Chapter 1

NEW ARRIVALS

The sound barrier was broken. The sonic boom rang through the halls of the Great Temple. The sleek silver New Republic ship: Lightning Rod II, the personal craft of Zekk and Jaina Solo roared into sight. It was the seeker, Zekk traveled the universe searching for Force sensitive peoples.

The dozens of Jedi students who crowded around the Great Temple's landing field, practicing their now found powers, looked up and parted for the starship. The gleaming gas giant, Yavin shed its orange light over the ship. The Lightning Rod II lowered and extended its landing struts, then the repolsorliftor-jets flashed and the ship landed.

The figure of the Jedi teacher, Luke Skywalker walked from the darkness of the Temple's docking bay. His black robes fluttered behind him in the breeze. Flanking Skywalker was the two most exceptional of Skywalker's students, those who Luke had found so powerful, that he personally trained and made then the heirs of the academy; Dravis Sky and Mike Keygane.

With a hiss of released gasses the modified transport's gang-plank lowered and Zekk walked down. He wore a gray flight suit with a polished New Republic rank stripe and a gun belt hung loosely at his side. Then he was joined by Jaina, who wore the Jedi uniform.

Jaina ran past Zekk and into the waiting arms of her uncle Luke. "Hello, Jaina." Luke said.

"I'm glad you're feeling better," she replied.

Zekk walked up to them and placed his hand on Luke's shoulder. "Yeah. We've brought you some more candidates, if you're up to the task." Luke nodded.

"How many?" Luke said.

"Four."

"Good, we should be able to handle that. Will you two be staying long?" Luke asked.

"Sure... not too much going on back on Coruscant. Actually, it's a little boring now that the Empire's not there to worry us." Then Zekk drew away and walked back to a young man who was emerging from the Lightning Rod II. "This is Bry Red." Zekk told Luke and his two apprentices. "We found him in the lower levels of Coruscant. I sensed great potential in him."

Bry had long, light brown hair, his eyes were purple and he had a Jedi cloak wrapped around him. "This is Ty'ka," Zekk continued, as a young woman walked out into the light of the gas giant, "A Dathomirian." She wore the Jedi cloak over her lizard-hide armor.

Zekk introduced the last two students: Caloniar a female Mon Calamarian and Baaron Xnikcon a male from Bakura.

"Dravis, Mike, show our guests to their rooms," Luke ordered. Mike and Dravis nodded. And gestured the four new arrivals to follow them. Then Luke led Jaina and Zekk to their quarters...

Chapter 2

VOICES FROM THE PAST

Ty'ka of Dathomir slept in her drafty room at Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum. It was a small room with a window behind the sleeping pallet which shed starlight over her. It had been a long day, first the long flight from her home planet to Yavin Four, then the rest of the day had been spent in training. She had a taste of the hard work it would require to become a Jedi... Come! She rolled over, trying to stifle the voice.

Her hair splayed over her pillow as she restlessly rolled on her sleeping pallet. Come... She heard for the umpteenth time; Come... The words had rung in her dreams since she first closed her eyes that night.

Come! the voice said. Unlike the other times, when the voice sounded pleading, this time it sounded like an order.

Her eyes darted open; Come... She had expected it to vanish when she awoke, but it still sounded in her mind. She stood and straightened her night-gown and wrapped her Jedi cloak around her shoulders.

She walked out of her assigned living-quarters; Come... She followed the voice as it led her through the darkened and seemingly endless halls of the Great Temple. Come... She finally came to a dead end. Her shoulders drooped.

She began to turn around to go back to her room. Come! The voice demanded, and out of the corner of her eye she saw the outline of a door carved into the wall, illuminated by a pulsing red light.

She pressed against the cold stone using the Force to help her move the heavy door. Standing alone in the middle of the room, resting on a pedestal was a large red crystal, pulsing with overflowing energies.

She felt excitement growing in her. Her blue eyes were filled with the red. It was like looking into the very substance of the Force. It was mesmerizing! Beckoning her! Slowly, she walked to it. Come... She reached out and touched it.

She felt a warm tingling feeling. And then, she saw the red cloud inside the crystal shift and she felt a powerful energy rush out of the crystal through her touch. The sizzling red ran like lightning up her arm and into her mind...

She screamed and was thrown backwards. The crystal grew black and empty.

She opened her eyes, but not of her will. The power overflowed. Red light shown from her eyes and their color changed from blue to brown... Finally, I'm free! The voice said in her mind...

Bry Red looked back the way he had come. Nothing looked familiar. Master Skywalker had sent him on a "mission of discovery," the Jedi had told him that a person strong in the Force could use all around him to help him find his destination and get home--he'd meant that Jedi Academy, of course... blast that Zekk for taking me away from Coruscant!--The fools! His first day at the Academy. He wasn't ready! And then this blasted "unseasonable" storm had sprung up.

He tried not to panic, tried to draw on the Force. But it was no use! The freezing-cold rain battered him as it fell heavily through the canopy; the thunder shook the ground; the lightning illuminated nothing for him but fog. His foot caught a protruding tree-root, and he fell for what seemed to be forever. The cold mud splattered over him as the air was pulled from his lungs.

Bry Red... he looked up to see who had called his name but saw no one as he realized that it was only in his mind, only wishful thinking. No one would come for him. Bry Red... Before him stood the figure of a man, yet... not really. It was more like a black-hole, stealing the light around it and absorbing it into its nothingness. It made a vague gesture to Bry, but he knew what it meant: it wanted him to follow. The thing floated before him for another second, then took-off, travelling at the speed of darkness.

"Wait..." Bry said in a whisper, which was his loudest noise without a breath of air inside him. He struggled to stand, but couldn't, he crawled across the muddy ground, pulling himself forward with above-ground roots. "Wait!" he called again, louder this time. This thing is abandoning me! He felt the anger surge through him, and as it did, he felt strong; he stood and ran in the direction of the shadowy creature. Before him was a Massassi temple, almost untouched. It was slate black and barely broke through the canopy and before the single doorway stood the thing that had appeared to him a moment ago.

It gestured to him again, then floated slowly into the temple. Bry followed it into the shelter. The rain echoed throughout the empty space, complex etchings covered the walls; figures and hieroglyphics. Again the dark figure appeared to him. There is more for you to see... It said in his mind. It raised one of its dark hands and as it did, a large stone block on the floor rose, then glided across the floor to reveal a dark pit.

"What are you?" Bry asked. I am Naga Sadow. Bry looked over to see its face, but it was covered by a heavy hood which he'd not noticed before. He looked again down to the floor. Your destiny awaits you... Naga Shadow said, gesturing into the pit. Bry hesitated and looked over to the black figure. Go...

Bry climbed down into the pit. Above him the door slid shut. Panic flowed through him. He tried to jump up to the trap door, and succeeded only in grabbing the rim with his left hand. You must trust in the darkness, Naga Sadow told him just before he felt the intense pain of the stone block clamped in place. Bry screamed in pain and fell. He couldn't feel his fingers on his left hand. The pain was excruciating, and a liquid substance flowed down his hand and arm could only be blood.

He felt an invisible pull, and heard multiple voices in his mind all whispering Bry Red and Chosen. He walked through the darkened corridor in the direction of the pull. He came to a dead end. He felt aggression toward this wall blocking his way; he felt fear of his situation; he felt anger toward everything. He reached out with his bloody hand, and released his emotions in a concentrated ball of energy which slammed into the wall, blowing it apart into smoldering pebbles.

Sitting alone in the room behind the dead end was a cube radiating still light. The voices were screaming now. He reached out with his right hand and picked up the cube. He had it firmly in the palm of his hand. As he held it a beam of bright darkness projected through a hole in the ceiling and into the sky. Lightning shot through the hole, attracted by this thing in Bry's hand. As the electricity energized the Sith Holocron, the beam took shape; faces, hundreds--or millions--of dark faces.

We are the Council Of The Sith. You are chosen, they said as one.

Luke Skywalker slept restlessly on his sleeping-pallet when he felt a surge of dark energies flow to him through the Force. His breath caught in his throat as his eyes darted open. "It has begun...!

Chapter 3

BEGINNING OF THE END

When the moons of Yavin align--once every four millennia--a great beam of Darkness will enter this world. The doorway to and from the Nether Realm will appear. The focal point is here: the fourth moon of Yavin; the Great Massassi Temple built for the purpose of opening that door. If one of the Sith Brotherhood, along with the chosen sacrifice, stands before the Eye, and they let the Darkness flow through them, those of the ancient Sith will be released!

Bry Red listened closely to the Council of the Sith's prophecy as they spoke as one. "I shall complete your words, Masters. I will bring victory to the Sith where others of our kind have failed!"

Go, then, for the time has indeed come. Skywalker and his apprentices will not stand before you, for they come here this night, the Council continued. Take a part of our power to aid you on your quest, and take heed of our words. Soon, the Sith will rule again. And with this, great beams of darkness exploded from the eyes of the ancient Sith Lords and into Bry Red, giving him power which he never knew existed, and upon his forehead, the beams engraved the Black Sun of the Sith Empire.

And so Bry Red left the small temple deep in the darkest regions of the jungle of Yavin Four, led by angry emotions which flowed through him to the Great Temple and his future. He now had direction, and meaning in his life; he now knew the powers that Skywalker had talked about--only a hundred fold. Soon, very soon, he would share this power with his fellow students. And this lowly peasant from the lower levels of Coruscant would be the most powerful man in the universe...

They had met in the grand audience chamber in the Great Temple; Luke Skywalker, Mike Keygane and Dravis Sky. They had all been awaken by the surge of evil energies and were all disturbed. They left the temple while darkness still enveloped the jungles, following the path ways which would lead to the pillar of invisible power.

They found the black temple, standing like a sentinel guarding a thing of great importance. Inside the temple, the tempo of Dark Side energies beat like that of a war drum. It was darker than the darkest night and Luke and his apprentices were forced to use their lightsabers to see, eerie green, aqua and gold light spread across the room. "Look at this!" Mike gasped as his glowing saber illuminated ancient hieroglyphics. Luke walked over to Mike and bent down to examine the writings as Dravis continued to search the temple.

Luke mumbled something to himself; "You can read this, Master Skywalker?" Mike asked. Luke kept reading for another moment.

"Somewhat," Luke finally replied. "It's not really much unlike the hieroglyphics at the Academy."

"Mike! Master Skywalker!" Dravis called. Mike looked over to Luke who nodded, so Mike stood and ran over to Dravis. "Look at this!" Dravis pointed to a gaping hole in the floor. Mike kneeled down and touched and still smoldering stone. "What do you think?"

Mike pulled his finger back and looked; it was covered with black ash. He blew the soot off. "New. Very new," Mike said standing straight. "I'd guess less then one standard time part. You think we should go down there?"

"Go," Luke called, "This is interesting."

"You heard him," Mike said disengaging his lightsaber. "Let's go!" He jumped down into the crevice. Dravis shook his head, deactivated his saber and jumped, landing heavily sooner than he had expected on the cold stone floor. "Watch that first step." Mike groaned.

"Too late."

"Oh."

"There appears to be daylight down there," Dravis said pointing to a glowing down the hallway. They followed the hall to the light until they came to a blown in wall.

Mike examined the rubble like he had before and said, "Looks like someone had a bad day." Orange daylight poured into the hall from a skylight in the ceiling of the small room beyond the destroyed wall for the planet was rising and a chorus of daytime animal calls filled the air. Directly under the skylight was a pillar of black stone and the Dark Side powers seemed to radiate from that point.

Mike shuddered. "Something's definitely not right here."

"Mike! Dravis!" Luke yelled as he ran up to them. "We have to get back to the Great Temple!"

It is too late for that, Jedi, the prophecy has been set in motion and you will not stop it! an evil voice said in their minds. The room darkened as a being of penetrating emptiness siphoned the very light of the morning. Can not stop it! A black lightning bolt erupted from the clear sky and struck the stone around the skylight causing the roof to collapse.

"Get back!" Luke cried as an avalanche of rock hurtled towards them. Just as the stone would have crushed them, it froze in motion. Mike and Luke looked over to Dravis who was straining hard, sweat pouring from his brow. "Go, Mike! I'll get Dravis!" Mike ran back into the relative safety of the hallway as Luke waited for just the right time before grabbing Dravis around the waist and pulling Dravis and himself into the hall. A sound like an exploding planet sounded and the ground shook as the rocks hit the floor.

Dravis lay exhausted on the floor, Mike sat down against the wall and Luke muttered, "Twelve Yavin Four hours."

"Until what?" Mike asked

Luke looked at him. "The end of the universe as we know it..."

Chapter 4

DOOR OPENING

He was a mere shadow to the two New Republic guards standing before the main entrance to the Great Temple. A dark crimson mist seemed to emanate from him and was caught by a sudden gust of wind towards them; the mist took shape. It split apart and was a two-headed dragon: its maw filled with razor-sharp teeth and its forked tongues thrashing through the air. The guards panicked, unshouldering their blaster rifles, sending bolts of concentrated energy at the creature, but the beams only passed through its translucent body.

It was on them. Each of its heads driving into the very soul of the guards. They screamed and were lifted into the air, and as the dragons fed, the very soul was ripped from their being. The guards were of two colors--one dark, the other light--but as the things fed, they both became as black as night; their eyes, white and glossy. And then, the things parted from their victims and they fell to the ground. In the maw of the two heads was the guards' essence, swirling spheres of glowing gold and purple.

The two-headed dragon lost form again and was but a cloud of mist as it re-entered Bry Red, taking with it the souls of the guards. He walked on, trailing black scorch-marks, keeping his mind open to the Dark Side and his masters of The Council. A great surge of Force energies flowed throughout him. THE SACRIFICE! cried The Council.

Bry walked through the curving passages of the Temple with contempt for the Light Siders who had tainted this place of darkness. He came to a stone doorway; it was open just enough for a slender human to pass through. He felt the rage, and embraced it, and lightning spouted from his fingers and turned the door into a smoldering pile of rubble. The room beyond the door was a gigantic space occupied only by a short pedestal which stood in the center. Upon the pedestal was a crystal which was as clear as glass.

But as he came closer, he noticed a crumpled form next to the pedestal: a woman, wearing a nightgown of the purest white, and he knew her face. "Masters, surely this cannot be your chosen sacrifice," Bry Red called. "I know her; she is Ty'Ka, from Dathomir. There is nothing special in her which I know of." He spoke the truth; somewhat. Even if he knew that she was more than he had known from the long journey from Coruscant, he would have said the same thing. He had grown to care for her very much in that time, and he wouldn't have hurt her to save his life.

We know your ploy, Bry Red. She is no longer the woman you love. Bry's eyes widened in alarm that The Council could know his deepest thoughts. Within her is all the power of the Kaiburr. Her outward appearance is all that remains of your love, for her mind is controlled by another; a Being Of The Force: Vadis. Bry Red looked at her for a long moment and touched her cheek.

Casey Vadis felt his touch--as cold as a breath of wind on Hoth--she stirred and her eyes fluttered open. The man hovering over her was like a figment from a dream: she knew she had seen him, but the memory was buried deep within her and also she felt--just as deep down, or even deeper--that she loved him, but it was like the thoughts of another person, not her own. He offered her his hand and she took it and he helped her to her feet. He led her down the halls of the Great Temple, toward the grand audience chamber.

Luke Skywalker and his heir apprentices ran like mad through the dark sub-halls of the Sith Temple, the colors of their lightsabers--gold, green and aqua--melted together to light the way. All the while they heard the dark laughter of the long dead Sith Lords ring mockingly.

They came to the blown-out trapdoor in the ceiling from which they had entered the sub-hall. Skywalker jumped back into the main room with one bound, and Mike, but Dravis was still too weak from his earlier feat that Luke and Mike had to lift him up by their own powers. They ran out of the jet-black temple and into the jungle. The gas giant, Yavin, hung high. It had taken Luke, Mike and Dravis all of the long night to reach the temple, and now, time was running out. They ran for hours as the merciless Yavin sped across the sky, as if ticking-down to doomsday.

Finally, when the Planet began to set, they reached the Great Temple and were met by two figures as dark as the temple they had just left, all individuality stripped from them. Their only features were their white, glassy eyes fixed in a permanent scowl. The figures walked toward the Jedi, each raising one arm. Luke reached out with the Force, to persuade the figures that he and his apprentices were not there, or to turn them against each other, but to Luke's utter horror, he found that--like their faces and bodies--they had no identity, they were just dead husks, controlled by something they could not see.

Luke drew his saber and activated it with a sharp snap-hiss, and his apprentices took his cue and did the same, but no sooner had their sabers sprung to life, when black fire shot from the creatures outstretched hands. Luke put up a protective Force barrier around himself and his apprentices, but the fire passed through, scorching and flinging them backwards. Luke groaned and attempted to stand, but unconsciousness seized him and he fell to the ground.

The black beings stood over their injured quarry and made ready to destroy them as they heard the call of their masters, and they walked soulessly away.

The two black beings entered the main audience chamber, they walked stiffly, like corpses and proceeded to tie Casey onto a sacrificial bier under an opening in the apex of the temple. She struggled against the bindings around her wrists and ankles, but they were laced with the dark power of the Sith. When all this was done, Bry Red held the Sith Holocron over Casey, "Masters! All has been done as you said!"

The Holocron radiated with black light, and then a column of concentrated darkness erupted into the sky. Excellent! The moons of Yavin are almost aligned, the Council said as one as their ghostly faces appeared as if out of a deep fog.

Bry looked down at Casey, still fighting against the bindings. "Why do you struggle so? You are about to witness the greatest event since the creation of the universe!" Casey sneered at him and spat at his face. Bry growled and raised a hand to slap her, when the locked doors of the grand audience chamber flew open and in ran three: Skywalker, Sky and Keygane.

"You are too late." Bry Red turned to the intruders, he raised a hand and a ring of black fire rose around each of the Jedi, forcing them to draw back and shield their eyes. "You see, the Dark Side has made me strong."

"It's eating you alive!" Luke retorted. "Stop this madness, Red! It's not too late for you to turn back to the light!"

"Ah, but it is too late... for you!" Bry stretched out his good hand toward the Council of the Sith and lightning shot from their eyes and into Bry's hand, and the living lightning shifted and hardened to form a wicked long-sword and as he gripped the hilt, the ring of fire around Skywalker fell until all that remained was black scorch-marks on the stone floor. Bry ran at him, swinging the sword above his head and wailed a deafening war-cry.

Skywalker activated his lightsaber and held it at ready; a lightsaber could cut through anything, much less, this sword. Bry brought the sword down so to cleave Luke in two, but Skywalker blocked the blade with his saber, thinking that it would cut Bry's blade clean in two. But the sword--like the bonds holding Casey to the bier--were laced with the Dark Side, and the force of Bry's blow knocked Luke off balance and he tumbled over.

Luke looked up just in time to dodge the slash of the Sith sword and it cut a meter into the stone floor. Without hesitating, Bry slid the sword out in a shower of sparks and swung it again, this time the blade buried itself into Luke's thigh, cutting through flesh, muscle and bone. Luke yelled and fell to the floor. Dravis and Mike looked with horror at their fallen master through the tongues of fire. Bry held his sword above Luke's neck, and smiling evily, raised it up high and started to bring it down for the death blow, when a bolt of black lightning enveloped the sword and it disappeared.

Bry looked with rage at the Council of the Sith. He is a Jedi Master, and will better serve you alive. Take his powers and let him taste the power of the Sith!

Bry smiled again and gripped Skywalker's hair and lifted him roughly to his feet. "So let it be done!" The blood-red cloud expanded from Bry's body to wrap around Skywalker, seeping into him, deeper, deeper, until it retrieved his essence, and it left Luke and entered Bry Red with the glowing globe of Luke's soul. Skywalker was now black as night, devoid of all individuality. Bry dropped Luke's seemingly lifeless form to the floor, but it rose again, a slave to the Sith.

"No!" Mike and Dravis yelled together as they burst from the flames. Activating their sabers, Mike ran toward Bry Red and Dravis ran to the aid of who he thought was... "Ty'Ka!" he yelled as the two black beings rushed toward him in an attempt to protect the chosen sacrifice.

"Dravis!" she answered as she craned her neck to look to him.

"Casey..?" Dravis slowed as he heard the familiar voice and the beings were upon him. One slammed its hand against the back of Dravis's head, causing him to fall forward. He rolled and raked his saber across the chest of one of his attackers and it staggered back and Dravis swept his legs around and took the feet out from under the other. Dravis swung back to his feet and ran to Casey.

...Just then, the moons of Yavin completed their alignment...

Everything seemed to happen at once: The Council thundering, YOU'RE TOO LATE!; Bry Red leaving Mike reeling in pain with a huge gash in his side; the black flash ripping across the sky; the beam of pure darkness entering the temple through the opening in the apex which knocked Dravis fifty meters to the other side of the chamber; Casey screaming as the black light enveloped her; Bry Red running to the bier to stand before the "eye" as the Council had prophesied and the great door appearing above them.

The darkness dissipated, Casey now lay limp upon the bier, and the room was filled with hundreds of floating forms, all of them black with no individuality and glassy, white eyes. Behold your Army of Darkness, Bry Red. Sithtroopers, all linked to you through their souls which are now yours. Almost immortal in the Dark Side, yet if you die, they die. They are laced with the power of the Sith and immune to all but the Dark Side, yet they thrive on it. Now, open the door and release our brothers!

Bry Red looked up to the swirling black mass of nothingness, blocked behind a gate of glowing Force energy. He raised his hands and released a surge of the Dark Side into the door and the gate shattered and a horde of shadowy forms jumped from the black hole.

Reptile-like creatures strode forward. The Ssir-kon, The Council told Bry. "Jedi Hunter" in the native Sith tongue. The Massassi, followers of Naga Shadow and Exar Kun, they continued as the red monsters with spines jutting from their heads and backs stepped forward. Finally, a sickly yellow thing which looked like a Sithtrooper came forward. Crillith, your lieutenant, his powers far exceed that of any of the others. They are yours to command.

Meanwhile, Dravis had helped Mike to his feet and struggled to take him through the door. "We can't just leave Master Skywalker and Casey like this!" he said in a coarse whisper, coughing blood.

"We can't help any of them if we die here! Besides, your in no condition to fight. Come on!" Mike gave in and they went in short surges to the cut-away door, Dravis half carrying his companion...

Chapter 5

THE HUNTED

They ran in panic. Dravis Sky half carrying a wounded Mike Keygane. They knew that the Council of the Sith's minions were right on their heels, quietly stalking them through the dark halls which they hardly recognised as the Great Temple; the Jedi Academy.

The temple had been constructed by Freedon Nad, and re-built by Exar Kun for the purpose of bringing an end of light and igniting the forever-reign of the Dark Side. It seemed now that it had started--if not completed--that purpose, as the torches glowed black.

Dravis found his powers in the Force weakening as the ripples of darkness spread outward, suffocating the Light. It was too quiet, he could hear his heart beat, and erratic breath which came in short, labored gasps. Their foot-steps pounded the flag-stones and his blood throbbed like a bass drum in his temples.

They didn't see anyone in the rooms with open doors as they passed. The sheets on the beds were wrinkled and looked slept in, in some of the rooms there were platters of half-eaten food still steaming. It hit him like a block of granite, and he almost collapsed with the insight that was almost too terrible to consider: the Sithtroopers he had seen in the Grand Audience Chamber after the doorway had opened! There had been hundreds of them; and he was willing to bet that number equaled the amount of Jedi trainees that had been at the Academy.

They would have no help, they were on their own. Their own.

We need to get out of the Great Temple, Dravis thought. It seems as if the very temple were alive and against us. But who knows what's outside in the depths of the jungle? No. We not only need to get out of the temple, but off the planet. But all of the ships in the hanger are only atmospheric crafts. They would cross that bridge when they came to it, he decided.

If we live long enough, he heard the scraping of clawed feet on the flag-stone as something approached a bend in the hall behind them. They were coming! He saw the curve in the hall before them, but now, they were in a straight and in the open. They were sitting nerfs here.

"I'm slowing you down," Mike said weakly. "Go on! I can take care of myself." He tried to release his grip on Dravis's shoulder, but his knees buckled and collapsed under him. Dravis caught him and helped him up, Mike gritting his teeth against the excruciating pain in his side.

"Don't be a fool! C'mon!" Dravis quickened his pace and Mike kept up, wincing: better to have some pain than be dead; or worse, a Sithtrooper. They raced the footsteps, Dravis fingering his lightsaber with his free hand. The footsteps were almost to the bend, now he could hear the creature's hissing breath. Dravis shot a quick glance behind them and gasped, he saw the shadow of the creature. It had a long snout, a forked tongue shooting out like a snake. It was hunched over and it had huge clawed hands on spindly arms.

Ssir-Kon: a Jedi hunter! It was tracking them! Dravis jumped behind the bend with Mike in tow and they both sprawled on the ground as Dravis landed off balance, pulling Mike down along. Mike looked back to see his leg still in plain sight from the straight. Just as he pulled it back, the Ssir-Kon's reptilian head peered into the straight. It sniffed the air with its tongue, and then walked out into the straight. It walked lightly, bobbing its head like a bird. It wore a torn flight suit with a bandolier across its chest with a metallic staff strapped to its back.

It stood to its full height, towering over any human and it let out a snarl. It was followed across the bend by another like it. After looking at the second Ssir-Kon and hissing, the first dashed down the straight like an arrow, its jaws filled with razor teeth snapping. The second ran after the first, rasping with anticipation.

Dravis's eyes grew wide as he heard the clammer. He unhooked his saber from his belt and activated it with a sharp snap-hiss. He had never realized how dark the hall-ways were until he was staring at the aqua flame of his saber. The saber pushed back the shadow, hiding the Ssir-Kons' approach from his eyes, but he didn't need to see them.

The monsters' snarls marked them, so that he was not surprised when one of the sleek, green scaled heads burst around the corner. The saber soared through the air and cut through the creature's neck, severing its head. The rest of its body fell and thrashed. While Dravis stared with horror at the dying Ssir-Kon, the second of the creatures jumped at him.

Dravis threw himself aside, the Ssir-Kon's claws cutting the side of his head, matting his hair to his scalp with blood. The monster rounded on him and drew the metallic staff, holding it ready. The Ssir-Kon smiled at him--it this thing could really smile--daring him to come. Dravis's saber flew at the creature, the the staff darted in to counter. Dravis's surprise at the staff stopping the saber did not last more than a millisecond. He recoiled as the Ssir-Kon's staff ripped towards his head.

Dravis blocked the staff and grabbed it, pulling it down. His face was deformed with strain, he saw the Ssir-Kon's claw coming at him from the corner of his eye, but could not react in time. He was thrown across the hall like a rag doll, blood trickling out his nose. His vision blurred as the Ssir-Kon strode towards him, then went black.

Mike struggled to his feet, holding his bloody side with one hand, his saber in the other. The golden blade sprung to life and the Ssir-Kon's head swung around to look at him. Mike thought he heard the Ssir-Kon laugh: a sound like nails on a chalk board. "I don't die easily!" Mike growled, lashing out with his lightsaber, the creature jumped back, but too slowly. The saber raked across the Ssir-Kon's chest, drawing a shrieking scream from the monster.

Mike heard thundering of many foot-steps coming towards them. The Ssir-Kon shot a look behind it, and came back with a victorious look in its eyes. Mike swore under his breath. The Sithtroopers turned the corner, looking as emotionless as ever, and walked toward Mike and the crumpled form of the unconscious Dravis.

There were dozens of them.

Mike yelled and stabbed at the Ssir-Kon while it was distracted. The saber buried itself in the creature's flesh, and it gasped and threw back its head. Mike ripped the saber upward, cutting the reptile-like demon almost in half. The Sithtroopers continued on their stiff march as if nothing had happened.

Mike spurted toward the troopers, hacking wildly with his saber, but every time his saber found its mark, severing a hand, or even a head, long tendons of black lashed from the bodies, connecting with the severed limb and pulling it back to the Sithtrooper's body. Mike stared with wide-eyed disbelief at the demons washing over him.

He was forced back and he shot a look to Dravis. He had been caught up in the battle; he had not noticed his injury while his saber flew, but now, it felt as it it were on fire, a fire that ignited his whole body, making sweat pour from his brow. He could barely stand straight, much less carry Dravis as Dravis had him before. He would have a chance to rescue Dravis, if he did not die here. He swore he would return and then fell back, stumbling as he did, away from the glassy-eyed Sithtroopers.

Casey felt the urge to scream--wanted to scream as she came out of the darkness, but she couldn't. She could see through her eyes, but she couldn't control those eyes. She tried to move, but she couldn't. Her eyes moved and focused, but she wasn't the one who was controlling them.

Her head moved and her eyes focused on the figure standing like a sentinel. She recognised him and she wanted to hit him with all her strength, and then escape from this nightmare. That's what she wanted to do as he held out his hand to her, but what she actually--or what the thing that was controlling her--did, was take his hand. She found, as he helped her up, that she was no longer attached to the bier.

Now was her chance. But she couldn't take it! So, Vadis, you don't like that you can't use your own body? A voice in her own mind sneered. Now you'll see what it's like! What was happening to her? What was this voice? She was a prisoner! A captive in her own mind! This is not your mind! You came like a plague! This is my mind! And you'll never control it again!

Chapter 6

TEMPTATIONS OF THE DARK SIDE

Near to where he had last met the Ssir-Kon and Sithtroopers, Mike Keygane sat in an alcove in the halls of the Great Temple. He could feel the sweat dripping down his face, stinging his glazed eyes as he gripped his bloody side and concentrated. He searched for the Light Side, but there was none, only blackness, death. He stretched out and clasped that darkness and he felt the chaos and destruction, he was filled with hatred, burning hatred that screamed for him to do evil.

He took a deep calming breath and focused on the Dark Side and then suddenly, the world burst with a whole new awareness, he could see sharper, smell scents that no human could conceive and the wound in his side burnt like a supernova. The pain was so great, but when he attempted to harness the Dark Side to heal it, the pain re-doubled and spread into every corner of his being. His vision danced with hideous, skull-like faces, all laughing at him.

He screamed.

His skin twisted and contorted around the gash at his side and then glowed like black fire and melted back together. As soon as he felt the wound close, he pushed the darkness away with all of his strength, it was difficult, but he did it. He gasped and looked down to his side: the skin was white as death around a burn blacker than night which was covered in blisters and felt hot to the touch.

He massaged his temples and breathed hard. Now that he was healed, he knew what he had to do: rescue Dravis.

"It is too late for that..." Mike jumped up and looked to Dravis's voice. He was a mass of blood and his eyes--Mike shuddered--were like black coals in a gaunt and white face. "I am dead! And it is because of you!"

"NO!"

"Master Skywalker, Casey; your fault," Dravis continued, raising an accusing finger. "And now your fault, shall be your death!" Black flames leapt from his hand and rushed at Mike like billowing water from a felled dam. Mike jumped aside as the fire exploded against the wall, leaving a giant scorched crater in the stone. Mike had his lightsaber in his hands, now, the golden blade pulsing.

In Dravis's gnarled hand a black-hearted aqua blade of flames appeared, roaring like a furnace in a sickening parody of Dravis's own lightsaber.

The aqua flame arched towards Mike's torso, and his saber darted in to counter, crackling lightning burst at the blades' touch. The fire-wrought blade again attacked, this time soaring toward Mike's head. Mike's saber locked with Dravis's, but the other's saber pushed him back, into the wall. The aqua fire was only inches away from Mike's face, held back by his lightsaber and his own waning strength.

The flame filled Mike's vision and scorched his face, his own sweat was turning to steam before his eyes. With a surge of strength, Mike pushed back against the aqua flame, knocking Dravis away, and Mike's saber soared through the air, severing the hand gripping the firey blade. As the hand began to fall away, yellow tendons burst from Dravis's wrist to connect with the hand and pull it back into place.

"What are you?" Mike breathed, taking the opportunity to step away from the horrid figure. The form of Dravis collapsed into itself as Mike spoke. What stood before him now was an almost liquid human-shaped mass of yellow with glowing red eyes, and above its eyes, burnt into its forehead was the Black Sun, the symbol of all that was evil in the universe.

"I am your best friends." The creature stepped toward Mike, and with each step its face became that of his companions: Patrick Solo, Jake Mairrack and Casey Vadis as he had remembered her when they first met. "I am your worst enemies," it continued, taking the form of a black-skinned Sithtrooper, a Ssir-Kon, Ty'Ka and Bry Red.

"I am you," the thing finished as its liquid form molded itself like shifting clay, becoming Mike Keygane. In its hands, erupted a gold flame-wrought blade. The thing attacked, bring its saber around so to cleave Mike in half, but he blocked and knocked the attacker's saber away. Mike quickly switched into offense, delivering blow after blow, his world became the saber...

"You see, I am you! I know what you are going to do before you do it! You can not win! Give yourself to the Dark Side!" the thing said with Mike's voice.

Mike found what the thing was saying was indeed true; every attack on his part was deflected away. But he was a Jedi, he was resourceful. A Jedi must let go of his conscience self, and act on instinct, a great Jedi master had once said. If he didn't know what he was doing, neither would this creature!

Again he reached out for the Force, searching through the sickening darkness for a pin-point of light. And he found it, embraced it. He gave into the Force, allowing it complete control over his body. It was as if he was watching himself on a view-screen from across the galaxy. His opponent was completely taken aback. It had been obviously counting on its advantage to win, and without it, it was lost!

But the fact still remained that his saber couldn't harm the thing. How do you fight something of the darkness? he asked himself, and the Force answered him back: With light. He delivered one more blow, them backflipped two meters and recovered with an outstretched hand.

Growling like some sort of savage predator, the creature lept forward, saber plowing through the air. A bar of pure white light exploded from Mike's hand and enveloped the creature; it faded like a shadow, its shrill howling echoing through the halls long after it faded completely.

And with that bar of light, the last tiny remnant of the Light Side winked out...

It is too late, young one! the dark figure told him mockingly. The black cloaked man was almost indistinct in the complete darkness, except for his eyes which glowed with power. There is no escape. Your friends and Master are ours! Soon, you will be, too. There is no point in fighting anymore; be resigned to your destiny and join the Sith. With that, the Sith Lord drifted away, laughing. As the figure faded into nothing, Dravis saw a slit of light before him which had taken the Sith Lord's place.

Vaguely he started toward the light. It was like climbing out of a dark pit, but he slowly, so slowly, regained consciousness. His eyes opened to slits and even the dim light burned them and sent colorful patterns drifting in front of his vision. His head ached and he tasted blood in his mouth and felt it running down the side of his head.

He was being dragged, he realized, across the flagstone of the Great Temple's floor. Two Sithtroopers gripped his arms tightly, paying him no attention. His arms were bent in an awkward angle, causing almost unbearable pain. He looked down to his belt to find his lightsaber missing. He tried to recall what had happened, but the last thing he remembered was being hurled into the wall by a Ssir-Kon.

He craned his neck and saw the stone ceiling. They were following a long hall that led to the grand audience chamber and Bry Red. Stretching along the length of the ceiling were long coolant pipes wrapped in energy coils. Ahead was a side hall, and a cross-section of pipe intersected the main line...

He closed his eyes and focused, trying with all his might to grab and hold onto the Force. There was only a dark, tainted void which made his insides heave. There was no Light. He took a deep breath; he had enough anger in him. More than enough in truth. His master had been taken, Casey was probably dead, so was Mike. And these things dragged him like a bag of Bantha fodder.

It started as a shrill screech as the bolts connecting the cross section to the other pipes strained. The bolts popped and fell to the floor, a plume of steam poured from the broken connection. The energy coils broke and a shower of sparks erupted. Only then did the Sithtroopers look up to see the long pipe rushing at them, pushed by the Force. The pipe slammed into them and tossed them back. They lost their hold on Dravis as they fell to the floor, pinned down by the pipe.

Dravis worked his way onto his knees and looked back at the Sithtroopers who thrashed at the pipe, attempting to get it off themselves. Dravis climbed slowly to his feet. He glared at the two struggling Sithtroopers, and sneered. Suddenly, black flames sprouted from the Sithtroopers' eyes. The things' screeching deathcry was almost deafening, and they thrashed as their bodies melted, giving off sickening black smoke that stung Dravis's nostrils.

When the Sithtroopers were only smoldering piles of black ash, Dravis released the Dark Side, and he shuddered, his entire body shaking. What had he done?

The Grand Audience Chamber of the Great Temple. The focal point. In the skylight at the zenith of the gigantic room, strange, black clouds boiled in the sky. Lightning streaked across the clouds; lightning in red and blue, green and black and a dozen other colors. The lightning painted patterns on the black flagstone, like the reflection of an ocean in a torrent. Thunder rolled in the air.

Now and again, the lightning surged through the skylight to the swirling black doorway which still stood, a tear in time itself.

Bry Red, hands steepled in front of his face and eyes closed, sat on a Dark Side-wrought throne that seemed to be made of clouded black glass, his black-bladed sword driven into the floor before him. His eyes opened slowly, they were dark and haunted. He turned upward to look at the pillar of black light, covered in the faces of thousands of long dead Sith Lords who had not resigned to death.

"Your Crillith has failed," Red accused. "The Jedi still live. I feel it."

It is of no concern, the Council of the Sith said, in a voice that seemed to resonate from everywhere and nowhere. All still goes in accordance with our plans.

"Bry?" a female voice called.

Red turned to look at the shadowy form emerging. "Ty'Ka," he said standing. The Dathomirian woman was dressed in flowing black robes, the long cape trailing in her wake. On her forehead was engraved the Black Sun of the Sith. Red's eyes flashed back to shadows of their former selves. "Do you feel well?"

"I feel fine," Ty'Ka said, smiling as she wrapped her arms around Red's neck. "Vadis still screams inside my mind, but I am in control again."

The Council watched in silence, as Red leaned over Ty'Ka and kissed her. Leave them be. Soon the Husks will be ripe. And then, we will walk among the living again!

Chapter 7

FACES IN THE DARKNESS

Coruscant.

Imperial City was always the greatest city in the universe, on a planet covered with endless cities. Governments come, and governments go, but Coruscant had been a constant for countless generations. The Old Republic, the Empire and the New Republic; all had held the world for a time.

Those towering spires had been destroyed and rebuilt.

Atmospheric craft--public, private and military--wound through the maze of buildings. Humans and aliens wandered on walkways hundreds of meters from the surface of the upper-city. In gaps, where new buildings had not covered them, the lower levels, each one older and less maintained than the one atop it, were visible.

Tobias Adaans sat in a small spacers cantina, as extravagant as everything else on the upper level. A steady stream of civilians passed before the transparasteel windows, and the buzz of speech filtered into the cantina.

He sipped a Corellian Ale which had cost three times what it was worth, but it was the price paid for success. Many wealthy people frequented here, looking for the best pilots.

He glanced up at the sky, blue like on many other worlds, with a moon almost always visible behind rolling purple clouds. He returned to his ale. Without warning, the buzz of voices changed, became urgent. Steps began to quicken and he heard a scattering of screams. Tobias lifted his glass of ale to take a drink as he looked up to the window again, and then he dropped the glass, and it shattered, spilling its liquid contents over the table.

Outside, people rushed past, faces masks of horror, but he barely noticed. The sky was now a mass of boiling black clouds. Red lightning sliced across it like raw, bloody lacerations and the roaring thunder shook the towers. Tobias stood, along with everyone else in the cantina, as if hypnotized. He walked out of the cantina onto the walkway.

Two red streaks pierced the blackness, then narrowed into what looked like gigantic glowing eyes. The clouds rippled and twisted to form around the eyes: The face of Naga Sadow.

"LISTEN TO ME, LOYAL FOLLOWERS OF THE SITH!" the clouds spoke with thunder. "THE UNIVERSE HAS CHANGED MUCH SINCE WE RULED, BUT WE KNOW THAT OUR MINIONS ARE STILL THERE! BURIED UNDER FILTH! MAKE READY FOR OUR COMING! WASH ASIDE MATTERS OF THE FLESH; ALL OF YOUR BONDS ARE BROKEN! MAKE READY, FOR SOON, WE WILL WALK AGAIN!"

The clouds parted, the sun shone through, and all hell broke loose...

Mike's side felt tight--and the taint still sickened him--as he stalked through the corridors of the Great Temple, avoiding Sithspawn as best be could. He was coming dangerously close to the Grand Audience Chamber; to Bry Red.

Just as he was about to turn back, he saw a figure in a Jedi cloak, kneeling, face in shaking hands in the middle of the hallway. He licked his lips, "Dravis!" he whispered, looking around, half expecting a thousand Sithtroopers to fall in on him.

Dravis looked up and Mike walked toward him. Two smoldering black forms lay under a coolant pipe which had been ripped from the ceiling. Cooling gasses poured like rolling falls from the remaining pipes mounted to the ceiling, sparks illuminating the heavy clouds.

"I did it, Mike!" Dravis said in a coarse whisper. "I embraced the Dark Side..." his eyes looked haunted.

"I did too; no big deal." No big deal, Mike thought. It felt like a small part of his soul had been ripped from himself. He shuddered. "This is not the time to worry about anything but... oh... a few thousand Sithspawn and a real Dark Lord of the Sith coming around that bend right now and ripping our throats out!" He pointed dramatically to the bend... and Ty'Ka walked around it and started toward them through the mist coating the floor, clad in a dress darker than night.

Dravis didn't know what to expect: the last time he had seen Ty'Ka, she had spoken with the voice of someone he had known, and thought lost forever. "Casey?" he asked.

"Oh she's down there... somewhere," Ty'Ka smiled darkly, brushing a strand of her long black hair from her face, revealing the Black Sun of the Sith on her forehead. She drew a long silver knife from its place on her belt. "She can even hear you. She's not broken. Not yet. In fact, you two give her hope somehow. How convenient, that what Bry wants is the same thing I want. You two. Dead!" she rushed at them, holding the knife high.

Dravis stumbled to his feet, and Mike activated his gold lightsaber. "Turn that thing off, Mike! If Casey's in there somewhere, we don't want to kill her!" Ty'Ka stabbed at Dravis' back and he twisted around, blocking the blade and grabbing her hand, twisting it behind her back, trying not to cause much pain. She dropped the knife.

"Pitiful fools!" Ty'Ka laughed. "You don't want to kill Vadis, and because of this, I will kill you." She elbowed Dravis in the stomach, and he reeled back. She pulled away from him and kicked him across the face.

While the Dathomirian Witch was distracted, Mike struck her. She staggered, calling the knife back to her and the blade flashed, cutting Mike across the wrist. Mike yelled.

"Uh uh uh," Ty'Ka mocked, waving the knife. "You must not give in to the Dark Side, or else you'll end up just like me and Bry!" Mike snarled, hand darting to his boot, and he drew a small blaster. He got off three quick lances of energy, each in turn deflected.

Ty'Ka kicked the blaster from Mike's hand and pounced on him. Mike grabbed her hand, but the force threw them back. On his back with Ty'Ka atop him, Mike still struggled to hold back the knife, but it inched forward, toward his face. Mike's face twisted in the struggle, sweat started to come up from his brow.

There was a flash. A laser-bolt sliced through the air and caught the blade. The knife flew from Ty'Ka's grip and clattered to the flagstones. Mike shifted and pulled Ty'Ka under him, holding her hands pinned to the floor.

Dravis knelt beside them and Mike looked up. "Nice shot," he said, forcing a smile.

"Thanks. Just be thankful my hands stopped shaking," Dravis said as he set Mike's blaster on the floor and looked into Ty'Ka's eyes as Mike gulped loudly.

Dravis' eerie golden eyes bore into her very soul. And there he heard a cry for help: Casey Vadis' cry.

"Bry will rip you apart for this!" Ty'Ka growled, all the humor gone from her.

Dravis ignored her and looked up to Mike. "Mike, I need to enter her mind, try to break the cage holding Casey."

"What are you talking about?" Mike asked incredulously.

"It was something Master Skywalker was teaching me about before..." his voice trailed off as the image of Bry Red turning Skywalker into one of those Sithtroopers returned to him. He shook himself and continued, "Mike, whatever you do, do not break the psychic link--I don't care what's happening. If the link is broken, my mind and soul will be lost forever. My body will just be a husk, no better than a Sithtrooper."

Mike nodded. Dravis placed his hand lightly on Ty'Ka's forehead. She pulled away and Dravis was forced to add pressure. He concentrated. Not many learned this, it truly was dangerous; even more dangerous than he had told Mike. Through the physical contact, he was able to draw on the flow of Force already in Ty'Ka, but it was not much better than taking in the Dark Side. Concentrate...

Dravis jolted as his spirit was transferred into Ty'Ka's mind. Ty'Ka became still and her breath slowed...

Dravis looked around the surreal setting of Ty'Ka's mind. It was an odd mix of the Brygone colony--which he had seen for only a brief time years ago--and the forests of Dathomir. A totally illogical mix of the two, he noted. He walked through the dream image. Here and there, buildings ended abruptly in forest and patches of the sky were blue, while others were a dusty yellow.

He entered what appeared to be the Brygonian town square. Here, Brygone was most solid, with less intrusive trees. This was where Casey had grown up.

As he surveyed the square, he stopped dead in his tracks. In the middle of the square was a glowing orb made of the Force, crackling with dark energies. Sitting helpless inside the orb was a young woman. "Casey?" he whispered. She looked up and smiled, standing up in her prison. She looked just as she had when Dravis had last seen her.

Dravis was running toward her when her expression changed dramatically, from hope to a look of pure fear. She was looking past him. He looked over his shoulder and at a figure who looked like the raven of death descending from the darkening sky, arms outstretched.

"You are a fool, Dravis Sky," Ty'Ka hissed. "Do you really think that you can defeat me? And in my own mind nonetheless!" She laughed.

"He will defeat you." Ty'Ka was silenced and she looked back to Casey Vadis, "I will help him."

Ty'Ka smiled, a smile that seemed to swallow up the light. Her eyes glowed green and she pointed at Dravis and Casey. Crackling electricity streamed from her fingertips and enveloped them.

Dravis jerked back, falling to his knees. He heard Casey scream as the lightning surged into her prison. Dravis would have joined her wails if his teeth were not clamped shut. He grabbed frantically for the Light Side... and found it. It was in abundance here. He created a shield to stop the lightning and stood, shaking his head to clear it. He looked to Casey. She was crumpled, seemingly lifeless, in the globe.

Dravis looked back to Ty'Ka and she was gone... He had almost no warning, just a spark in the Force and he swung around just in time to be flung a dozen meters back by a sledgehammer of the Dark Side. Ty'Ka laughed, as Dravis crawled up to his knees. Dust covered his black Jedi uniform and colors flew in his vision.

A blast of Light energy flew from Dravis' hand, and Ty'Ka brushed it away like a feather. Dravis got to his feet and released a steady bar of the Light Side. The pure white bar was met by one of the Dark. Dravis struggled to push his bar forward, but the Darkness spread, eating the light. His bar shattered under the onslaught and the Darkness struck Dravis. He grunted as he again flew backward. She was so powerful.

"It is no use to struggle, Dravis Sky," Ty'Ka said. This time Dravis needed the support of a Dathomirian tree to help him rise. He breathed hard and his head throbbed. There was no way he could defeat her; she had all of the power of the Kaiburr. Only one other person could match her. He quickly glanced back to Casey; she was just getting to her knees, holding her head.

Everything seemed to move slowly. Ty'Ka raised her hand and pointed at him. He prepared himself as the green electricity moved up her arm. As that electricity was released through her fingers, he created another shield of the Force--weaker than before--and as the lightning was just about to hit his shield, he swung it like a mallet, throwing the lightning toward the sphere which held Casey.

Ty'Ka screamed as the electricity hammered into the sphere, and Casey's prison shattered, the percussion hurling Dravis out of the dream world and back into his body...

Dravis' physical eyes opened and he fell to the floor. All of the injuries he had sustained in Ty'Ka's mind still ached. "It's up to Casey now," he whispered...

Chapter 8

BATTLE OF WILLS

Casey Vadis fell from her shattered prison. Colors flashed before her eyes and air was ripped from her lungs. She coughed on hands and knees. But she was free. Then, she felt agonizing pain. She screamed out all of the air she had fought to gain as she was thrown back by a fist of the Dark Side and pinned against the sandstone wall of one of the buildings surrounding the town square.

The pressure of the fist continued to press her against the wall, her chest felt as if a gigantic stone weighed atop it. She struggled for breath. Through vision already weakening, she saw Ty'Ka across the square, hovering above a patch of Dathomir, wearing a satisfied smile. Casey snarled at her, gripped the Force--something she had never been able to do before--and the ground below Ty'Ka erupted.

The Dathomirian woman screamed, as she was sent flying. She disappeared before she crossed the boundary between Dathomir soil and Brygonian soil. Suddenly, the fist was gone, and Casey fell to her knees, taking deep breaths into her burning lungs. Working her way to her feet she looked around the square, keeping a hold on the Force.

The Force shuddered and she lept aside just in time to avoid a sizzling bar of the Dark Side. The Dathomirian sky all around burst with lightning. Casey cursed and jumped out of the way. She could feel a tingle from the lightning, and was dimly aware of her hair standing on-end.

She lept away as another volley of lightning lanced from the sky. Why run around like a scared Wamp Rat when you can be the Krayt Dragon? Casey asked herself. The dance with the spears of lightning continued, a falter deadly; but holding the Force, it was simple. She scanned the area, searching for any sign of Ty'Ka.

As soon as she found Ty'Ka, she released a bar of the Light Side. The bar streaked at the Dathomirian. Ty'Ka's eyes went wide and she jumped away; the bar catching her flowing black cape, burning a perfectly round hole through it. Ty'Ka fell to the Dathomirian ground, shaking her head. As the lightning stopped falling, Casey sped forward, flinging the bars of Light.

Ty'Ka disappeared before the volley reached her. Something was nagging at the back of Casey's mind, but she did not know what. Again, Casey surveyed the square. The Force flickered, she had no time to jump, and the lightning struck her in the back sending her sprawling on the ground. She looked over her shoulder. Ty'Ka stood in a patch of Dathomir behind her. Ty'Ka's lightning bolt had flung her within two meters of Dathomirian soil.

Fingers of dark lightning lanced toward Casey. She wondered if that trick Ty'Ka pulled would work for her.

Flicker.

She stood atop one of the buildings surrounding the town square, looking down at a startled Ty'Ka. Then, it struck home. Whenever Ty'Ka had transported, she had always gone from one patch of Dathomir to the other. When Casey had released the bars of Light, Ty'Ka had transported instead of jumping into Brygone. And just now, Ty'Ka had tried to push her into Dathomir.

Each on their own ground.

Casey pointed at Ty'Ka and lightning lept from her fingertips, Ty'Ka spun around, horrified. The fingers of lightning caught Ty'Ka in her mid-section, wrapping around her. She was pushed back, screaming. She fell to Brygone, sending up a plume of orange dust.

Casey jumped down from the building, landing on her feet. Ty'Ka rushed toward Dathomir, and Casey quickly wove a Force shield around the stand of trees. When Ty'Ka impacted with the shield she was thrown back a half-dozen meters, tails of smoke trailing from her body.

Ty'Ka jumped to her feet as Casey rushed at her. Ty'Ka fell into a defensive position. Casey backhanded Ty'Ka and, following a fluid circle around, tried to strike her again with a kick, but Ty'Ka grabbed Casey's foot as it came up. Casey used her momentum to jump up, kicking Ty'Ka across the face with her other foot.

Ty'Ka staggered back, and suddenly, from the folds of her dark cloak, she retrieved a long staff, the ends decorated with two sharp prongs. Casey jumped back as the Dathomirian woman slashed at her, but Casey was too slow and the prongs ripped a gash through her flight-suit.

The battle ensued: a New Republic-trained commando verses a Dathomirian Witch who fought with mad rage burning behind her dark eyes.

Within moments, both were bleeding, and breath came hard, but neither resigned to defeat. Finally Casey scored a kick against Ty'Ka's ribs and heard a stomach-lurching crack. But Ty'Ka only grunted and swung down the staff toward Casey's head. Casey crossed her arms over her head and caught the weapon, and pulled it from Ty'Ka's grasp.

Quickly, Casey spun the staff around and hit Ty'Ka in the side of the head. Hard. Ty'Ka fell in a heap, blood seeping from her ear. Casey took a step back, looked at the weapon and threw it down. The wooden weapon clattered on the dirt and dissolved as if it had never been.

Ty'Ka groaned softly and, with the Force, Casey quickly wove something that would haunt her nightmares forever now. The dust in a circle around Ty'Ka stirred and then blew away from her as if pushed by a strong wind. The air around her form shimmered around what looked like an inverted bowl, and then electricity crackled around it.

Ty'Ka was lifted gently into the air, and her prison of the Force solidified. Her eyes suddenly flew open, and she screamed with all her might: "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Casey closed her eyes, and tried to block out the screams. She would hear those in her nightmares, too...

...Her physical eyes opened.

And she felt the cold nozzle of a blaster pressing under her jaw. "Okay, now," Mike Keygane, the one holding the blaster, said. "Who are you?"

"Keygane, get off me!" Casey glared.

Mike looked up to Dravis, who was leaning against the wall beside them. He looked over to Casey and nodded. "It's her."

"Now will you get off?"

"Hey, sure thing. Sorry we don't have time for anything else," Mike said with a sly grin. Casey let out an exasperated sigh and practically threw Mike the rest of the way off, and then she accepted Dravis' hand to help her up.

She looked around the hall of the Great Temple. Gas poured from a cooling pipe on the ceiling and a pipe section that had been ripped away from the ceiling sat atop a pile of smoldering ashes. She turned her eyes to Dravis who was frowning slightly at her.

Then, she realized he was looking at her forehead, where the Black Sun was still branded. She wiped her brow, and looked down at her hand. There was a smudge of ash; the Black Sun was now smeared, and she rubbed it the rest of the way off.

"Well," Mike said, standing and brushing the dust from his knees. "What do we do now?"

"Same thing we were doing when we were separated," Dravis told him, retrieving the cylinder of his lightsaber from the pile of ashes and putting it on its hook on his belt. "Escape."

"That's it?" Casey asked incredulously. "You're Jedi; why don't you fight Red?"

"Because, a Jedi without the Force is like a Whaladon out of water," Dravis said bitterly. "Let's go."

Chapter 9

Salvation Lost

And so, they ran.

Dravis Sky, Casey Vadis and Mike Keygane dashed through the Temple, the walls and floor turning into a blur around them. They stumbled down stairs, at each turn expecting to run headlong into a swarm of Sithtroopers or some other Sithspawn. Yet, the way was clear, but that could not suppress the foreboding evil. Just once Mike wished to see the Sithspawn in every unholy shape falling in on them.

At least then he'd be able to see his enemy; face it. Hopefully, defeat it.

"I don't get it." Mike almost jumped as Casey spoke out of the unsettling silence. "I thought you said there weren't any starships with hyperdrive in the temple; so where are we going?"

"There are a lot of traders who come to the Academy," Mike said, grateful to take his mind off of the unseen eyes that seemed to be watching him from every crack in the stones... "Maybe one arrived before we were cut off and we just weren't informed."

"How likely is that?" Casey asked.

"Not very," Dravis conceded. "But we need to get out of here. Besides, if there are any hyperdrive-capable ships, we need to either take them, or sabotage them. Strand the Sithspawn here so they can't spread their forces."

The silence descended again. They trekked deeper and deeper into the bowels of the Great Temple with no encounters with any Sithspawn. They walked down another flight of stairs into the cavernous docking bay. The sky outside of the open bay doors was black and bubbling with clouds moving faster than was natural, but there was an eerie stillness. The glow-panels flickered, casting strange shadow and light patterns across the ships and walls of the bay and they hummed and crackled.

The bay itself was filled with Swoops and Sky-Hoppers and flat-bottomed air-speeders. And there, standing in the center of the space, lights reflecting off its silver hull, was their salvation. The Lightning Rod II, Zekk and Jaina's boxy transport.

"How do you think we forgot about that?" Mike asked rhetorically, leading the way down the stairs to the bay.

Mike heard the snap-hiss of a lightsaber igniting and a faint green light appeared on the stairs. "How do you think Red could forget it," Dravis asked. "It must be a trap."

"I don't think so," Casey said. "Don't you think that if Red were going to attack us, he'd have done it by now?"

"Maybe he wanted it to be more ironic for us," Mike said, drawing and activating his own saber. "Destroying us outside of the ship that brought him here."

Casey shivered, "Now I've got a bad feeling about this, too."

Mike drew his small blaster from his boot and handed it to Casey, "Here, take this; you might need it." Casey accepted the blaster and they started forward down the stairs again. They crossed the bay to the Rod II, and Mike and Dravis took up positions on either side of the door, holding lightsabers ready while Casey pointed the blaster at it and nodded. Mike hit the door release and the door slid quickly and quietly open.

Casey frowned, let her arms fall to her sides, shrugged and walked into the ship between the two men. Mike and Dravis exchanged glances before deactivating their sabers and following Casey in. Casey walked to the bridge with Mike behind her and slid into the copilots' seat while Mike took the pilots'. Dravis examined the rear of the ship, looking into all of the passengers' quarters to make sure that they were alone.

When he had made sure that the quarters were empty, he walked back up the main hallway to join his companions on the bridge and sat down in the passengers' seat, behind and between the two others. "It's secure," he told them, strapping on his crash webbing.

Mike familiarized himself with the controls and switched on the engines. The three ion-engines glowed to life and a rumbling spread through the ship. Mike activated the repulsorlifts and the Rod II rose slowly off of the flagstones, and when they were a few meters off the ground, he hit the thrusters and the transport rocketed through the bay doors.

Bry Red sat on his Dark Side-wrought throne, his arm outstretched, a glowing ball hovering over his ruined hand and he gripped his sword in the other hand. In the orb, he watched as the slaveship that had stolen him from his life on Coruscant, the Lightning Rod II, shot out of the temple's docking bay and made for the moon's atmosphere.

Ty'Ka was with them. He would get her back, and destroy Vadis forever. He peered into the orb another minute before he growled and held it high, then hurled it to the flagstones and it shattered. From the shattered ball, blue fog seeped and grew into a thick cloud. The mist took shape and solidified. Red smiled darkly.

Standing over the remains of the ball, now stood five skeletal creatures of the Sith. Their streamlined heads were like a knife with jagged teeth, their claws and talons wicked. Their rough leather wings were folded and they had a row of long bony spears on their backs.

You are learning, Bry Red, the Council boomed from the shaft of black light that they existed in.

"I am a quick study," Red said, inclining his eyes to look at the Council. And through the skylight at the temple's zenith, he caught a glance of the Rod II streaking through the clouds. He returned his gaze to his creations and stood from his throne. "I want that ship," he gestured with his sword to the sky. "You will bring its passengers to me. Go."

The creatures shrieked and flapped their wings and rose jerkily into the air after their target.

The wind unmercifully beat the transport and through the viewport all that they could see was black clouds and streaking lightning. Mike fought with his flightstick against the wind, but the hull-plates shuddered. A blood-red bolt of lightning cut through the air directly in front of the Lightning Rod II and the ship bucked as the electricity impacted with the shields.

A green indication light on the control board turned red and a warning sounded, their forward deflector shields were failing. All in all, Mike would rather have been flying against a Super Star Destroyer than this unusually fierce bank of clouds.

Deafening thunder roared, shaking Mike's very bones. Then, as the thunder faded, another sound emerged. A screech that ground his nerves almost as much as the thunder shook them. Another screech came in reply to the first, and before them, a shadowy shape formed.

The speeding thing came nearer. It looked like some paleontologist's specimen come to life. One of the spines on the creature's back flared and shot toward them with the speed of a laser bolt. Mike cursed viciously and pulled the Rod II into a hard roll right. The spine cut into the Rod II's hull on one side as if the hull plates were butter.

Warning sirens sounded all over the ship. Another of the creatures came at them, wings back for speed and talons forward. Mike tried to maneuver out of the way, but the thing was too fast and its ripping talons tore into the top of the transport, sending a shower of sparks falling around them.

The thing came back around, using its streamlined head as a rudder, and Mike pulled a jarring stunt maneuver right into the path of another of the creatures. It screamed and one of its bony spears rushed at them. It cut through the plasteel viewport and Mike jerked his head to one side as the spear sliced through the headrest of his chair beside his head, and through the deckplates.

The thing continued its dive at them, talons positioned to ram through what remained of the viewport and into the bridge. Mike went into a steep dive and the creature overshot them by bare centimeters. The creature peeled-off from its dive and followed them, screaming, It went into the ion trail left by the engines, something that would have killed anything that was alive.

Sithspawn were not alive.

It released another spear and it cut through the central engine and into the reactor. There was a deafening roar as the rear of the ship exploded into flames. A fireball rushed down the main hall, and Mike hit the emergency door seal. The door to the bridge slid shut, a tongue of fire whisped under the door before it was cut off.

Sparks erupted from the control panel and Mike and Casey raised their hands to shield their faces. Another explosion wracked the ship and its dive spun out of control. The jungle floor reached out to them as they broke free of the clouds.

At first, they could only see the indistinct molten green of the jungles, then, they could see individual trees, then individual leaves. They tore through the canopy, the thorny branches shattering the damaged viewscreen and the branches and shards of transparasteel tore at their faces.

Then they were out of the canopy for a fraction of a second before the ruined Lightning Rod II slammed into the ground.

And everything went black.
 
 

Chapter 10

Destiny In The Force

Casey's essence floated disembodied in darkness. There was peace here. An escape from pain and suffering. Ahead of her was a tunnel of light, rays shining off of it like welcoming hands. She wasn't sure how she moved through the emptiness, but the light began to grow as she came nearer.

But as she was about to enter into the tunnel, she was blocked by a figure glowing so brightly that it made the light behind it seem dull. It is not yet your time, Casey Vadis, a warm and calm voice whispered in her mind. You still have much to do. You are now the Jedi's only hope against an evil older than thought. Use your powers for good, as your destiny intended.

She then felt a hand on her physical shoulder, an anchor, pulling her back to her body. "Casey?"

Consciousness returned to her, and in that moment, pain replaced serenity. She had been pulled hard against the webbing in the crash. She felt tiny shards of transparasteel in her face and neck, and there was a wetness coming from her nose and lower lip. Blood.

"Casey, are you all right?" Dravis asked from behind her. It was his hand that had pulled her back to the land of the living. She looked back at him. He looked to be in little better state than herself.

Casey shook her head to clear it and orient herself. She was on Yavin IV, in a body that was not her own. They had been trying to escape from this Sith-cursed world aboard the Lightning Rod II when Sithspawn had forced them to crash. "Yeah," she said. "I'm fine, you?"

"I've felt better," Dravis told her.

She looked over to Mike beside her in the pilots' seat: his head was inclined against the headrest. He had a jagged cut that ran from his right cheek up into his scalp. He looked dead. "Mike? Mike?" she said it a bit louder the second time, as she put a hand on his shoulder.

Mike stirred and Casey frowned. "KEYGANE!" she yelled and Mike's eyes flew open. Then he groaned as awareness of his injuries came to him.

Mike winced as he felt along his cut. "Why'd you have to wake me?" he asked, sounding... annoyed. "I was having the greatest dream, I was..." he cut off sharply as he glanced at her, then he gave her his most innocent grin. "Hi Casey!"

Casey muttered to herself and caught sight of Dravis, his hand over his mouth and the tightness in his eyes showing that he was struggling not to laugh. And by the way his eyes squeezed shut a moment later, and the way he groaned, she could tell he was sorry for starting to laugh.

Dravis pulled off his crash webbing. "What now?" Casey asked.

Dravis walked at an awkward angle, a hand on the wall to steady himself. Casey looked out of the transparasteel-less viewport in front of her. It was dark out there, rolling clouds with flashes of lightning hiding whether it was night or day, but she could still make out the forms of toppled trees, one of which was directly under them, tilting the ship at a steep forty-five degree angle.

"We get out of here," Dravis told her. "Those Sithspawn might still be searching for us." He hit the panel next to the door out of the cockpit. The panel sparked a few times, then there was a clunk followed by the grinding of a gear off its mark which resonated through the hull.

"I'm tired of running," Mike muttered, "it's time to fight." Casey had never known Mike to be a fool, reckless maybe, but not a fool. She agreed with him.

"Are you also tired of breathing?" Dravis asked them bluntly, drawing and igniting his lightsaber, casting a faint aqua light across the cockpit.

"What other choice do we have? To hide? How the mighty hath fallen."

"Hiding out here would be suicide," Casey said. "Anything could be out there. And Anything probably is."

"Two Jedi without the Force and a New Republic commando against a Dark Lord of the Sith and his army of darkness. We'd be slaughtered," Dravis told them, stabbing his lightsaber into the door and pulling it up.

"Ya know, you never miss something till you don't have it," Mike said, shaking his head.

Dravis paused from his cutting and bowed his head. "Yes," he said.

Casey rallied her courage. "I have the Force," she told them in a whisper.

Mike frowned at her. "How can that be? The Light's been suffocated, besides--"

"The Kaiburr," Dravis said, cutting Mike off. He frowned as he thought. "The Kaiburr crystal has its own power in the Force. It does not rely on the outside Force. It's like a generator. And when Casey was released, she took the power of the Kaiburr with her into Ty'Ka's body." Casey nodded.

Dravis finished his saber's triangular cut and rammed his shoulder into the wedge of door he had cut away. The wedge fell away and Dravis gasped. Casey pulled off the crash webbing and ran up behind Dravis to look over his shoulder.

Beyond the door, the rest of the Rod II was gone except for jagged shards framing the door. Beyond that was a decimated line of trees a half-mile long, debris and lingering fires scattered here and there along the trail.

"By the Force," Mike breathed from behind them. Casey almost jumped, she hadn't heard Mike's approach. "So much for the Sithspawn not knowing where to find us."

"Yeah," Dravis said, "I think you're right." Dravis was the first to step through the hole in the door, Casey and Mike followed.

When they were outside, Casey frowned as Mike and Dravis looked around. "Which way to the Great Temple?" she asked.

"I have no idea," Dravis said.

"Yeah, it's either that way," Mike said, pointing in front of them. "Or that way," he gestured behind them. "You've got two choices. One of them's wrong."

"Casey?" Dravis asked.

She looked up at him and then nodded. She closed her eyes and opened herself to the Force. To the energy field that penetrated and bound together the universe. And suddenly her mind was flying over the tall trees of the Yavin IV jungle faster than the speed of sound, of light. And over the canopy, she saw what she sought.

Casey opened her eyes. "It's that way," she told them, pointing right.

"That would've been my third choice!" Mike called after them as Dravis and Casey started the way Casey had indicated.

"Yeah, right, Keygane!" Casey called back, laughing despite the situation.

They walked for hours through the dark jungles, discussing what they would do when they reached the temple; how they could face Bry Red and live. They discarded many of their plans right-off, others were long shots. None they were happy with.

They had lost track of time, when the blood-red lightning exploded from the sky, illuminating the skeletal form above them. The lightning vanished and the thunder shattered the air. Out of the roar, came a screech like a death cry. Or the cry of death. Dravis and Mike's lightsabers were suddenly in-hand and ignited. Casey gripped onto the Force.

The Screecher shot at them like a black missile, straight at Mike. Mike jumped aside, but the thing's razor claws sliced into his wrist. His foot caught on a root and he stumbled back. The thing banked hard, and screamed toward Mike again. There was an arc of aqua light and suddenly the Screecher no longer had a head.

The limp body glided forward and crashed into a tree. Dravis reached down and helped Mike up. "They're here."

There was a flash and then Dravis had six red gashes across his back. He grunted and spun around, but the Screecher was already past, and another was rocketing out of the sky. The first Screecher was coming at Casey at an unnaturally fast pace, it's jaws snapping. Casey instinctively held out her hands to cushion the impact, but from her hands, twin balls of fire erupted and the Screecher was... gone.

The second Screecher was arrowing at Dravis and Mike. Mike pulled his blaster from its hiding place in his boot and fired off a few quick shots at the Sithspawn. The Screecher veered away with three smoldering holes in its leather wings.

"Casey!" Dravis yelled jumping forward and pushing Casey out of the way of the barbed spear that had ripped through the sky. Then, black forms erupted from every shadow. Blank white eyes peered at them from blank faces. Sithtroopers.

The ring of Sithtroopers walked slowly toward them. Mike, Dravis and Casey stood back-to-back, their weapons ready, but there would be no escape...

Chapter 11

Dark Resurrection

The last leg of their journey to the Great Temple was under the escort of the ever-watchful, yet dead, eyes of the Sithspawn. The Sithtroopers held their captives' arms painfully behind them as they walked steadily, never stopping, until sweat dotted Casey's brow and her legs felt numb.

Now and again, she would use the Force to rejuvenate herself, but after what Dravis had said about the Kaiburr, she was afraid that she might strain the Kaiburr's power. That she might lose the power of the Kaiburr before she could fulfill what that thing in her dream had said she must do.

The Screechers sometimes flew ahead of them, and other times they would walk with them, their flaming red eyes peering from caves of dead black. Whenever Casey would look at one of them, walking alongside, it would snap its razor jaws at her, as if daring her to fight.

At last they could see the Temple, towering over them. A darkness radiated from that building, and a pillar of black light lanced through its zenith and into the boiling clouds. The small part of Casey that she had identified as Ty'Ka, felt relief and hope at seeing that Temple. All that Casey herself felt was fear and something else... a sense of destiny?

They walked through the Temple's bay-doors which seemed unsettlingly like a gaping mouth. The Sithtroopers forced them up the seemingly endless flights of stairs that she and Dravis and Mike had sped down in their flight from the temple.

They were led into the Grand Audience Chamber.

Bry Red practically leapt from his clouded-glass throne and walked to them, stopping before Casey. He touched her cheek and Casey tried to move her head away. "Ty'Ka, are you all right? These Jedi,"--he jabbed an accusing finger at Dravis and Mike--"haven't hurt you, have they?"

Casey sneered at Red, pulled away from his hand and spat at his face. Red looked bewildered for a millisecond and then slapped Casey, rage bubbling behind his eyes. Casey looked away. "Vadis! I should have known my love would not let these Jedi take her!" He lifted her chin so that she was looking him eye-to-eye. "I locked you away once. I will do it again."

Red turned to Dravis and Mike. "You, my Jedi friends--well, you're of no use to me," Red told them, shaking his head in mock-sadness, drawing his dark-side-wrought-sword. "You've given me too much annoyance, so I'm afraid you'll simply have to die." Red lifted his sword and swung it at Dravis' neck, the blade humming in flight and reflecting the dark light of the Council's pillar.

"NO!" Casey yelled, and abruptly, the Sithtrooper holding her hands bust into flames. The Sithspawn spasmed and withered as Casey broke away, to point at Red's sword. A bar of white light lanced from her outstretched hand and struck the blade, knocking it from Red's grasp and sending it clattering across the floor.

Red screamed in rage, his eyes suddenly became molten pits of glowing red, and black light exploded from his hand toward Casey. She recoiled and created a shield of light. Red's bolt impacted the shield and then flew away from it, striking the Sithtrooper holding Mike.

Mike hit the creature in the stomach, it released him and Mike backhanded it. One of the Screechers darted at Mike, its numerous blades flashing. Mike's lightsaber was suddenly in hand and the Screecher had suddenly collapsed. Mike turned to the Sithtrooper that held Dravis, hacking at it. Dravis spun around, freed of the Sithspawn's hold.

Dravis had his saber now, too, and he attacked the Sithtroopers viciously. He could not hope to defeat them with his saber, but he could slow them.

With that, the Grand Audience Chamber exploded in battle. None of them noticed the Council of the Sith scream in their booming nowhere-and-everwhere voice: The husks are finally ripe... the time has come! The faces of the long dead Dark Lords of the Sith that covered their pillar began to wink out. Slowly, one here and one there.

The Sithtroopers were beginning to overpower Dravis with their numbers, when abruptly one of them attacking him stopped. There was a sickening cracking sound as the black shell--husk--of the Sithtrooper split and fell away, revealing an alien, its face pasty white with streamlined tattoos over its eyes--Snayk. Snayk was covered in a black bodysuit and gold armor, twin wickedly curved blades showing over his shoulders on his back. Dravis' saber arched through the air toward Snayk's head. Then, the Sith Lord had his blades in hand and Dravis' lightsaber met Sith-wrought metal, and lightning soared away from dark metal and glowing laser.

Snayk brought Dravis' saber down; the Sith Lord moved fluidly as if he had no bones, yet he was stronger than any opponent Dravis had ever faced. Snayk's face was barely inches away, Dravis could feel his breath: it was hot, like the fires of hell, and sweat appeared on Dravis' face.

Snayk smiled darkly, revealing needle-sharp teeth. He pulled his blades away and slashed. Dravis jumped back, the blades catching only cloth.

Other Sithtroopers began to break apart: a tall man with long brown hair, dressed in a green tunic and silver armor stepped forth--Airune Curr; then, a stout man with a thick mustache almost covering his mouth, dressed in gold armor--Bail Newroun; then a skeletal alien, clusters of eyes over a reptilian face, its hands primitive claws and its legs split in two at the knee--Giha Qay; then, a tall, beautiful, exotic-looking woman in flowing green robes, a shining silver quarterstaff over her shoulder--Sonya Aringaul.

A Sithtrooper's husk shattered, shards flying over the chamber as an enormous Hutt broke free--Grukha the Hutt.

Casey fought Red--her world closed in the struggle for survival, light-side against dark-side--when Red paused, a look of horror crossing over his face. "No!" He gasped, "What's happening?!"

Casey turned around to see what had startled him. You are now the Jedi's only hope against an evil older than thought... "The Council," she breathed. She darted forward, to the pillar, when Sonya Aringaul moved to block her way.

"You cannot stop it, One Who is Kaiburr!" she said in a musical voice, reaching for her staff. There was a glint of metal as the staff moved faster than sound, and hit Casey's side, sending her sprawling. "We walk again, as the ancient prophecy says." The staff flew again, rapping Casey across the ribs. "And the Darkness will come." Sonya planted her staff against Casey's chest, pushing it in painfully against a pressure-point. "And the Light fades to nothing."

The pain was excruciating, Casey was sobbing, her breath coming raggedly, tears stinging her eyes. "Thus says the Sith," Sonya finished, raising the staff and bringing it down at Casey's head for a killing blow. Fear and anger welled up inside Casey and the power of the Kaiburr flowed through her, and the Lady of the Sith screamed as she was hurled back, landing painfully, smoke trailing in her wake.

Casey got to her feet slowly. Another Dark Lord stepped away from the broken remains of a Sithtrooper, another woman, her too-large eyes blank and glittering with an insane light--Erisma Orbitas.

Casey dashed to the Council's pillar on unsteady legs, feeling as if she would collapse with the next step. She lifted her hand, ready to hurl a bar of white light into the black heart of the Council. Sonya crawled toward her. Seeing that Casey threatened the Sith holocron, she whipped her staff out before her and caught Casey's legs, causing her to fall forward.

The bar of light leapt from Casey's hands as she began to lose balance, and streamed off target from the Council and toward the pedestal on which the holocron was laid. The Council cried out, their glowing eyes wide with horror. The bar tore into the pedestal, shattering the dark stone, sending the holocron flying back into the gaping mouth of the Doorway.

The Doorway fluctuated, jagged lightning exploded through the chamber and thunder shook it. The Doorway collapsed in on itself and on the Council, taking the long dead Sith Lords still bound to the holocron to their final torment in the nether realm, their screams with them.

"You should not have done that," a rasping voice said from behind her. Casey spun around. The thing towered over her, its eyes glowing red from behind a black mask. Its tattooed head was framed by a high collar that had the illusion of being a crown and it was dressed in black robes.

It reached down with hands that seemed to be bones and skin and razor claws, lifting Casey by the neck. Her feet dangled a full three-meters off the floor to look into its blazing eyes. It snarled, "Now, you will die..."
 
 
 

Chapter 12

The Saber and The Renegade

The Grand Audience Chamber fell deathly silent as Scelus lifted Casey Vadis into the air, her delicate throat in his monstrously malformed and gigantic hand. For a moment they all held their breath--at least those who still had breath to hold. The Sithtroopers stood as still as statues carved from black marble. The other Dark Lords of the Sith knelt in reverence to the monolith before them in his flowing black robes--at least most of them did; Bry Red stood as still as the Sithtroopers, his mouth hanging open, his eyes filled with awe and terror.

Dravis Sky and Mike Keygane's expressions mirrored that of Red, but terror held prominence.

For a moment, Scelus just stood there, holding Casey at eye level with him, her feet dangling meters above the dull gold flagstones. Scelus' faintly glowing red eyes peered from behind a black mask into Casey's brown eyes. "You should not have done that," he rasped in a voice that was like leaves crackling in a fire mixed with the hissing of a thousand vipers. His eyes flicked to the amputated stump of the pedestal where the Council of the Sith had sat.

The Sith holocron--the Sith's anchor of the dead which had been created by Scelus himself countless millennia ago, so that his soul would not be lost forever to the abyss which waited for those who lived their lives steeped in pure, untainted evil--destroyed in seconds by one so young. And with the holocron's destruction, thousands of Dark Lords had been sentenced to an eternity of torment without repent.

His lips parted in a hideous parody of a smile. "Now, you will die." With that, he hurled Casey away with a growl. Casey screamed as she flew through the air across the chamber, the far wall rushing at her. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth in preparation for the bone crushing impact. She hit the wall and felt the repercussions through the shield of the Force that she had woven in the mere milliseconds of flight.

The flagstones ruptured around her shield; dust and stone raining down onto those below. As if that had been a signal, the entire Grand Audience Chamber erupted into total chaos.

Snayk once again moved in on Dravis, his razor-sharp Sith-wrought blades flashing in the orange light of Yavin, just beginning to show through the dissipating black clouds. Dravis had only had a moment's rest, and this adversary had all the power of the Dark Side at his beckoning call.

Dravis turned aside Snayk's blows, but barely. The Sith Lord's movements were fluid, quick and utterly deadly. Dravis couldn't even conceive of mounting his own assault against Snayk. If he let his guard fall for even a millisecond, he would die.

Suddenly, a dark shadow descended over Dravis. He glanced up to see the hideous form of a Ssir-Kon soaring at him from above, its wicked claws outstretched. Dravis' reflexes took over and he pitched out of the way of the lizard-like creature, his saber darting into line with the demon's torso. The Ssir-Kon released an ear-shattering high-pitched scream as the saber's aqua blade cut it into two pieces which fell harmlessly to the ground.

Snayk took full advantage of the distraction and slashed at Dravis with his blades. Dravis fell onto his back to avoid the Sith-wrought metal. The wind of Snayk's blades tugged at Dravis' hair, but for that second, after the blades had passed overhead, the Sith Lord was undefended and open to attack. Dravis arched up and kicked the alien in the chest, his feet catching one of the sections of the scalelike gold plate armor which protected the Sith Lord's agile body, knocking him backward.

Snayk stumbled back and Dravis jumped to his feet, his lightsaber blurring as he lashed out at the Dark Lord. Snayk's reply was lightning fast: the blades met with a shower of sparks, the sound of thunder and Snayk's rasping, cackling laughter...

As Dravis and Snayk were pitted in a battle to the death, the Sithtroopers moved toward Casey in their slow motion, but overwhelmingly steady march. Casey was still recovering from the shock waves which had penetrated her shield. A steady stream of blood trickled from her nose, but that was the worst of her ailments besides a ringing in her ears.

She stood unsteadily, bracing herself against the wall as the semicircle of Sithspawn closed in on her. She held up her hands and pointed into the middle of the arch of Sithtroopers. The Force flowed through her and a flaming bar of white light leapt from her hands at the lifeless beings and everything the light touched exploded into fire.

Those Sithspawn who were hit directly were incinerated instantly, others thrashed and screamed as their limbs burnt in the white flames. The bar cut through the ranks of Sithtroopers and Casey surged forward through the hole she had cut. The Sithspawn reached out to her even as the flames were consuming their bodies. As she broke out of the Sithtroopers' ranks, she spun 'round, throwing bar after bar of light at the Sithspawn.

Then, she felt a stabbing pain between her shoulder blades and fell into a heap. She looked over her shoulder to see Erisma Orbitas, the rag doll in one hand, a sharp needle in the other. She looked at Casey with an insane light burning in her eyes that matched the psychotic smile across her lips. Again, Erisma jabbed the doll with her needle and Casey cried out as she felt the specter of the pin run through her torso.

The Sithtroopers were again marching on her. Those who were dead lay in heaps which were mindlessly trampled by the survivors.

Erisma's pin again stabbed at the doll. Casey held the Force and as the pin met the doll and Casey felt the start of the spectral needle begin to enter her body, she used Erisma's psychic link against her, attacking the pinprick. Erisma screamed as Casey invaded her mind, filling it with deadly Force energies. Erisma dropped the doll, clutching her head and screaming with pain. As the rag doll fell to the flagstones, Casey gasped as she caught a glimpse of its face.

Her face...

Sweat dotted Mike's brow as he struggled against the Sith Lord Bail Newroun. Though in appearance almost amusing to behold, Newroun radiated darkness and his eyes glowed green, as did the light that shone around his hands. Electricity flared again, arching away from Newroun's clenched fists. Mike twisted around, twirling his saber quickly, making a shield against the crackling lightning.

Another burst of lightning lanced at him and he dove aside as it slashed into the flagstones, and he was pelted with small pebbles which flew from the blast. Mike vaulted forward, slicing at Newroun. The Force shield around the Sith Lord fluxed slightly, glittering green as Mike impacted it and was thrown back, his lightsaber flying from his grip, the blade falling back into its hilt. He grunted as he hit the floor, smoke wafting up from his chest.

Newroun smiled darkly as he walked up to Mike and lifted him up by the throat. The light around Newroun's hands flowed into Mike, cold, and seemed to steal the air from him before it reached his lungs. Mike clasped Newroun's hand, trying to pry the Sith Lord's fingers from his neck, and he `thrashed as his lungs started to collapse.

Mike's vision blurred and his chest felt like it was on fire, but fighting only wasted energy! His arms fell limp, and then a hand slammed into Newroun's face and he released Mike. Mike slid to the flagstones, coughing and gasping for breath, filling his burning lungs. Newroun spun around to face the attacker, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth.

Standing calmly before Newroun was a handsome man, his green tunic half covered by a silver breastplate. The Black Sun of the Sith on his forehead. "Airune Curr!" Newroun snarled. "How dare you?! He is mine to destroy!"

"You're a dishonorable fool Newroun!" Airune shot back, drawing and igniting his lightsaber, the blood red blade coming into existence. "Stand down! I'll show you how to defeat a Jedi in honorable combat!" The Sith Lord's voice was rough, raw. Then, Mike noticed the gruesome scar dominating his throat.

Newroun's glowing green eyes dimmed until they were their previous selves, blue and haunted. He glanced down at Airune's lightsaber and sneered in obvious distaste, then his eyes returned to Mike who was only now weakly working his way to his knees. "I hope the Jedi destroys you," Newroun muttered under his breath as he stepped back.

Airune took Newroun's place, the saber casting its red light over Mike. Mike's head darted up as he heard the humming of the saber, the light filled his eyes as the Sith Lord advanced on him. He would die here, his lightsaber mere meters away; it might as well have been light-years away with the Dark Lord separating them.

As if Airune had read his thoughts--which he very well might have--the Sith Lord glanced behind him and smiled as his eyes fell on Mike's saber. He held out his unhindered hand to the stray weapon and the unignited lightsaber leapt off the floor and into his hand.

Then Airune tossed the lightsaber to Mike. Mike looked at the weapon at his knees with bewilderment. "Take up your weapon!" Airune demanded. Mike wrapped his fingers around the hilt and hit the activation stud, the golden blade bursting from the cylinder with a sharp snap-hiss. With that, Mike jumped to his feet and attacked the Dark Lord, hacking at Airune's torso.

The Sith Lord's blade darted in to counter and the two blades met, gold and red merging with a flash. Their lightsabers locked, the two circled each other, each sizing up his opponent as the sabers crackled, exchanging electricity.

After a moment, Airune Curr pushed back against Mike, gaining space to deliver his onslaught. The Dark Lord's lightsaber became a blur of motion, searching for any weakness in Mike's defense. The hum of the laser-blade filled his ears, the slightest change of pitch signaling a possibly deadly alteration in direction.

Another minute of brutal, fast-paced, heart pounding battle saw the two combatants again face to face. "Close your eyes!" Airune hissed at Mike.

"What?" Mike asked in confusion. Airune swung his saber at Mike's throat, the Jedi apprentice ducked quickly, circling around to slash at the Dark Lord's unprotected back. Anticipating this maneuver, Airune blocked the blow sightlessly and spun to meet Mike again.

"Just close your eyes! There is no time for questions!" Airune knocked Mike's saber away and whirled around to face his fellow Dark Lords of the Sith, their abominable creations and the other two Jedi. He held up one hand, palm out to the others who shared the Grand Audience Chamber. And suddenly a flash of light brighter than a supernova exploded from his hand. Mike felt as though he had been hit by a sledgehammer, the light invaded his eyes, though they were closed tightly.

When he opened his eyes again, the scene was very different than it had been mere seconds before. The Dark Lords and Massassi were all reeling, fingers clawing at their temporarily blinded eyes. The Ssir-Kon, their eyes much more sensitive than any of the others, were withering on the flagstones, empty pits where their eyes had once been.

Then, Mike spotted Dravis and Casey, dazed but in better shape than the others. "Run!" Airune told Mike as he turned back to the Jedi apprentice. The Sith Lord rushed past Mike, beckoning him to follow.

Mike glanced back at him, and then yelled to his fellow Jedi, "C'mon! Hurry!" Dravis darted toward Mike who fell back through the doorway of the chamber as he saw Dravis coming. Casey followed suit, hurrying through the ranks of blind Sithspawn.

Scelus roared, his shoulders hunched as he tore at his eyes with his deformed fingers. "Stop them!" he bellowed, throwing out one hand to point in the Jedi's general direction. Newroun snarled as he stepped unsteadily forward, waving his hands, molding an orb of pure dark energy.

Newroun threw the throbbing sphere after the Jedi and it screamed as it ripped through the air. Only a meter from the threshold of the chamber out into the hall, Dravis looked over his shoulder and the orb filled his vision. The sphere of Force destruction scored a glancing blow to his side, but that was enough to make him cry out in excruciating pain and to fling him two meters past both Mike and Casey.

Enough to burn his skin, turn it raw and red, cover it with blisters. Dravis landed heavily on the flagstones, his eyes wide with shock. "Dravis!" Casey cried out, rushing up to him.

Airune Curr, seeing that the Jedi had paused, rushed back to them, his eyes frightened. "Come quickly! That old trick won't hold them back for long!"

"We can't leave him," Mike told the Sith Lord.

"Then you'll share his fate!" Airune yelled in rage.

"He helped me when I was wounded; near dead! And I left him! I won't do that again!"

Airune's anger faded, and he nodded. Mike and Casey lifted the half paralyzed Dravis, putting one of his arms around each of their necks to support him.

The flight began anew...
 
 
 
 

Chapter 13

Erisma Orbitas lay on the flagstones of the Great Temple of Yavin IV, her lips still parted in a demented smile, a smile which had, in her time, struck fear in all citizens of the galaxy. That smile had always been its widest when she listened to someone scream with the pain she was inflicting on them, when she knew that their life was in her hands, to crush at a whim. Her too-large, childlike eyes mirrored the smile.

The glaze of death could have been mistaken for the glaze of insanity. Her breast did not stir with breathing, her blood did not pulse in her veins. She was the first casualty in the rebirth of a war which had lived since the beginning of time. Light against darkness and good against evil.

A narrow tail of smoke wafted up from her chest, followed by the sickly sweet smell of burning flesh. A tongue of flame rose from the smoke, its crackling sound breaking the silence of the Grand Audience Chamber. Soon the flame grew into a roaring fire, quickly consuming the earthly remains of one of the most evil beings who had ever lived.

Giha Qay lowered his claw-like hand and ceased the flow of Force which had begun the inferno incinerating Erisma's body. He stood with the clusters of his eyes directed into the flames and he cocked his reptilian-like head, listening to the sounds of the fire. "Das dai Quatos mey zu caut," he rasped to his doomed companion in his own alien language, <May the Force be with you.>

Giha's numerous eyes blinked rapidly in an indecipherable alien gesture as he heard the nauseating sound of the monstrous Hutt crawling up behind him, moving slowly under its own enormous weight. Giha spoke to his fellow Dark Lord, Grukha, without turning to face him, such would be a show of honor, which he had none of for the Hutt. <What do we do now?> Giha asked.

<Now,> Grukha the Hutt said in his own tongue. <Now we find the Spawnstone... and the traitor!> Grukha broke into booming laughter. Giha cocked his head and despite himself, turned and stared at Grukha. He had never understood the Hutt's sense of humor; for him, these things were a matter of honor in the Sith.

Eight thousand years ago, his entire species had been exterminated by the Jedi because they had had a natural affinity for the Force, and the Dark Side. None had escaped the purge save himself. Now he was no longer bound to the Sith Holocron, now he could exact revenge on the descendants of those Jedi Knights...

Giha was pulled out of his thoughts as Scelus, The Ultimate, cried out in a voice like thunder. "We have walked in the Land of the Living for no more than a time part and already one of us burns in a ceremonial pyre!" Giha swiftly turned to his Master, for in his long dead culture, you did not look into the eyes of an underling while speaking. And while he felt the Hutt was below him in power and standing, he would never make such a summary of The Ultimate.

"We are Dark Lords of the Sith! Our kind had ruled unquestioned in the universe for eons! Yet today we were bested... and by who!?" Scelus roared into the sky, his monstrous hands clasped in fists, his claws biting into his palms, drawing alien, black blood. "Two Forceless Jedi apprentices and one new to the Force!"

The other seven Sith Lords were gathering in a loose circle around Erisma's funeral fire. "The blame was not ours," Sonya Aringaul said, taking a pace toward Scelus. "Vadis is one of the most powerful Forceuser I have yet to encounter! Possibly even more powerful than yourself, Ultimate."

Scelus released a growl through his clenched teeth as his face twisted with rage. He jabbed a hand at her and lightning erupted from it and streamed at Sonya. The Dark Lady's eyes went wide and Snayk's red eyes flashes with pleasure as he saw the electricity wrap around Sonya's slender neck and lift her into the air.

"How dare you!?" Scelus demanded.

"No! No please, my Master! I meant no disrespect! Believe me!" she begged, sobbing a full eight meters above the gold flagstones.

"Vadis did have assistance, Ultimate," Bail Newroun pointed out.

<Yes!> Grukha bellowed. <Airune Curr! The traitor!>

"Yes..." Scelus' rage froze over and he stood still, pondering, his eyes drifting down to the flagstone, his hand lowering and Sonya with it until she settled to the floor and sank to her knees before Scelus. "The traitor must be made an example of."

"I ask for the honor!" Snayk spoke up, taking a step forward, his gauntlet-clad hand on his heart. "The sins of Curr against me must be avenged!" He smiled, his sharp teeth glinting in the firelight. "I demand vengeance!"

Scelus looked down at Snayk and his eyes narrowed and then turned to Sonya. "No," he said after a moment. "It must be Sonya Aringaul who does the deed." As Sonya heard the words, her eyes, red from crying, darted up to look at the leviathan Sith Lord.

"But Master!" Snayk objected. "She cannot be trusted with such a quest! She and Curr were once lovers!" Snayk shot a glance of pure hatred at Sonya and he thrust a clawed finger at her accusingly. "She may turn and assist Curr and the Jedi to escape! We cannot allow--"

"Silence! I am aware of her past with Curr and that is precisely why I have chosen her. She must prove herself loyal to the Sith. Will you accept the challenge, Aringaul, or are your feelings toward Curr still so strong?!" Scelus asked, the last tinted with disgust.

Sonya stammered, still on her knees. "See how she hesitates!" Snayk yelled, still hoping to convince Scelus to change his decision.

"No!" Sonya said evenly, rising to her feet and brushing stray strands of hair from her forehead, brandishing the Black Sun with pride. "My loyalties are to the Sith. I will destroy Curr and the Jedi. I will not fail you my Master."

"What of Ty'Ka?" Bry Red spoke at last. He had kept his silence up to now because he was greatly intimidated by these Sith Lords who could destroy solar systems in a whisper, and his life with far less.

"Ty'Ka is dead!" Scelus told him. "The one who inhabits her body is Vadis! Our enemy! Your enemy! She is too dangerous to let live!"

<Still,> Giha Qay began. <She is new to the Force; she uses it as a weapon. She uses it in anger. She is prime to be converted to the Dark Side.>

"Perhaps," Scelus paused. "But she cannot be allowed to interfere. Now is the time of preparation and only one piece of the prophecy remains unfulfilled. Now, go! All of you! Tear this planet apart until you have found the Spawnstone and have returned my Heart to me!"

The Dark Lords bowed in reverence to Scelus and started to depart: Bail Newroun, Giha Qay, Grukha the Hutt and Bry Red to find the Spawnstone. Sonya Aringaul to find and destroy Airune Curr and the Jedi.

But Scelus beckoned Snayk to hold. When all of the other Sith Lords had gone, Scelus gestured Snayk to come to him.

"What is your bidding, my Master?" Snayk asked, kneeling.

"I want you to follow Sonya Aringaul," Scelus told his fellow Dark Lord. "I do not trust her to complete her mission and I know that your hatred for both of them will keep you from betraying me in this. I want Curr dead!

"Along with anyone who dares to assist him!"

Mike Keygane and Casey Vadis lowered their wounded companion, Dravis Sky, to the jungle floor as Airune Curr stood by. There was an unusual silence over the backdrop of pacifying green: there were none of the normal sounds of animals, or insects, or birds, or even of the wind rustling the leaves of the canopy a dozen meters over their heads.

Beyond the cover, a few stray black clouds drifted across the sky, groaning with thunder, but they no longer obscured the normal blue. Yavin hung high over the jungle, tinting it with orange light. Casey sat beside Dravis, who shuddered and trembled, his pale face glistening with sweat. Casey felt his forehead and pulled back her hand quickly. "He's burning up," she said to no one in particular.

"The Force destruction is eating him alive," Airune said, leaning calmly against a tree and crossing his arms. "He'll be dead within the hour, if he's not healed."

"Can't you heal him?" Mike asked, frowning.

"No," Airune told them mournfully, shaking his head and closing his eyes as he reflected on the past, on his fateful decision. "Those powers have been lost to me. But they're still with you, One Who is Kaiburr." He glanced at Casey.

Casey knew that what the Sith Lord said was true, she did have the power, but she wasn't sure how to use it. Tentatively, she removed Dravis' shirt so to better see the injury. Then, she placed a hand on the wound at Dravis' side, and he winced in pain, as she did; the blisters felt like fire, and they resonated darkness. This was no ordinary wound.

She took a deep breath, and let the Force flow through her. The Force knew her ploy and manipulated itself as she directed, spreading into the wound. The injury sizzled like cold water poured on a blaze. The Dark Side embedded in the wound fought against the Light healing, but soon it suffocated and the blisters receded, as did the red and the warmth, leaving behind only a silver scar. Dravis breathed steadily and rhythmically again.

"Most impressive," Airune murmured.

"Thank you," Casey said, quietly.

"We'd best move on quickly," Airune continued. "The other Dark Lords will be searching for us, and for the Spawnstone."

"You still consider yourself a Dark Lord after what you did back there at the Great Temple?" Mike asked frankly, rising from his place beside Dravis so that he could look Airune face-to-face.

"I will always be a Dark Lord of the Sith," Airune averted his eyes. "Whether I like it or not."

"Then why did you help us?"

Airune's blue gaze passed over all of the Jedi in turn, summing them up, then, after a moment, he nodded and said, "Because I was once a Jedi; the same as you." His eyes glazed over, as he remembered a time long gone. "They say that once you start down the path to Darkness, it will always dominate your destiny.

"My fall started innocently enough. As an apprentice, I wanted a quicker way, but my Master's training went on slowly. He never saw me slipping. The Dark Lord Snayk, whom your companion fought," he nodded to Dravis. "Snayk was drawn to me and he secretly began my Dark Side training.

"He prodded me into a lightsaber duel with my Master. He was strong, but didn't want to harm me while I was in a dark rage, my mind poisoned by Snayk. My Master had no chance, I struck him down. And I was lost." He shook his head.

"What did you say about a… Sith-stone?" Dravis asked in a raw voice, still recovering from his injury.

"The Spawnstone," Airune corrected. He shook his head. "All I know is what the legend says. That it was called the Heart of Darkness and that it supposedly could amplify the Dark Side. It was buried on this moon eons ago. Scelus is obsessed with it for some reason." He settled down on his haunches, so that he was at eye level with Dravis and Casey. "Those Sith Lords will rip this world apart to find it."

"It won't matter, even if they do," Mike muttered. "The last non-atmospheric starship is in about a million pieces on the jungle floor."

"You're narrow minded," the Dark Lord sneered up at Mike. "You think that the absence of a starship will contain Dark Lords of the Sith? We traveled the universe millennia before starships were created. We are the most powerful beings to ever walk the Land of the Living. And you" Airune laughed as Mike looked away. "You are half-trained Jedi trained by a half-trained Jedi."

Dravis grabbed his shirt, but paused as he heard Airune's accusation. "Master Skywalker was a great man!" Dravis objected.

"And now he's a Sithtrooper. He might as well be dead."

"What does this Spawnstone look like?" Mike broke in.

"No one had seen it in millions of years, even in my time," Airune said. "The legend describes it as a large purple crystal, about a meter square, with a heart of pure black. It also had ancient script carved into it."

Mike nodded as Airune spoke. "The Spawnstone's not here." Airune's eyebrow rose questioningly. "Master Skywalker found it while he was rebuilding the Great Temple after the Shadow Academy attacked it twenty-five years ago."

"Right," Dravis thought for a moment, then finished pulling on his shirt. "He took it to the Galactic Museum on Coruscant."

Airune smiled and chuckled to himself, Dravis and Mike exchanged glances. "They're search will turn up nothing here, then. But it might buy us some time. Maybe enough to get clear of the Yavin system and back to Coruscant. We have to secure the Spawnstone. If Scelus gets it, who knows what he'll do." Airune rose to his feet, offering Dravis his hand. Dravis took it and groaned as he stood, then stretched.

Casey also rose. "If you don't trust Scelus with the Spawnstone, why should we trust you with it?" Airune's smile faded. "What's to stop you from taking it and using it yourself?"

"Nothing. But right now, it seems to me that you have no choice. I'm your only ally on a world of enemies. Right now, I'm the only thing standing between you three and death." As much as Casey hated to admit it, again the Sith Lord was right. So they followed Airune through the jungle as the orb of Yavin glided across the sky overhead. When the planet was beginning to set, sliding under the horizon of the jungle, they reached one of the Massassi temples.

"Why did you lead us here?" Dravis asked.

"This is the Temple of the Winds," Airune told them, ignoring Dravis' question. It was enormous, though only half the size of the Great Temple. Its body and shape appeared the same, but on a smaller scale and the golden flagstones were tinted blue. They walked inside the spacious doorway. Beyond the door was a gigantic room, dark, and oppressive, the only light was that coming from the doorway behind, pushing their shadows out before them.

Massassi hieroglyphics decorated the interior, sparkling, catching and reflecting the small amount of light. And there, standing in the chamber's center was a pillar of stone, polished smooth, unobscured by the hieroglyphics and seemingly untouched for centuries; it thrust through all the levels of the temple and into its zenith.

Airune strode across the flagstones to the pillar and placed his hand on it. As he touched the smooth surface and fed his Force energies into the pillar, it started to glow, to transform from stone to blue glass. "What are you doing?" Casey asked, awe and wonder coursing through her as the light intensified.

"I'm getting us out of here." As Airune finished his brief statement, the ground trembled, shaking the blue-tinted stones, dislodging dust which had collected over the millennia. The light became blinding, their shadows spread out behind them, and Casey had to shade her eyes.

"You wouldn't leave without saying good-bye?" Casey spun around to the familiar voice. Airune, too, turned to the woman standing at the opening of the Temple of the Winds. He pulled his hand away from the pillar and the light dimmed, the pillar becoming, again, stone.

Sonya Aringaul smiled as she drew her silver quarterstaff. "Would you..?"