spat out in a flurry of quick words that took Ekul a second to register in his mind. “Well, I can’t exactly dodge blasters, but I can deflect them, sometimes. Jedi don’t really dodge blasters as some people seem to think, we have something called precognition. The Force tells us that there is danger, and we move out of the way before it happens.”
“So you dodge it…?” Ricardt asked, not quite understanding the ‘science’ behind it, per se.
“Yeah, we dodge blasters,” Ekul said with a wry smile.
“Well, we’re setting a vector for approach now,” Roe informed Ekul, reaching above his head to flick a switch of unknown design. “Orders tell me to just jump you on the planet and come for pick up in a few months time, is that correct?” Ekul looked to him for a moment, wondering how hard it would be to find a reliable pilot to take him back to Coruscant if Roe wasn’t able to pick him up. “That’s correct, yes.”
“Well in that case, I hope you two have a fun holiday. I wouldn’t call it exactly that. A lot of Imperial-supporters out here. The Tingel Arm is full of them.” Ekul could only nod to Roe’s mention of Imperials. It seemed the Imperial sentiment that shrunk itself to only the furthest reaches of the Galactic community, but in those reaches its hold and sway over the people was a miasma that could not be resisted. Fanatics, not supporters, Ekul mused to himself in thought.
“So, who exactly is this ‘Hurrikaine,’ you keep telling me about,” Ekul asked, looking to Ko who stood at the height of his knees. “Hrmm,” Ko mumbled incomprehensibly in thought, “A Jedi, once was, fallen now, he is. Master, did he strike down, at the time of his Knighthood. Long fled has he from the Jedi.”
“Master, I do not like to suggest this, or even think it, but is this not treasonous to meet with a traitor of the Order to simply talk?”
“One must not make enemies at all turns. Mistakes, people do make. Much fear does Hurrikaine live in, not his fault it is.”
“So, you’re trying to tell me, even though someone may have done bad, we shouldn’t judge them in the present, because that was in their past?”
“Correct.” Ekul wanted to speak up about the atrocities the Sith committed in their history, but knew he would be rebuked by the unending intelligence of Ko.
The streets of Mytuss VII were unlike anything Ekul had experienced. Rather than speeder ways that hovered hundreds if not thousands of meters high in the sky, they had paved roads of permacrete where speeders raced past, skimming the surface of the street. Crowds of alien species washed the paths alongside the street, forcing the two incognito Jedi to stand aside and allow the more sturdier creatures the right of way. It baffled him that Ko had yet to be kicked in the face by the much taller species, but there were a few heads that poked themselves out from the crowds that were as equally short or a few inches taller than Ko. Those who were similar in height seemed to greet him as though they were long-life brothers before disappearing into the ocean of civilians.
They turned a sharp right into a cantina. Ekul and Ko approached the door of the Em-Tee-Gee. Odd name, he thought. The entrance groaned as it slid aside. The stench of narcotics and alcohol wafted out onto the street. The fog choked itself in the throats of passerby's, prompting guttural coughs. Ekul swiped his hand with fervour, keeping the smell of decaying lives from his nostrils. The smooth skinned human waltzed into the cantina. It had been two weeks since the Jedi began their investigation on Mytuss VII, and it had led them here with a hint towards a Dark Jedi controlling a cult of Sith worshippers.
The music roared. The two found themselves pushing past a cluster of belligerent drunks. They wore their intricate layers of clothes denoting their status as Jedi, along with the coupled cloaks, the drunks knew not to touch them. Master and Apprentice ambled over to a booth, taking a seat for their own. Ekul thumbed a control pad on the edge of the table, and the faint yellow radiance of a tranquillity screen rose around their booth. The screen was a rare touch of quality for a place like this, but one Ekul appreciated as the raucous music faded to a muffled booming.
Thunderous footsteps caused Ko to snap his neck left and right, trying to stop the titan of a droid that entered the tranquility field. The mysterious species was forced to get onto his two feet, clutching the backrest of his chair and peer over. “Hurrikaine, a pleasure it is,” Ko annouced.
“Yes, quite,” the mysterious droid answered. Hurrikaine seemed to notice the obvious stare from Ekul and answered the unspoken question, “Human-replica droid body, with a Shard mind. Unfortunate… events have forced me to lose all replica skin and muscle tissue, leaving only the frame.”
“Yes, I’m sorry I had to do that,” Ko said, hinting towards a serious encounter between the two. Ekul moved his stare towards Hurrkaine’s cybernetic eyes when he noticed the large chunk of metal missing from his scalp. He didn’t mention anything and looked towards him, “I’m sorry, forgive me. I wasn’t expecting a Force-Sensitive.. droid.”
“Shard, that is my species. I merely use this droid body as a means to travel,” Hurrikaine corrected him. “I’m not sticking around long. I’ll tell you what I have to say and then I am leaving.”
Ekul gave a quick glance to Ko, not wanting to say it but had to. “My Master takes some time to speak, so I’ll be speaking for him, so you can be on your way faster. The Sith Cults, we know they’re somewhere in this system. Ko thinks you know who is leading them, and where they may be located.”
“I don’t know who is leading them, some former Jedi, now an instrument of the Dark Side. Rumours hint that whoever it is, they’re extremely powerful and not to be underestimated. They’re on planet, but you’re on the wrong continent. They’re on Resh, some town called Nim-Bar, anymore and I don’t know. They want to keep their location secret, but people tend to run their mouths in cantina’s.” Hurrikaine raised a hand in warning, “I’m only telling you two this once, because I respect who you’re. Don’t go there. If you’re not a cultist, you’re not coming back. They will kill you, and it isn’t pretty. Some Rogue Knight hired to root them out was there recently, hasn’t returned since.” Hurrikaine stood from the table, “I hope everything works out for you, just go back to your Temple and tell the Council you found nothing. But I know you won’t listen to me anyway.”
Resh. Its beauty was never-ending, the sights of the world were beyond compare. Forests, mountains, plateaus, oceans all interwoven into the landscape. Ekul Selah felt a sense of both anticipation and dread. Ko and Ekul were yet to locate the cult, but the locals foretold of an ancient crystal cave in the Outlands. The Outlands was once a forest corrupted by dark energy. Ekul would enter alone, to construct his own lightsaber. The one he currently had was simply a gift from Ko, and would be returned. It’s Force signature belonged to Ko, and not to Ekul. It would never be truly his. Ekul had the materials on him, but now only required a focusing crystal. The human had a resplendent view of a valley that sprouted forth from where he stood. He was a hundred meters above the riverbed below, where the crashing sound of the waterfalls and colliding with the river met. Pine trees marked his location, stripped of leaves, gnarled and dead.
The overgrowth of the forest was dense, and under the sway of a corrupt influence. The region was inhabited by wildlife that had been tainted, wild imported Nexu who had been corrupted, and strange mystics—villagers of the Outlands—who had gone mad. Ekul had studied the region and learnt that it was only recently the forest had been corrupted. It was both a troubling and interesting thought. The aspirant Jedi Sentinel knelt down, placing the straps of his bag over his shoulders. He gave the beautiful valley one final look, he felt a dark presence in the distance beyond the horizon; the cultists. Ekul Selah turned his back to the beautiful sight and took a step into the Outlands.
The trek would be treacherous and lonely, but one Ekul was determined to complete. Where once emerald blades of grass had flourished, bathing in the sunlight, it now rotted. The grass held a sickly yellow-orange tinge to its colour. Ekul Selah wore traditional robes of his Order. The fabric was long enough that his feet were barely visibly, only the toes of his boots protruded from the robes, matching the colour. The grey-coloured robe was fashioned with absolute precision, each fold in the fabric had been carefully attended to by several tailors, perfecting grace, mobility and fashion. The folds came high up, curling around the neck of the human.
The further Ekul Selah travelled into the Outlands, the calmer he became. It seemed to be preemptive anxiety that had overwhelmed his emotions prior to his journey. There was little sunlight that burst through the rotting branches, but enough to light his path. His brown eyes gazed upon a garden of glowing mushrooms, he made sure to keep walking, but the flora was nonetheless interesting. Trees as large as cruisers squatted here and there, scratches tattooed their bark foretelling of conflicts past. Not a leaf in sight, it was as though everything pure in the world had come here to die. Even when surrounded by death, Ekul Selah was not disgruntled or overtly concerned.
An opening in the trees bode poorly for Ekul, for it wasn't the sight of the lake that which worried his mind but that which was beyond. A small island, not too far yonder from where he stood. A shrine sat imbedded in the soil with tablets of mysterious power, and it was the mystics that encircled this shrine. They were meditating, sitting down with eyes closed. Ekul remained standing, watching from a tree, holding his hands against the bole. He felt a mixture of yearning for microbinoculars, to study and watch the dangerous mystics, but to likewise flee from the place. The latter was his only choice, he needed to find the crystal caves and construct his lightsaber.
He drew away from the treeline and drove himself deeper into the darkest depths of the Outlands. It was a surprise to him when he came to a granite wall that seemed to rise up before his very eyes. The thick and dense forest had hid any sign of a cliff face. He took a step back in surprise and opened his mouth. He pursed his lips and moved towards the wall, placing a hand on the stone he craned his head left and right. It was to the left, further away from the lake, he saw what appeared to be an entrance. Ekul turned and arched his back to walk under a low-hanging branch, approaching the pile of stones outside an entrance consumed in darkness.
He lowered his bag, opening it to retrieve the contents. Wires, conductors and a metal cylinder, everything required to make a lightsaber. He pulled out the last of the objects from the bag, a token of his gratitude to the Force; the lightsaber Ko had gifted him. He fell to a crouch, it was here in the Outlands he would bury a little bit of good in a place of darkness. He dug his fingers into the soil, collecting grime under his nails as he began to dig with his hands. The small hole was enough to lay the flat of the hilt and bury it. He stood, stomping on the mound to flatten it. It was as though nothing had ever been buried. He gazed over the materials, and most notably the strange and foreign Wintrium.
Wintrium, a liquid that spouted from the Fountain of Ancients in the Derelkoos Desert on Klatooine. At it reached the surface, it reacted with the dry desert air to create a glass-like material, appearing to be frozen intime. Wintrium became harder as it aged, and given enough time it could become nearly indestructible. It was only the smallest of pieces, it would act as the pommel for the hilt. Ekul Selah turned his gaze to the cave, and entered. Instantly he was encompassed by the darkness, unable to see. He closed his eyes and relied on the force, pushing himself onward. He felt where to go, trusting his instinctual nature to guide him. A tugging of his mind told him to open his eyes, and he did. The cave was no longer dark, but illuminated by a thousand different crystals.
He took cautionary steps towards the closest of the crystals that had obtained the attention of his eye. It was not of this world, but from a distant place. He collapsed to his knees beside it, curious, wondering just how the precious crystal had made its way from Ilum to this cave. He glanced up, deeper into the cave and smelt a horrid stench. The stench of decay. For he knew now how it had come here. Someone, force attuned and likely a Jedi had traveled here. Their journey had ended with their life, it seemed. He forced himself to investigate further, treading gingerly towards a body. He fell to a knee, observing the man and noting him as a Jedi Knight, and none other than the one that had vanished.
His light brown-skinned hands curled around the yellow crystal, a rare and precious gem. His brown eyes glanced to the crushed and shattered lightsaber hilt to the left, the crystal was lucky to be spared from whatever had killed the Jedi and destroyed the hilt. He folded his legs in front of him and resumed a seated stance. Before placing the crystal in the lightsaber, Ekul had to imbue the crystal with the Force. To do this, he was required to meditate on the crystal for many days. At the end of this, he would have a truly unique blade. Ekul Selah had decided this was to be his crystal forevermore. To carry on the legacy of a fallen Jedi was an honourable task.
He closed his eyes, and time ceased to exist. Hours began to pass as quickly as seconds, ticking away. In meditation, he lost any conception of time or the physical world; there was only The Force. He had been so quickly sucked from the material world and entered this state of non-being. He focused on the crystal and its attunement. The crystal is not, by itself, the power source of the weapon. Like Ekul, the crystal must be attuned to the Force. Without that attunement, the crystal is just a rock. And while a non-Force user could probably ignite and wield a lightsaber, provided the crystal was properly attuned to the Force, all that lightsaber would be for him is a shaft of superheated plasma. But for Ekul, the lightsaber becomes more: it is a manifestation of Ekul’s connection to the Force. More-so was the task of combing his attunement with that of its previous owner.
He concentrated on flowing his very being into the crystal, his emotions, his past and all else. The lightsaber would become an extension of his very being, even the parts he didn’t want others to know. Whilst Ekul had lost himself to the Force, the material world was much different to the organic eye. The yellow crystal was afloat, surrounded by the pieces of the lightsaber hilt. Small wirings that made up the power source, cogs and a button, the pommel and cylindrical metal plates. The hook for which a lightsaber would be allowed to rest on the hip. All was slowly coming together over a period of days. Each piece finding its niche, coming together to make a bigger piece. A puzzle being solved.
When Ekul Selah opened his eyes for the first time in four days, it had seemed to be no less than a few minutes. His body felt neither hunger nor thirst for its internal processes had slowed to almost a halt to allow him to meditate a great length of time. Before him floated the hilt of his lightsaber. Gold and silver in colour with a bright blue pommel that was jagged and looked like glass. He reached out his hand, long slender fingers delicately grasping the hilt. His thumb slid down the length of the weapon and he ignited the blade with a snap-hiss. The plasma burst to life, expelling a yellowish hue over the cavern. The corpse was next to him the shine of the blade sent a glow over the body. He was not phased by this sight, knowing that the body was merely a shell. The true Jedi Knight was now one with the Force, and his body now empty.
When Ekul Selah emerged from the cave, he was not alone. In his hands he cupped the Knight in his powerful arms. Ekul swept his eyes to make certain he was alone, and when he was confident, he gently rested the man down. The hilt of Ekul’s newly crafted lightsaber was attached to his waist. The human held out his hand to the soil, nearby where he had buried the hilt of his former lightsaber. He focused his mind on the force and the dirt began to shudder and the earth rumbled. An opening began to form where dirt collapsed in, longer it grew whilst it only increased minimally in width. He turned his focus to the body, encompassing it in the energies of the Force.
The Jedi Knight began to rise from the ground and was lowered into the poorly constructed pit, but one that had been crafted with care and The Force. A righteous burial if any Jedi were to have one. There was no chance of bringing the Knight out of the Outlands, too far a journey, and too dangerous. As his hand swept wide, caving the pit in to finish the burial, his free hand drifted to his robes. They fumbled with a hidden pocket and retrieved a small cube, a datacron. He brought it out for his eyes to study. Perhaps this was the key to the mystery of the Sith cultists.
Ko and Ekul gathered around the datacon. The cubic crystalline lattice device radiated with an emerald glow that basked both Master and Apprentice. Oft tired and weary, Ekul frowned against the light and felt invigorated by the Light Side of the Force. The Jedi Knight who had bestowed knowledge into this device had placed a great deal of energy in it too, and now it was bursting from its very seams with light side activity. The cosmic energies spewed forth as Ko gently traced a claw across the device, activating it.
Holographic projects poured out, filling the dimly lit room. Numbers, equations and complex encryption codes cascaded down over them. It drowned the room out with its intricate algorithms. The small green stature of Ko shot up, seemingly aware and understanding of everything that surrounded him. “Mathematician, few Jedi are, of the few, I am.” The carnivorous creature pulled himself onto the table, sitting beside the datacron. He folded his legs under himself and began to meditate, leaving Ekul to stare in amazement.
Arriving back at the cantina had been an exhausting journey. The room they had hired out for a month was small enough for the two of them. With a single bed, and enough room underneath for Ko to sleep, it was perfect for the two that required little to survive. Luxury was meaningless to them, and Ekul oft recited the wisdom of past Jedi. ‘I wear my robe so that I am warm; I carry my lightsaber that I am safe; and I keep enough credits for my next meal, so that I am not hungry. If the Force wants me to have more, it finds a way of letting me know.’
Now, this same room was brimming with the mysteries of the retrieved datacron. Ekul could only hope that such knowledge hidden in its vaults could contain the secret of the cultists, and finally they could report back to the council. During their previous report, they had taken the advice of Hurrikaine, but rather than leave they decided to call for help. The Council was unable to assist, for the Jedi were stretched thin in the Mid Rim during a time of conflict with the emerging Black Suns.
“Near the Outlands, in the midst of the valley, the cult will be found,” Ko spoke with his eyes clenched closed. A deep hum protruding itself from his throat as he focused. “A Dark Lord, they wait for.” The mathematical equations began to dwindle as Ko began to interact with it through the utilisation of the Force. “Siphoning the Force, they are.” Ko’s eyelids rose with shock, his eyes seemed to bulged from out of his head. He unsteadily rose to his feet, “Hurry we must. Little time there is. Coming is a darkness.”
“I don’t understand, what do you mean by a darkness,” Ekul asked, taking a step forward to help Ko down from the table. “The world they will try to corrupt, a dark figurehead they have.”
“So Hurrikaine was right, they do have someone powerful leading them.”
“Lead them he does not, teach them he does. Disorganised is their cult, hard to root out they will be. Rising will be an army, of Sith it is certain.”
“He? I didn’t think we knew who this person was.”
“Informed me, has the datacron,” Ko said, his voice hinting that he was trying to hide something. Ekul made no remark on this, deciding that he knew his place.
Standing before the tomb, Ko and Ekul were greeted by the sight of twenty foot statues. They appeared to be adorning the robes of Jedi, with long thick cloaks that drew up over their scalps and shadowed their facial appearance. They stood before a large cliff-face, where above was the Outlands. Ko ambled through the tremendous archways that dwarfed even Ekul, and under its might Ko appeared nothing more than an ant. Ekul moved to keep up, eyes darting all around as he wondered at its beauty and creation.
A tremble in the earth rocked them, forcing Ekul to adjust his standing as to avoid from falling. Large boulders began to crumble and fall from the roof with a mighty roar. Ko raised his hand, drawing upon the cosmic energies known as the Force. Seconds before the boulders could strike the two, they strafed across the room and slammed into the wall. They had narrowly avoided disaster. Already it seemed like their presence was unwanted. “Carry me, will you,” Ko asked of Ekul. Humble, the taller human fell to a knee and allowed the small creature to cling onto his back.
Ekul raced down the hallway on a cobblestone path. The tomb was wide enough to fit two tanks side by side, and tall enough that a fully grown male Rancor would be unhindered in his movements. The road was straightforward, with no sinister corridors that leeched off from the main hallway. It avoided confusion, and was a welcome sight for Ekul, and no doubt Ko too. Dim blue lights illuminated the path before them, appearing to be nothing more than focusing crystals. Countless statues of Jedi lined the path as they trod ever further.
They came into a large chamber with a dividing chasm. The drop off appeared endless as darkness consumed the fall. A bridge once stood connecting the divide but had since been destroyed by what appeared to be intelligent design. The residue of explosive devices splattered the cobblestone in ash. Ekul stepped to the edge, placing his foot against a loose stone and gently kicking it into the gorge. He waited. Eerie silence dragged on, and there came no sound.
“We’ll have to jump,” he determined, with a nod of agreement from Ko. He took a few steps back, breathing in and out. “Training of the Force, you must remember,” Ko encouraged him, holding his hands tighter as they curled around the collar of Ekul. He took in a sharp breath and pushed forward, and with each step he took the Force swelled within. He found himself nearing the edge, and soon glided over, watching as the darkness passed under him. He landed on the other side with a thump and a thud, coming to a slow halt. He let out his breath, adrenaline coursing through his veins.
Ekul felt the tug of Ko on his tunic, and fell to a knee allowing his master to clamber down onto solid footing. Footsteps echoed in the hallway as a trio of cultists approached to see what the noise was about. When they spied the two Jedi, their immediate instinct was to curl their hands around blackened hilts and activate synthetic focusing crystals. The snap-hiss of three blades whispered down the path, and in turn Ko ignited his own, shortly followed by Ekul. The two yellow blades in contrast to the red was a sight to behold in the low levels of light. They glowed and radiated, casting long shadows across the floors.
“There need not be bloodshed,” Ekul said, lowering his blade and with it; his guard. He stepped forward, hoping to beseech them to surrender, but they did not choose to listen. They raced towards him with fanatical fervour, raising their blades and bringing them down. Ekul brought his blade horizontally, ready to deflect, but he need not. The small body of Ko lunged through the air, swiping past the three cultists and in a single move, skimmed his blade across their legs. They fell in howls of torment and pain, clutching their wounds as they dropped their hilts.
“These aren’t Dark Jedi, or even Sith,” Ekul noticed, kicking their lightsabers towards the edge of the chasm and down into the darkness. He fell to a crouch, observing the three who bit their tongues. “Who do you serve, and what are you doing here,” Ekul asked but as he expected, they refused to answer. “We do not talk to Jedi,” one of the brave few spat. Unable to walk, Ekul and Ko left them in the hallway as they journeyed on into the tomb.
They could hear a sound in resemblance to oxygen being sucked into a vacuum. It was deafening and caused the two to cover their ears. Their deactivated hilts remaining clutched in their balled fists to defend themselves at any given time. They pushed onward, seeing another chamber entrance. Pain shot through the spine of Ekul, he fell, but the quick reactions of Ko saved him from slamming against the cobblestone. The oft tired and exhausted Ekul had never experienced anything like this. His body was without such energy that it brought him physical pain. Yet there was something else to this, he could feel something nearby. A familiar presence.
Ko activated his blade as cultists began to descend upon them from chamber, spewing forth with a hundred ignited blades. It was a harrowing sight to behold, and Ko was forced to stand before the sprawled body of his padawan, outnumbered. They encircled him, taunted and threw curses his way but none yet engaged the small Jedi. Ko turned his wrinkled head about, peering with green eyes as he counted his enemies. Calculating, meditating on what was to happen. His large and floppy ears pricked to a distinct presence, one he had not felt since the night Nodnarb vanished.
Garbed in robes of red and black, the twin of Ekul appeared in-between Ko and his own personal army. Long streaks of black hair were knotted and greasy. He looked to not have bathed in weeks, his eyes sunken deeply. It was then that Ko noticed the orange hinge to his natural brown eyes. “Evil, you have turned too, but victory in it you will not find,” Ko warned him, bringing his hilt tight against his waist and angling the blade vertically. Nodnarb boomed, ”Evil is a word used by the ignorant and the weak. The dark side is about survival. It's about unleashing your inner power. It glorifies the strength of the individual. But you never understood that.”
In a flash, Nodnarb vanished and reappeared bare inches from Ko. The startled small green-skinned creature stumbled back. Nodnarb’s hand flexed, a hilt drawing into his clutches and the snap-hiss echoed. In a single, fell swoop. Ko collapsed. Ekul remain laying, eyes open and his mind conscious of the events but the longer he lingered here, the more he was drained of his energy. He could do nothing, his mind failed him as words were unable to be voiced. He wanted to scream out, to jump onto his feet and whisk Ko away. But whatever sway was holding him down, it was strong. Nodnarb hovered above him, and all turned to black.
Five years later
Two humans awoke Ekul with a startle. His eyes fluttered open, slowly surveying the room around him. Semaj and Dott squatted beside him, all three of them in rags but for a single noticeable difference. Ekul was the only one wearing a collar, a force containment collar. They were in a small grotto that had been carved by the three of them. It was not a personal choice for them to do so, but out of orders from their slave masters.
The Spice Mines of Kessel were hard, and every day another slave went missing, or a group were attacked by energy spiders. It was a dangerous ordeal, and throughout all this time he had maintained both a friendship with the two before him, and a well guarded secret. His lightsaber lay buried under the rock beneath his feet. It would lay there in waiting for when a time may come when he requires it.
“The masters want us on the front again,” Dott said, a doctor and Mandolorian. “An entire crew went missing, things are getting bad,” chipped in Semaj, an officer who held a strong respect for the Imperial movement, but in a place like this, Ekul could call anyone a friend. You needed them to survive, and whilst he found Semaj’s political views outdated and barbaric, he considered him a close ally.
Ekul crawled onto his feet, remaining crouched. The roof hung low and didn’t provide the three enough room to stand. They were forced to crab-walk across the cavern. His brown eyes darted towards a wall, where an etching scribbled into the rock lay in dedication to Ko. ‘Brother my brother they know not what they’ve done. I’ll teach them a lesson when I rain down the sun.’
It was not a vow of revenge, for that was not the Jedi way. Rather, it was a vow of justice. Ekul had steeled himself and resolved himself to such a conclusion. He would escape the confines of this enslavement to bring about justice. He tried to reach out with the force, but there was nothing. There hadn’t been for the last five years. He was entirely cut off by the durasteel collar that tightened around his throat. It regularly injected a liquid that prevented him from accessing the cosmic energies.
For the time being, he eased himself into acknowledging he would do the bidding of others without a word. “We best get to it,” Ekul told the two. They crawled their way out of their shared grotto and into a thinned corridor where slaves tried to push past one another to get to their destination. It was an ants nest of complicated routes that were as confusing as a maze, taking months to master. Ekul got the hand of it, and with Dott and Semaj both living in the mines before Ekul had even arrived, they fluently pushed their way through the thick crowd and towards a turbolift down into the deepest ring of mines.
“Don’t forget, after canteen tonight we have more PT,” Dott said to the two. The elevator was overburdened by people as it dragged its way down. “I never forget, it’s my favourite part of the day,” Semaj commented. “And I’ll remind you we have meditation after that,” Ekul pointed out to the two, brimming with a bright smile. Dott and Semaj both groaned at the thought of meditation. They didn’t like it, but it helped them think quick and react in situations that called for ingenuity. Especially when it involved an energy spider, and as a slave miner, all three of them didn’t have a single weapon to use.
The doors opened. The tunnels were damp. Every once in a while they would pass a tunnel branching off to one side or the other. Ekul peered down each as he passed, but they were quickly swallowed up in a gloom. The lights sent flickering shadows dancing on the walls, expanding and contracting as they moved closer or farther from each other, or as the ceiling rose or fell. At several places they had to crawl with their heads down, but for most of their passage there was ample room.
Ekul heard Dott, who walked in front of him, mutter, “I pray for the day this place burns.” Ekul said nothing, for the mines had an oppressive feeling to him. After some time they came to a large cavern with several tunnels leading out. The gathering of slaves halted, and a slave master ordered guards to be posted. Handheld torches were wedged in the rocks as the slaves received water. Ekul, Dott and Semaj stood with the guard, and Ekul thought a hundred times that shapes moved just outside the fire’s glow.
Soon they were replaced and the three joined the others, who were eating. They were given dried meat and biscuits to eat. They were quick to eat and soon gathered together their gear and started off again. After more walking they entered a series of twisting, turning passages that seemed to slant down. Soon they could hear the sound of water, coming from ahead. As they walked, the sound of rushing water became louder. They entered another cavern, this one natural and larger than the first by several times. The tunnel they had been walking in became a ledge, twenty feet wide, that ran along the right side of the cavern. They all peered over the edge and could see nothing but darkness stretching below. The path rounded a curve in the wall, and when they passed around it, they were greeted with a sight that made them all gasp. Across the cavern, a mighty waterfall spilled over a huge outcropping of stone. From fully three hundred feet above where they stood, it poured into the cavern, crashing down the stone face of the opposite wall to disappear into the darkness below. It filled the cavern with reverberations that made it impossible to hear it striking bottom, confounding any attempt to judge the fall’s height.
Ekul reached out with his mind, a meagre attempt to feel the distance but there was nothing. The collar had forced the Force to abandon him, or had he abandoned the Force. He did not question this, shaking his head to watch the waterfall. Throughout the cascade of luminous colours danced aglow with an inner light. Reds, golds, greens, blues and yellows played among the white foam, falling along the wall, blazing with brief flashes of intense luminosity where the water struck the wall, painting a fairy picture in the darkness.
The Slavemaster signalled for the slaves to resume, and they moved on. Besides the spectacle of the falls, they had been refreshed by spray and cool wind off them, for the caverns were dank and musty. Onward they went, deeper into the mines, past numberless tunnels and passages. After a time, Dott, being the doctor he was, asked Semaj and Ekul how they felt. They both answered that they were fine, though tired.
The band of slaves were led by their slavers deeper into the mines. The bare feet slapping on the stone, the sound echoing down the dark tunnels. They had walked through the morning, taking only a short rest to eat at midday. Ekul felt a strange sensation, as if remembering a cold chill. It had touched him several times over the last hour, and he was worried. Each time he had turned to look behind him. This time Semaj said, “I feel it too, as if something is near.”
They turned into a connecting tunnel, and the slavemasters stood with their hands raised. All movement ceased as the alpha of the slavers listened for something. Ekul and Semaj strained to hear as well, but no sound came to them. Finally the slaver murmured to himself, “I thought I heard . . . but then I guess not. We’ll rest here.”
Ekul, Dott and Semaj found themselves with an odd party around a bright light that was carried by one of the slaves, a Rodian with glistening emerald scales. They turned in for a nap, they needed it for the work to come, and from the journey they had already taken. Ekul drifted off to sleep. Once the hours had begun to pass, when the lights were set to their lowest power performances, he awoke. He felt the chilling sensation that had plagued him earlier. He sat up, cold sweat dripping down his body, and looked around. He could see the guards who were on duty, standing with torches in their hands. Around him he saw the forms of sleeping bodies. The feeling grew stronger for a moment, as if something dreadful was approaching, and he was about to wake up his friends when it passed. It left him tired and wrung out. He lay back down and soon was lost in dreamless sleep.
He awoke cold and stiff. The disruptor pistol-wielding guards were sallying the slaves, and soon they would all leave. Ekul roused Semaj, whilst Dott tended to someone who's wounds were festering from an incident two days back. Semaj protested at being pulled from his dream. They gathered together their meagre provisions, loaded them onto their backpacks, and set off. As they made their way along, Ekul began to experience the icy feeling of the night before. Several times it came and went. Hours passed, and they came to the last great cave. Here the slavers stopped them while they looked into the gloom. Ekul could hear the alpha talking again, “For a moment I thought. . .”
Suddenly the hairs on Ekul’s neck stood up, and the feeling of icy terror swept over him, more horrible than before. “Something is coming!” Ekul cried in warning. The alpha stood stock-still, listening. A faint moan echoed from down another tunnel. Another slaver spoke up, “I can feel it.” Suddenly the sound repeated, closer, a chilling moan that echoed off the vaulted ceiling, making its origins uncertain. “By the force!” the alpha shouted, “It’s a space wraith!”
The guards rushed to encircle the slaves, pushing them forward, as they moved them into the center of the cavern. They quickly formed a circle around the frantic slaves, ridden with horror. Weapons not already drawn were taken from their holster. A guard placed himself in front of Ekul, forcing them back near the group. They were suddenly handed guns, but held them uncertainly. Semaj could feel his heart pound, and Ekul was bathed in a cold sweat. Somewhere along the line Dott had gone missing. The terror that gripped Ekul had not increased since the alpha had put a name to it, but it had not lessened either.
They heard the sharp hiss of intaken breath and looked to the right. Before the soldier who had made the sound, a figure loomed out of the darkness: a shifting man-shape, darker blackness against black, with two glowing, red-coal lights where eyes should be. The alpha roared, “Keep close. You can’t kill it, but they don’t like our guns either. Don’t let it touch you, it’ll take control of your body. It’s how they feed.”
It approached them slowly, as if having no need to hurry. It stopped for a moment, as if inspecting the defence before it. The wraith let out another low, long moan, sound like all the terror and hopelessness of the galaxy given voice. Suddenly one of the guards opened fire. A beam of yellow energy strafed across the wraith. A shrill moan erupted from the creature, and shrank away. Then with sudden speed it struck out at the guard. An armlike shadow extended from its body, and the guard shrieked as he crumpled to the ground.
The slaves broke, terrified by the presence of the wraith. Guards were knocked to the ground, and confusion reigned. Ekul lost sight of the wraith for a moment, being more concerned with the stampede. He found himself dodging through the wave of bodies. The alpha pointed to a tunnel, on the other side of the cavern from where they had entered. “Quick you idiots.” Keeping close together, the slavers started toward the tunnel. Bodies lay on the floor. Two slaves as well as the fallen guards. Dropped handheld torches flickered, giving the scene a nightmarish quality, as the black shape closed upon the party.
Ekul found himself trapped as the party raced on ahead of him. He saw Semaj and Dott with the group, glancing back at him. The pit of Ekul’s stomach churned. Between them was the wraith. “Ekul!” ripped from Dott’s throat, followed by a string of choked curses as he stifled tears. Dott and Semaj halted for a brief second, and it was Semaj who was the voice of reason. “We can’t stop. We’ll die if we try and help him.” The firm hand of Semaj clutched on Dott’s shoulder as he tore him away from the scene.
Ekul saw the pained expression on Dott’s face as Semaj pulled his friend away. He looked for a way to circle around the wraith, but it was too close to the passage his companions were taking. As the slavers escaped up the tunnel, Ekul saw the wraith turn toward him. It started to approach, and he hesitated for a moment, then ran toward a different tunnel. Shadows and light danced madly on the walls as Ekul fled down the passage, his footfalls echoing in the gloom. His handheld torch was held in a firm left grip, the pistol in his right. He looked over his shoulder and saw the two glowing red eyes pursuing him, though they seemed not to be gaining. With grim determination he thought, if it catches me, it will catch the fastest runner in all of Rendili. A bold statement that echoed the courage of a young Ekul who stood before a group of bullies.
He lengthened his strides into a long, easy lope, saving strength and wind. He knew that if he had to turn and face the creature, he would surely die. The initial fear lessened, and now he felt a cold clarity holding his mind, the cunning reason of a prey knowing it is hopeless to fight. All his energy was turned toward fleeing. He would try to lose the creature any way possible. He ducked into a side corridor and hurried along it, checking to see if the wraith would follow. The glowing red eyes appeared at the entrance to the tunnel he had turned into, following him. The distance between them seemed to have increased. The thought that many might have died at the thing’s hand because they were too frightened to run crossed his mind. The wraith’s strength lay in the numbing terror it caused.
Another corridor and another turn. Still the wraith followed. Ahead lay a large cavern, and Ekul found himself entering the same hall in which the wraith had attacked the party. He had circled around and entered through another tunnel. Racing across the floor, he saw the bodies of slaves and guards lying in his path. He paused long enough to grab fresh batteries, for his were nearly spent, and transferred the pack.
He looked backward to see the cosmic creature closing on him and started off again. Hope briefly flickered in his breast, for if he could pick the proper corridor, he might catch up to the others. He picked what he thought was the proper one, though he was disorientated he couldn’t be sure. The wraith let out a howl of rage at its prey’s eluding it again, and followed. Ekul felt terror bordering on elation's his long legs stretched out, eating up the distance ahead of him. He gained his second wind and set a steady pace for himself. Never had he run so well, but then never had he possessed such a reason.
After what seemed an endless time of running, he found himself coming to a series of side tunnels, set closely together. He felt hope die, for this was not the right tunnel. Picking one at random, he turned into a passage and found more tunnels close by. Cutting through several more, he turned as quickly as possible, weaving his way through a maze of passages. Ducking around a wall formed between two such tunnels, he stopped briefly and caught his breath. He listened for a moment and heard only the sound of his pounding heart. He had been too busy to look behind and was unsure of the wraith’s whereabouts.
Suddenly a shriek of rage echoed faintly down the corridors, sounding far off. Ekul sank to the floor of the tunnel and felt his body go limp. Another shriek echoed more faintly, and Ekul felt certain that the wraith had lost his trail and was moving off in another direction. A sense of relief flooded through him, nearly causing him to laugh giddily. He sat up and took stock. If he could find his way back to the dead guards, he would at least have some food and water. But as he stood up, he realised that he had no notion which way the cavern lay. Cursing himself for not counting the turns as he had made them, he tried to remember the general pattern he had followed. He had turned mostly to the right, he reminded himself, so if he retracted his steps mostly to the left, he should be able to find one of the many tunnels that led to the chamber. Looking cautiously around the first corner, Ekul set off, searching his way through the maze of passages.
After an unknown time had passed, Ekul stopped and looked around in the second large cavern he had come to since he had fled the wraith. Like the first, this cavern was devoid of slaves and guards - and the hoped-for food and water. Ekul opened his bag and took out a small biscuit he had hoarded to nibble while walking. It gave him little relief from his hunger. When he was done, he set off again, trying to find some clue to the way out. He knew he had only a short time before his torch ultimately died, but he refused to simply sit and wait for a nameless death in the dark.
Soon he could hear the sound of water echoing through the tunnel. Hurrying forward, his thrust spurring him on, he entered a large cavern. The biggest yet, as far as he could tell. Far away he could hear the faint roar of the falls, but in which direction he couldn’t be sure. Somewhere high in the darkness lay the path that they had taken hours earlier. Ekul felt his heart sink, he had moved deeper into the earth than he had thought. The tunnel widened to a landing of some sort and disappeared beneath what appeared to be a large lake, constantly lapping against the sides of the cavern, filling it with muted echoes. Quickly he fell to his knees and drank. The water tasted rich with minerals, but was clear and fresh.
Sitting back on his launches, he looked about. The landing was packed earth and sand and appeared to be fashioned rather than natural. Ekul guessed the slaves and slavers might have used boats to cross the underground lake, but could only older what lay on the other side. Then the thought hit him that perhaps someone other than the slaves had used boats to across the lake, and he felt fear again.
To his left he spied a pile of wood, nestled against a junction of the landing and the cavern wall. Crossing to it, he pulled out several pieces and started a small fire. The wood was mostly timber pieces, used to shore up the tunnels, to cut expenditures on metals, but mixed in were several branches and twigs. They must have been brought down by the falls from above, where the river enters the mines, he thought.
Underneath the pile he found some weeds growing. Wondering at the plants’ ability to grow without sunlight, the man was nevertheless thankful, for after tearing them apart, he was able to fashion some crude torches with the weeds wrapped around some driftwood. He tied them in a bundle, using his belt, forcing him to give up the one thing that was keeping his pants held to his thinned waist. The meals had not been kind to his body over the years.
At least, he thought, I’ll have a little more light. Some extra time to see where he was going was comforting. He threw some bigger timber pieces on a small fire, and soon it was roaring into brightness. Abruptly the cavern was glowing with sparkling light, as some sort of mineral, or crystal, caught the light and reflected it to be caught and reflected again.
It was a glittering, sparkling rainbow of colours cascading over the walls and ceiling, giving the entire cavern a fairy-like quality as far as the eye could follow. Ekul stood in awe for a moment, drinking in the sight, for he knew he would never be able to explain in words what he was seeing. The thought struck him that he might be the only living being to ever have witnessed the display.
It was hard to tear his eyes from the glory of the vision, but Ekul forced himself. He used the extra illumination to examine the area he was in. There was nothing beyond the landing, but he did spy another tunnel off to the left, leaving the cavern at the far end of the sand. He gathered together his torches and walked along the landing. As he reached the tunnel, his fire died down, the dry timber being quickly consumed. Another glorious vision assaulted his senses, for the gemlike walls and ceiling continued to glimmer and glow. Again he stood silently watching the display. Slowly the sparkling dimmed, until the cavern was again dark, except for his torch and the quickly dying fire’s red glow.
He had to stretch to reach the other tunnel, but made it without dropping his pistol or torches, or getting his feet wet. Turning away from the cavern, he resumed his journey. He made his way for hours, the torch burning lower. He lit one of the new ones and found that it gave a satisfactory light. He was still frightened, but felt good about keeping his head under these conditions and was sure Master Ko would approve of his actions.
After walking for a while, he came to an intersection. He found the bones of a creature in the dust, its fate unknowable. He spotted the tracks of some other small creature leading away, but they were faint with age. With no other notion than the need for a clear path, Ekul followed them. Soon they also vanished in the dust.
He had no means to reckon time, but the thought that it must be well into night by now. There was a timeless feeling to these passages, and he felt lost beyond recovery. Fighting down what he recognised as budding panic, he continued to walk. He kept his mind on pleasant memories of home, and dreams of the future. He would find a way out, and he would become a great Jedi. He followed the tunnel downward. This area seemed different from the other caverns and tunnels, its manner of fashioning unlike the others. He thought that Dott could tell if this was so, and who had done the work.
He entered another cavern and looked around. Some of the tunnels that entered the cavern were barely tall enough for a man to walk through upright. Others were broad enough for a group of slaves to walk through ten abreast. He hoped this mean’t the slavers had fashioned the smaller tunnels and he could follow one upward, back to the surface. Looking around, he spied a likely ledge to rest upon, within jumping distance. He crossed to it and tossed up his pistol and the bundle of torches.
He then gently tossed up his torch, so as to not put it out, and pulled himself up. It was large enough to sleep upon without rolling off. Four feet up the wall was a small hole, about three feet in diameter. Looking down it, Ekul could see that it opened up quickly to a size large enough to stand in and stretched away into blackness. Satisfied that nothing lurked immediately above him, and that anything coming from below would awaken him, Ekul pulled his tunic around him and rested his head on his hand, and put out the light. He was frightened, but the exhaustion of the day lulled him quickly to sleep. He lay in fitful dreams of red glowing eyes chasing him down endless black corridors, terror washing over him. He ran until he came to a place marble place where he could rest, feeling safe, under the protection of the Jedi Order.
He started awake to some nameless call. He had no idea of how long he had slept, but he felt as if it had been long enough for his body to run again, if need be. He felt in the dark for his torch and started a glow. Quickly bringing the torch close, he blew the spark into flame. Looking about, he found the cavern unchanged. A faint echoing of his own movements was all he heard. He realised he could have a chance of survival if he kept moving and found a way up. He stood and was about to climb down from the ledge when a faint noise sounded from the hole above.
He peered down it but could see nothing. Again there came a faint sound, and Ekul strained to hear what it was. It was almost like the tread of footsteps, but he could not be sure. He nearly shouted, but held off, for there was no assurance it was his friends returned to find him. His imagination provided many other possibilities, all of them unpleasant. He thought for a moment, then decided. Whatever was making the noise might lead him out of the mines, even if only by providing a trail to follow. With no other option appearing more attractive, he pulled himself up through the small hole, entering the new tunnel.
Dott stopped by the dead slaves, pausing only long enough to pick up food, water and a torch. Entering the tunnel where he had last seen Ekul, Dott searched about for signs of his friend’s passing. The dust was thin, but here and there he could make out a slight disturbance, perhaps a footprint. Following, the Mandalorian came to even dustier passages, where his friend’s footfalls were clearly marked. Hurrying, he followed them.
Dott came back to the same cavern, after a few minutes, and cursed. He felt little hope of finding his friend’s tracks again among all the disturbance caused by the fight with the wraith. Pausing briefly, he set out to examine each tunnel leading out of the cavern for signs. After an hour he found a single footprint heading away from the cavern, through a tunnel to the right of where he had entered the first time. Moving up it, he found several more prints, set wide apart, and decided his friend must have been running. Hurrying on, he saw more tracks, as the passage became dustier.
Dott came to the cavern on the lake and nearly lost the trail again, until he saw the tunnel near the edge of the landing. He slogged through the water, pulling himself up into the passage, and saw Ekul’s tracks. His faint torchlight was insufficient to illuminate the crystals in the cavern. But even if it had, he would not have paused to admire the sight, so intent was he on finding his friend.
Downward he followed, never resting. He knew that Ekul had long before outdistanced the wraith. There were signs that most of his journey was at a slower pace: footprints in the dust showed he had been walking, and the cold campfire showed he had stopped. But there were other terrors besides the wraith down here, just as dreadful.
Dott again lost the trail in the last cavern, finding it only when he spied the ledge above where the tracks had ended. He had difficulty climbing to it, but when he did, he saw the blackened spot where his friend had snuffed out his torch. Here Ekul must have rested. Dott looked around the empty cavern. The air did not move this deep in the mines. Even Dott, who was used to such things, found this an unnerving place. He looked down at the black mark on the ledge. But how long did Ekul stay, and where did he go?
Dott saw the hole in the wall and, since no tracks led away from the ledge, decided that was the way Ekul must have gone. He climbed through and followed the passage until it came to a larger one, heading downward, into the bowels of the mine. Dott followed what seemed to be a group of tracks, as if a band of slaves had come this way. Ekul’s tracks were mixed in, and he was worried, for his friend could have been along this way before or after the others.
The tunnel wound downward and soon changed into a hall fashioned from great blocks of marble fitted closely together and polished smooth. In all his years he had never seen its like in the spice mines. The passage levelled out, and Dott walked along quietly. The tracks had vanished, for the stone was hard and free of dust. High over-head, Dott could make out the first of several crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling by chains. There appeared to be no means to lower them, and wondered how they could be lit. The sound of his bare feet echoed hollowly off the high ceiling.
At the far end of the passage he spied a large set of doors, fashioned from wood, with bands of iron and a great lock. They were ajar, and light could be seen coming through. Without a sound, Dott crept close to the doors and peered in. He gaped at what he saw. Sitting on a pile of cushions and gems the size of a man’s fist, was Ekul, eating what looked to be a fish. Opposite him crouched a figure that caused Dott to doubt his eyes.
A head the size of a small speedster rested on the floor. Scales of a deep amethyst color covered it, and the long, supple neck led back to a huge body extending into the gloom of the giant temple. Enormous diaphanous wings were folded across its back, their drooping tips touching the floor. Two pointed ears sat atop its head, separated by a delicate-looking crest, flecked with silver. Its long muzzle was set in a wolflike grin, showing fangs as long as vibroswords, and a long forked tongue flicked out for a moment.
Dott fought down the overwhelming and rare urge to run, for Ekul was sitting, and to all appearances sharing a meal, with a Duinuogwuin. He stepped forward, and his feet slapped on the stone floor. Ekul turned at the sound, and the Duinuogwuin’s great head came up. Giant ruby eyes regarded the small intruder. Ekul jumped to his feet, an expression of joy upon his face. “Dott!” he scrambled down from the pile of wealth and comfort, rushing to the side of his friend.
The creatures voice rumbled through the great hal, echoing like thunder through a valley. “Welcome, Mandalorian. Thy friend hath told me that thou wouldst not forsake him.” Ekul stood before his friend, asking a dozen questions, while Dott’s senses reeled. Behind his friend, one of the most secretive and mysterious species in all of the galaxy sat quietly observing the exchange, and Dott was having trouble maintaining the equanimity that was normally his.
Making little sense of Ekul’s questions, Dott gently pushed him to one side to better see the Duinuogwuin. “I came alone,” he said softly to Ekul. “The others didn’t want to stay in the mines a second longer.”
Ekul said, “I understand.”
“What manner of the Force is this?” asked Dott softly.
The Duinuogwuin chuckled, and the room rumbled with the sound. “Come into my home, Mandalorian, and I will tell thee.” The great creatures head returned to the floor, his eyes still resting above Dott’s head. He approached slowly, clenching his fists unconsciously at the ready. The Duinuogwuin laughed, a deep, echoing sound, like water cascading down a canyon. “Stay thy hand, small warrior, I’ll not harm thee or thy friend.”
Dott let his guard down. He looked around and saw that they were standing in a vast hall, fashioned out of the living rock of the mines. It was reminiscent of the Jedi Temple of Coruscant, as though he had carved it in its liking. On all its walls could be seen large tapestries and banners, faded and torn; something about their look set Dott’s teeth on edge, for they were as alien as they were ancient. At the far end of the hall, a seat of meditation rested on a dais. All was covered with the dust of ages.
Elsewhere in the hall lay piles of scriptures, crystals, armour and cubic devices that held inlaid enamels with great craft. Dott sat upon a lifetime’s riches, absently moving it around to make as comfortable a seat as was possible. Ekul sat next to him. He didn’t show it, but he felt the need to calm himself. “Ekul, how did you get here?”
Ekul seemed unmindful of the Duinuogwuin, and Dott found this reassuring. If the great beast had wished to harm them, he could have done so with little effort. Ekul finished the fish he had been eating and said, “I wandered for awhile before going to sleep.”
“Yeah, I found it.”
“I woke up to the sound of something and found tracks that led here.”
“I saw those too, I thought they might have been the other miners.”
“They weren’t. They were a bunch of Verpine. I followed them until I found this place.”
“That was a dangerous thing to do.”
“I know, but I was getting desperate to find a way out. I thought that they might lead me out of the mines. I was hoping to go home, back to my Order.”
“A bold plan, Ekul,” said Dott, an approving look in his eyes. “So, what happened to them?”
The Duinuogwuin spoke. “I sent them far away, Mandalorian, for they were not company I would choose.”
“Sent them away? How?”
The creature raised his head a little, and Dott could see that his scales were faded and dull in places. The red eyes were filmed over slightly, and suddenly Dott knew the Duinuogwuin was blind.
“I am one of the last Jedi Masters from the New Sith Wars. It is by thy Force I can see thee, Mandalorian, for the light hath long been denied me. I took the foul creatures and sent them far into the mines. They do not know how they came to that place, nor remember this place.” Dott began to mule over what he was hearing. Ekul spoke up. “Ir’cara’suhl has been kind to me, Dott. He let me stay until you found me, he knew that someone was coming. He gave me some smoked fish to eat, and a place to sleep.”
Dott studied the creature and said, “Thank you for helping my friend. I owe you, on my honour as a Mandalorian.”
“Thy thanks are welcome, Dott of the Mando’ade. I am glad of thy coming also. It is only a little longer that I could shelter our friend, for I summoned Ekul to my side by the Force, so he might sit my deathwatch.”
“What?” exclaimed Ekul.
“It is given to our species to know the hour of our death, Ekul. The rest of my kind will travel to the Graveyard of Dragons, but we both know I cannot make the journey. My time is close. I am old, even by the measure of my people, and have led a full life. I am content for it to be so. It is our way. I will become one with the Force”
Dott looked troubled. “Still, I find it strange to sit here hearing you say it.”
“Why, Mandalorian? is it not true with thine own people that when one dieth, it is accounted how well he lived, rather than how long?”
“You have the truth of that.”
“Then why should it matter if the death hour is known or not? It is still the same. I have had all that one of my kind could hope for: health, mates, young, prosperity and rest. These are all I have ever wanted, and I have had them.”
“It’s a wise thing to know what is wanted, and wiser still to know when it is achieved,” said Ekul, “My master told me that.”
“True. And still wiser to know when it is unachievable, for then striving is folly. It is the way of my people to sit the deathwatch, but there are none of my kind near enough to call. I would ask thee to wait for my passing before thy leaving. Wilt thou?”
Dott looked to Ekul, who bobbed his head in agreement. “We’ll do it. Though it’s not a thing that will make us happy.”
The Duinuogwuin closed his eyes; Ekul and Dott could see they were beginning to swell shut. “Thanks to thee, Dott, and to thee, Ekul.”
The creature lay there and spoke to them of his life, flying the skies of the galaxy, of far lands where he brought peace and order in the name of the Force and the Jedi. His mighty battles in the New Sith Wars. Tales of wonder and awe were told, long into the night.
When his voice began to falter, the Jedi Master said, “Once a man came to this place, a Dark Jedi of great purpose. He could not be turned from this place by my power, nor could I vanquish him. For three days we battled, his arts against mine, and when done, he had bested me. I thought he would slay me and carry off my riches, but instead he stayed, for his only thought was to learn my knowledge, so that it would not be lost when I passed.”
Ekul sat in wonder, for as much as he knew about the Force from Ko, he thought this a marvellous thing. In his mind’s eye he could see the titanic struggle and the great powers working. “For three years he stayed with me. He learned all I could teach, for I could deny him not. But he taught as well, and his wisdom gave me great comfort. It was because of him that I learned the Force is neither black or white, but a single entity. It was because of him that I learned to respect all life, no matter how mean of character they may be, and vowed to spare any that came to me. He also had suffered at the hands of others, as I had in the wars with the Sith, for much I cherished was lost. This man had the art of healing the wounds of the heart and mind, and when he left, I felt the victor not the vanquished.” He paused and swallowed, and Ekul could see that speech was coming difficult to him. “If my own kin could not have attended my deathwatch, I would as soon have him sit here, for he was the first of thy kind, Ekul, that I would count friend.”
“Who was he?” Ekul asked.
“He was called Cataris.”
Dott looked thoughtful. “I’ve heard his name. I was told he was just a myth.”
“A myth he is not, Dott,” said the great beast, thickly. “Still, it may be that he is dead, for he dwelt with me ages ago.” The Duinuogwuin paused. “My time is now close, so I must finish. I would ask a boon of thee, Ekul.” He moved his head slightly and said, “In yon box is a gift from Cataris, to be used at this time. It is a rod fashioned from the very Force. He left it so that when I die no bones will be left for scavengers to pick over. Wilt thou bring it here?”
Ekul went to the indicated chest. He opened it to discover a black metal rod lying upon a blue velvet cloth. He picked up the rod and found it surprisingly heavy for its size. He carried it over to the rare sentient. The Duinuogwuin spoke, his words nearly unintelligible, for his tongue was swollen. “In a moment, touch the rod to me, Ekul, for then will I end.”
“It will give me no pleasure to see your end, my friend.”
“Before that I have one last thing to tell. In a box next to the other is a gift for thee. Thou mayest take whatever else here pleaseth thee, for I will have no use for any of it. But of all in this temple, that in the box is what I wish thee to have. Take my blade, and become the Knight I know thy can become. He tried to move his head towards Ekul, but could not. “Ekul, thanks to thee, for spending my last with me. Thy heart is good.” He drew a deep breath, and Ekul could hear it rattle in his throat. “Now Ekul.”
Ekul extended the rod and lightly touched the creature on the head with it. At first nothing happened. Ir’cara’suhl said softly, “It was Cataris’ last gift.” Suddenly a soft golden light began to form around the creature. A faint humming could be heard, as if the walls of the hall reverberated with fey music. The sound increased as the light grew brighter and began to pulse with energy. Ekul and Dott watched as the discoloured patches faded with his scales. His hide shone with a violet sparkle, and the film started to lift from his eyes. He slowly raised his head, and they knew he could again see the hall around him. His crest stood erect, and his wings lifted, showing the rich silver sheen underneath. The yellowed teeth became brilliant white, and his faded black claws shone like polished ebony as he stood upright, lifting his head high.
Dott said softly, “That is the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen.”
Slowly the light grew in intensity as the Duinuogwuin returned to the image of his youthful power. He pulled himself to his full, impressive height, his crest dancing with silver lights. The creature threw back his head, a youthful vigorous motion, and with a shout of joy sent a powerful blast of cosmic energies up to the high vaulted ceiling. With a roar like a hundred trumpets he shouted, “I thank thee, Cataris. It is a princely gift indeed.”
Then the strangely harmonic thrumming changed in tone, becoming more insistent, louder. For a brief instant both Dott and Ekul thought a voice could be heard among the pulsing tones, a deep, hollow echo saying, “You are welcome, friend.” Ekul felt wetness of his face, and touched it. Tears of joy from the Duinuogwuin’s sheer beauty were running down his cheeks. The creatures great amethyst wings unfolded, as if he were about to launch himself into flight. The shimmering light became so bright, Dott and Ekul could barely stand to look, though they could not pull their eyes from the spectacle. The sound in the room grew to a pitch so loud, dust fell from the ceiling upon their heads, and they could feel the floor shake. The Duinuogwuin launched himself upward, wings extended, then vanished in a blinding flash of cold white light. Suddenly the room was as it had been and the sound was gone.
The emptiness in the cavern felt oppressive after the mysterious beast vanished, and Ekul looked at Dott. “We better leave, there’s nothing here for us.” Dott looked thoughtful. “Agreed, but you shouldn’t forget what he left you.” Dott crossed over to the box their friend had identified and allowed Ekul to open it. He reached in and pulled out a single, white hilt. His thumb slid down the smooth craftwork, knowing it was the creation of a true and powerful Master. His thumb ignited the blade with a snap-hiss, and a golden blade shone forth with a hum. Dott watched him and said, “Take it, Ekul. He said it was yours.”
“I don’t deserve it. It belongs to a Master, not a Padawan.”
“I’m thinking he has scant use for it now, Ekul. He gave it to you, and it’s yours to do as you will, but I think that there is something special to them. Maybe he had a purpose for you.”
Ekul thought for a moment, he twisted his wrist and sliced the force containment colour on his neck. He then quickly deactivated the lightsaber and held it firmly in his grip. He knew the Force wouldn’t come back to him immediately, but it would in a few short hours. He was free once again. Dott thought he saw something in the way his friend stood and held the hilt in one hand. He didn’t look at ease, it was a grand hilt, but he would come to wield it as it was mean’t to be held.
“I don’t think I should take anything else, Dott. I suppose that sounds strange. All this knowledge, it doesn’t belong to me.”
“You’re right. I don’t want nothing of his riches.”
With a backward glance at the hall, Ekul remarked, “Though there will be nights to come when I will wonder at the wisdom of that. I might return someday. Now, let’s a find a way off this pile of rock.” They set off and soon were in tunnels Dott knew well, taking them back towards the turbolifts.
Dott gripped Ekul’s arm in silent warning. Ekul knew enough not to speak. He also felt the same alarm he had experienced just before the wraith had attacked the day before. But this time it was almost physically felt. The creature was near. Dott quickly switched off the torch. Ekul’s eyes widened in suden astonishment, for instead of the expected blackness, he saw faintly the figure of Dott moving slowly forward. Without thought he said, “Dott, it’s ba-“ Dott turned, and suddenly a black form loomed up at his back. “Behind you!” shouted Ekul. Dott spun to confront the wraith, instinctively he raised his hands to shield himself. The wraith struck at the Mandalorian, and only a lifetime of battle-trained reflexes had saved him. He leapt aside out of danger. The creature howled in rage at his escape. Then Ekul was upfront, the snap-hiss of his new blade echoed in the tunnels and corridors. The golden light of the blade showered the wraith in its glow, and he lashed out with the legendary weapon of the ancient Duinougwuin. The creature screamed as the blade struck its form. Blue-green light sprang about the shaft of the plasmatic blade, and the creature retreated, wailing in agony.
“Stay behind me,” shouted Ekul. “I might be able to drive it off.” Dott began to obey his friend. The wraith seemed to hesitate, then moved towards Ekul. He raised his blade, readying to strike. With a sound of utter terror, the wraith turned and fled. Dott glanced at Ekul, and something he saw made him hesitate as Ekul seemed to come to an awareness of himself. “Why did you do that?” Dott asked, turning on the light. “I don’t know.” Feeling suddenly self-conscious, he said, “But it worked. The thing left.”
“At least it worked,” agreed Dott, placing the torch in the direction of Ekul and studying him for a moment. “I think the lightsaber was too much for it.” Dott said nothing, but he knew that wasn’t the case. The creature had fled in fear of something else. Then another thought struck Dott. “How did you know to warn me it was behind me?”
“I saw it.”
Dott turned to look at Ekul with open astonishment. “You saw it? How? The light was off.”
“I was trying to tell you. I have it back. I can feel it. The Force.” Dott switched the torch off again and stood up. Moving a few feet away, he said, “Where am I now?”
Without hesitation Ekul came to stand before him, placing a hand upon his shoulder. “Here.”
Dott didn’t turn the light back on. His eyes were adjusted to the darkness of the mines from years of slaving away. “We can move more quickly if I don’t have to worry about what you can and cant see.” He forced a note of cheeriness into his voice. “And despite there being no two finer warriors, it’s best if we don’t announce our presence with that light. The verpine being in the mines makes me uncomfortable. If one of them was brave enough to risk going into the slaving mines, there might be others. That wraith may be terrified of your new toy, but twenty or so verpine might not be as impressed.”
Ekul could find nothing to say, so they started moving off into the darkness. Three times they stopped and hid while hurrying groups of the insectoid creatures passed nearby. From their dark vantage point they could see that many of those who passed harborer wounds or were aided by their kinsmen as they limped along. After the last group was gone, Dott turned to Ekul and said, “Not since I’ve been working these mines have I seen a verpine brave enough to risk coming in here.”
Ekul said, “They look pretty beat up. They have women and children with them, and they’re carrying a lot of stuff, too. They might be running from something.”
Dott nodded. “They are all moving away from the direction of the turbolifts. I don’t know what they’re heading towards, I’ve never been this far down until today. We better hurry up and find our way off this rock.”
They were both exhausted when they reached the turbolifts five days later. The halls were empty, and there were signs of a battle. They walked unharassed through the graveyard that had once been the notorious Spice Mines of Kessel. Even Ekul couldn’t detect any lifeforms but their own. They took a secondary turbolift to the surface, the first time they would reach the topside of the planet in the last five years for Ekul, and Force knows how long for Dott. It was empty of slaves or slavers, but there were deserted freighters. Together they crumpled to the ground, unknowing of the fate of Semaj and the others, but the sheer joy of freedom overwhelmed them. What light is to the eyes, what air is to the lungs, what love is to the heart, liberty is to the soul of these two men.
“Ah, it’s good to be back”, the tall figure of Ekul spoke aloud, standing on the pavement overlooking an otherwise unknown spaceport. He wore a set of black tunic and trousers with a cloak that bagged around. His head was entirely shaven. A large nose bulged out from his head, his large and thick lips slapped together as he hummed to himself. His brown beady eyes frowned in thought. He began to make his winding way down into the town. Without a care in the world.
“First order of business!” he shouted into the twilight sky, as if a drill sergeant rounding off dot points. "Find a ship. . . Second order of business! . . Find someone to fly it" he marched into the outskirts of town. A few crooks shifted in the alleys, watching him with hungry eyes. A merchant called out to him, attempting to sell his wares. Children ran past, throwing clumps of snow that had only just fallen the day before. He smiled and continued to trot on his way into the town. He was going to find himself a ship and a pilot.
Ekul hobbled along, gazing at the various fringers that stood about. He spotted a unique individual. A fair skinned, blonde haired and grey eyed young man. His teeth were disturbingly clean and a blazing white, none were disordered. His smile was constant and halted for no one but itself. His body was average at best, maybe a slight taller than most, but nothing out of place. He recognised his clothing, something he rarely saw. A Keshiri, but he was clearly Human. Strange. He wore a long, blue jacket with gold trim and shoulder lapels. White breeches, knee high black boots and a great hat to top it all off. Quite the sight, but something about his constant grin was off-putting, so he dismissed Lysle of the Hydian Way with a wave.
That is when he spotted someone else. Someone he hadn"t seen in many a year. Ajay Jaheim were one of the few Sith Hunters still alive, and a Shadow. They were padawans together, a long time ago. He was of skin as dark as night, his hair was in matted coils otherwise known as dreadlocks, falling down past his shoulders. He wore baggy clothes of vibrant hues of purple and emerald green. He smiled at Ekul, having spotted him. His teeth were replaced with various silver and gold. His ears dangled low from heavy earrings and a neck brace sat around his neck, elongating it. He lumbered his way over, his shoulders sagging with each step. At his hip swayed a series of lightsaber hilts.
"It has been far too long." Ajay started, looking up and down Ekul, appraising him. "Everyone thinks you’re dead. Even the archives have listed you as dead."
"It"s a long story, but I need to get back to the temple as soon as possible."
"Tell me the story, and I might take you there."
"Might? what do you mean might?" Ekul frowned, shocked.
"Look, I’m not a Jedi anymore. I was thrown out."
"What happened?"
"I went after your brother, even after the council denied me. They thought I was too close to you and Nodnarb, and therefore a liability."
“I don’t think it was fair to kick you out.”
“You tell them that. Now, where have you been all these years?”
“Spices Mines on Kessel. I escaped two months ago, but I’ve been stuck on this planet since.”
"Yeah well, Ekul. You still ain’t getting a ship from me. I’m sorry pal, I’m not heading back there, but I’m sure you can find someone else.”
"I"ll play you for it. . " Ekul smirked and Ajay halted. He thought for a moment, and then crossed his legs and sat down. Ekul followed suit, knowing full well he had pulled him in. Ajay was a gambling addict, whenever the chance, no matter the bet, he’d take it. He was good too, even without the Force. Ekul wasn’t, but he had his own tricks, and knew Ajay wouldn’t use the Force to manipulate the chances. Ajay reached into his bag and took out a set of cards. He motioned to take the cards and he began to shuffle. He gave himself four cards, and Ekul four. A small crowd of mixed bored smugglers, bounty hunters and general rift-raft gathered. Not many could see much as the crowd grew too thick, but it was clear the match was tense. Were one to peak through the squashed shoulders, during the last draw of a card, Ekul lifted a King of Hearts, but almost too quick to notice, as fast as a blink, the card morphed into an Ace of Spades. He threw down the Ace of Spades and the crowd gasped. Ajay cursed. "What the Force do you think you’re doing Ekul! Cheating me!" he threw the cards at Ekuls face, but he kept his cool and continued to sit there, acting dumbfounded. The pirate stood himself up, ready to launch himself into a tirade, he eyed the crowd that seemed to agree that Ekul didn’t cheat. They were under some sort of enchantment. The pirate growled and then bowed his head “You've got yourself a ship.”
Elsewhere, two weeks later . . .
A lone aircraft drifted through space. Long metal tubes attached to beams retracted from the ship and down towards a small rock, gripping it. “Captain,” Lt. Michael Peters, Communications Officer, called out to the commanding officer “I'm picking up a signal. Not ours, nor the station. Heck, I don't think it's even - Oh god.” It took only a millisecond for it to register in Captain Joseph Hassals head. With clear desperation he screamed to the navigator officer “Get us out of here! Evasive menouvers!” The ship twisted and turned, the rock the metal tendrils held detached itself and drifted back away from them. The civilian mining ship was not fit for battle, not against pirates, not against scavengers, and least of all; Sith. Joseph ran to a nearby station, gazing over the shoulder of the petty officer to peer through a camera. It showed the asteroid belt, but there was a dark cloud that loomed overhead. “90 degrees.” The camera shifted and was now facing directly upward, staring straight into the heart of a 1.7 kilometre long Star Destroyer. The ship had no chance. Purple plasma illuminated the darkness of space as thousands of turrets fired their molten balls. The small mining ship exploded almost instantaneously. There were no survivors.
At the Temple . . .
On Coruscant, his feet padding against the smooth stone surface as he entered the Great Hall. It no longer reminded him of the fateful night his brother vanished, it only reminded him of a friend. That friend had told him the greatest mysteries of the Force, and the deadliest of battles during a war that had existed two thousand years ago. It was mind boggling. Ekul was to meet with the council, when the presence of Nrahsol emerged between the pillars. Her long grey robes dragged behind her as the Lore Keeper hurried towards him. She was shocked and pleasantly surprised to find him alive after all these years. “I can’t believe it,” she said perhaps too loud, some Knights and Padawans turned to see what the disturbance was. “Sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t think I would see you ever again. Where have you been? Wait, no, forget that. I have something I need to share with you. It’s about your brother.” She turned her back to him, expecting him to follow. Ekul spoke up as he followed, “I’ve been on Kessel. In the slave mines.”
“Where’s Ko?” she inquired, glancing back over her shoulder innocently.
“With the Force.”
“Oh. I-I’m sorry for your loss. He was a great Master.”
“Thanks,” Ekul said. “But what’s wrong?”
“Your brother," she said, "We've found him."
Notes: Whilst the post is indeed complete there will be continuous edits over the next few weeks to make it look pretty.
[Theme - Click Me]
A long time ago in a Galaxy far,
far away...
Star Wars
Journal of Ekul Selah
It is 785 ABY, anarchy rules in the
frontier systems. While the Galactic
community struggles to recover
from the devastation of the Gulag
Plague. It is a time of fond memories
and boyhood for a future Jedi.
While the Galactic Republic wrestles
to reform it's territories, new factions
arise, and with it new threats and allies.
The hand of senators and leaders
implicate the lives of all.
This is not our story.
On Rendili, a young spirited and selfless
child struggles with his own personal
troubles, at home and with friends. Today
A long time ago in a Galaxy far,
far away...
Star Wars
Journal of Ekul Selah
It is 785 ABY, anarchy rules in the
frontier systems. While the Galactic
community struggles to recover
from the devastation of the Gulag
Plague. It is a time of fond memories
and boyhood for a future Jedi.
While the Galactic Republic wrestles
to reform it's territories, new factions
arise, and with it new threats and allies.
The hand of senators and leaders
implicate the lives of all.
This is not our story.
On Rendili, a young spirited and selfless
child struggles with his own personal
troubles, at home and with friends. Today
marks a long journey of heroic acts,
heartbreak, pain and sorrow.
The Air Bikes roared to life.
Two boys in their last years of primary school stood, admiring their prized possessions. Their mothers had bought them when Leroy was eleven, and Ekul twelve. Although Ekul was a year late, it didn't matter. He threw his leg over the seat, bursting with excitement. The garage door of his home estate grumbled as a remote device began to open the way for them. It was evening and school had just finished. It was a regular thing for the two to ride their bikes around the bushlands nearby after classes had ceased.
Leroy and Ekul couldn't have been any different. Leroy was of pale skin and light blonde hair, with sparkling blue eyes. All the while Ekul had hair as dark as the night sky, and his eyes as brown as mud. His skin faired no better in the sun for it tanned easy. Though they were the best of friends, their personalities clashed. Ekul remained an outgoing child, but his submissive nature and selflessness to others was at times manipulated by Leroy. The boy was brash and self-loving, and often ridiculed other children. A trait Ekul internalised as the other children's faults, and not Leroy's own.
Ekul twisted the throttle. The engine began to rev, he took off the break and they sped out onto the street together. They carved down the road and skidded to the left at an intersection. The hill was long and gradual, so they twisted the throttle harder. The air bikes were cushiony vehicles not designed for high speeds, and the two were really pushing it to its limits. Houses flew past them, the cool breeze sent a chill down Ekul's spine. He looked to Leroy, "You and Sandra still on?" Leroy turned to him with a devious smirk, "Yeah man, we made out at the park yesterday 'arvo. It was epic." He nodded his head, gloating in his lies.
Ekul couldn't always discern lies from Leroy, but he knew this was one of them. The kid was a chronicle liar, and he still hadn't forgiven him for stealing his Hologame a year ago, even though he profusely denied it. "Yeah, well," Ekul said, providing his own devilish smile, "Why was Sandra hanging out with Priya all afternoon?"
"Shut up, it was after that," Leroy said, hitting the throttle to the engines sheer limits. He sped ahead, taking a sharp right down another road. Ekul followed, the road was no different from the others. Houses lined the street with tall trees towering over them. A thin makeshift alleyway cut between a set of houses and dispersed onto a speederway. The two boys snapped left, right, then left dodging the trio of tree trunks that were in their way. They shot out onto the speederway recklessly. Hundreds of speeders flew past overhead, blasting intense winds into their faces. They crossed the speederway and rode onto an open field of grass.
"Wanna go do those jumps? and we'll ride over to Summerland Point afterwards," Leroy suggested. The jumps in mind was a long track of crusted mud and a slight incline and sudden drop over a rather large hill of blood-ants. Vicious little insects that had been imported to the planet several decades ago, and ever since they had been a nuisance. Only the coolest of kids did the jump, and Ekul had yet to attempt the stunt. "Yeah, okay," Ekul said, hesitant. They crossed the large, empty oval resigned for physical sports and moved towards the start of the bush lands.
Ekul reluctantly changed his settings on his air-bike to skim. It would leave his bike barely hovering above the ground. He followed Leroy onto the dirt track, taking a few small bumps with poor grace. The bush lands were full of scrubs and harsh plants that survived during intense heat waves where other plants may wither and die. Much of the ground was cracked earth and there were very few tall trees. "Here we go," Leroy announced as they neared an intersecting path. Ekul's stomach fell when he followed Leroy, taking a slow left and suddenly dropping down a steep incline. For a moment he second guessed, thinking he was about to fly over his handlebars. He squinted his eyes, knuckles white as he held on tight.
He came onto the new track, adrenaline coursing through his veins. Leroy glanced over his shoulder and took off towards the hidden jump. They didn't know exactly where it was, but had a good idea where it could be. Ekul would have invited his brother Nodnarb along, but unfortunately for him he was grounded. It felt like he was always being grounded, or something bad was happening to him. Only last week they were wrestling near a metal pipe, and when Nodnarb jumped up and down, his arms gave way under him, effectively slamming his two front teeth on the metal pole, chipping a tooth.
Leroy gained speeder and began to rise, then the dirt gave way under him. He shot across the air and landed on the other side of the ants nest. Ekul scrutinised the jump, knowing he couldn't make it. "C'mon, hurry up I want some chips," Leroy urged him. Ekul didn't think, he acted. He hit the accelerator and leapt off the jump. His bike twisted, Ekul was thrown from the seat and slammed against the unforgiving dirt with a meaty slap. The air bike crashed into the ant mound, crushing any insect that had been underneath it. He shrieked, both in pain and fear. "Oh kark! you alright?" Leroy said, rushing to his side. Even though he bullied others, at least he had a soft spot for Ekul.
Ekul looked down at his denim trousers and plain white shirt, not scratched and dirtied. "Mums going to kill me," he said through his tears, swiping them away. Leroy held out a hand, Ekul clasped it with his own and allowed his friend to pull him up onto his feet. Leroy was unscathed, his green overalls remaining speck-free. "Kark!" they both exclaimed in unison upon seeing the crashed air bike. Every inch of the bike was covered in blood-ants, there was no way they could retrieve the bike without a high-pressure hose or some insect repellant. Neither of which they had. "We'll have to come get it later tonight, I'll ask my dad if he can help us, just don't tell your mum," Leroy assured him.
Ekul marched to his friends bike, deciding to sit on the handlebars. He hated the feeling of constantly falling off, but to date it had yet to happen. They sped back down the track from the way they came, rather then turning up the steep cliff-like incline, they followed the path. "I still want some chips," Leroy said.
"But I need my bike back," Ekul protested with a moan of annoyance.
"Nah, we can get it tomorrow."
"Yeah, okay . . " Ekul said, defeated. He could always get it back tomorrow, but he knew he would have to face his dad tonight and sit through interrogation as to why his bike is missing.
The day couldn't have gotten any worse, and with the setting sun, darkness began to settle on the world of Rendili. They sat with their air bikes down by the shores, kicking their feet over the edges of a rickety jetty. The white paint was old and had long since begun to deteriorate. "Remember when that 'spider' was on you," Leroy asked with a wide smile. The spider in question had been not overly large, perhaps half the size of a grown males hand. It was orange and flecked with coats of black. It was perhaps the most terrifying thing to ever happen to Ekul, at least he thought so.
After a long swim by this very jetty, they had clambered out of the water and dried off. Ekul grabbed his towel and patted himself down, his eyes honed in on an arachnid on his shoulder, a spider. His voice roared in utter fear, screaming at the top of his lungs and instantly breaking down in tears. He rapidly slapped his shoulders, brushing it off him. An elderly Ithorian couple rushed to his rescue, asking what was wrong. The sobbing human boy explained what happened to him, and they gave him words of comfort. "Shut up," Ekul said, refusing to be ridiculed.
The air bike swept down the natural trails of the bushlands. Leroy took the front as Ekul sat behind, hunkering down, not wanting to find himself a splattered bug against the thick boles of scattered trees. He weaved in and out of the way of natural wildlife that scurried to find respite from the air bikes, not to mention the occasional and disastrous thorn bushes that dotted the landscape. They crested a hill and came upon a clearing in the bush. Though the clearing was not without its own host of air bike riders.
Children ranging from the ages of eleven to thirtreen, from the three-eyed Gand to the four-armed Hekto, it was as though all the minorities in the local town had come for a meeting. And they didn’t look friendly. “Oi, Leroy!” one shouted, and it couldn’t have been worse than the Trandoshan. The scaled reptilian humanoid stalked closer, broad shoulders flexing. “Leave me alone, Peoi,” Leroy protested, looking to turn tail and run. Though a quick glance at the air bikes, and it was obvious they wouldn’t be outrunning them anytime soon.
“I wan’ah fight, I heard what you said to Faix,” Peoi answered, stretching his fingers. Talons as sharp as needles protruded from them. If there was anything to be said about Trandoshan, it was to buy a ticket and watch them fight a Wookiee. It was an even bet. Ekul’s stomach fell and knotted, he wanted to be sick. No, he wasn’t afraid of the group of aliens, but rather for Leroy’s safety. “N-no, I-I’m s-sorry,” Leroy said, becoming anxious. His feet began to tap nervously against the ground as he steadied his bike.
“Too bad,” the Trandoshan quickly closed the distance, looking ready to pounce. “Wait!” Ekul shrieked at the top of his lungs, leaping from his bike and in-between his friend and the bully. “No, I’ll.. I’ll fight you,” the words dripped from his mouth before he could stop himself. “Good,” the word came venomously from the pursed lips of the reptilian. The Trandoshan lunged forward, Ekul raised his knee. It was a cowards move, but Ekul was never taught how to fight. His knee slammed into the weakest point of any male, befalling the Trandoshan in a howl as intense agony boiled in his abdomen.
Ekul was barely given enough time to see the approaching Hekto. Two arms came barreling towards him, striking him full in the face. Everything in his body seemed to suddenly halt at the explosion of pain. His legs hadn’t given way, but they didn’t need to to knock Ekul to the ground. The human was thrown backwards into the ground. His body hit the dirt with a meaty slap. Blood sprayed itself across his face as it quickly poured out of his nostrils like a tap. His fluttering eyes spied the seemingly vertical Leroy as he left him to the mercy of his aggressors, saving his own skin. Everyman for himself, Ekul bitterly thought before all turned to darkness.
When Ekul woke up, the night sky hovered above. Stars twinkled and whispered tales of faraway smugglers and heroic Jedi. He lay there, sprawled and smeared with dried blood. Purple bruises surfaced his skin, barely visible under the moonlight. He had been beaten even after passing out, the Hekto had shown no mercy. His eyes diverted south, seeing rips in his clothes where the Trandoshan had cut through it and caused minor lacerations.
He dare not move for want of peace. He began to think of his place in this universe. He couldn’t understand why he was friends with Leroy. They were polar opposites, and he had proven his loyalty as a friend when he fled, and from what he gathered now, hadn’t returned since. He wondered at the stars of the stories they could tell him. He knew that their light took thousands of years to travel to Rendili.
The drone of an air bike came rushing through the brushes, skirting around the fallen body of Ekul. He closed his eyes, only hoping it wasn’t his parents. The padding feet came closer, and the voice of Leroy broke the silence, “Are you okay?” he shouted in fright. “Please don’t touch me,” Ekul said, almost falling into a sob at the ache of his body. His words were not harsh, for he only wanted to be spared of any further pain. “We’ve got to get you home, it’s past seven o’clock. Your dad is going to kill you.”
With hooked arms under his pits, Ekul was raised off the ground. He screamed and protested, as the real pain surfaced now. If two things could be said about this ordeal it was this; for all his courage, he held a humiliating low pain tolerance. Tougher kids would shrug it off, but Ekul wasn’t tough. Smarter kids would have fled and lost them in the bushes, but he wasn’t smart either. He was just good.
“You’d make a good Jedi, I reckon,” Leroy said with a grin as he helped his friend onto the back of his air bike. Ekul couldn’t find the words in his mouth, he couldn’t speak, and didn’t want to for that matter. He nodded his head as thanks, gingerly holding his hands around the waist of his friend as they took off home. The journey was long and slow, making sure they didn’t hit anything in the darkness. There were no street lights in the bushlands, and the moon offered little in way of light. “When you get home, tell your mum you fell over or something.” Ekul wanted to ask if he was stupid, or had a few bolts missing in his brain. He was bewildered by his friends logic, but surmised that in the moment, it was hard to think of excuses that didn’t involve explaining how Ekul put himself in harms way. To spare a friend the pain, nonetheless.
Four years later . . .
“Morning lecture, it is, wake up you must,” the raspy voice of an aged and unfamiliar species hobbled into his room. Ekul furrowed his brow, wishing to tell his master to find another apprentice today. For all his questioning, Jedi Master Ko refused to part with the name of his species. He had heard others simply refer to him as Yoda’s Species, for it was the only other well known member of his species to participate in the Jedi Order, from current records. Those records were not exactly up to date. Much had been lost eight hundred years ago during the Jedi Purge.
Ekul found his bedsheets thrown from his body, he shook violently for a second in a deep shiver. Cold tendrils leeched against his skin, forcing the human to clench his teeth. It sprang in his mind a deep curiosity. Why would Coruscant be in deep winter, the seasons were often technologically controlled. Nonetheless, he threw his legs over the edges of the bed and stood. He glanced down at the shorter-than-a-meter green creature, taking a deep bow in respect. “Master,” Ekul addressed him.
“To the archives, you shall go,” Ko instructed the sixteen year old padawan. Ekul and Nodnarb Selah had been found to be Force-Sensitive on their thirteenth birthday. The choice to join the academy on the Republic’s capital of Coruscant was offered forth, and the two gladly took it. Though Ekul found himself second-guessing if his brother was the material Jedi were made of. Rude, uncontrollable and quick-to-anger. Much had to be taught to Nodnarb, but so too did Ekul have to learn. Whilst his brother may be quick to anger with frequent bursts of rage. Ekul was calm as the eye of the storm, but when his anger rose from its deep slumber, it showed itself in utter fury.
Ekul eased himself into his black and grey robes, and neatly presented his Padawans braid that was woven in thin slivers of durable leaves from Kashyyyk. He trod down the corridor, watching the retesting back of Ko enter the opposing dorm that held Nodnarb. He could hear his masters gentle voice try and stir his brother, only to be rebuked with groans of annoyance. Ekul turned left and began to amble his way down a staircase. He chose to take the stairs over the lifts, it was a humbling emotion that washed over him each time he chose to do so. There was no such thing as wasted time, for it gave more room for the mind to wander and explore the deepest mysteries of the Force.
Ekul eased himself into an isolated lecture room in the archives. One of hundreds that lined the library that prided itself in containing all knowledge of the galaxy. He knew this was nothing more than a boastful gesture. His eyes surveyed the room, hoping for a hint as to what the lecture may be about. He closed his eyes and reached out with the Force, but no sooner did the doors groan as they slid aside, welcoming Ko and Nodnarb. Ekul straightened his posture, picking up his datapad and assumed a ready position to begin his studies. Nodnarb slunk into his seat, listening but not quite awake yet.
“Space and time, stars and planets, bound by the Unifying Force it is,” Ko began the lecture. “Past and future, the Jedi sense, through this Force. Of this concept, few supporters within the Order. A single entity, neither light nor dark, is this Unifying Force. Open to future possibilities, are the eyes of its followers. Fulfil a destiny, they believe, focusing on the here and now they do not. A means to an end, the Sith do see, an end in itself the Jedi see. Everything is the Force, and the Force everything. Sides it does not take. A choice one must make, abuse and suffer or nurture and enlightenment."
Ko buried himself in his words as the morning quickly vanished. Meals were taken, all the while Ekul held his ears pricked to the lectures of his master. He scoffed down what was placed before him by the stewards and stewardesses of the Temple. Ko seemed all but exempt to exhaustion and weariness, providing on the Force to supply him with the energy he needed to teach for such arduous lengths. Midday rolled into the afternoon, and soon night had befallen them. Such was the mental lectures they partook in. It was considered a serious training event, for it required the minds absolute attention for hours without break. Thus padawans relied on the Force to keep their minds alert and cataloguing the constant influx of information from their master.
When Ko had finished, Nodnarb yawned rudely. Ekul turned and scowled, warning his brother to show better respect. He got no emotional response from Nodnarb, finding that as they went through puberty Nodnarb was growing increasingly more introverted, not to mention he was prone to deep paranoia at nighttime. He told Ekul, nay, he insisted to Ekul that he was being watched and stalked. That someone, or something was tracking his every movement. Such things had been addressed to Ko, and their private discussions were hidden from Ekul. He didn’t know how his brother mentally fared but the news came dire in the night when a visitor knocked on his door.
“Come in,” Ekul called. A Zabrak no older than twelve rushed in, seemingly out of breath. “Ko needs in the Great Hall, now! Your brothers got insane.” There was not a minuscule amount of time spared that Ekul didn’t waste. He threw himself from his bed in a manner that suggested he was attempting to get from the blast radius of a thermal detonator, not come and see his brothers latest antics. He raced down the hall, the Zabrak trailed behind him in a billow of flowing bedrobes. They skipped past the stairs and hijacked an elevator full of younglings being led around by a padawan.
“Emergency,” Ekul called, resetting the elevator destination and entering the ground floor. The elevator began to drop, his stomach rising as it sped with great haste. He craned his neck to see the visible distaste on the padawans face at having her group abruptly halted when they had been on their way to their dorms for bed. “I’m really sorry about this, but its important,” Ekul said, and she seemed to not believe him for a moment. She gave him the benefit of the doubt and nodded in understanding.
The doors opened, welcoming him to the sights of the massive Great Hall. The Great Hall was a four-story tall chamber situated directly beyond the Temple Main Entrance. A large meeting chamber with many tiers and balconies, seats would be brought in for formal gatherings and conclaves. Between many of the pillars lining the hall were passages and stairways leading to small chambers near the Hall. In addition, several banks of turbolifts led into the depths of the Temple, ensuring that the Great Hall could be reached from any level of the complex. From these turbo lifts Ekul and his newfound ally emerged.
It was not the ever-awe-inspiring majesty of the Great Hall that attracted his attention, but Nodnarb with his lightsaber engaged, encircled by a ring of Jedi Temple Guards and a genuinely concerned Ko that tried to soothe the situation. Ekul raced ahead, instinctively he moved his hands to curl around the hilt of his own lightsaber but remembered his training. Form Zero. He pulled back his hand and chose to flench them instead to block out his desire for something to hold in defence. He came close to Ko, asking, “What happened?”
“Visions seen, has your brother. Premonitions, gift and curse of the Force, they are.”
“Narb, please, everything is okay. Everything is going to be okay,” Ekul said, trying to disarm an impending fight. His blade waved around frantically as a wide-eyed Nodnarb looked for his brother that was held behind the group of Temple Guards, wielding ferocious double-bladed lightsaber pikes. “Shut up! I see it now, the Temple in ruins, the Senate smashed, and Coruscant itself shattered by orbital bombardment from immense ships of impossible design. I have seen the end of civilization, Ekul, and we’re with it if we don’t get out now.”
“What’re you talking about Narb? This is the safest place in the galaxy, guarded by the best of the best. No harm will come, just stop, please,” Ekul pleaded. Ko whispered through the Force, hindering Nodnarb from intercepting, “Corrupt, his mind has become. Illness, he is stricken with. Little to be done, there is. To the Jedi Medical corps, he must go. In spirit and mind, heal they cannot. A home for him, they can provide nonetheless.”
“What did you say!” Nodnarb roared with anger, “You’ve always treated me like a child, like I’m lesser than you!” Ekul stepped forward, trembling with his own pent-up rage. His brother had always been prone to outbursts, and constant threats of dismissal hadn’t lessened this. Ekul wanted to tell him everything wrong with his attitude, why he would never be a Jedi, but it was cruel. Schizophrenia seeped into the mind of his brother, Ekul knew this much. Slowing but surely the illness was poisoning his sanity. He had feared it for some time, but never was he so sure of his illness as he was now.
Somehow, neither Ko nor Ekul could comprehend, Nodnarb had heard Ko whisper to Ekul through the Force. He had detected the hidden ripples that were an attempt to prevent him from eavesdropping, it did just thus. Nodnarb raised his blade, ready to strike. A snap-hiss echoed in the hall, Ekul dived forward. Plasma clashed in a glow of cerulean and maize sparks. Nodnarb twisted his arm, slamming his elbow into Ekul, an unexpected blow. He took it with full force, causing him to falter backwards into the arms of the Jedi Temple Guards. They grappled with Ekul, preventing him from continuing any further. Before the guards could detain the rampaging Nodnarb, he fled.
“Fold space,” Ko murmured in amazed shock. The guards released their grip on Ekul in shared expressions of stupor. “Possible it is not,” Ko said in spoken thought, “Only by the Aing-Tii, taught it is.” Ekul found himself falling onto the marble floor, sprawled out once more. His nose wasn’t bleeding but it hurt nonetheless. More than his nose hurt, his anger seethed. Ko snapped his mind from the prodigal display of the Force to the now, resting to a knee beside Ekul. “Run rampant, your anger must not. Control, breathe, one with the Force become.” Ekul closed his eyes, breathing in and out, focusing not on the events but on the ripples of Force that seeped through all living beings. His brow drew inward, frowning at a disturbance in their immediate area where Nodnarb had been. There was a momentary void of the Force, and as quickly as he had noticed it, it was filled once more.
Two months later . . .
“One more time, remind me,” Ko said as the two walked out of the Temple and towards a private landing bay for a J-type Star Skiff belonging to an Umbaran pilot who was known to work with the Naboo royalty from time to time. Ekul said, “Master, as you wish. We’ll be visiting the Tingel Arm to investigate Sith cult activities. We will be expecting to arrive on Mytus VII for our primary investigation, and the outlying habitable zones for further insight if required. As per request of the Jedi Council.” The two were welcomed by the tattooed Umbaran, adorning his families art. Streaks of crimson red traced his jawline and along his lips, it was fearsome for the unacquainted but those that knew him, knew him to be a man of deep respect and honour.
“Welcome to the greatest ship in this sector of the galaxy,” Roe boomed, offering a strong handshake to Ekul, and a bow to Master Ko. “It is with the greatest pleasure that I welcome you aboard the least humble, and most boastful of transports. Luxury isn’t for the Jedi, but if offered, can you really refuse?” he joked, elbowing Ekul to only receive a thick lipped smile in turn. For two months, Ekul had been regularly visiting not only Ko in private, but the council too. Not only was his midichlorian count under heavy scrutinisation, but his mental patterns and adaption to the Force. Along with this, he was being tutored in ways of suppressing his anger. Ekul had become a serious face around the Temple, seemingly lacking most emotions during his stays in the Temple. Though that quickly changed when the Padawans were granted leave to spend their own personal quality time. He didn’t learn to only suppress his emotions, but learnt when to express them, to laugh and to love.
Master and Apprentice nodded in thanks, offering their gratitude to the pilot as they boarded the vessel up the ramp and into the corridor. Ekul delved into the deepest recesses of his mind as he pondered his brother. He could feel him in the Force, such was their strong connection as twins, but he knew not where, or how far he was. He didn’t know how he fared, only that for the moment, he was alive, and that was enough for Ekul. The council hadn’t received news of Nodnarb, and if they had they weren’t telling him. He understood this, knowing that there was a conflict of interest. Deciding that it was best to send Ekul onto the field than to coop him up in the Temple all day, every day where his mind may wander a little too much.
“Now, I understand you can’t tell me why you want to go to Mytuss, but really? Mytuss?” Roe scoffed. “It’s the outermost planet in the Mytus system, and it’s located in Wild Space, further than the reach of the Morellian Commonwealth. Though I hear Stars’ End is ‘round there. Most Oscinin spacers try to avoid Mytus because of that.” Ekul kept to himself, deciding not to comment as it was not his place to, but his masters. “Master, may I take my leave?” Ekul requested. Ko nodded, and Ekul trudged from the cockpit towards the only other room that wasn’t reserved for the pilot. Master and Apprentice would be sharing the same room, but it only humbled them. It gave them a deeper understanding of the lives others must live, albeit theirs was worse by a thousand fold.
Ekul fell onto his bed, almost forgetting to take off his cloak. He shrugged out of the heavy wool and nestled his head into a soft pillow. His feet curled up under his buttocks, and his back arched forward. He lay in a small ball, eyes slowly closing as he began to drift from away consciousness. Ever since his brothers disappearance, he had felt inexplicably exhausted at times. It was as though someone was seeping his very energy from him. His sleep did not provide him rest, waking only to find himself as equally tired as he had been when he had gone to bed.
His mind drifted through the infinite imagination. He could feel the ebb and flow of the force, lulling him into a deeper and more restful sleep by an outside force. It’s signature was unmistakable, Ko. He appreciated his master’s effort to provide him with a rejuvenating sleep. He had known for the past fortnight of his troubles, and why he was lacking in his arduous studies. His mind hadn’t been able to focus as it had once before. Ekul turned his mind from these thoughts and pondered the stars that filled the galaxy. Somewhere out there, his brother was alive and well. It comforted him some. As estranged as their relationship may have always been, he was still blood, and more-so his twin.
When Ekul awoke, it had been two days. He stumbled out into the cockpit, finding Roe with a much smaller identical version of himself. For a moment he was bewildered, “Who's that?”
“Why, that’s my son, Ricardt. Ricardt, say hello to Jedi Selah.” Bright eyes turned to look up at Ekul, a smile burst across his face, “My dad said there were two Jedi on board! But I only saw the small green one. He won’t tell me what species he is, and Dad won’t either. Can you dodge blasters and all that?” Ricardt spat out in a flurry of quick words that took Ekul a second to register in his mind. “Well, I can’t exactly dodge blasters, but I can deflect them, sometimes. Jedi don’t really dodge blasters as some people seem to think, we have something called precognition. The Force tells us that there is danger, and we move out of the way before it happens.”
“So you dodge it…?” Ricardt asked, not quite understanding the ‘science’ behind it, per se.
“Yeah, we dodge blasters,” Ekul said with a wry smile.
“Well, we’re setting a vector for approach now,” Roe informed Ekul, reaching above his head to flick a switch of unknown design. “Orders tell me to just jump you on the planet and come for pick up in a few months time, is that correct?” Ekul looked to him for a moment, wondering how hard it would be to find a reliable pilot to take him back to Coruscant if Roe wasn’t able to pick him up. “That’s correct, yes.”
“Well in that case, I hope you two have a fun holiday. I wouldn’t call it exactly that. A lot of Imperial-supporters out here. The Tingel Arm is full of them.” Ekul could only nod to Roe’s mention of Imperials. It seemed the Imperial sentiment that shrunk itself to only the furthest reaches of the Galactic community, but in those reaches its hold and sway over the people was a miasma that could not be resisted. Fanatics, not supporters, Ekul mused to himself in thought.
“So, who exactly is this ‘Hurrikaine,’ you keep telling me about,” Ekul asked, looking to Ko who stood at the height of his knees. “Hrmm,” Ko mumbled incomprehensibly in thought, “A Jedi, once was, fallen now, he is. Master, did he strike down, at the time of his Knighthood. Long fled has he from the Jedi.”
“Master, I do not like to suggest this, or even think it, but is this not treasonous to meet with a traitor of the Order to simply talk?”
“One must not make enemies at all turns. Mistakes, people do make. Much fear does Hurrikaine live in, not his fault it is.”
“So, you’re trying to tell me, even though someone may have done bad, we shouldn’t judge them in the present, because that was in their past?”
“Correct.” Ekul wanted to speak up about the atrocities the Sith committed in their history, but knew he would be rebuked by the unending intelligence of Ko.
The streets of Mytuss VII were unlike anything Ekul had experienced. Rather than speeder ways that hovered hundreds if not thousands of meters high in the sky, they had paved roads of permacrete where speeders raced past, skimming the surface of the street. Crowds of alien species washed the paths alongside the street, forcing the two incognito Jedi to stand aside and allow the more sturdier creatures the right of way. It baffled him that Ko had yet to be kicked in the face by the much taller species, but there were a few heads that poked themselves out from the crowds that were as equally short or a few inches taller than Ko. Those who were similar in height seemed to greet him as though they were long-life brothers before disappearing into the ocean of civilians.
They turned a sharp right into a cantina. Ekul and Ko approached the door of the Em-Tee-Gee. Odd name, he thought. The entrance groaned as it slid aside. The stench of narcotics and alcohol wafted out onto the street. The fog choked itself in the throats of passerby's, prompting guttural coughs. Ekul swiped his hand with fervour, keeping the smell of decaying lives from his nostrils. The smooth skinned human waltzed into the cantina. It had been two weeks since the Jedi began their investigation on Mytuss VII, and it had led them here with a hint towards a Dark Jedi controlling a cult of Sith worshippers.
The music roared. The two found themselves pushing past a cluster of belligerent drunks. They wore their intricate layers of clothes denoting their status as Jedi, along with the coupled cloaks, the drunks knew not to touch them. Master and Apprentice ambled over to a booth, taking a seat for their own. Ekul thumbed a control pad on the edge of the table, and the faint yellow radiance of a tranquillity screen rose around their booth. The screen was a rare touch of quality for a place like this, but one Ekul appreciated as the raucous music faded to a muffled booming.
Thunderous footsteps caused Ko to snap his neck left and right, trying to stop the titan of a droid that entered the tranquility field. The mysterious species was forced to get onto his two feet, clutching the backrest of his chair and peer over. “Hurrikaine, a pleasure it is,” Ko annouced.
“Yes, quite,” the mysterious droid answered. Hurrikaine seemed to notice the obvious stare from Ekul and answered the unspoken question, “Human-replica droid body, with a Shard mind. Unfortunate… events have forced me to lose all replica skin and muscle tissue, leaving only the frame.”
“Yes, I’m sorry I had to do that,” Ko said, hinting towards a serious encounter between the two. Ekul moved his stare towards Hurrkaine’s cybernetic eyes when he noticed the large chunk of metal missing from his scalp. He didn’t mention anything and looked towards him, “I’m sorry, forgive me. I wasn’t expecting a Force-Sensitive.. droid.”
“Shard, that is my species. I merely use this droid body as a means to travel,” Hurrikaine corrected him. “I’m not sticking around long. I’ll tell you what I have to say and then I am leaving.”
Ekul gave a quick glance to Ko, not wanting to say it but had to. “My Master takes some time to speak, so I’ll be speaking for him, so you can be on your way faster. The Sith Cults, we know they’re somewhere in this system. Ko thinks you know who is leading them, and where they may be located.”
“I don’t know who is leading them, some former Jedi, now an instrument of the Dark Side. Rumours hint that whoever it is, they’re extremely powerful and not to be underestimated. They’re on planet, but you’re on the wrong continent. They’re on Resh, some town called Nim-Bar, anymore and I don’t know. They want to keep their location secret, but people tend to run their mouths in cantina’s.” Hurrikaine raised a hand in warning, “I’m only telling you two this once, because I respect who you’re. Don’t go there. If you’re not a cultist, you’re not coming back. They will kill you, and it isn’t pretty. Some Rogue Knight hired to root them out was there recently, hasn’t returned since.” Hurrikaine stood from the table, “I hope everything works out for you, just go back to your Temple and tell the Council you found nothing. But I know you won’t listen to me anyway.”
Resh. Its beauty was never-ending, the sights of the world were beyond compare. Forests, mountains, plateaus, oceans all interwoven into the landscape. Ekul Selah felt a sense of both anticipation and dread. Ko and Ekul were yet to locate the cult, but the locals foretold of an ancient crystal cave in the Outlands. The Outlands was once a forest corrupted by dark energy. Ekul would enter alone, to construct his own lightsaber. The one he currently had was simply a gift from Ko, and would be returned. It’s Force signature belonged to Ko, and not to Ekul. It would never be truly his. Ekul had the materials on him, but now only required a focusing crystal. The human had a resplendent view of a valley that sprouted forth from where he stood. He was a hundred meters above the riverbed below, where the crashing sound of the waterfalls and colliding with the river met. Pine trees marked his location, stripped of leaves, gnarled and dead.
The overgrowth of the forest was dense, and under the sway of a corrupt influence. The region was inhabited by wildlife that had been tainted, wild imported Nexu who had been corrupted, and strange mystics—villagers of the Outlands—who had gone mad. Ekul had studied the region and learnt that it was only recently the forest had been corrupted. It was both a troubling and interesting thought. The aspirant Jedi Sentinel knelt down, placing the straps of his bag over his shoulders. He gave the beautiful valley one final look, he felt a dark presence in the distance beyond the horizon; the cultists. Ekul Selah turned his back to the beautiful sight and took a step into the Outlands.
The trek would be treacherous and lonely, but one Ekul was determined to complete. Where once emerald blades of grass had flourished, bathing in the sunlight, it now rotted. The grass held a sickly yellow-orange tinge to its colour. Ekul Selah wore traditional robes of his Order. The fabric was long enough that his feet were barely visibly, only the toes of his boots protruded from the robes, matching the colour. The grey-coloured robe was fashioned with absolute precision, each fold in the fabric had been carefully attended to by several tailors, perfecting grace, mobility and fashion. The folds came high up, curling around the neck of the human.
The further Ekul Selah travelled into the Outlands, the calmer he became. It seemed to be preemptive anxiety that had overwhelmed his emotions prior to his journey. There was little sunlight that burst through the rotting branches, but enough to light his path. His brown eyes gazed upon a garden of glowing mushrooms, he made sure to keep walking, but the flora was nonetheless interesting. Trees as large as cruisers squatted here and there, scratches tattooed their bark foretelling of conflicts past. Not a leaf in sight, it was as though everything pure in the world had come here to die. Even when surrounded by death, Ekul Selah was not disgruntled or overtly concerned.
An opening in the trees bode poorly for Ekul, for it wasn't the sight of the lake that which worried his mind but that which was beyond. A small island, not too far yonder from where he stood. A shrine sat imbedded in the soil with tablets of mysterious power, and it was the mystics that encircled this shrine. They were meditating, sitting down with eyes closed. Ekul remained standing, watching from a tree, holding his hands against the bole. He felt a mixture of yearning for microbinoculars, to study and watch the dangerous mystics, but to likewise flee from the place. The latter was his only choice, he needed to find the crystal caves and construct his lightsaber.
He drew away from the treeline and drove himself deeper into the darkest depths of the Outlands. It was a surprise to him when he came to a granite wall that seemed to rise up before his very eyes. The thick and dense forest had hid any sign of a cliff face. He took a step back in surprise and opened his mouth. He pursed his lips and moved towards the wall, placing a hand on the stone he craned his head left and right. It was to the left, further away from the lake, he saw what appeared to be an entrance. Ekul turned and arched his back to walk under a low-hanging branch, approaching the pile of stones outside an entrance consumed in darkness.
He lowered his bag, opening it to retrieve the contents. Wires, conductors and a metal cylinder, everything required to make a lightsaber. He pulled out the last of the objects from the bag, a token of his gratitude to the Force; the lightsaber Ko had gifted him. He fell to a crouch, it was here in the Outlands he would bury a little bit of good in a place of darkness. He dug his fingers into the soil, collecting grime under his nails as he began to dig with his hands. The small hole was enough to lay the flat of the hilt and bury it. He stood, stomping on the mound to flatten it. It was as though nothing had ever been buried. He gazed over the materials, and most notably the strange and foreign Wintrium.
Wintrium, a liquid that spouted from the Fountain of Ancients in the Derelkoos Desert on Klatooine. At it reached the surface, it reacted with the dry desert air to create a glass-like material, appearing to be frozen intime. Wintrium became harder as it aged, and given enough time it could become nearly indestructible. It was only the smallest of pieces, it would act as the pommel for the hilt. Ekul Selah turned his gaze to the cave, and entered. Instantly he was encompassed by the darkness, unable to see. He closed his eyes and relied on the force, pushing himself onward. He felt where to go, trusting his instinctual nature to guide him. A tugging of his mind told him to open his eyes, and he did. The cave was no longer dark, but illuminated by a thousand different crystals.
He took cautionary steps towards the closest of the crystals that had obtained the attention of his eye. It was not of this world, but from a distant place. He collapsed to his knees beside it, curious, wondering just how the precious crystal had made its way from Ilum to this cave. He glanced up, deeper into the cave and smelt a horrid stench. The stench of decay. For he knew now how it had come here. Someone, force attuned and likely a Jedi had traveled here. Their journey had ended with their life, it seemed. He forced himself to investigate further, treading gingerly towards a body. He fell to a knee, observing the man and noting him as a Jedi Knight, and none other than the one that had vanished.
His light brown-skinned hands curled around the yellow crystal, a rare and precious gem. His brown eyes glanced to the crushed and shattered lightsaber hilt to the left, the crystal was lucky to be spared from whatever had killed the Jedi and destroyed the hilt. He folded his legs in front of him and resumed a seated stance. Before placing the crystal in the lightsaber, Ekul had to imbue the crystal with the Force. To do this, he was required to meditate on the crystal for many days. At the end of this, he would have a truly unique blade. Ekul Selah had decided this was to be his crystal forevermore. To carry on the legacy of a fallen Jedi was an honourable task.
He closed his eyes, and time ceased to exist. Hours began to pass as quickly as seconds, ticking away. In meditation, he lost any conception of time or the physical world; there was only The Force. He had been so quickly sucked from the material world and entered this state of non-being. He focused on the crystal and its attunement. The crystal is not, by itself, the power source of the weapon. Like Ekul, the crystal must be attuned to the Force. Without that attunement, the crystal is just a rock. And while a non-Force user could probably ignite and wield a lightsaber, provided the crystal was properly attuned to the Force, all that lightsaber would be for him is a shaft of superheated plasma. But for Ekul, the lightsaber becomes more: it is a manifestation of Ekul’s connection to the Force. More-so was the task of combing his attunement with that of its previous owner.
He concentrated on flowing his very being into the crystal, his emotions, his past and all else. The lightsaber would become an extension of his very being, even the parts he didn’t want others to know. Whilst Ekul had lost himself to the Force, the material world was much different to the organic eye. The yellow crystal was afloat, surrounded by the pieces of the lightsaber hilt. Small wirings that made up the power source, cogs and a button, the pommel and cylindrical metal plates. The hook for which a lightsaber would be allowed to rest on the hip. All was slowly coming together over a period of days. Each piece finding its niche, coming together to make a bigger piece. A puzzle being solved.
When Ekul Selah opened his eyes for the first time in four days, it had seemed to be no less than a few minutes. His body felt neither hunger nor thirst for its internal processes had slowed to almost a halt to allow him to meditate a great length of time. Before him floated the hilt of his lightsaber. Gold and silver in colour with a bright blue pommel that was jagged and looked like glass. He reached out his hand, long slender fingers delicately grasping the hilt. His thumb slid down the length of the weapon and he ignited the blade with a snap-hiss. The plasma burst to life, expelling a yellowish hue over the cavern. The corpse was next to him the shine of the blade sent a glow over the body. He was not phased by this sight, knowing that the body was merely a shell. The true Jedi Knight was now one with the Force, and his body now empty.
When Ekul Selah emerged from the cave, he was not alone. In his hands he cupped the Knight in his powerful arms. Ekul swept his eyes to make certain he was alone, and when he was confident, he gently rested the man down. The hilt of Ekul’s newly crafted lightsaber was attached to his waist. The human held out his hand to the soil, nearby where he had buried the hilt of his former lightsaber. He focused his mind on the force and the dirt began to shudder and the earth rumbled. An opening began to form where dirt collapsed in, longer it grew whilst it only increased minimally in width. He turned his focus to the body, encompassing it in the energies of the Force.
The Jedi Knight began to rise from the ground and was lowered into the poorly constructed pit, but one that had been crafted with care and The Force. A righteous burial if any Jedi were to have one. There was no chance of bringing the Knight out of the Outlands, too far a journey, and too dangerous. As his hand swept wide, caving the pit in to finish the burial, his free hand drifted to his robes. They fumbled with a hidden pocket and retrieved a small cube, a datacron. He brought it out for his eyes to study. Perhaps this was the key to the mystery of the Sith cultists.
Ko and Ekul gathered around the datacon. The cubic crystalline lattice device radiated with an emerald glow that basked both Master and Apprentice. Oft tired and weary, Ekul frowned against the light and felt invigorated by the Light Side of the Force. The Jedi Knight who had bestowed knowledge into this device had placed a great deal of energy in it too, and now it was bursting from its very seams with light side activity. The cosmic energies spewed forth as Ko gently traced a claw across the device, activating it.
Holographic projects poured out, filling the dimly lit room. Numbers, equations and complex encryption codes cascaded down over them. It drowned the room out with its intricate algorithms. The small green stature of Ko shot up, seemingly aware and understanding of everything that surrounded him. “Mathematician, few Jedi are, of the few, I am.” The carnivorous creature pulled himself onto the table, sitting beside the datacron. He folded his legs under himself and began to meditate, leaving Ekul to stare in amazement.
Arriving back at the cantina had been an exhausting journey. The room they had hired out for a month was small enough for the two of them. With a single bed, and enough room underneath for Ko to sleep, it was perfect for the two that required little to survive. Luxury was meaningless to them, and Ekul oft recited the wisdom of past Jedi. ‘I wear my robe so that I am warm; I carry my lightsaber that I am safe; and I keep enough credits for my next meal, so that I am not hungry. If the Force wants me to have more, it finds a way of letting me know.’
Now, this same room was brimming with the mysteries of the retrieved datacron. Ekul could only hope that such knowledge hidden in its vaults could contain the secret of the cultists, and finally they could report back to the council. During their previous report, they had taken the advice of Hurrikaine, but rather than leave they decided to call for help. The Council was unable to assist, for the Jedi were stretched thin in the Mid Rim during a time of conflict with the emerging Black Suns.
“Near the Outlands, in the midst of the valley, the cult will be found,” Ko spoke with his eyes clenched closed. A deep hum protruding itself from his throat as he focused. “A Dark Lord, they wait for.” The mathematical equations began to dwindle as Ko began to interact with it through the utilisation of the Force. “Siphoning the Force, they are.” Ko’s eyelids rose with shock, his eyes seemed to bulged from out of his head. He unsteadily rose to his feet, “Hurry we must. Little time there is. Coming is a darkness.”
“I don’t understand, what do you mean by a darkness,” Ekul asked, taking a step forward to help Ko down from the table. “The world they will try to corrupt, a dark figurehead they have.”
“So Hurrikaine was right, they do have someone powerful leading them.”
“Lead them he does not, teach them he does. Disorganised is their cult, hard to root out they will be. Rising will be an army, of Sith it is certain.”
“He? I didn’t think we knew who this person was.”
“Informed me, has the datacron,” Ko said, his voice hinting that he was trying to hide something. Ekul made no remark on this, deciding that he knew his place.
Standing before the tomb, Ko and Ekul were greeted by the sight of twenty foot statues. They appeared to be adorning the robes of Jedi, with long thick cloaks that drew up over their scalps and shadowed their facial appearance. They stood before a large cliff-face, where above was the Outlands. Ko ambled through the tremendous archways that dwarfed even Ekul, and under its might Ko appeared nothing more than an ant. Ekul moved to keep up, eyes darting all around as he wondered at its beauty and creation.
A tremble in the earth rocked them, forcing Ekul to adjust his standing as to avoid from falling. Large boulders began to crumble and fall from the roof with a mighty roar. Ko raised his hand, drawing upon the cosmic energies known as the Force. Seconds before the boulders could strike the two, they strafed across the room and slammed into the wall. They had narrowly avoided disaster. Already it seemed like their presence was unwanted. “Carry me, will you,” Ko asked of Ekul. Humble, the taller human fell to a knee and allowed the small creature to cling onto his back.
Ekul raced down the hallway on a cobblestone path. The tomb was wide enough to fit two tanks side by side, and tall enough that a fully grown male Rancor would be unhindered in his movements. The road was straightforward, with no sinister corridors that leeched off from the main hallway. It avoided confusion, and was a welcome sight for Ekul, and no doubt Ko too. Dim blue lights illuminated the path before them, appearing to be nothing more than focusing crystals. Countless statues of Jedi lined the path as they trod ever further.
They came into a large chamber with a dividing chasm. The drop off appeared endless as darkness consumed the fall. A bridge once stood connecting the divide but had since been destroyed by what appeared to be intelligent design. The residue of explosive devices splattered the cobblestone in ash. Ekul stepped to the edge, placing his foot against a loose stone and gently kicking it into the gorge. He waited. Eerie silence dragged on, and there came no sound.
“We’ll have to jump,” he determined, with a nod of agreement from Ko. He took a few steps back, breathing in and out. “Training of the Force, you must remember,” Ko encouraged him, holding his hands tighter as they curled around the collar of Ekul. He took in a sharp breath and pushed forward, and with each step he took the Force swelled within. He found himself nearing the edge, and soon glided over, watching as the darkness passed under him. He landed on the other side with a thump and a thud, coming to a slow halt. He let out his breath, adrenaline coursing through his veins.
Ekul felt the tug of Ko on his tunic, and fell to a knee allowing his master to clamber down onto solid footing. Footsteps echoed in the hallway as a trio of cultists approached to see what the noise was about. When they spied the two Jedi, their immediate instinct was to curl their hands around blackened hilts and activate synthetic focusing crystals. The snap-hiss of three blades whispered down the path, and in turn Ko ignited his own, shortly followed by Ekul. The two yellow blades in contrast to the red was a sight to behold in the low levels of light. They glowed and radiated, casting long shadows across the floors.
“There need not be bloodshed,” Ekul said, lowering his blade and with it; his guard. He stepped forward, hoping to beseech them to surrender, but they did not choose to listen. They raced towards him with fanatical fervour, raising their blades and bringing them down. Ekul brought his blade horizontally, ready to deflect, but he need not. The small body of Ko lunged through the air, swiping past the three cultists and in a single move, skimmed his blade across their legs. They fell in howls of torment and pain, clutching their wounds as they dropped their hilts.
“These aren’t Dark Jedi, or even Sith,” Ekul noticed, kicking their lightsabers towards the edge of the chasm and down into the darkness. He fell to a crouch, observing the three who bit their tongues. “Who do you serve, and what are you doing here,” Ekul asked but as he expected, they refused to answer. “We do not talk to Jedi,” one of the brave few spat. Unable to walk, Ekul and Ko left them in the hallway as they journeyed on into the tomb.
They could hear a sound in resemblance to oxygen being sucked into a vacuum. It was deafening and caused the two to cover their ears. Their deactivated hilts remaining clutched in their balled fists to defend themselves at any given time. They pushed onward, seeing another chamber entrance. Pain shot through the spine of Ekul, he fell, but the quick reactions of Ko saved him from slamming against the cobblestone. The oft tired and exhausted Ekul had never experienced anything like this. His body was without such energy that it brought him physical pain. Yet there was something else to this, he could feel something nearby. A familiar presence.
Ko activated his blade as cultists began to descend upon them from chamber, spewing forth with a hundred ignited blades. It was a harrowing sight to behold, and Ko was forced to stand before the sprawled body of his padawan, outnumbered. They encircled him, taunted and threw curses his way but none yet engaged the small Jedi. Ko turned his wrinkled head about, peering with green eyes as he counted his enemies. Calculating, meditating on what was to happen. His large and floppy ears pricked to a distinct presence, one he had not felt since the night Nodnarb vanished.
Garbed in robes of red and black, the twin of Ekul appeared in-between Ko and his own personal army. Long streaks of black hair were knotted and greasy. He looked to not have bathed in weeks, his eyes sunken deeply. It was then that Ko noticed the orange hinge to his natural brown eyes. “Evil, you have turned too, but victory in it you will not find,” Ko warned him, bringing his hilt tight against his waist and angling the blade vertically. Nodnarb boomed, ”Evil is a word used by the ignorant and the weak. The dark side is about survival. It's about unleashing your inner power. It glorifies the strength of the individual. But you never understood that.”
In a flash, Nodnarb vanished and reappeared bare inches from Ko. The startled small green-skinned creature stumbled back. Nodnarb’s hand flexed, a hilt drawing into his clutches and the snap-hiss echoed. In a single, fell swoop. Ko collapsed. Ekul remain laying, eyes open and his mind conscious of the events but the longer he lingered here, the more he was drained of his energy. He could do nothing, his mind failed him as words were unable to be voiced. He wanted to scream out, to jump onto his feet and whisk Ko away. But whatever sway was holding him down, it was strong. Nodnarb hovered above him, and all turned to black.
Five years later
Two humans awoke Ekul with a startle. His eyes fluttered open, slowly surveying the room around him. Semaj and Dott squatted beside him, all three of them in rags but for a single noticeable difference. Ekul was the only one wearing a collar, a force containment collar. They were in a small grotto that had been carved by the three of them. It was not a personal choice for them to do so, but out of orders from their slave masters.
The Spice Mines of Kessel were hard, and every day another slave went missing, or a group were attacked by energy spiders. It was a dangerous ordeal, and throughout all this time he had maintained both a friendship with the two before him, and a well guarded secret. His lightsaber lay buried under the rock beneath his feet. It would lay there in waiting for when a time may come when he requires it.
“The masters want us on the front again,” Dott said, a doctor and Mandolorian. “An entire crew went missing, things are getting bad,” chipped in Semaj, an officer who held a strong respect for the Imperial movement, but in a place like this, Ekul could call anyone a friend. You needed them to survive, and whilst he found Semaj’s political views outdated and barbaric, he considered him a close ally.
Ekul crawled onto his feet, remaining crouched. The roof hung low and didn’t provide the three enough room to stand. They were forced to crab-walk across the cavern. His brown eyes darted towards a wall, where an etching scribbled into the rock lay in dedication to Ko. ‘Brother my brother they know not what they’ve done. I’ll teach them a lesson when I rain down the sun.’
It was not a vow of revenge, for that was not the Jedi way. Rather, it was a vow of justice. Ekul had steeled himself and resolved himself to such a conclusion. He would escape the confines of this enslavement to bring about justice. He tried to reach out with the force, but there was nothing. There hadn’t been for the last five years. He was entirely cut off by the durasteel collar that tightened around his throat. It regularly injected a liquid that prevented him from accessing the cosmic energies.
For the time being, he eased himself into acknowledging he would do the bidding of others without a word. “We best get to it,” Ekul told the two. They crawled their way out of their shared grotto and into a thinned corridor where slaves tried to push past one another to get to their destination. It was an ants nest of complicated routes that were as confusing as a maze, taking months to master. Ekul got the hand of it, and with Dott and Semaj both living in the mines before Ekul had even arrived, they fluently pushed their way through the thick crowd and towards a turbolift down into the deepest ring of mines.
“Don’t forget, after canteen tonight we have more PT,” Dott said to the two. The elevator was overburdened by people as it dragged its way down. “I never forget, it’s my favourite part of the day,” Semaj commented. “And I’ll remind you we have meditation after that,” Ekul pointed out to the two, brimming with a bright smile. Dott and Semaj both groaned at the thought of meditation. They didn’t like it, but it helped them think quick and react in situations that called for ingenuity. Especially when it involved an energy spider, and as a slave miner, all three of them didn’t have a single weapon to use.
The doors opened. The tunnels were damp. Every once in a while they would pass a tunnel branching off to one side or the other. Ekul peered down each as he passed, but they were quickly swallowed up in a gloom. The lights sent flickering shadows dancing on the walls, expanding and contracting as they moved closer or farther from each other, or as the ceiling rose or fell. At several places they had to crawl with their heads down, but for most of their passage there was ample room.
Ekul heard Dott, who walked in front of him, mutter, “I pray for the day this place burns.” Ekul said nothing, for the mines had an oppressive feeling to him. After some time they came to a large cavern with several tunnels leading out. The gathering of slaves halted, and a slave master ordered guards to be posted. Handheld torches were wedged in the rocks as the slaves received water. Ekul, Dott and Semaj stood with the guard, and Ekul thought a hundred times that shapes moved just outside the fire’s glow.
Soon they were replaced and the three joined the others, who were eating. They were given dried meat and biscuits to eat. They were quick to eat and soon gathered together their gear and started off again. After more walking they entered a series of twisting, turning passages that seemed to slant down. Soon they could hear the sound of water, coming from ahead. As they walked, the sound of rushing water became louder. They entered another cavern, this one natural and larger than the first by several times. The tunnel they had been walking in became a ledge, twenty feet wide, that ran along the right side of the cavern. They all peered over the edge and could see nothing but darkness stretching below. The path rounded a curve in the wall, and when they passed around it, they were greeted with a sight that made them all gasp. Across the cavern, a mighty waterfall spilled over a huge outcropping of stone. From fully three hundred feet above where they stood, it poured into the cavern, crashing down the stone face of the opposite wall to disappear into the darkness below. It filled the cavern with reverberations that made it impossible to hear it striking bottom, confounding any attempt to judge the fall’s height.
Ekul reached out with his mind, a meagre attempt to feel the distance but there was nothing. The collar had forced the Force to abandon him, or had he abandoned the Force. He did not question this, shaking his head to watch the waterfall. Throughout the cascade of luminous colours danced aglow with an inner light. Reds, golds, greens, blues and yellows played among the white foam, falling along the wall, blazing with brief flashes of intense luminosity where the water struck the wall, painting a fairy picture in the darkness.
The Slavemaster signalled for the slaves to resume, and they moved on. Besides the spectacle of the falls, they had been refreshed by spray and cool wind off them, for the caverns were dank and musty. Onward they went, deeper into the mines, past numberless tunnels and passages. After a time, Dott, being the doctor he was, asked Semaj and Ekul how they felt. They both answered that they were fine, though tired.
The band of slaves were led by their slavers deeper into the mines. The bare feet slapping on the stone, the sound echoing down the dark tunnels. They had walked through the morning, taking only a short rest to eat at midday. Ekul felt a strange sensation, as if remembering a cold chill. It had touched him several times over the last hour, and he was worried. Each time he had turned to look behind him. This time Semaj said, “I feel it too, as if something is near.”
They turned into a connecting tunnel, and the slavemasters stood with their hands raised. All movement ceased as the alpha of the slavers listened for something. Ekul and Semaj strained to hear as well, but no sound came to them. Finally the slaver murmured to himself, “I thought I heard . . . but then I guess not. We’ll rest here.”
Ekul, Dott and Semaj found themselves with an odd party around a bright light that was carried by one of the slaves, a Rodian with glistening emerald scales. They turned in for a nap, they needed it for the work to come, and from the journey they had already taken. Ekul drifted off to sleep. Once the hours had begun to pass, when the lights were set to their lowest power performances, he awoke. He felt the chilling sensation that had plagued him earlier. He sat up, cold sweat dripping down his body, and looked around. He could see the guards who were on duty, standing with torches in their hands. Around him he saw the forms of sleeping bodies. The feeling grew stronger for a moment, as if something dreadful was approaching, and he was about to wake up his friends when it passed. It left him tired and wrung out. He lay back down and soon was lost in dreamless sleep.
He awoke cold and stiff. The disruptor pistol-wielding guards were sallying the slaves, and soon they would all leave. Ekul roused Semaj, whilst Dott tended to someone who's wounds were festering from an incident two days back. Semaj protested at being pulled from his dream. They gathered together their meagre provisions, loaded them onto their backpacks, and set off. As they made their way along, Ekul began to experience the icy feeling of the night before. Several times it came and went. Hours passed, and they came to the last great cave. Here the slavers stopped them while they looked into the gloom. Ekul could hear the alpha talking again, “For a moment I thought. . .”
Suddenly the hairs on Ekul’s neck stood up, and the feeling of icy terror swept over him, more horrible than before. “Something is coming!” Ekul cried in warning. The alpha stood stock-still, listening. A faint moan echoed from down another tunnel. Another slaver spoke up, “I can feel it.” Suddenly the sound repeated, closer, a chilling moan that echoed off the vaulted ceiling, making its origins uncertain. “By the force!” the alpha shouted, “It’s a space wraith!”
The guards rushed to encircle the slaves, pushing them forward, as they moved them into the center of the cavern. They quickly formed a circle around the frantic slaves, ridden with horror. Weapons not already drawn were taken from their holster. A guard placed himself in front of Ekul, forcing them back near the group. They were suddenly handed guns, but held them uncertainly. Semaj could feel his heart pound, and Ekul was bathed in a cold sweat. Somewhere along the line Dott had gone missing. The terror that gripped Ekul had not increased since the alpha had put a name to it, but it had not lessened either.
They heard the sharp hiss of intaken breath and looked to the right. Before the soldier who had made the sound, a figure loomed out of the darkness: a shifting man-shape, darker blackness against black, with two glowing, red-coal lights where eyes should be. The alpha roared, “Keep close. You can’t kill it, but they don’t like our guns either. Don’t let it touch you, it’ll take control of your body. It’s how they feed.”
It approached them slowly, as if having no need to hurry. It stopped for a moment, as if inspecting the defence before it. The wraith let out another low, long moan, sound like all the terror and hopelessness of the galaxy given voice. Suddenly one of the guards opened fire. A beam of yellow energy strafed across the wraith. A shrill moan erupted from the creature, and shrank away. Then with sudden speed it struck out at the guard. An armlike shadow extended from its body, and the guard shrieked as he crumpled to the ground.
The slaves broke, terrified by the presence of the wraith. Guards were knocked to the ground, and confusion reigned. Ekul lost sight of the wraith for a moment, being more concerned with the stampede. He found himself dodging through the wave of bodies. The alpha pointed to a tunnel, on the other side of the cavern from where they had entered. “Quick you idiots.” Keeping close together, the slavers started toward the tunnel. Bodies lay on the floor. Two slaves as well as the fallen guards. Dropped handheld torches flickered, giving the scene a nightmarish quality, as the black shape closed upon the party.
Ekul found himself trapped as the party raced on ahead of him. He saw Semaj and Dott with the group, glancing back at him. The pit of Ekul’s stomach churned. Between them was the wraith. “Ekul!” ripped from Dott’s throat, followed by a string of choked curses as he stifled tears. Dott and Semaj halted for a brief second, and it was Semaj who was the voice of reason. “We can’t stop. We’ll die if we try and help him.” The firm hand of Semaj clutched on Dott’s shoulder as he tore him away from the scene.
Ekul saw the pained expression on Dott’s face as Semaj pulled his friend away. He looked for a way to circle around the wraith, but it was too close to the passage his companions were taking. As the slavers escaped up the tunnel, Ekul saw the wraith turn toward him. It started to approach, and he hesitated for a moment, then ran toward a different tunnel. Shadows and light danced madly on the walls as Ekul fled down the passage, his footfalls echoing in the gloom. His handheld torch was held in a firm left grip, the pistol in his right. He looked over his shoulder and saw the two glowing red eyes pursuing him, though they seemed not to be gaining. With grim determination he thought, if it catches me, it will catch the fastest runner in all of Rendili. A bold statement that echoed the courage of a young Ekul who stood before a group of bullies.
He lengthened his strides into a long, easy lope, saving strength and wind. He knew that if he had to turn and face the creature, he would surely die. The initial fear lessened, and now he felt a cold clarity holding his mind, the cunning reason of a prey knowing it is hopeless to fight. All his energy was turned toward fleeing. He would try to lose the creature any way possible. He ducked into a side corridor and hurried along it, checking to see if the wraith would follow. The glowing red eyes appeared at the entrance to the tunnel he had turned into, following him. The distance between them seemed to have increased. The thought that many might have died at the thing’s hand because they were too frightened to run crossed his mind. The wraith’s strength lay in the numbing terror it caused.
Another corridor and another turn. Still the wraith followed. Ahead lay a large cavern, and Ekul found himself entering the same hall in which the wraith had attacked the party. He had circled around and entered through another tunnel. Racing across the floor, he saw the bodies of slaves and guards lying in his path. He paused long enough to grab fresh batteries, for his were nearly spent, and transferred the pack.
He looked backward to see the cosmic creature closing on him and started off again. Hope briefly flickered in his breast, for if he could pick the proper corridor, he might catch up to the others. He picked what he thought was the proper one, though he was disorientated he couldn’t be sure. The wraith let out a howl of rage at its prey’s eluding it again, and followed. Ekul felt terror bordering on elation's his long legs stretched out, eating up the distance ahead of him. He gained his second wind and set a steady pace for himself. Never had he run so well, but then never had he possessed such a reason.
After what seemed an endless time of running, he found himself coming to a series of side tunnels, set closely together. He felt hope die, for this was not the right tunnel. Picking one at random, he turned into a passage and found more tunnels close by. Cutting through several more, he turned as quickly as possible, weaving his way through a maze of passages. Ducking around a wall formed between two such tunnels, he stopped briefly and caught his breath. He listened for a moment and heard only the sound of his pounding heart. He had been too busy to look behind and was unsure of the wraith’s whereabouts.
Suddenly a shriek of rage echoed faintly down the corridors, sounding far off. Ekul sank to the floor of the tunnel and felt his body go limp. Another shriek echoed more faintly, and Ekul felt certain that the wraith had lost his trail and was moving off in another direction. A sense of relief flooded through him, nearly causing him to laugh giddily. He sat up and took stock. If he could find his way back to the dead guards, he would at least have some food and water. But as he stood up, he realised that he had no notion which way the cavern lay. Cursing himself for not counting the turns as he had made them, he tried to remember the general pattern he had followed. He had turned mostly to the right, he reminded himself, so if he retracted his steps mostly to the left, he should be able to find one of the many tunnels that led to the chamber. Looking cautiously around the first corner, Ekul set off, searching his way through the maze of passages.
After an unknown time had passed, Ekul stopped and looked around in the second large cavern he had come to since he had fled the wraith. Like the first, this cavern was devoid of slaves and guards - and the hoped-for food and water. Ekul opened his bag and took out a small biscuit he had hoarded to nibble while walking. It gave him little relief from his hunger. When he was done, he set off again, trying to find some clue to the way out. He knew he had only a short time before his torch ultimately died, but he refused to simply sit and wait for a nameless death in the dark.
Soon he could hear the sound of water echoing through the tunnel. Hurrying forward, his thrust spurring him on, he entered a large cavern. The biggest yet, as far as he could tell. Far away he could hear the faint roar of the falls, but in which direction he couldn’t be sure. Somewhere high in the darkness lay the path that they had taken hours earlier. Ekul felt his heart sink, he had moved deeper into the earth than he had thought. The tunnel widened to a landing of some sort and disappeared beneath what appeared to be a large lake, constantly lapping against the sides of the cavern, filling it with muted echoes. Quickly he fell to his knees and drank. The water tasted rich with minerals, but was clear and fresh.
Sitting back on his launches, he looked about. The landing was packed earth and sand and appeared to be fashioned rather than natural. Ekul guessed the slaves and slavers might have used boats to cross the underground lake, but could only older what lay on the other side. Then the thought hit him that perhaps someone other than the slaves had used boats to across the lake, and he felt fear again.
To his left he spied a pile of wood, nestled against a junction of the landing and the cavern wall. Crossing to it, he pulled out several pieces and started a small fire. The wood was mostly timber pieces, used to shore up the tunnels, to cut expenditures on metals, but mixed in were several branches and twigs. They must have been brought down by the falls from above, where the river enters the mines, he thought.
Underneath the pile he found some weeds growing. Wondering at the plants’ ability to grow without sunlight, the man was nevertheless thankful, for after tearing them apart, he was able to fashion some crude torches with the weeds wrapped around some driftwood. He tied them in a bundle, using his belt, forcing him to give up the one thing that was keeping his pants held to his thinned waist. The meals had not been kind to his body over the years.
At least, he thought, I’ll have a little more light. Some extra time to see where he was going was comforting. He threw some bigger timber pieces on a small fire, and soon it was roaring into brightness. Abruptly the cavern was glowing with sparkling light, as some sort of mineral, or crystal, caught the light and reflected it to be caught and reflected again.
It was a glittering, sparkling rainbow of colours cascading over the walls and ceiling, giving the entire cavern a fairy-like quality as far as the eye could follow. Ekul stood in awe for a moment, drinking in the sight, for he knew he would never be able to explain in words what he was seeing. The thought struck him that he might be the only living being to ever have witnessed the display.
It was hard to tear his eyes from the glory of the vision, but Ekul forced himself. He used the extra illumination to examine the area he was in. There was nothing beyond the landing, but he did spy another tunnel off to the left, leaving the cavern at the far end of the sand. He gathered together his torches and walked along the landing. As he reached the tunnel, his fire died down, the dry timber being quickly consumed. Another glorious vision assaulted his senses, for the gemlike walls and ceiling continued to glimmer and glow. Again he stood silently watching the display. Slowly the sparkling dimmed, until the cavern was again dark, except for his torch and the quickly dying fire’s red glow.
He had to stretch to reach the other tunnel, but made it without dropping his pistol or torches, or getting his feet wet. Turning away from the cavern, he resumed his journey. He made his way for hours, the torch burning lower. He lit one of the new ones and found that it gave a satisfactory light. He was still frightened, but felt good about keeping his head under these conditions and was sure Master Ko would approve of his actions.
After walking for a while, he came to an intersection. He found the bones of a creature in the dust, its fate unknowable. He spotted the tracks of some other small creature leading away, but they were faint with age. With no other notion than the need for a clear path, Ekul followed them. Soon they also vanished in the dust.
He had no means to reckon time, but the thought that it must be well into night by now. There was a timeless feeling to these passages, and he felt lost beyond recovery. Fighting down what he recognised as budding panic, he continued to walk. He kept his mind on pleasant memories of home, and dreams of the future. He would find a way out, and he would become a great Jedi. He followed the tunnel downward. This area seemed different from the other caverns and tunnels, its manner of fashioning unlike the others. He thought that Dott could tell if this was so, and who had done the work.
He entered another cavern and looked around. Some of the tunnels that entered the cavern were barely tall enough for a man to walk through upright. Others were broad enough for a group of slaves to walk through ten abreast. He hoped this mean’t the slavers had fashioned the smaller tunnels and he could follow one upward, back to the surface. Looking around, he spied a likely ledge to rest upon, within jumping distance. He crossed to it and tossed up his pistol and the bundle of torches.
He then gently tossed up his torch, so as to not put it out, and pulled himself up. It was large enough to sleep upon without rolling off. Four feet up the wall was a small hole, about three feet in diameter. Looking down it, Ekul could see that it opened up quickly to a size large enough to stand in and stretched away into blackness. Satisfied that nothing lurked immediately above him, and that anything coming from below would awaken him, Ekul pulled his tunic around him and rested his head on his hand, and put out the light. He was frightened, but the exhaustion of the day lulled him quickly to sleep. He lay in fitful dreams of red glowing eyes chasing him down endless black corridors, terror washing over him. He ran until he came to a place marble place where he could rest, feeling safe, under the protection of the Jedi Order.
He started awake to some nameless call. He had no idea of how long he had slept, but he felt as if it had been long enough for his body to run again, if need be. He felt in the dark for his torch and started a glow. Quickly bringing the torch close, he blew the spark into flame. Looking about, he found the cavern unchanged. A faint echoing of his own movements was all he heard. He realised he could have a chance of survival if he kept moving and found a way up. He stood and was about to climb down from the ledge when a faint noise sounded from the hole above.
He peered down it but could see nothing. Again there came a faint sound, and Ekul strained to hear what it was. It was almost like the tread of footsteps, but he could not be sure. He nearly shouted, but held off, for there was no assurance it was his friends returned to find him. His imagination provided many other possibilities, all of them unpleasant. He thought for a moment, then decided. Whatever was making the noise might lead him out of the mines, even if only by providing a trail to follow. With no other option appearing more attractive, he pulled himself up through the small hole, entering the new tunnel.
Dott stopped by the dead slaves, pausing only long enough to pick up food, water and a torch. Entering the tunnel where he had last seen Ekul, Dott searched about for signs of his friend’s passing. The dust was thin, but here and there he could make out a slight disturbance, perhaps a footprint. Following, the Mandalorian came to even dustier passages, where his friend’s footfalls were clearly marked. Hurrying, he followed them.
Dott came back to the same cavern, after a few minutes, and cursed. He felt little hope of finding his friend’s tracks again among all the disturbance caused by the fight with the wraith. Pausing briefly, he set out to examine each tunnel leading out of the cavern for signs. After an hour he found a single footprint heading away from the cavern, through a tunnel to the right of where he had entered the first time. Moving up it, he found several more prints, set wide apart, and decided his friend must have been running. Hurrying on, he saw more tracks, as the passage became dustier.
Dott came to the cavern on the lake and nearly lost the trail again, until he saw the tunnel near the edge of the landing. He slogged through the water, pulling himself up into the passage, and saw Ekul’s tracks. His faint torchlight was insufficient to illuminate the crystals in the cavern. But even if it had, he would not have paused to admire the sight, so intent was he on finding his friend.
Downward he followed, never resting. He knew that Ekul had long before outdistanced the wraith. There were signs that most of his journey was at a slower pace: footprints in the dust showed he had been walking, and the cold campfire showed he had stopped. But there were other terrors besides the wraith down here, just as dreadful.
Dott again lost the trail in the last cavern, finding it only when he spied the ledge above where the tracks had ended. He had difficulty climbing to it, but when he did, he saw the blackened spot where his friend had snuffed out his torch. Here Ekul must have rested. Dott looked around the empty cavern. The air did not move this deep in the mines. Even Dott, who was used to such things, found this an unnerving place. He looked down at the black mark on the ledge. But how long did Ekul stay, and where did he go?
Dott saw the hole in the wall and, since no tracks led away from the ledge, decided that was the way Ekul must have gone. He climbed through and followed the passage until it came to a larger one, heading downward, into the bowels of the mine. Dott followed what seemed to be a group of tracks, as if a band of slaves had come this way. Ekul’s tracks were mixed in, and he was worried, for his friend could have been along this way before or after the others.
The tunnel wound downward and soon changed into a hall fashioned from great blocks of marble fitted closely together and polished smooth. In all his years he had never seen its like in the spice mines. The passage levelled out, and Dott walked along quietly. The tracks had vanished, for the stone was hard and free of dust. High over-head, Dott could make out the first of several crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling by chains. There appeared to be no means to lower them, and wondered how they could be lit. The sound of his bare feet echoed hollowly off the high ceiling.
At the far end of the passage he spied a large set of doors, fashioned from wood, with bands of iron and a great lock. They were ajar, and light could be seen coming through. Without a sound, Dott crept close to the doors and peered in. He gaped at what he saw. Sitting on a pile of cushions and gems the size of a man’s fist, was Ekul, eating what looked to be a fish. Opposite him crouched a figure that caused Dott to doubt his eyes.
A head the size of a small speedster rested on the floor. Scales of a deep amethyst color covered it, and the long, supple neck led back to a huge body extending into the gloom of the giant temple. Enormous diaphanous wings were folded across its back, their drooping tips touching the floor. Two pointed ears sat atop its head, separated by a delicate-looking crest, flecked with silver. Its long muzzle was set in a wolflike grin, showing fangs as long as vibroswords, and a long forked tongue flicked out for a moment.
Dott fought down the overwhelming and rare urge to run, for Ekul was sitting, and to all appearances sharing a meal, with a Duinuogwuin. He stepped forward, and his feet slapped on the stone floor. Ekul turned at the sound, and the Duinuogwuin’s great head came up. Giant ruby eyes regarded the small intruder. Ekul jumped to his feet, an expression of joy upon his face. “Dott!” he scrambled down from the pile of wealth and comfort, rushing to the side of his friend.
The creatures voice rumbled through the great hal, echoing like thunder through a valley. “Welcome, Mandalorian. Thy friend hath told me that thou wouldst not forsake him.” Ekul stood before his friend, asking a dozen questions, while Dott’s senses reeled. Behind his friend, one of the most secretive and mysterious species in all of the galaxy sat quietly observing the exchange, and Dott was having trouble maintaining the equanimity that was normally his.
Making little sense of Ekul’s questions, Dott gently pushed him to one side to better see the Duinuogwuin. “I came alone,” he said softly to Ekul. “The others didn’t want to stay in the mines a second longer.”
Ekul said, “I understand.”
“What manner of the Force is this?” asked Dott softly.
The Duinuogwuin chuckled, and the room rumbled with the sound. “Come into my home, Mandalorian, and I will tell thee.” The great creatures head returned to the floor, his eyes still resting above Dott’s head. He approached slowly, clenching his fists unconsciously at the ready. The Duinuogwuin laughed, a deep, echoing sound, like water cascading down a canyon. “Stay thy hand, small warrior, I’ll not harm thee or thy friend.”
Dott let his guard down. He looked around and saw that they were standing in a vast hall, fashioned out of the living rock of the mines. It was reminiscent of the Jedi Temple of Coruscant, as though he had carved it in its liking. On all its walls could be seen large tapestries and banners, faded and torn; something about their look set Dott’s teeth on edge, for they were as alien as they were ancient. At the far end of the hall, a seat of meditation rested on a dais. All was covered with the dust of ages.
Elsewhere in the hall lay piles of scriptures, crystals, armour and cubic devices that held inlaid enamels with great craft. Dott sat upon a lifetime’s riches, absently moving it around to make as comfortable a seat as was possible. Ekul sat next to him. He didn’t show it, but he felt the need to calm himself. “Ekul, how did you get here?”
Ekul seemed unmindful of the Duinuogwuin, and Dott found this reassuring. If the great beast had wished to harm them, he could have done so with little effort. Ekul finished the fish he had been eating and said, “I wandered for awhile before going to sleep.”
“Yeah, I found it.”
“I woke up to the sound of something and found tracks that led here.”
“I saw those too, I thought they might have been the other miners.”
“They weren’t. They were a bunch of Verpine. I followed them until I found this place.”
“That was a dangerous thing to do.”
“I know, but I was getting desperate to find a way out. I thought that they might lead me out of the mines. I was hoping to go home, back to my Order.”
“A bold plan, Ekul,” said Dott, an approving look in his eyes. “So, what happened to them?”
The Duinuogwuin spoke. “I sent them far away, Mandalorian, for they were not company I would choose.”
“Sent them away? How?”
The creature raised his head a little, and Dott could see that his scales were faded and dull in places. The red eyes were filmed over slightly, and suddenly Dott knew the Duinuogwuin was blind.
“I am one of the last Jedi Masters from the New Sith Wars. It is by thy Force I can see thee, Mandalorian, for the light hath long been denied me. I took the foul creatures and sent them far into the mines. They do not know how they came to that place, nor remember this place.” Dott began to mule over what he was hearing. Ekul spoke up. “Ir’cara’suhl has been kind to me, Dott. He let me stay until you found me, he knew that someone was coming. He gave me some smoked fish to eat, and a place to sleep.”
Dott studied the creature and said, “Thank you for helping my friend. I owe you, on my honour as a Mandalorian.”
“Thy thanks are welcome, Dott of the Mando’ade. I am glad of thy coming also. It is only a little longer that I could shelter our friend, for I summoned Ekul to my side by the Force, so he might sit my deathwatch.”
“What?” exclaimed Ekul.
“It is given to our species to know the hour of our death, Ekul. The rest of my kind will travel to the Graveyard of Dragons, but we both know I cannot make the journey. My time is close. I am old, even by the measure of my people, and have led a full life. I am content for it to be so. It is our way. I will become one with the Force”
Dott looked troubled. “Still, I find it strange to sit here hearing you say it.”
“Why, Mandalorian? is it not true with thine own people that when one dieth, it is accounted how well he lived, rather than how long?”
“You have the truth of that.”
“Then why should it matter if the death hour is known or not? It is still the same. I have had all that one of my kind could hope for: health, mates, young, prosperity and rest. These are all I have ever wanted, and I have had them.”
“It’s a wise thing to know what is wanted, and wiser still to know when it is achieved,” said Ekul, “My master told me that.”
“True. And still wiser to know when it is unachievable, for then striving is folly. It is the way of my people to sit the deathwatch, but there are none of my kind near enough to call. I would ask thee to wait for my passing before thy leaving. Wilt thou?”
Dott looked to Ekul, who bobbed his head in agreement. “We’ll do it. Though it’s not a thing that will make us happy.”
The Duinuogwuin closed his eyes; Ekul and Dott could see they were beginning to swell shut. “Thanks to thee, Dott, and to thee, Ekul.”
The creature lay there and spoke to them of his life, flying the skies of the galaxy, of far lands where he brought peace and order in the name of the Force and the Jedi. His mighty battles in the New Sith Wars. Tales of wonder and awe were told, long into the night.
When his voice began to falter, the Jedi Master said, “Once a man came to this place, a Dark Jedi of great purpose. He could not be turned from this place by my power, nor could I vanquish him. For three days we battled, his arts against mine, and when done, he had bested me. I thought he would slay me and carry off my riches, but instead he stayed, for his only thought was to learn my knowledge, so that it would not be lost when I passed.”
Ekul sat in wonder, for as much as he knew about the Force from Ko, he thought this a marvellous thing. In his mind’s eye he could see the titanic struggle and the great powers working. “For three years he stayed with me. He learned all I could teach, for I could deny him not. But he taught as well, and his wisdom gave me great comfort. It was because of him that I learned the Force is neither black or white, but a single entity. It was because of him that I learned to respect all life, no matter how mean of character they may be, and vowed to spare any that came to me. He also had suffered at the hands of others, as I had in the wars with the Sith, for much I cherished was lost. This man had the art of healing the wounds of the heart and mind, and when he left, I felt the victor not the vanquished.” He paused and swallowed, and Ekul could see that speech was coming difficult to him. “If my own kin could not have attended my deathwatch, I would as soon have him sit here, for he was the first of thy kind, Ekul, that I would count friend.”
“Who was he?” Ekul asked.
“He was called Cataris.”
Dott looked thoughtful. “I’ve heard his name. I was told he was just a myth.”
“A myth he is not, Dott,” said the great beast, thickly. “Still, it may be that he is dead, for he dwelt with me ages ago.” The Duinuogwuin paused. “My time is now close, so I must finish. I would ask a boon of thee, Ekul.” He moved his head slightly and said, “In yon box is a gift from Cataris, to be used at this time. It is a rod fashioned from the very Force. He left it so that when I die no bones will be left for scavengers to pick over. Wilt thou bring it here?”
Ekul went to the indicated chest. He opened it to discover a black metal rod lying upon a blue velvet cloth. He picked up the rod and found it surprisingly heavy for its size. He carried it over to the rare sentient. The Duinuogwuin spoke, his words nearly unintelligible, for his tongue was swollen. “In a moment, touch the rod to me, Ekul, for then will I end.”
“It will give me no pleasure to see your end, my friend.”
“Before that I have one last thing to tell. In a box next to the other is a gift for thee. Thou mayest take whatever else here pleaseth thee, for I will have no use for any of it. But of all in this temple, that in the box is what I wish thee to have. Take my blade, and become the Knight I know thy can become. He tried to move his head towards Ekul, but could not. “Ekul, thanks to thee, for spending my last with me. Thy heart is good.” He drew a deep breath, and Ekul could hear it rattle in his throat. “Now Ekul.”
Ekul extended the rod and lightly touched the creature on the head with it. At first nothing happened. Ir’cara’suhl said softly, “It was Cataris’ last gift.” Suddenly a soft golden light began to form around the creature. A faint humming could be heard, as if the walls of the hall reverberated with fey music. The sound increased as the light grew brighter and began to pulse with energy. Ekul and Dott watched as the discoloured patches faded with his scales. His hide shone with a violet sparkle, and the film started to lift from his eyes. He slowly raised his head, and they knew he could again see the hall around him. His crest stood erect, and his wings lifted, showing the rich silver sheen underneath. The yellowed teeth became brilliant white, and his faded black claws shone like polished ebony as he stood upright, lifting his head high.
Dott said softly, “That is the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen.”
Slowly the light grew in intensity as the Duinuogwuin returned to the image of his youthful power. He pulled himself to his full, impressive height, his crest dancing with silver lights. The creature threw back his head, a youthful vigorous motion, and with a shout of joy sent a powerful blast of cosmic energies up to the high vaulted ceiling. With a roar like a hundred trumpets he shouted, “I thank thee, Cataris. It is a princely gift indeed.”
Then the strangely harmonic thrumming changed in tone, becoming more insistent, louder. For a brief instant both Dott and Ekul thought a voice could be heard among the pulsing tones, a deep, hollow echo saying, “You are welcome, friend.” Ekul felt wetness of his face, and touched it. Tears of joy from the Duinuogwuin’s sheer beauty were running down his cheeks. The creatures great amethyst wings unfolded, as if he were about to launch himself into flight. The shimmering light became so bright, Dott and Ekul could barely stand to look, though they could not pull their eyes from the spectacle. The sound in the room grew to a pitch so loud, dust fell from the ceiling upon their heads, and they could feel the floor shake. The Duinuogwuin launched himself upward, wings extended, then vanished in a blinding flash of cold white light. Suddenly the room was as it had been and the sound was gone.
The emptiness in the cavern felt oppressive after the mysterious beast vanished, and Ekul looked at Dott. “We better leave, there’s nothing here for us.” Dott looked thoughtful. “Agreed, but you shouldn’t forget what he left you.” Dott crossed over to the box their friend had identified and allowed Ekul to open it. He reached in and pulled out a single, white hilt. His thumb slid down the smooth craftwork, knowing it was the creation of a true and powerful Master. His thumb ignited the blade with a snap-hiss, and a golden blade shone forth with a hum. Dott watched him and said, “Take it, Ekul. He said it was yours.”
“I don’t deserve it. It belongs to a Master, not a Padawan.”
“I’m thinking he has scant use for it now, Ekul. He gave it to you, and it’s yours to do as you will, but I think that there is something special to them. Maybe he had a purpose for you.”
Ekul thought for a moment, he twisted his wrist and sliced the force containment colour on his neck. He then quickly deactivated the lightsaber and held it firmly in his grip. He knew the Force wouldn’t come back to him immediately, but it would in a few short hours. He was free once again. Dott thought he saw something in the way his friend stood and held the hilt in one hand. He didn’t look at ease, it was a grand hilt, but he would come to wield it as it was mean’t to be held.
“I don’t think I should take anything else, Dott. I suppose that sounds strange. All this knowledge, it doesn’t belong to me.”
“You’re right. I don’t want nothing of his riches.”
With a backward glance at the hall, Ekul remarked, “Though there will be nights to come when I will wonder at the wisdom of that. I might return someday. Now, let’s a find a way off this pile of rock.” They set off and soon were in tunnels Dott knew well, taking them back towards the turbolifts.
Dott gripped Ekul’s arm in silent warning. Ekul knew enough not to speak. He also felt the same alarm he had experienced just before the wraith had attacked the day before. But this time it was almost physically felt. The creature was near. Dott quickly switched off the torch. Ekul’s eyes widened in suden astonishment, for instead of the expected blackness, he saw faintly the figure of Dott moving slowly forward. Without thought he said, “Dott, it’s ba-“ Dott turned, and suddenly a black form loomed up at his back. “Behind you!” shouted Ekul. Dott spun to confront the wraith, instinctively he raised his hands to shield himself. The wraith struck at the Mandalorian, and only a lifetime of battle-trained reflexes had saved him. He leapt aside out of danger. The creature howled in rage at his escape. Then Ekul was upfront, the snap-hiss of his new blade echoed in the tunnels and corridors. The golden light of the blade showered the wraith in its glow, and he lashed out with the legendary weapon of the ancient Duinougwuin. The creature screamed as the blade struck its form. Blue-green light sprang about the shaft of the plasmatic blade, and the creature retreated, wailing in agony.
“Stay behind me,” shouted Ekul. “I might be able to drive it off.” Dott began to obey his friend. The wraith seemed to hesitate, then moved towards Ekul. He raised his blade, readying to strike. With a sound of utter terror, the wraith turned and fled. Dott glanced at Ekul, and something he saw made him hesitate as Ekul seemed to come to an awareness of himself. “Why did you do that?” Dott asked, turning on the light. “I don’t know.” Feeling suddenly self-conscious, he said, “But it worked. The thing left.”
“At least it worked,” agreed Dott, placing the torch in the direction of Ekul and studying him for a moment. “I think the lightsaber was too much for it.” Dott said nothing, but he knew that wasn’t the case. The creature had fled in fear of something else. Then another thought struck Dott. “How did you know to warn me it was behind me?”
“I saw it.”
Dott turned to look at Ekul with open astonishment. “You saw it? How? The light was off.”
“I was trying to tell you. I have it back. I can feel it. The Force.” Dott switched the torch off again and stood up. Moving a few feet away, he said, “Where am I now?”
Without hesitation Ekul came to stand before him, placing a hand upon his shoulder. “Here.”
Dott didn’t turn the light back on. His eyes were adjusted to the darkness of the mines from years of slaving away. “We can move more quickly if I don’t have to worry about what you can and cant see.” He forced a note of cheeriness into his voice. “And despite there being no two finer warriors, it’s best if we don’t announce our presence with that light. The verpine being in the mines makes me uncomfortable. If one of them was brave enough to risk going into the slaving mines, there might be others. That wraith may be terrified of your new toy, but twenty or so verpine might not be as impressed.”
Ekul could find nothing to say, so they started moving off into the darkness. Three times they stopped and hid while hurrying groups of the insectoid creatures passed nearby. From their dark vantage point they could see that many of those who passed harborer wounds or were aided by their kinsmen as they limped along. After the last group was gone, Dott turned to Ekul and said, “Not since I’ve been working these mines have I seen a verpine brave enough to risk coming in here.”
Ekul said, “They look pretty beat up. They have women and children with them, and they’re carrying a lot of stuff, too. They might be running from something.”
Dott nodded. “They are all moving away from the direction of the turbolifts. I don’t know what they’re heading towards, I’ve never been this far down until today. We better hurry up and find our way off this rock.”
They were both exhausted when they reached the turbolifts five days later. The halls were empty, and there were signs of a battle. They walked unharassed through the graveyard that had once been the notorious Spice Mines of Kessel. Even Ekul couldn’t detect any lifeforms but their own. They took a secondary turbolift to the surface, the first time they would reach the topside of the planet in the last five years for Ekul, and Force knows how long for Dott. It was empty of slaves or slavers, but there were deserted freighters. Together they crumpled to the ground, unknowing of the fate of Semaj and the others, but the sheer joy of freedom overwhelmed them. What light is to the eyes, what air is to the lungs, what love is to the heart, liberty is to the soul of these two men.
“Ah, it’s good to be back”, the tall figure of Ekul spoke aloud, standing on the pavement overlooking an otherwise unknown spaceport. He wore a set of black tunic and trousers with a cloak that bagged around. His head was entirely shaven. A large nose bulged out from his head, his large and thick lips slapped together as he hummed to himself. His brown beady eyes frowned in thought. He began to make his winding way down into the town. Without a care in the world.
“First order of business!” he shouted into the twilight sky, as if a drill sergeant rounding off dot points. "Find a ship. . . Second order of business! . . Find someone to fly it" he marched into the outskirts of town. A few crooks shifted in the alleys, watching him with hungry eyes. A merchant called out to him, attempting to sell his wares. Children ran past, throwing clumps of snow that had only just fallen the day before. He smiled and continued to trot on his way into the town. He was going to find himself a ship and a pilot.
Ekul hobbled along, gazing at the various fringers that stood about. He spotted a unique individual. A fair skinned, blonde haired and grey eyed young man. His teeth were disturbingly clean and a blazing white, none were disordered. His smile was constant and halted for no one but itself. His body was average at best, maybe a slight taller than most, but nothing out of place. He recognised his clothing, something he rarely saw. A Keshiri, but he was clearly Human. Strange. He wore a long, blue jacket with gold trim and shoulder lapels. White breeches, knee high black boots and a great hat to top it all off. Quite the sight, but something about his constant grin was off-putting, so he dismissed Lysle of the Hydian Way with a wave.
That is when he spotted someone else. Someone he hadn"t seen in many a year. Ajay Jaheim were one of the few Sith Hunters still alive, and a Shadow. They were padawans together, a long time ago. He was of skin as dark as night, his hair was in matted coils otherwise known as dreadlocks, falling down past his shoulders. He wore baggy clothes of vibrant hues of purple and emerald green. He smiled at Ekul, having spotted him. His teeth were replaced with various silver and gold. His ears dangled low from heavy earrings and a neck brace sat around his neck, elongating it. He lumbered his way over, his shoulders sagging with each step. At his hip swayed a series of lightsaber hilts.
"It has been far too long." Ajay started, looking up and down Ekul, appraising him. "Everyone thinks you’re dead. Even the archives have listed you as dead."
"It"s a long story, but I need to get back to the temple as soon as possible."
"Tell me the story, and I might take you there."
"Might? what do you mean might?" Ekul frowned, shocked.
"Look, I’m not a Jedi anymore. I was thrown out."
"What happened?"
"I went after your brother, even after the council denied me. They thought I was too close to you and Nodnarb, and therefore a liability."
“I don’t think it was fair to kick you out.”
“You tell them that. Now, where have you been all these years?”
“Spices Mines on Kessel. I escaped two months ago, but I’ve been stuck on this planet since.”
"Yeah well, Ekul. You still ain’t getting a ship from me. I’m sorry pal, I’m not heading back there, but I’m sure you can find someone else.”
"I"ll play you for it. . " Ekul smirked and Ajay halted. He thought for a moment, and then crossed his legs and sat down. Ekul followed suit, knowing full well he had pulled him in. Ajay was a gambling addict, whenever the chance, no matter the bet, he’d take it. He was good too, even without the Force. Ekul wasn’t, but he had his own tricks, and knew Ajay wouldn’t use the Force to manipulate the chances. Ajay reached into his bag and took out a set of cards. He motioned to take the cards and he began to shuffle. He gave himself four cards, and Ekul four. A small crowd of mixed bored smugglers, bounty hunters and general rift-raft gathered. Not many could see much as the crowd grew too thick, but it was clear the match was tense. Were one to peak through the squashed shoulders, during the last draw of a card, Ekul lifted a King of Hearts, but almost too quick to notice, as fast as a blink, the card morphed into an Ace of Spades. He threw down the Ace of Spades and the crowd gasped. Ajay cursed. "What the Force do you think you’re doing Ekul! Cheating me!" he threw the cards at Ekuls face, but he kept his cool and continued to sit there, acting dumbfounded. The pirate stood himself up, ready to launch himself into a tirade, he eyed the crowd that seemed to agree that Ekul didn’t cheat. They were under some sort of enchantment. The pirate growled and then bowed his head “You've got yourself a ship.”
Elsewhere, two weeks later . . .
A lone aircraft drifted through space. Long metal tubes attached to beams retracted from the ship and down towards a small rock, gripping it. “Captain,” Lt. Michael Peters, Communications Officer, called out to the commanding officer “I'm picking up a signal. Not ours, nor the station. Heck, I don't think it's even - Oh god.” It took only a millisecond for it to register in Captain Joseph Hassals head. With clear desperation he screamed to the navigator officer “Get us out of here! Evasive menouvers!” The ship twisted and turned, the rock the metal tendrils held detached itself and drifted back away from them. The civilian mining ship was not fit for battle, not against pirates, not against scavengers, and least of all; Sith. Joseph ran to a nearby station, gazing over the shoulder of the petty officer to peer through a camera. It showed the asteroid belt, but there was a dark cloud that loomed overhead. “90 degrees.” The camera shifted and was now facing directly upward, staring straight into the heart of a 1.7 kilometre long Star Destroyer. The ship had no chance. Purple plasma illuminated the darkness of space as thousands of turrets fired their molten balls. The small mining ship exploded almost instantaneously. There were no survivors.
At the Temple . . .
On Coruscant, his feet padding against the smooth stone surface as he entered the Great Hall. It no longer reminded him of the fateful night his brother vanished, it only reminded him of a friend. That friend had told him the greatest mysteries of the Force, and the deadliest of battles during a war that had existed two thousand years ago. It was mind boggling. Ekul was to meet with the council, when the presence of Nrahsol emerged between the pillars. Her long grey robes dragged behind her as the Lore Keeper hurried towards him. She was shocked and pleasantly surprised to find him alive after all these years. “I can’t believe it,” she said perhaps too loud, some Knights and Padawans turned to see what the disturbance was. “Sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t think I would see you ever again. Where have you been? Wait, no, forget that. I have something I need to share with you. It’s about your brother.” She turned her back to him, expecting him to follow. Ekul spoke up as he followed, “I’ve been on Kessel. In the slave mines.”
“Where’s Ko?” she inquired, glancing back over her shoulder innocently.
“With the Force.”
“Oh. I-I’m sorry for your loss. He was a great Master.”
“Thanks,” Ekul said. “But what’s wrong?”
“Your brother," she said, "We've found him."