Sun and Shadow [SJO Exploration]

[Cassius Droma]

Cassius ran the scanned hieroglyphs and pictograms through his own personal database of symbols and languages that he had picked up over the last few years being a budding archaeologist. One would be surprised just how much some cultures had in common, even if they were lightyears apart and never had any contact with each other. There was one particular phrase that Cassius thought was familiar, so he ran that first. The result that popped up was rather… foreboding, to say the least:

‘Sacrifice.’

He was so focused on the inscribed tablet in front of him that he nearly missed it. His brows furrowed as he, too, felt the chill run through the air. It wasn’t something he hadn’t felt before – many places, no matter where they were, carried some sort of pain or suffering with them. He’d explored temples that had been used for absolutely nefarious purposes, and they had similar airs to them. It had been fleeting, though…

Cassius looked to Sabine to see if she could also sense the small amount of darkness that had showed itself, but before he could say anything, their wolf-friend said he smelled something from the tombs. “Could just be a small animal that got trapped in there…” Cassius postulated, going with what he thought was the simplest answer to the question. “Then again… it could be something different.” It was very un-Jedi-like of him, but the selfish and curious archaeologist in him saw this as perhaps an excuse to explore the previously closed off tombs.

With a short whistle, he got the attention of one of his droids. He jerked his head in the general direction of the temple chambers, and the droid knew what he meant, puttering along at a good clip before eventually hovering in front of Master Yves Galen. With a flicker, a life-sized hologram of Cassius would be projected from the droid.

“Master Galen – our Shistavanen friend says that he smells something decaying in the tombs. He suggests that there might be some structural damage that’s leading to an opening, and I tend to agree,” Cassius’s hologram spoke. Could he have just walked there, maybe called on a simple communicator? Maybe, but with this, he was able to have basically a full face-to-face conversation with someone without completely stopping what he was doing. “I know you said the tombs should be off-limits, but I could send a droid in there to do a small sweep of the area just to be safe.”

[member="Sabine Galen"] | [member="Ronak"] | [member="Kiran Arlos"] | [member="Milla Ordo"] | [member="Sky'ito Yumi"]

 

[Sabine Galen]

The chill had come and gone, so Sabine continued to brush away sand, and ended up uncovering a small section at the altar's base. Glancing up, she searched for young Milla, and spotted her with a sketchbook. A small smile formed on her face as she watched from afar. What a curious young girl, Sabine mused quietly. She would be most interested to see the Milla's drawings.

But, there was a small glimmer that caught her attention.

She moved her brush again, uncovering what appeared to be the hilt of a small weapon – a dagger, perhaps. Sabine tilted her head to view it from a different angle, marveling at the intricate design. Her hand moved to continue unearthing it, but a whistle caught her attention. Looking up, she spotted Cassius issuing an order to his droid, and she wandered over in time to hear his message to her father.

Blinking, Sabine glanced over towards Ronak, his senses were keen, no doubt. And she watched her father's projection, his form etched in blue before them.

“Ah,” He said, wiping his brow. “Perhaps we ought to investigate. I trust you will be careful not to disturb anything that might be resting there...”

Sabine narrowed her eyes at the projection of Master Galen. Had he noticed the strange sense of darkness here? She had a feeling that he had, his use of the force was stronger than hers, after all.

“Proceed. I will join you there shortly.”

Sniffing the air herself, Sabine looked towards Ronak. “Did... it really smell like something dead?” Maybe that was the cause of the small disturbance, she thought. Sabine glanced over towards Milla again, just to make sure she knew where she was.

----------------------------------

Master Galen had felt the startling chill in the air. But, in an effort not to worry his companions, he remained calm. Of course, exploring in places like this they did run the risk of waking something... there was no telling the type of beings that were kept here. Perhaps it would be best to see their burial chambers, it could offer them some answers.

“Good,” He said, looking to Sukai. “Perhaps we shall contact your mother once we return to the Temple. For now, it may be best that we all join the others. We don't want to miss out on the excitement of seeing the tombs, do we?”

Of course, Kiran and Sukai were welcome to continue their work, but Master Galen left his brush sitting on the sandy ground, just next to the sun dial and he went on his way towards the ceremony site.

[member="Cassius Droma"] | [member="Ronak"] | [member="Kiran Arlos"] | [member="Milla Ordo"] | [member="Sky'ito Yumi"]

 

[Milla Caranthyr]

Milla's attention turn back to her drawing after the strange chill had faded away. None of the adults seemed worried, so she wasn't going to be bothered by it. She carefully began working on the detailed picture again. That was until she heard a sharp whistle.

She looked up to see one of Cassius's droids heading over to him, closely followed by Sabine. Milla couldn't quite hear everything that was said between them and the projection of Master Galen, but she did catch the word tomb. The tomb that sat not far away, the very room they were advised not to disturb. Her mind wandered to the thought of why disturb it now and what could be in there to cause such a change in decision.

As her thoughts lingered on the tomb itself, she scarcely noticed the chill return. Subtle at first, like a light breeze that pushed away the hot air, then it happened all out once. What had been a slight chill, suddenly felt like someone dumping a bucket of ice water down her back. Bringing with it a chill that seemed to sink deep into her bones.

Milla gave a sharp gasp and was on her feet in a split second. She backed away quickly from where she sat, all the while trying to find the source of the feeling. The deep cold seemed to dissipate, leaving behind a temporary lingering chill. Milla gave a shudder and backed away even further, almost to wary to grab her stuff. Her heart was still racing as tried to figure out what happened. Slowly her eyes drifted in the direction of the tomb, it had been the last thing on her mind before the strange feeling happened. Was there something going on with the tomb? Was that what the adults were talking about?

[member="Sabine Galen"]
[member="Cassius Droma"]
[member="Ronak"]

 

[Ronak]

Ronak winced slightly, as [member="Cassius Droma"] called his droids with a sharp whistle ringing for a few moments in his sensitive ears. A good idea to contact Master Galen, but how could he trust in the small metal things to properly explore something? Listening to the conversation between the Jedi, he kept his gaze wandering through the room to scan for any movements. Well, they were advised to explore, as long as they did not disturb anything which was definitely not his intention. Disturbing whatever was put at rest here felt like a terrible idea already.

As [member="Sabine Galen"] sniffed the air herself and asked “Did... it really smell like something dead?”, he smiled amused at the fact that the hman could not detect which was already hard to detect for his sensitive wolf nose. "Believe me, I know the smell of death and decay. This is not fresh death - it is old musky decay a smell. I will keep m eyes open for the cadaver of some critter anyways that could have died here or been caught by another creature. That would be the most reasonable explanation, if there were any creatures around here at all."

The Shistavanen hesitated, as a slight chill crept up inside him, forming an unknown but disturbing distraction of his considerations and scanning the area by scent. The fur of his neck standing on end, the wolfman bared his teeth slightly in an irritated snarl. "Something is around here", he was about to say, when he heard the gasp behind him. Whirling around, he caught sight of [member="Milla Ordo"] at her feet shivering slightly and staring into the direction of her dropped sketchbook. As she backed away, he stepped towards her, placing a hand on her shoulder to reassure her that she was not alone with whatever was around here, growling softly: "We are here. Don't be afraid."

"We should find out what is the cause of this", Ronak snarled. Invisible ongoings were definitely not to his liking. The possibility that the source of the scent he had detected was just a cadaver was getting lower and lower with every second and a feeling of foreboding took hold of him, making him freeze all movements. Something dark was around in this tempel for the Sun and Light.

[member="Sky'ito Yumi"]
[member="Kiran Arlos"]

 

[Cassius Droma]

Cassius nodded to the projection of Master Galen. “I’ll be careful, no need to worry,” he said. He certainly wasn’t as experienced of an archaeologist, but he certainly knew the dangers of carelessly traipsing a site and potentially damaging any artifacts. The transmission ended, and it wasn’t before long that the little droid returned from the chambers. Cassius picked up his bag and flung it over his shoulder, making sure it was secure.

The chill ran through the air again, and Cassius stilled himself in order to really feel it. It was becoming stronger, and certainly disturbed the others in the room. It affected the little girl the most, it seemed, and Ronak the Shistavanen was there to comfort her. Cassius looked to Sabine. “Maybe it’s best if only a few of us go in…” After all, if there was something sinister in the tombs, he didn’t want all of them to die at once.

Stepping up to the large circular stone that sealed off the tombs, Cassius outstretched his hand and closed his eyes. Soon enough, the stone first began to shift, then roll effortlessly into the adjacent wall. Now without the foot or so of pure stone separating them, Cassius could now smell the decaying stench from before, but still not as strongly. There was no way he would have been able to smell it from outside of the tombs.

Stepping inside, Cassius turned on a glow rod that was mounted to the strap of his backpack, shooting out a beam of light that helped illuminate the way. Making the first few steps, Cassius could feel the chill… the dark side of the Force, grow stronger. This certainly warranted further study…

“Hello?” a voice, meek and raspy, sounded from the darkness. “Is someone there?”

Very slowly, an old, frail man, skin leathery in color and age, shuffled out from the shadows. He had stark white hair, with odd white markings painted onto his face and arms to match. The man was clothed in a single, dirty robe, which looked hardly thick enough to protect against the cold desert nights.

“I’ve… I’ve been here so long…” the man continued to approach. “Please, if you have any food or water…”

[member="Sabine Galen"] | [member="Ronak"] | [member="Kiran Arlos"] | [member="Milla Ordo"] | [member="Sky'ito Yumi"]

 

[Sabine Galen]

Sabine turned slightly to see Milla, the girl looked frightened. She listened as Ronak explained about the scent he'd caught coming from the tomb, the description made her shudder slightly. As the Shistavanen moved to comfort the young girl, Sabine did the same.

“It's okay,” She said simply, reaching out to give Milla's shoulder a gentle squeeze.

But truly, Sabine was fighting her own sense of unease. Still, she offered the young one a smile and moved back over to where Cassius stood. She glanced over her shoulder as he mentioned that only a few should go into the tomb. With Milla already shaking, it would be best that they spared her this experience, she thought.

“Yeah, that's a good idea.” Sabine replied, and looked to Ronak. “We'll be back in a few minutes...”

As Ronak and Milla seemed to get along, she felt safe leaving the two of them together. Sticking near Cassius, Sabine entered the tomb, noting how tremendously heavy the air felt. The dark side was strong here, the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She paused at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, and her eyes grew wide as an old man stepped out of the shadows.

Surely he hadn't been trapped here? Sabine's eyes shifted back towards the doorway, the heavy stone still cracked open enough for them to escape. But the old man's please for food and water tugged at her, she couldn't ignore such a request. As she approached, the man stumbled backwards... towards the shadows.

Outside, where Ronak and Milla stood, the wind suddenly seemed to kick up, blowing sand in their direction. “Help us,” a voice would whisper to them. “Please! Help us.” Cries of pain and anguish accompanied the strange whispers, calling them away from the tombs – and towards the side of the map that was unexplored, a chamber was present... but the pathway collapsed. However, if they were careful, they could probably navigate their way... “We are trapped, please... help.”

[member="Cassius Droma"]| [member="Ronak"] | [member="Kiran Arlos"] | [member="Milla Ordo"] | [member="Sky'ito Yumi"]

 

[Milla Caranthyr]

Milla gave a slight jump when [member="Ronak"] placed his hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him than back to the spot she was sitting. "I felt something...like someone dumping cold water down my back." Her attention turned to [member="Sabine Galen"] when she gave her shoulder a squeeze and tried to reassure her. Milla did her best to return the smile, but found it difficult.

She watched as Sabine and [member="Cassius Droma"] entered the tomb. A chill rolled through the air as the two breached the door, a chill that felt like a sickness. Then, from the darkness, she could have sworn she heard a voice. That couldn't possibly be though, that tomb was old and nothing living should be in there.

Then she heard it. A voice carried by the wind begging for help. Milla quickly turned in the direction, but saw nothing other than the collapsed pathway. "H..hello?" She managed to get out a faint response, only to be greeted by more whispers.

The wind started to become stronger, carrying with it more sand. She raised her hand to shield her face and squinted against the offending particles of dust and sand. The harder it got to see, the stronger the voices became. Milla took several steps towards the wall for cover, only to find that it much further away than she expected. She turned to look behind her only to find that she had gotten separated from Ronak.

A sharp pang of panic ran through her at the realization. That, and the voices were now louder, closer. Ahead she could see what looked like small pillars or statues. She took several steps forward, as she did, the objects seemed to move with her. The girl paused for a moment, then took another step, this time only one object moved towards her. The object stopped, then a deep raspy voiced sounded clear as day in front of her. "Help me!"

Milla felt the hair on her neck stand straight at the sound of the voice. Instinct kicked in, telling her to run from this threat. Like a shot, she turned and ran the other direction into the blinding wind. "Ronak! Sabine!"

 

[Sky'ito Yumi]

"Grand mother", Sukai replied to the master and talking about her elder family member, "she is an anthropologist, has a good knowledge of the past, though we would need to contact my mother first, I don't actually know where she lives or know her holo number". A small problem with living away from home, but it wasn't that big a deal.

Grabbing a brush she went to work dusting off the half dug up stone, moving the dirt from the one pristine floor in search of anything of value, in many difference senses. "So how much do we already have on this old temple master? do we know which civilization used it and what gods or worship was conducted here"? "Or would that be the reason for us being here, because there has yet to be a major lead to let us know about this planet and place"? The latter seemed to make more sense, such would give the expedition a good among of hands to help with the work while letting the students learn about the temple first hand.

[member="Sabine Galen"] [member="Kiran Arlos"]

 

[Ronak]

Ronak could feel [member="Milla Ordo"] 's body tense the the touch. Her words "I felt something...like someone dumping cold water down my back." made the fur of his neck start to stand on end. Although he had felt something similar it had not been as intense as what she just described. The wolfman felt more relieved, as Sabine Galen also came over to comfort the young one. However, that she decided to leave the two of them back here and would join [member="Cassius Droma"] at exploring the tomb was definitely against his common sense. In times of danger the pack should stay together and not split up.

His sensitive picked up shuffling noises sounding alomst like footsteps and a groaning voice from within the tomb, although the words were lost in the blazing cries of the wind that had picked up without any natural indication or warning. Shielding his head with one arm and reaching for his shawl with the other to draw it over his nose for protection he lost hold of [member="Milla Ordo"] for only a few seconds. But those few seconds were enough to lose her completely in the chaos now arising. Beneath the howl of the wind, he heard a whisper "Help us! Please - help us!". Then cries clear speaking of immense pain of and suffering followed loud enough to be heard inspite of the wind.

Now, he actually felt torn between the urge to help those suffering so clearly, finding the girl he had been put in charge of and failed to protect and getting out of this spookay and dangerous place. Whatever lurked here felt dark and he did not like that at all, but would not be discouraged so easily either. Too bad [member="Sabine Galen"] had not thought of giving him the tracking device connected to he necklace and gone off towards the tomb which was as indiscernible as the rest of the location beyond the storming sands. With the wind wrieking havoc and the shawl over his nose he also had no chance of tracking the girl by scent. The shrieking voice of [member="Milla Ordo"] crying his name relieved him of the worry of how to find her, as he just started to get to her as quickly as possible - desperation speeding his steps.

Reaching blindly into her direction his hand caught hold of an arm. Horror made him leap back as that realisation dawned to him that the arm was quite skelettal wrapped in clothes that turned to dust under his touch.

[member="Kiran Arlos"] | [member="Sky'ito Yumi"]

 

[Kiran Arlos]

[member="Sky'ito Yumi"] [member="Sabine Galen"]

Kiran proceeded as carefully as he could when it came to the brushing and stuff like this. Kiran hadn't ever started this kind of work before and it was something he had been meaning to get into. While training with the force and swordplay was good, there was more to being a Jedi then just that. He listened to Sky'ito inquire as to the depths of the Temple and discover, Kiran just hoped there wasn't some crazy plague or something here that they might accidentally uncover and would destroy the galaxy......

Those were just in the holo films though....

Kiran gently brushed a little bit more as he hoped to unearth more of the inscription. Kiran turned his head slightly as he looked over to the Master and Sky'ito. "Did you guys hear that?"

 

[Cassius Droma]

Something just didn’t feel right about this old man. The closer he got, the stronger the dark side became. Instinctively, Cassius slowly put his hands up – it might have looked like an assuring gesture towards the old man, but he was really defending himself. He had no idea just who this person was, or how they even got in here…

The wind began to howl outside, and Cassius turned his head to see what was wrong. As he did so, he sensed an imminent danger. Head snapping back, the old man was suddenly less than a meter away from him, as if he had apparated there. Cassius let out a powerful concussive blast from his hand, and the man burst into a cloud of dust and smoke… an illusion.

Before he could even process what was happening, he could hear the door of the tomb behind him rumbling – it was closing. “Sabine!” he shouted, leaping back towards the large stone that was rolling back into place. Not wanting to crush his fingers, he braced his hands against the stone and tried to move it, but to no avail. Cassius tried to use the Force, but again, there was no response, as if it was completely sealed shut.

Further into the tombs, a deep and disturbing tone began to sound, like a moan of eternal anguish. It grew louder with each passing moment, and Cassius noticed that he was becoming weaker and weaker, with a visible light seeming to streak from him and towards the darkness. He saw the same happening to Sabine as well.

Reaching to his belt, he pulled out his lightsaber and activated its bright green blade. He plunged it into the stone door of the temple, and began to slowly drag it in a vertical line…

[SIZE=11pt][member="Sabine Galen"] | [member="Ronak"] | [member="Milla Ordo"][/SIZE]

 

[Sabine Galen]

Yves was pleased with the effort of [member="Kiran Arlos"] and [member="Sky'ito Yumi"]. Their work in the temple was going quite well, but there was a sense of stirring darkness. Master Galen knew something was terribly wrong. All around them, the wind had grown strong, it had a howling voice of its own. With it came dust and sand, Master Galen held up his arm to try and shield his eyes.

“Yes,” He answered Kiran, “I think it best we go check on the others. Come, stay close.”

As they would make their way towards the ceremony site, strange tendrils of darkness would reach for them – as if they came straight out of the air and shadows.

"Quickly!" Master Galen called to them, summoning force light to clear a path through. But, the tendrils still threatened to break through.

---------------------​

​

Inside the tomb, Sabine jumped back as the visage of the old man disappeared before her eyes – soon to reappear before Cassius. A trick! The piercing darkness was felt by both of them, and perhaps even those outside... Her head turned sharply as Cassius shouted.

The heavy door had fallen back into place.

She jumped at the strange moaning voice that echoed throughout, louder and louder it grew. Reaching for her own saber, she made an attempt to join [member="Cassius Droma"] in cutting through the door... but a startling pain in her wrist made her saber fall to the ground. Sabine dropped to her knees, she felt so weak. She felt strange...

Her head bowed for a moment. And when she looked back up at Cassius, her features had changed – she looked... older. His features were changing as well. Sabine realized then that something... or someone was draining their life.

Meanwhile, where [member="Ronak"] and [member="Milla Ordo"] stood – the scene was growing frightful. There was a loud sound, rock and rubble burst from the ground. And up from the chamber below... a great shadow appeared, swirling with power. It was, at first, without features... but a face began to form in the inky black smoke – it was growing, it was gaining power. The sandstorm was only growing worse.

 

[Ronak]

Ronak's mind was racing with horror and close to panic. Lost without his trusted senses - sight, smell, hearing - the Shistavanen scout had only the perception in the force left and that sense was screaming of danger and darkness approaching. As he scrambled away from the body, thing he had touched briefly he bumped into another body - this one smaller, younger and now that they were so close the names [member="Milla Ordo"] was screaming were could be heard even among the loud howl of the sandstorm. Eager to not lose her again, Ronak just grabbed her shoulder or upper arm he was not so sure which. Darkness was coming and he would not let her be separated or come to harm, if he could do something about it which did not really look promising at the moment.

Then, as they thought things could barely become worse things turned to the worse. Something was approaching them, something dark, something growing in strength with every moment. Although he could not hear any footsteps beyond the storm's howling, it felt like he did, as a shadow formed out of the shades in the collapsed part of the temple. The form without any clear features turned into a more a more clearly discernible figure with every moment. As a face formed out of the smoky shades, Milla and Ronak finally broke the paralysis which had clasped their bodies until now. Dragging [member="Milla Ordo"] along with him, the wolfman shuffled backwards away from the dark figure without caring where to just to get space between them and the shade.

[member="Sabine Galen"]
[member="Cassius Droma"]
[member="Kiran Arlos"]
[member="Sky'ito Yumi"]

 

[Cassius Droma]

Cassius was making progress on the door, but not much. With each passing moment, the stone seemed to become heavier and heavier to push through. From the bright green light of his lightsaber’s blade, he saw his hands, and how they started to become more dry and wrinkled. Looking to Sabine, he didn’t see a woman in her early-twenties – instead, one that could easily pass for late forties, with hard lines and crow’s feet. He no doubt that he looked the same.

As the lightsaber was still cutting through the stone, one could just barely see the other side. Another source of light began to penetrate the darkness – one that did not feel as though it came from mechanical means, but through the Force. With his last efforts, and his hair turning gray, Cassius finished a hole small enough to crawl through. Placing his hand on the stone, he only just managed to push the stone down, and Master Galen’s Force Light penetrated the darkness surrounding them.

The loud tone from earlier seemed to shout an agonizing cry, howling as it retreated back to wherever it had come from. There was a moment of utter silence, followed by cryptic words that seemed to whisper in everyone’s ears:

“Ph'nglui mglw'nafh khorates potheia wgah'nagl fhtagn.”​

Cassius dropped his lightsaber and fell onto his face, closing his eyes. When he came to only moment later, he found that he had the strength to push himself onto his knees. He looked at his hands – they were restored their youth. Rising to his feet, he looked to Sabine.

“Are you alright?” he asked the Jedi Knight, his head still swimming from the ordeal. Cassius had encountered some strange things during his time as an archaeologist, diving deep into ancient temples and monasteries. However, nothing had ever escalated this quickly and with such a deep sense of foreboding.

[member="Sabine Galen"] | [member="Ronak"] | [member="Kiran Arlos"] | [member="Milla Ordo"] | [member="Sky'ito Yumi"]

 

[Milla Caranthyr]

Milla slowed down her pace as the sandstorm grew more intense. There was no use running blindly through it unless she wanted to get lost or injured. There was something else there though, something dark growing out of the shadows.

Then she saw it, a massive black cloud begin to rise from beneath the earth. The ground shook as stone and rubble shifted to release this new threat. Milla stared at the great shadow that seemed to be forming a face amongst the chaos. Then, without warning, something grabbed her arm causing her to jump. She turned and saw [member="Ronak"] a split second before he began to pull her away from the growing threat. Relief swept through her now that Ronak had found her.

[member="Cassius Droma"]
[member="Sabine Galen"]

 

[Sky'ito Yumi]

A sudden wave of panic coursed through Sukai as she followed the master in the direction of the others, of course an ancient tomb on a desert world had some forsaken evil inside it. At the very least is seemed to be comfortable, the shining waves of light from Galen's hand removing the taint from the walls, even if it was uncomfortable for herself to be subjected to it as well. A small problem with being a grey, certain light side powers still had an effect on her, even if it was to a lesser extent.

Running with haste the group made it to the doors, a small hole having been made by a saber, Sukai kneeling down to help [member="Cassius Droma"] and [member="Sabine Galen"] out from the life draining room, a small sense of shock coming from her on seeing both their rapidly aged features. It looked very similar to her old bit victims that she usually killed soon after, it certainly wasn't a good way to go. "Are you two all right? your life, energy, it's been drained"? Such was not a goo sign, very few things could fix such a problem, hopefully it was temporary, if not, they would need to get them medical attention soon.

[member="Kiran Arlos"]

 

[Ronak]

The darkness was starting to fill Ronak's mind, while he was trying to block the whispers of "Kill her!" or "Take her life!" out as well as the shady cries for help, the desperate echos of others who had perished under this darkness before. The closest he had ever felt to this darkness was when he had joined a friend to retrieve an ancient artifact from Korriban, homeworld of the Sith. Back then, he had first felt the temptation of darkness, but also learned that his way was not there. A lone path those darksiders walked and his was a different one. Yet, something still called out to him, calling for the wolfish nature, where the strong predator feeds on the weaker prey. But this was not nature's cycle at work, it was far more sinister - not natural, but evil- and this he wanted to resist. [member="Milla Ordo"] was pack for him now, a pup he was charged to protect - he would not go against his nature to violate that!

Clinging to the girl for dear life, as she was his strongest anchor for keeping his sanity right now, he tried to get backwards, but stopped suddenly and with a flinch which could also be felt by the girl, as his back impacted against a wall. In the storm, they had completely lost any orientation and idea where they or the others were. Now, they had been backed into a wall and could only hope to escape sideways. Not caring about which side, Ronak moved to the left and could take another three steps backward, before running into another wall. They were cornered! Cursing in a series of snarls and growls in his native Shistavanen tongue, he was lucky that the wind would drown out most sounds anyways and [member="Milla Ordo"] would not be scared too much by his outburst.

How should they continue? Comms were unusable, as they could neither hear nor be heard properly in this storm. Trying to continue along the next wall was his only option left, as the shade and the darkness connected to it grew stronger with every moment and he felt his own resolve start to weaken. Another step, a second a third one and then there was no wall behind his back anymore, whether it was a doorway, niche for statues or hole the wolfman did not care at all. To just get out and away was his main concern. Once they had escaped the shade, they could start worrying how to reach [member="Cassius Droma"] or [member="Sabine Galen"] , or possibly even [member="Kiran Arlos"] or [member="Sky'ito Yumi"] who were at some other part of the temple with Master Yves Galen.

Ronak stumbled backwards, until his back connected not with a wall, but another being. As he turned around, the horror readable in his eyes, he came face to face with ... Master Galen.

 

[Sabine Galen]

Once the three of them were through to the Ceremony Site, Master Galen's eyes grew wide at the terrible darkness they were confronted with. This dark power was strange. Somehow, it felt very different than anything the Master had encountered before. These thoughts were quickly pushed to the back of his mind, he had to act quickly.

Master Galen held out his palms to let forth a burst for force light.

His own power would grow to combat the darkness, until it began to subside. The flood of light would wash over the ceremony site, and the darkness finally extinguished. There were eerie whispers on the wind, a foreign tongue... a dying breath. His eyes immediately turning towards the tombs – he felt Sabine and Cassius there, alive. Galen remained still as [member="Sky'ito Yumi"] went to check on them, and he himself watched as the dust and sand cleared enough to see.

As [member="Ronak"] and [member="Milla Ordo"] bumped gently into him, he offered the two a reassuring smile.

“It's over,” He said, seeing that they were shaken. “You're safe now.”

The chamber that was once buried under rock was now visible. Inside, was an urn, ancient and cracked open – the ashes once held within were now scattered. And next to it, a very curious figure...
---------------------
The side of Sabine's face was against the rocky floor of the tomb. She felt the air leaving her lungs, and couldn't seem to draw it back. But, she felt the comforting presence of her father. Was he really there or was it some kind of near death delusion? As the light washed over, the invisible weight lifted, and she gasped for air. Sabine simply lay there for a moment or two, motionless but alive.

“Y-yes...” She said, lifting her head to look at [member="Cassius Droma"].

His face was no longer marked with lines, his hair no longer streaked with gray. Glancing down at her own hand, she was relieved to see that it was no longer shriveled and wrinkled. As Sukai came in, Sabine sat up slowly.

“We're okay now,” She started. “I think you're right... whatever that was, it was draining us.”

Thankfully, once Master Galen had dealt with the darkness, their youth had been restored. Still dizzy, she stood up, using the wall for support.

“We should join the others,” She nodded, eager to see her father.

[member="Kiran Arlos"]

 

[Kiran Arlos]

"Kiran."

The Jedi Padawan heard a voice from afar as they went to aid the others. And it wasn't any of those that were present with him. A voice he had not heard in almost two years. Someone that couldn't be here, it would be impossible.

She was dead...

Then she ran past him, the should've been 8 year old girl ran past him. Kiran stopped dead in his tracks and he took a deep breath, and immediately closed his eyes. Focusing on his training, focusing on what he was taught. "Your not real..." He whispered and then he heard her voice again.

"Kiran."

There was a flash of light, that had appeared by Master Galen's hand and the darkness was dissipated. The others were safe and Kiran the illusion that appeared before him was now gone. Kiran looked over to [member="Sabine Galen"] and cleared his throat before he talked. "Do you need help?" Kiran inquired, before he would see if anyone else needed assistance.

[member="Ronak"] [member="Sky'ito Yumi"] [member="Milla Ordo"] [member="Cassius Droma"]

 

[Cassius Droma]

“I think we’re fine…” Cassius said to Sukai as they came over to check on them. Just to be sure, he felt around his face a little bit – no wrinkles or loose skin like there had been before. Luckily, whatever Master Galen had done had reversed the effects of the drain, and that the life force taken from Cassius and Sabine hadn’t been gone forever.

His heart was still thumping in his chest, and his breathing was quickened, but his mind was calm now. The adrenaline kick just needed to subside before he would be fully back to normal. With the dark presence gone, Cassius was able to easily roll the stone away and make the opening to the tombs big enough for them to walk through now. Walking back out into the ceremony site, he nodded to Master Galen.

“Thank you, Master,” Cassius said, his speech still a little strained from the ordeal. “I’m still not entirely sure what happened. Sabine and I were… becoming drained – we were getting older. Something must have wanted to take our life-essence…” To do what? Cassius didn’t know. Something in him theorized that it could be to wake something up… but what? “I’d recommend that we take what findings and scans we have and head back to the ship for analysis… there’s no telling if that darkness is still lurking around here…”

Something caught his eye. The chamber that had been closed off due to a previous cave-in was now able to be entered. Stepping over some rubble, Cassius spotted a curious figurine, roughly eleven inches in height. It seemed to be some sort of creature, with a cephalopod-looking head, numerous tendrils cascading and twisting around what would be a jaw line. Scales adorned the rest of its body, and what looked like mynock wings were on its back. Overall it looked very… sinister. Picking it up, Cassius held it in his hands for a moment. This definitely warranted further study.

[member="Sabine Galen"] | [member="Ronak"] | [member="Kiran Arlos"] | [member="Milla Ordo"] | [member="Sky'ito Yumi"]