Private The Ghost of Pages Past

[Kassogtha Cthylla]

Loomi had been coming to Kass for lessons for quite some time without incident, until one day the Padawan arrived to find the library in shambles. Books had been knocked off the shelves and were left strewn about the floor. The pages were mostly intact, but in some cases every page had been dogeared in both corners.

Kass lay slumped in the middle of it all, her multitude of eyes surveying the carnage. When she spotted Loomi standing in the doorway, her pseudopods wriggled in consternation. “Library’s closed, dear,” she said. “Come back tomorrow, and I’ll give you your lessons then.”

Loomi​

 

[Loomi]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Kassogtha Cthylla

"Master Cthylla!"

Loomi rushed in with a concerned look on her face, quickly assessing the master for any injuries. Was she hurt? It was hard to tell what was a wound with how bizarre her biology was, but she did try her best to identify any injuries that may have occurred. Loomi was no healer, but her mist weaving could at least temporarily stitch up a wound.

"W-what happened?" the teen asked with a frown. "Are you okay?"

Something was most certainly wrong here.

 

[Kassogtha Cthylla]

“What? Oh, I’m perfectly fine. It was like this when I got back from lunch.” Kass gestured to the mess. “I’m not sure who or what caused it, but I sent a page to search the other areas. Speaking of which…”

An exasperated young Nautolan came running, stopping in front of Kass. “I checked everything,” the page said. “The only section that wasn’t hit was the children’s section!”

“Well, the children’s section is always a mess anyway,” Kass remarked wryly. “Anything else out of the ordinary?”

“The vault has been broken into!”

“Oh dear.”

Loomi

 

[Loomi]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Kassogtha Cthylla

Loomi let out a sigh of relief. Kass was okay. That was good. One less stress for her to worry about.

At least until a new source of stress appeared.

“Oh dear.”

"V-vault?" Loomi remarked nervously. "Is that the off-limits section?"

She had almost wandered in there on accident one time, back when she really couldn't read. There was at least something spooky in there that was being protected, so the fact that it was open was bad.

Right?

"Do you need help?" the teen asked. "I-I can fight pretty good... usually..."

That didn't display much confidence. She really needed to work on that.

 

[Kassogtha Cthylla]

"Is that the off-limits section?"

"I prefer to think of it as the special reserves section," Kass said. "But yes, it's where we put all of the dangerous materials. Corrupted artifacts, Sith teachings, and other repositories of knowledge pertaining to the Dark Side."

Which meant they could very well be dealing with an ancient evil unleashed. The question was, who would do such a thing? It was extremely unlikely that whatever entity had trashed the library was able to free themselves. They would have to have outside help...

"Do you need help? I-I can fight pretty good... usually..."

Kass hesitated. "Have you ever handled any Dark Side relics before?" she asked. On the one hand, she was inclined to reject Loomi's offer of help. On the other, the fact that Loomi was still functionally illiterate and therefore couldn't be easily influenced by anything she saw in the vault made her more appealing as a companion. "It will be risky. We don't know what we'll find. If you can face the unknown, I wouldn't mind your company."

Loomi​

 

[Loomi]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Kassogtha Cthylla

"I... don't really have artifact experience," Loomi remarked with a frown. "But I did fight a Sithspawn once. I even won.... mostly, anyways."

She just had to make sure she paid attention and didn't get stabbed this time. It should be simple enough. To her surprise Kass agreed, prompting Loomi to straighten up her posture and give a salute.

"I won't let you down, Master," she assured. "Unknown is... my middle name..? That saying sounded better when I heard it on the holo."

Loomi would need to work on catchphrases for sure.

 

[Kassogtha Cthylla]

Loomi’s assurance wasn’t very reassuring. But so far nobody else had shown any interest in dealing with the vault, and Kass could use the help. “All right,” she said. “Let’s go check it out.”

The Chief Librarian led the way to the vault, which was located at the very back of the library. As the page had reported, the door was ajar and showed signs of forced entry. Kass peered inside first, her numerous eyes scanning the area.

Inside the vault was deceptively vast, filled with shelves and cabinets where various items had been carefully sealed away in nullification resin. Judging by the absences she could feel in the Force, most of the artifacts remained protected. “Whoever broke in here must’ve been after something in particular,” she said. “Or else they wouldn’t have left everything else intact.”

She started to slither into the vault, still cautious, when a ceramic vase went flying off a shelf and headed straight for her. She ducked, flattening her gelatinous body against the floor just in time as the vase shattered against the wall behind her. Sinister disembodied laughter echoed through the halls.

Loomi​

 

[Loomi]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Kassogtha Cthylla

"W-what could be here that someone would want to steal?" Loomi asked. "I thought most of the records in the archives had been made into holo-whatsits. Y'know, digital."

Her pondering was cut off by the throwing of a pot, which resulted in a surprised squeak. Loomi jumped a little, but recomposed herself when she saw that Kass was okay.

Sinister disembodied laughter echoed through the halls.

"I-It's a ghost!" Loomi exclaimed.

It had to be, right? She could feel a presence, but saw nothing. The vase had moved on its own, and the laughing seemed to be coming from everywhere. The only explanation was that it had to be a spirit of some kind, right? Doubt crept in though. Force spirits... were real, but it still sounded a little silly. Maybe she was just being ridiculous.

"Th-that's not silly, right?" she asked. "Spirits are real..."

 

[Kassogtha Cthylla]

"W-what could be here that someone would want to steal? I thought most of the records in the archives had been made into holo-whatsits. Y'know, digital."

"Holograms aren't as long-lasting as you might think," Kass said. "In fact, in many ways they are more fragile than a physical object. If the files are deleted by accident or the computers storing them are damaged or destroyed, it can be lost forever. If the power goes out, you lose access to it. So we store the original texts we've copied in the vault along with various artifacts to keep them safe."

When the vase went flying and the sound of laughter filled the room, Loomi shrieked that it was a ghost, only to backpedal afterwards. "It may very well be a ghost," Kass said, then made herself taller as she addressed the ghost. "Who are you, and what do you want?"

The laughter grew louder. "Who knows what evil lurks in the archives?" As it spoke, the voice seemed to move from place to place. "Do you, librarian? Do you have any idea what horrors you've been sitting on all this time? What abominations you've been exposing your students to?"

"Er, I can look them up for you in our catalog?" Kass offered, only to be forced to dodge another flying object headed her way. This time it was a Sith holocron, which she managed to catch with one of her pseudopods before it could crash into the wall.

"You dare to open these vaults, with no thought to the corruption it can cause? You are as monstrous as you appear!"

"There's no need to get personal," Kass replied indignantly. To Loomi, she whispered, "She seems unusually puritanical for a Sith spirit..."

Loomi​

 

[Loomi]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Kassogtha Cthylla

"You dare to open these vaults, with no thought to the corruption it can cause? You are as monstrous as you appear!"

"Hey!" Loomi snapped, crossing her arms. "That's not nice! Master Cthylla is a very nice woman!"

Another object would fly overhead, which she would duck under again. This spirit wasn't very nice at all. It seemed to be here for some reason though, even if it wasn't very clear at all.

"What does she want?" she asked, giving a confused tilt of her head. "Maybe she's just hungry."

People sometimes got grumpy when they were hungry. Loomi wasn't very good at processing what a ghost actually was, as the prospect of no longer being dead, or maybe being dead and in the real world? However it worked, she didn't really understand how. It was strange.