Md’diffnnd sensed the decisions forming in the mind of Panthar and decided it was time to act. As if in his own answer to Panthar’s question, in one smooth motion he lept from his haunches and bounded to the ground, trotting proudly to the base of the ship’s steps. He then sat and stared regally at Panthar, sending a message through the link they now shared.

we go, we go, Dark Lord needs us

“So, anyway, should we take him? Looks like he wants to come with us. Or maybe he just wants to find Phal…”

Find the Dark One, repay him, devour him.

Md'diffnnd sat for only a few more seconds while the two bipeds did nothing. He growled a low guttural sound and stood, bounding up through the hatchway. Panthar was shoved to the side as the tuk’ata entered and his inertia carried him to a seat where he sat down hard. Md'diffnnd turned his head to Panthar and growled, letting it trail into a soft whine. He then looked at Erik and sat back on his haunches once more, as if waiting. The tuk’ata’s massive body filled the back end of the shuttle.

“Yeah, I’d like the see the look on old Sorby’s face when he sees this wild thing. Maybe we should tell him that it ate Shayla and Phal, and then we tamed it.”

He stroked a face tendril of the tuk’ata, then rubbed above the left eye.

“Yeah, there’s a good boy, Fido,” said Panthar, mushing his voice as if speaking to a baby. “You ate up that nasty Phalomir and spit out his silly robes, didn’t you?”

Md'diffnnd stared at Panthar and gave a bemused growl.

“Then you ate that Shayla and we’ll never see her again, will we? You big bad beastie…” Panthar stopped and looked a Erik.

“Oh, Erik, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean that… We’ll find her, I know we will.”

He smacked his hand into his forehead.

“Oh, cripes, what a thing to say! I am SO sorry!”

...things he had picked up by simply watching his wife do so. But when it came to plotting a hyperspace vector...

...Erik quite suddenly realized that this wasn't going to happen. "Uhhhh we have a problem. A big problem" he said, his eyes turning dark as he looked to Panthar. "Unless you can read Sith star charts and coordinates...

“What do you mean?” he asked. “Don’t you know how to fly this thing? Oh crap, CRAP!”

He stood and began searching under various items.

“Maybe there’s a instruction book or something! Come on, you can’t tell me we’re gonna be stranded here on this stupid planet until Thoran comes back to kill us too!”

He paused.

“Oh cripes, I didn’t mean that he killed Shayla. I meant… No, I mean she’s probably not even dead…. Well, not probably, but… oh, never mind! Just land this silly thing so I don’t get sick!”

At this he trailed, his eyes darkening further and defocusing, worry and concern clouding them. He closed his eyes a moment, reaching out in the Force towards a treasured link...

...which seemed distant but no longer severed.

Shayla? he thought out towards that link, unsure of whether he would be heard or not.

"She's alive," he then said aloud, his eyes opening once. "I can feel it."

At this he fell silent a moment more, pursing his lips thoughtfully and regarding the darkening skies. "You might as well sit back and rest for a bit...

...I'm gonna try to figure out this damned transport. I sense that Shayla is out there somewhere, and I've called to her...

...but we may be too far away for her to hear me. Which means we still need to find a way off-planet. At the moment, this seems like our only option so...

...I'm gonna give it everything I've got and see if I come up with something. If not...

...we might have to go on a search and find and see if perhaps we can come up with another transport out of here."

Md'diffnnd glared and growled, a face tendril wrapping tightly around Panthar’s hand… too tightly.

“Ow- oww! OK, maybe he wasn’t!”

The grip loosened.

“But if she is alive then either she got away or he had some other purpose in mind for her. Either way, we’ve been here for a while without any other contact from anyone, so I guess I can resign myself to being here a while more.”

He leaned against a bulkhead.

Erik stopped short as a wealth of warmth poured into him from his link with Shayla. She was trying to tell him something, but he couldn't quite make it out. His eyes grew alert once more as he returned his gaze to Panthar.

"Hey," he then said, "I think I've finally gotten Shayla's attention. From what I can feel, she's allright...

...and I'd venture to conclude that she knows we're stranded here. I don't know her circumstances but with the feel I get from her...

...I'd guess we'll have help coming this way."

He paused then, his look darkening a bit. "As for Thoran...

...I worry that he has some other plans for her as well. I don't think Shayla would fall for anything he has to say just yet, she's too hard-headed. I have to suppose then that she's probably gotten away...

...and perhaps may have an angry or plotting Thoran on her heels. But she's probably already aware of this."

Pausing at that, Erik turned his attentions to the viewport of the Sith transport and completely changed the subject. "Are you sure you want to go out there?"

“So… you’re saying you have some kind of telepathetic link with Shayla, right? So, how does that work exactly? I mean, it took us 19 hours to get here in hyperspace, and you can just blip blap with her in your head?”

He scratched his head and chuckled.

“Must make it awfully hard to surprise her on her birthday.”

He laughed heartily at his own joke, leaning back on the tuk’ata. It gave Panthar a bemused look and slapped gently at him with its face tendrils.

“So, you just want to wait here for help that might be coming? For 19 hours?”

He looked around at the stark surroundings of the shuttle.

“I don’t know… I think I’d rather go explore a bit with Fido here than go crazy in here. I mean, there has to be a comm-link in here somewhere, right? So you can let me know when they show up… if they show up?”

He looked into Erik’s eyes.

...or at least you were. Too bad you can't remember exactly why you sold the company...

Erik jerked away from this thought, hoping to completely avoid the nagging obscurities in his head. "I can't communicate with Shayla as easily as you think from this distance. It's more of a feeling i get from her; this far away that's about all I can be certain of. Now if we are in close proximity...

...yes, we can talk back and forth via our Force link."

He paused a moment at that, considering the cabin of their little Sith transport. Suddenly, speading 19 hours in that little cramped space seemed rather uninviting...

...and try as he might he couldn't completely ignore his smuggler's sense telling him that there was a good line of information right in front of him.

He finally conceded to it, standing. "Allright, if you're going to go nosing around, the least I can do is go along in case you get into trouble," he said. "Besides, maybe looking around this place can jog some of my missing memory regaurding the Sith. You and Fido take the lead."

He paused a moment, then motioned in front of him. Then he ended with, "Shayla will let me know if and when she arrives here..."

Panthar moved to the hatch door and it slid open as he approached, the gangway automatically moving to the ground. As if on cue, the tuk’ata brushed Panthar’s face one last time and bounded down the ramp, pausing at the bottom to turn and wait. Panthar looked to Erik, took a deep breath, and skipped down after.

Panthar reached the bottom and looked around at the surrounding forest. Nothing stirred, and the sounds he normally attributed to such a wild place were mute. He scratched his head and turned to the temple, glancing up to the shuttle as he did so.

“Well,” he called up to Erik. “So far, so good. Nothing’s eaten me yet. But hey, the day is young!”

...if only for the very fact that the wild area around them was so quiet you could probably have heard a pin drop. Erik quickened his pace, clearing his throat.

"Something's not right here," he said quietly as he got closer to the archeologist, "It's just...

...too quiet. Almost as if...

...we are being watched. Maybe we should go back while we still can...

...this was a bad idea..."

“Go back if you want, ya wuss!” he called behind him. “I’ll bring back a petrified stool sample for you!”

Panthar laughed aloud and leaped over the rubble at the base of the entrance, disappearing into the blackness, followed by the tuk'ata.

A few seconds later Panthar's head poked out from the ruins.

"Hey, you coming or not?" he called to Erik.

...only for it to finally register in his brain that he was unarmed.

Oh, hell...

Erik looked to Panthar smugly. "Well, it's a little late to turn back," he growled. "This better be worth the risk we're taking."

With nothing more than a reluctant sigh then, Erik at last stepped into the blackness of the grand ruins of the Temple of Koris'ian, clueless as to what they may find...

“I guess the tour doesn’t stop here,” Panthar said. He looked back to Erik and raised his eyebrows, then turned back to the tuk’ata. It huffed and resumed walking down the hall.

Panthar chewed his lower lip, contemplating.

“Hey, Fido,” he said. “We can’t see in the dark, you know. If we keep going then we’ll run out of light.”

The tuk’ata paused, not looking back, and lowered its head. Panthar cringed and closed his eyes in anticipation of another snarl. Instead, an eerie, haunting growl issued from its throat and echoed through the halls beyond, followed by a chain of soft clicks that seemed to resound through the temple, dissipating into the ancient structure. Panthar opened his eyes and was amazed by a soft light that now spread its way down the hall, seeming to emanate from the very walls and ceiling.

The tuk’ata moved ahead once more, and Panthar shrugged his shoulders and followed. He glanced behind briefly to see if Erik was following, and then happily turned his attention back to the tuk’ata.

“I think the Armorers did more than make armor,” he called back to Erik. “Looks like they had their hands pretty deep in the magick as well. Maybe Phal should think about taking on this gig instead of trying to be the Lord of the Barbarians… or whatever they are called. Warriors, yeah, that was it. And the sorcerers, yeah. Naw, this is way cooler. What do you think?”

But there were things that must be attended to before the Dark Lord’s return.

For one, there was a dark presence afoot in the temple. It came and went, but always in the same room. Md’diffnnd could feel the darkness when this presence was in the temple, for it had been his duty for many years to guard the ruins and wait for the new Dark Lord, and he knew well the comings and goings of living things in the temple. He had killed all who had entered, save those few who had a place here, but the dark presence had eluded him.

But now… yes, now… with help, he would find the intruder. It was here now, now…

The tuk’ata rounded a corner, Panthar looked back to Erik and turned also, nearly stumbling into the large animal as it crouched before a door.

A pair of voices bantered from behind the door. The sounds were muffled by the door but loud enough to allow Panthar to make out some of the words.

“You have honored your part, I have now honored mine,” came a loud, boisterous voice. “These are yours, do with them what you will. But why leave them here?”

A darker, slower voice replied.

“Come, our time here is done.”

The tuk’ata roared and lunged for the door, the ancient wood splintering around the hinges and crashing inward. Panthar rushed in behind, catching the faint traces of reality warping back into place as it had when Thoran had taken Shayla. The room was empty, except for two large crystal blocks sitting in the far corner. The tuk’ata roared in rage in the center of the room.

Panthar looked back through the door to see if Erik had followed.

“Erik!” He called. “Quickly!”

...at least, not yet. And there was no time for it.

Reaching Panthar's side, Erik came to a smooth halt, his eyes already adapted enough to the dimness of the chamber to make out the two large crystals in the corner of the room. The chill swept over him once more. Without even saying a word, he slowly started towards the two blocks. His hand crept towards his empty blaster holster once more. Only a few feet away from those blocks, Erik simply froze in place, and his eyes widened.

There was something inside each of those things. No, strike that; there was someone.

One of the two blocks in particular had all of Erik's attention.

"Holy hell," he whispered then, utter shock ringing clearly in his words as he looked at the red-headed and violet-eyed being inside the block, "She looks exactly like the Dark Lady..."

“And this one is Phalomir…” he said heavily.

He looked to Erik, deep concern on his face.

“Who the hell was that?” he asked. “And how did they do this? And WHY?”

Panthar walked around the back, scanning the block for any type of control panel.

“It’s not like carbonite, there’s no control panel or anyth—wait, what’s this?”

He knelt down at the back of Phalomir’s block as Erik came around to join him. He reached his hand to rub away what appeared to be dust from a darkened spot, then stopped before his hand reached it.

“It’s cold, I can feel it already. Is this… ice?”

He wrapped his hand in his shirt fold and wiped away the dust, which he realized quickly was actually frost. Under the frost was a small, dark indentation in the shape of an “x”.

“Well, maybe this is the keyhole, eh?” He shook his head. “This is way too bizarre.”

Oh hell, he thought. If this is the work of Thoran, then who the heck has he teamed up with… and if he was able to do this to BOTH Phal and Jharmeen, then what has happened to Shayla?

He looked to Erik, the worry on Panthar's face betraying his thoughts.

"No," he whispered in answer to the unvoiced question he saw lurking there, "She's alive, I would feel if it were otherwise..."

He trailed, his eyes defocusing as even darker thoughts haunted him.

Can you feel her really, Erik? She may be alive, but you already know she is far away...

...so how can you be certain she is safe? How can you be certain this will not be her fate as well?

Erik shivered. "...she's alive," he repeated, unwilling to even face any other possibility. "And how do we know for certain that this is really Panthar and the Dark Lady? Stranger things have happened..."

He paused a moment. "...I think. Look, maybe we should get the Hell out of here. Whomever that was who was here...

...they might come back, and I don't think I want to be here if they do. We've gotta get the hell off this rock, and I've gotta find Shayla," he continued worriedly, quieting at that and waiting for Panthar's response even as Md'diffnnd gave a protesting growl.

Shayla, where are you? Dear gods, but I hope you are allright...

“Look, Erik,” he said. “I think you’re right. She’s OK, and this isn’t Phal. I mean, look at the robes he’s wearing. They’re not the same as his normal rags, way too… froofy. And hey, look at the three gold tattoos on his head. He didn’t have those.”

Panthar looked over the frozen image of the Dark Lady. His eyes rested on her forehead.

“And look here, her forehead doesn’t have that glowy shimmery thing on it! So, come on, this is got to be some sort of sick joke or something.”

He looked around the quiet room, a sudden chill racing up his spine.

“But yeah, let’s get the heck out of here. This is way too creepy.”

The tuk’ata, who until now had been crouched on its haunches near the door, bellowed a deafening roar and stared wild-eyed at Panthar. It quieted, but kept its gaze fixed upon Panthar’s Sith body.

“Well… maybe we can stay. Um…”

...and it was looking at Panthar as though it was waiting for him to do...

... something.

Erik scowled. "I thought the damned tukata was supposed to be on our side!" he growled under his breath so as not to over-excite the already agitated animal. "It acts like it wants you to do something...

...and shucky darn, I'm afraid I'm no good at tukata translating."

Erik paused, frowning as he let his eyes wander the room. At length his eyes fell on the two crystals. "Maybe it wants you to do something with the ice King and Queen...

...perhaps bring them along with us?"

But no, Md'diffnnd would try. There was something about this one, and though he appeared to be of the magick people, there was much about him that was different. Something… alien.

Then he felt it, the quivers of the link he shared with Phalomir. It was there in this pretend Sith, as if somehow the two had shared their thoughts at some time. Perhaps the Dark Lord had left an imprint upon this one in some strange feat of magick. It mattered not, for now that Md'diffnnd had a common thread to work upon, perhaps he could link with this being.

He growled once more, bellowing his concentration into a single message meant for Panthar, letting it blast through that small thread in hopes of opening it into a wider channel.

He grabbed his forehead and shouted back.

“All right! I hear you, I hear you!”

The tuk’ata calmed down and rested back on its haunches.

Panthar turned to Erik.

“I can hear it. It talked to me.” He shook his head and scratched behind his ear. “This is starting to freak me out a little.”

The look on Erik’s face expressed the question “well, what did it say?” Panthar winced and looked back to the tuk’ata.

“OK, I heard you. What do you want?”

I Md'diffnnd, keeper of temple for when Dark Lord comes. Dark Lord come, Dark Lord go, Dark Lord returns. This Dark Lord not right. Must stay in ice, one who brought must die. We wait, he return.

Panthar looked back to Erik. “Uh, he says his name is Med-diff-ned… or something like that. He says he’s the housekeeper, and this dark lord isn’t right… and it needs to stay in the ice. Oh, and I think we need to wait here and kill the one who brought these here.”

...not that any sort of weapon we would have would aid in killing an evil Dark Lord. Besides, who is he anyway?"

Erik paused, his already developing frown darkening. "You tell your tuk'ata buddy if he wants to kill the Dark Lord who brought these things here...

Panthar scratched his head and looked back to the tuk’ata.

“I don’t know, there, buddy. Like Erik said, we don’t exactly have an arsenal at our disposal here. You know, like maybe if we had claws like you…”

Panthar glanced down at his hands, noticing the long, sharp ends of his own hands.

“Yeah, well, maybe if we had a spear or something sharp…”

Panthar became aware of the horns protruding from his head and placed a hand upon one of them.

“Yeah, well… how about a blaster then?”

He trailed a moment, the look in his eyes sardonic, "I guess you'll have to charge him with your horns when he arrives...

...cause I seem to be lacking in that area. Now if I could get my hands on a lightsaber..."

Once more he trailed, shaking his head. "...but like that is going to happen."

At this Erik uncrossed his arms, hearing the tukata's low growl somewhere nearby. "Guess that's our cue," he stated then, shrugging as he began to follow the direction of the sound.

"...not that we have any choice in the matter," he muttered under his breath.

“Hey, Erik, you saw which way the beastie went, right?”

Erik stopped and gave Panthar a dark, quizzical look.

“You mean you weren’t keeping track of him either?” Panthar asked. “Oh no, all this time I was following you!”

Panthar slapped his head and listened. Aside from the steam escaping Erik’s ears, there was not a sound. He looked around, they had just passed through an intersection of five other hallways, and he no longer remembered from which direction they had come.

“Oh bloody hut dung!” he exclaimed.

"Well, I can tell you if I sense the animal's presence, and the general area of it. I should also be able to track it to some extent..."

Erik trailed a moment, "...but then, my Force-abilities aren't nearly as attuned as my wife's. This, however, I should be able to do."

That said, Erik's brown eyes turned vague and he stretched out with the Force, searching and seeking for any lifeforms registering within it. He wasn't expecting to come up with many larger life forms, so the tuk'ata should have been fairly simple to locate...

Erik's eyes snapped alert after a moment, something dark growing in their depths. "The tuk'ata isn't far away," Erik stated then, calmly enough. "He seems to have settled for the moment..."

Erik trailed then, his eyes locking with Panthar's, "And from what I pick up...

...we may not be here alone any longer..."

He let out a perturbed sigh, followed by a quick snarl that echoed through the hallways.

“I tell you what, the longer I stay in this big red body, the more I think I’m starting to feel like one of those dudes. I mean, I never before would have thought that pounding my fist through the wall would make the situation better, but I gotta tell you that right now it seems like a pretty damn good idea.”

He stared at the closest wall, intently looking at the bricks and feeling the energy well up inside of him. Yes, just pound the fist into the wall and let the hand plow through… ooo, that would feel good!

No, you’d probably splinter your stupid hand into a million pieces and then you’d be in pain as well as lost.

He rolled his hands into fists and set his face in a sneer. He growled at his own logic, but heeded it. Needing release, he turned and bolted down the hallway they had originally started into. At the first wooden door he skidded to a halt and let loose with all of his might.

The door shattered as Panthar rammed his fist into it. Large jagged splinters fell to the floor on the other side, and Panthar relished in the blessed release the action brought him. With narrowed eyes and a wild smile he peered through the hole in the door, watching the blood trickle from his arm in many locations. It took a moment before he noticed that the room inside was slowly pulsating a soft red.

...at least, not from his position outside of the door.

"Think we should go and take a look?" he queried then, his brown eyes meeting Panthar's own surprised ones.

The human-turned-Sith shrugged, so Erik took matters into his own hands, reaching out to then turn the knob on the large wooden door which now sported a gaping hole. He found himself stepping into a dim room which appeared to be filled with various and sundry weapons...

...and amidst these was one small crystal. It was red in hue, glowing atop a table along with something that looked like chisel and some other shaping tools he didn't recognize. As the thing continued to glow its soft red, a chill returned to wander up and down Erik's spine once more.

He gulped. "Hey uhhh...

...does that remind you of anything you've had your ahhh...

... eye on lately???"

“What the hell… who would be… why would they… buh?”

Panthar walked slowly to the pulsating crystal. It glowed softly, a gentle red radiance casting shadows on the dark table on which it lay. Panthar crouched and studied the crystal, looking as closely as he could without touching it.

“Well, it definitely resembles the Eye of R’lous, that’s for sure. I studied that damn thing up close enough to know, but this is different. The shape is lightly more oblong, and it has something stamped into the side here.”

Panthar moved to a better position to look closely at the side of the crystal.

“This looks like that symbol we’ve been seeing everywhere. I think it is like that new thing on Phal’s head, maybe it’s the mark of the Armorers… that or a brand logo. I’m betting on the first thing, though. Hey, wait, what’s this….”

Panthar caught the shadow of something dark inside the crystal, as if there was movement. He stared but saw nothing, then moved to a different position. Again he saw a strange slight movement of something inside. As he stared, shapes took form inside the crystal, coming into focus enough to define the figures of four individuals. The image was hazy, but Panthar could still make out what appeared to be ghostly images of two humans, a tall figure which looked almost like a Kaminoan, and a huge Sith…. Phalomir? The image wavered with the gentle pulsing of the red light.

Erik's frown deepened. "This is giving me the creeps," he admitted, his voice soft, his eyes still locked to the wavering image. "Could that be Phalomir in that image? Or maybe it's that Master he is always talking about...

...I dunno. I don't know if we can use it as a weapon or a key to our advantage, but I'm damn sure about one thing. This thing just might be important to the Powers that be, so maybe we should take it before someone else decides they need it more...

...or maybe we should see what that tuk'ata has to say about it since he seems to be a little more in touch with things here than we are. Where the heck is he anyway...?"

“I don’t know, I haven’t seen or heard him for a while. Hey, this is really cool. I think it IS Phal, the more I focus the clearer this image becomes. It’s almost like a holo-comm, only one of those really old ones like they used to use in the mines back on… oh, hey, look, this is really clear now! Let me see if I can make out the tattoo stuff on Phal…”

Panthar gazed at the image harder, trying to focus on Phalomir’s face. Suddenly the image zoomed in, showing a full body close-up of the Dark Lord.

“Holy holo-crap! It just zoomed in! I tried to focus on Phal and it zoomed in on him and the guy next to him. Check this out! Can you see it?”

"How in the name of the Force..." he muttered, blinking his eyes as if to clear an image he wasn't certain was there.

Panthar turned and looked at him dubiously even as Erik's gaze remained locked on the one guy whose image shone clearly in the crystal. With effort, Erik looked to Thoran.

"That guy in the image with Phalomir...

...I know who he is. He's a guy by the name of Terrin Danner, someone who my wife has told me was very much involved with the Sith, and namely Graysith. I haven't yet been able to remember any of this clearly...

...but I know from what Shayla tells me that Terrin married Graysith's sister. But there's one other little thing about Terrin that Shayla has told me, and that I do actually vaguely remember...

...and that would be that he is dead."

“What do you mean, dead?” he asked.

“If he’s dead, then how could be talking with Phal? That makes no sense, Erik. Are you sure it’s him? I mean, absolutely sure? This is some pretty mixed up poodoo we’ve been involved in lately, but if we’re bringing dead guys back to life then I want out now!”

Panthar looked back to the crystal, the image still clear.

“I mean, crap, what if someone was able to bring back whoever they wanted? Like my astrophysics instructor… or worse, that monster Roan?”

Panthar shuddered, thinking of the brief encounter he had with Roan. He was stuck away behind Phalomir’s consciousness at the time, but he would never forget what he saw. Indeed, what would Roan be doing right now if he were alive?

Panthar’s eyes widened as the image in the crystal wavered, then refocused on another scene. It was the image a flat rocky area overlooking a dark valley. The scene resembled the previous one in dark atmosphere, and as Panthar focused the body of a large person came into view. The figure was lying prone on the rock, as if looking down at something below. He focused more, the image zooming in and clarifying.

The figure was another Sith, large as life and as terrifying as death. He seemed to be chuckling, and as Panthar stared more intently the Sith paused and turned his head, a curious look on his face as if looking for something. Panthar gasped and stepped back, the shock registering on his face.

Erik trailed even as the answer to his question arrived within the image of the crystal. For about this time a very familiar hovering Sith appeared just above Roan, and seemed to direct some words his way. "That's Phalomir with him too, isn't it..."

Erik frowned even as the words registered in his mind. "Panthar, this is the second dead being we've seen with Phalomir in this crystal. What do you suppose that means?"

“I wonder if this is a vision of the past, present, or future? Or maybe something fictional?”

Panthar’s eyes snapped to Erik.

“Hey, I want to try something. Maybe it’s one of those spy glass things that will let you see what someone is doing… show me, um, Shayla… um, Petru… Petri… Pertru….”

The crystal went blank.

“Um, ok…. Show me Thoran.”

The crystal remained blank.

“Show me… um… Graysith.”

The crystal flashed, then went to a dark foggy color. Silver mist seemed to swirl in the darkness.

“This is getting weird. Show me Med-diff-ned, the tuk’ata guy.”

The image cleared instantly, showing the tuk’ata resting on its haunches in a splintered doorway.

"Is it me, or is he acting as though he's waiting for us to figure something out about all this?"

Even as he said this, Erik turned back to Panthar, who was now looking up as well. A thought then occurred to Erik. "Think we could identify this mystery Master with the crystal?"

Panthar continued to watch as the glow expanded, filling the crystal with its intensifying light. He shielded his eyes and tried to continue to watch, and as he felt the cry begin to escape from his throat, the light dimmed and revealed the glaring face of a Sith.

The eyes in the crystal moved from Panthar to Erik.

“It is just us, Panthar Dantares and Erik Kartan… we weren’t spying, really, your Sithness, we just, um, well…”

...but then, you haven't introduced yourself either, so I can't assume you are him...

The eyes in the crystal regarded Panthar.

“You are Panthar Dantares? You speak the name of a human, yet you appear as Sith. Which would you have me believe?”

Panthar cleared his throat.

“Well, your majesty,” Panthar started, “it’s a long story. You see, I was exploring a cave a while back and came across this –“

“How interesting, yes”, said the voice.

The eyes shifted to Erik.

...that seems to have come as a result of me speaking to some sort of crystal about the identity of the 'Master'. I hardly expected it would actually answer me."

“This is the work of the Sith, I can feel the magick around me. Yet there is something else, something foul…”

The Master’s eyes snapped upward towards Panthar, wide with alarm.

“Where are you? Who else is there with you? I sense that you are in great danger, allow me to assist you.”

Panthar looked to Erik.

“Buh?” said Panthar. He looked back to the crystal.

“No-one is with us except our buddy the tuk’ata. Oh, and somewhere else there’s a couple of people who look a lot like our buddies frozen in ice…”

He looked back to Erik.

He looked back to the image of the Sith in the crystal. "Great danger?" he repeated in inquiry. "I find that very interesting, since I do not sense anyone here..."

“I have never given myself a name, others have bestowed such honors upon me. In my days I have been known as Dark Lord, as Father, Husband, Son. Once, some called me Aelomir, but that was another time, another place. Much was my folly, much was my suffering, and I am now without a name save the strange title of ‘Master’.”

The eyes turned back to Panthar.

“But still, I sense a presence, dark and foul. You are hunted, my unfortunate new acquaintances. Please, allow me to assist you, your time grows short.”

Panthar looked again to Erik, confusion showing plainly in his face.

Erik trailed, looking then towards the Sith in the crystal. "Allright, I'm game, at least for this very moment. So you sense that we are in danger, and you are offering to help us. For all I know you are intending to help us right over a cliff...

...but I'll listen to what you have to say and are offering. Just how do you intend to help us...

...and, more importantly, how is it that you sense we are being hunted when I still sense no other presence here than those of our own and the tukata?"

“Yeah,” he said, “what are you talking about, there?”

The Master turned his eyes to both men in turn.

"Aelvedaar is the Dark Lord of the Sorceror Clan," he answered very academically. "As far as my wife has told me he seemed a very benevolent being, mostly just misunderstood but his intentions good. Still, Shayla had some misgivings concerning him; something about him abruptly taking some of her newly learned abilities and also not assisting her in an attack against our unborn son..."

Erik trailed, his look turning distant for a moment. He didn't remember anything concerning the Sith...

...but he did vaguely remember that they had lost their first born son.

He jerked his thoughts away from the topic. "As for Thoran," he then continued, "I'm told you placed him in some crystal called the Eye with Phalomir. Pardon my cynicism, but with all the deception I know of first-hand regarding that whole scenario...

...I'm still inclined to distrust you."

“Wait a minute… Phalomir is your son? Big, tall, red guy with a weird sense of humor? That Phalomir? Erik, if this guy is Phal’s pop, then he could be telling the truth. Remember, it was my body they hijacked when they got released from the crystal. I have a lot of first hand encounter time with both of them, and believe, Thoran is NUTS.”

He looked back to the tuk’ata.

The dark one sees, knows this one. We know him not, have seen him not, he smells not. Yet no body here, only head in rock. No body, no arms, no legs, this one not the one who comes, not the one who we bite.

“I think,” he started, “that he doesn’t know who this is. And I think maybe he sees that as a good thing, but he might not, but I could be wrong. What do you think?”

The Master waved his hand before his face, and a strange white light burst forth from the crystal. Where the light ended, a large swirling vortex of black and silver opened up in the air.

“Hurry!” called the Master.

A crash sounded in the hallway outside the room, and the tuk’ata spun on its haunches. It raised itself and sniffed the air, growling deeply.

...but he didn't much like the looks of what was going on in this Temple either. He glanced to Panthar who, annoyingly enough, merely shrugged in an admixture of concern and possibly fear. Then his eyes flicked to the growling tuk'ata, and that caught Erik's attention. The tuk'ata had spoken of an Evil One who had come to this place, one he'd claimed would need to be destroyed...

...and one whom he also said would return. And someone was here; Erik could now feel it. And he knew without a doubt that the someone who was here was not his wife, who had said she would be coming for him...

... Shayla!

He turned to eye the Sith even as the vortex continued to whirl along with his thoughts.

She should have been here by now, and he hadn't heard or felt a thing from her in quite some time. And even as he stretched out now to sense her...

...he came up void. This chance might be there last to get off this abandoned rock.

Erik glanced to Panthar once more. "Something's happened with Shayla, I just know it," he then said simply. "This may be our only escape route."

With nothing further, Erik then stepped towards the eeriely beckoning vortex. "There is one who is coming to retrieve us from this place, who may come at any time. I need your word that we will come back for her...

“The one you seek will not return for you,” he called out. “She has been betrayed by the one calling herself Graysith. Her sire, the darkest of lords, is now coming for YOU! I can take you to her, but you must leave NOW! Step through the portal, quickly!”

He nodded once towards the image of the Sith, then looking back to Panthar. "That's my cue to get the hell out of here. If Shayla is in trouble..."

He trailed a moment, concern clouding his vision. But just as quickly his eyes snapped back alert. "...we've gotta get out of here..."

...and get to her, came the silent completion of those words.

"So," he then continued aloud, "Unless you wanna find out what's back there that's bothering our tuk'ata buddy so much, I think we'd better hurry."

But this one looked a little different… more, well, sinister somehow.

Perhaps it was the urgency of the situation. Perhaps it was the mysterious circumstances of their meeting this Master. Perhaps it was just the overbearing feeling of gloom and doom that suddenly cast its shadow over Panthar. Whatever it was, something suddenly seemed not right.

But it was too late, for he was already passing through the vortex, feeling his body go cold and light. And as the sounds of snarls faded behind him, he heard the voice of the Master boom.

“All too easy, my Lord. They are now yours, I must attend to my son…”

((OOC: Follow the lucky travellers Erik and Panthar as they lunge into "...And Into The Fire".))