Location: The Hall of Knowledge
Equipment: Jedi Padawan robes, Lightsaber, Hololink
Engaging: [member="Micah"]
Jerek never thought he would ever see it again. He never thought he would breathe its musty air again, hear the breeze blowing through its trees, feel the meadow grasses crumple beneath his feet. He never thought he would return home. To the world of his youth. To the world of his training.
To Ossus.
And nothing was like he remembered.
The viewports from the stolen imperial craft afforded few glimpses of the scenery from above, and what Jerek saw were not the lush forests of his adopted world. The world was blackened, dead things scrawled across its surface like a forgotten script, carving out a message forever lost to history. The
Jedi Academy of his youth stood no more, a darker, twisted temple in its place. Around it, the grounds that in the days of the
Galactic Republic had been filled with peaceful gardens, with ponds and fields,
later replaced by the Silver Order with defense emplacements and shielded fortifications, now stood desolate and barren; hosting not the ornaments or equipment of the Jedi, but the trophies and machinery of the Sith.
His greatest horror came as they flew over the site of the Great Jedi Library ruins. Once a memorial to the ancient Jedi who had once made the planet their home, now the stones and grounds of the library
were consumed by a great tree. Its roots ensnared the land, digging deep inside widened cracks and upended foundations. Its trunk was a twisted mass, its branches sprawling in a thicketed maze. Its canopy was covered in dark red leaves, making the whole place look like a bleeding tumor.
As the craft landed, it found Jerek sitting in a stunned silence. He wasn't naive enough to believe that the Sith would simply act as mere caretakers of the planet, but he had not been prepared for the full extent of evil the Sith had perpetrated upon this world.
His world, Jerek still felt a sense of ownership, whatever his allegiance to the Jedi might be right now. Even surrounded by Knights and Masters of a half dozen orders, Jerek still felt out of place. The one thing that he had hoped could bring him some comfort and stability, seeing Ossus again, had just left him melancholic.
Others began to empty out as the boy sat alone, his melancholy stewing, building within him until it became something else. Heat rose upon the padawan's cheeks as a rage boiled inside him, refusing to stay quiet. He stood silently, his jaw working, his fists clenching and unclenching, his mind settling into a plan of action as he left the transport ship at last.
The
Great Sith Library rose before him, five pyramids of black and red. The central one was the largest, a hulking behemoth that dominated the horizon. A blatant homage to the Sith's entire presence on Ossus. Jerek took it in mechanically, logic stepping in where his overloaded emotions could no longer process, as he made his way to the central library pyramid. He could feel the animosity, the hatred, emanating from the buildings themselves, and it resonated with his own rage.
As he reached the entrance, Jerek lost his footing and fell to the ground. It shook beneath him, hard enough to keep him down until it ended. A figure rushed past him, and then another. When Jerek could finally stand, he was forced to step to the side to avoid a rush of dark clothed figures exiting the temple. The boy turned to see where they were headed, and discovered a pulsing beacon of light in the library courtyard centered around a figure. A Jedi Master, no doubt, drawing the attention of the Sith to them.
That worked to his advantage.
The entrance hall was almost empty now, and the few figures who were there seemed busy. Jerek ignored them, hoping they would do the same for him as he tried to work out where to go next. The unfamiliar building presented no map or directory for him to check, but the library floor sprawled out before him. It seemed as good a place as any to start.
"Hey!"
Before he could make his way towards the forest of shelves, a dark figure approached him and moved into his path. The man was young, though older than Jerek, and probably an assistant of some kind. That's probably why he hadn't left with the other Sith stampeding towards the blazing master outside, and why he was accosting the padawan now.
"What are you doing here?"
"I was sent to get a book for Master Ulthas' class," the boy said, and quickly realized his mistake as the assistant's eyes narrowed.
"Lord Ulthas, I mean. You know Lord Ulthas, right? Old guy, hardass, no sense of humor, basically just a purple-skinned sac of bones?" For a moment, Jerek could see the old Jedi Master before him, and hoped the Keshiri wouldn't take too much offense to the description he was using. Not that it wasn't
completely true, though.
"If I don't get that book, he said he was going to make me bathe in acid every day for a week, so..."
The assistant seemed to grimace and nod, clearly understanding the graveness of the threat. For a moment, the boy felt he was going to get away unscathed, the bluff and the disquiet following his soul pulling off a decent approximation of Sith in his opinion. But a final flick of the man's eyes told Jerek he wasn't going to get away so easy. He looked down at himself, realizing what had tipped the assistant's suspicions. His Jedi Padawan robes stood out starkly amidst the greys and blacks of the library's other occupants.
"Oh, the getup? I lost a bet, you know how it goes."
Thankfully for Jerek, the assistant seemed to be young enough to know exactly how it goes. He nodded, gesturing for Jerek to proceed onward and stepping out of his way. He held his breath, not letting it out in a cathartic sigh before he was out of range of the man. Without a real destination, but with a determined mind nonetheless, the boy stepped into the Hall of Knowledge and quickly lost himself among its shelves.
The flick of a tail caught his eye. Amid the empty shelves, there was only one occupant he could see using the Hall's resources now, a young Cathar seated at a nook tucked in a corner. A hand fell to his waist, gripping the lightsaber there. If someone else discovered his ruse, especially a student, he might not be able to get away with it a second time. Besides, they were here to cleanse the Sith from the planet, here was as good a place to start as any.
