My arms fell limply to my sides as this little bombshell struck home. All I could do was blink in confustion, my head whirling.

Someone or something whom Thoran referred to as the Master was trapped by Aelvedaar somehow, who in turn was in the process of killing my sister. The thing which this Master wanted more than anything, at least to hear Thoran tell of it, was his son, who happened to be the tall red dude who was supposedly fending off Aelvedaar's probably fatal attack on my sister-- unless he was just off in lala-land for whatever reason, who knows, he'd fallen out of our conversation long ago....

I jerked fractionally, yanking my thoughts back on the rail again.

So-oo-ooo, Phalomir was the Master's son, he wanted my sister alive and well, the Master wanted his son alive and well...

And I wanted Terrin alive and well. Period.

Terrin, dear god, Terrin... who was likewise stuck inside the body of Phalomir.

Hmmm.

My eyes went a bit on the vague side then, and I slipped down to sit on the deck and think.

If this Master was everything Thoran said, and he wanted his son safe and well... well, that at least would be keeping Terrin well too, as long as his spirit was stuck inside Phalomir....

My head began to seriously hurt from all these essences of different peeps all hanging around trapped in this thing or that; I looked up again and sighed.

"All I want is Terrin back, and Jharmeen; all I want is to find my daughter; I don't care about the Sith, you guys can just go off and conquer the universe if you want.

"Just keep me and mine out of it... that is, once I have mine back together again."

I looked up to where Thoran was looking at us all through Phalomir's eyes.

"Seems to me that that is the final victory now anyway, don't you guys think? This Master gets his magickal son -- well, what of everyone else? I mean, in the universe?"

My voice dwindled a bit as something hit home, something from very, very far away.

"Weren't these guys the bomb around the universe, back in the day? I mean, that's what every little clue dad had ever found seemed to point toward. They were the Big Dogs, the Head Kahunas, the Godfathers...

"...and peeps like that don't care diddly squat about us little peons.

"Well!!"

I climbed to my feet and approached Phalomir.

"You can just forget it, buddy. We'll fight Aelvey baby on our own terms; I'll find something on Koris'ian that we can use against him, to either make him put everyone back the way they belong or just kill him; there has to be something that these armorer dudes made that can do something to help us out!

"I mean, there's this Shartak thingy you spoke of, there's this Eye thingy that was mentioned earlier; there just has to be something we can use.

"But anyway--"

I paused for a gulp of air.

"Here's the deal, buster. We're going to Koris'ian, everyone's happy. Once we're there...

"FIRST you use your Sithy spells and get my husband put back together again!

"Then we talk turkey about how exactly you think we can help you!"

...and to the silence which followed.

So, they now had a possible plan for restoring Phalomir, and they had one to possibly restore Terrin...

...but what good would Phalomir be without Jharmeen? He would be devestated if she was lost to them simply to bring him back...

...and Shayla would be devestated as well, simply for the fact that she knew she wouldn't forgive herself if she didn't do all she could to fight for Jharmeen.

After all, Jharmeen had fought for her in times past, and Shayla refused to give up unless there was absolutely no other alternative.

Resolve taking over her then, Shayla stood from her location at the navboard. "Yeah, you need to restore Terrin...

...and then we'll talk about communicating with the Master. But I'll tell you this right now...

...I don't believe there is any way Phalomir would ever get over his life and magick being restored if it came at the cost of Jharmeen's life. And aside from that, she has fought too much for all of us for us to give up fighting for her unless there is absolutely no way to bring her back as she is. I believe the Master must restore both Phalomir and Jharmeen in order for us to defeat Aelvedaar, and I can't help but think that we are going to need both of them. Why else would Aelvedaar be so intent on destroying Jharmeen now if this were not the case? He's certainly succeeding at taking them both out of the picture right now, after all."

She paused at this, letting those words sink in. Then she turned and looked directly at Thoran. "What do you know of these frozen blocks with Phalomir and Jharmeen in them? What is their purpose, and what were they doing on Kori'sian?"

“Well,” said Thoran through Phalomir’s lips, “a frozen Phal and Gray, eh? I wonder if the frozen Gray is less frigid than this one? Well, why don’t we just jaunt over there and find out, hmm? Since everyone is so hot to go sack the temple, who am I to stand in your way? Heck, give me a pickaxe and a mallet and I’ll join in!”

He looked long at Galen, a thousand thoughts seeming to cross behind his eyes.

...but some sort of invasion Force destroyed his home with her and he was somehow sent back here, perhaps by his father, the Master. I'm not certain of that last part, though."

She paused then, her eyes turning vague as she tried to recall if she knew anything futher. And it was then that something about what she just said struck the chord of yet another memory she had--a memory of another who had spoken of an incoming invasion Force, one which was far away...

...and one which would not be arriving in this galaxy for some time. "You know, I recall Aelvedaar speaking of an incoming Yuuzhan Vong invasion, a new one...

...as do I remember Dark Lord Roan taking Graysith--Jharmeen--from us and placing her on a Yuuzhan Vong ship. I acted as a replacement for her on that ship so that Aelvedaar could retrieve her...

...but could this Vong ship be the same one which caused Phalomir to lose his family?"

She paused once more at this, her look darkening further, her eyes never leaving Phalomir. "You think we have no choice but to trust you and the Master, with what may be laying ahead..."

Even as she spoke these final words, a sigil lit up on the navboard, grabbing her attention. She turned to and punched it...

...and starlines began to return to stars almost immediately at her touch.

"Kori'sian," she said then simply as her fingers played across the navboard, bringing the ship closer and closer to the planet. "I'm locking in on the Temple of the Armorers--we should be arriving soon..."

She trailed, eyeing Thoran then before turning back to the navboard once again.

...and we'll see if the words you've spoken, Thoran, have any merit at all, she couldn't help but think as she began taking the warship through atmosphere.

Quite suddenly it was as if a great fit of ague had come from nowhere to strike me down. I began shivering uncontrollably; in an effort to regain control, I quickly hugged myself, and found myself sidling closer to Shayla in the process.

En route I tossed a disgusted glance toward the image of the muscular Sith, who yet cradled my sister so loving in his arms... and from whose mouth such unthinking foulness had erupted.

If I didn't think it would just stir up a hornet's nest, I'd march over there and punch this bozo's lights out. I mean, my sister might have done some awful things in her life... ok, so she killed our father, and more times than I can remember tried to kill me, too... but then, didn't she rescue me from that awful dungeon in that dreary temple? Back in the days of me and Sorben? Back when we were fighting that Darth Wicked guy?

Back before... before I fell in love with Sorben, before I left him, before I met Terrin and then found what love meant... too late, though; this came only after I had proceeded to make such an ass of myself to him.

And then, here, on this world, by a beast from hell... and then, here, in the very temple toward which we were heading...

Somewhere here, he lay. Fully honored by the Sith....

Where's the horns, flyboy?

Oh ye gods, I hope this idiotic Thoran follows through for us.

For if he doesn't, sure as there's Treasure on Roon I'm gonna kill that body in which he's skulking, and let him rot as some kind of weird incorporeal ghost.

I took in a great breath, and found myself standing next to Shayla, watching as her deft finger played a minuet on the control panel--

Yeah, that's right. Hit that one, right there. Now that blinking one, that's right....

...but judging from the look in Galen's eye, and the one in Jasyn's eye as he took another swig of Sith brandy, he pretty knew that they were headed for the place where Terrin had been laid to rest.

Matt took in the dustball of a planet in the viewscreen for a few moments...

...then turned back to Jasyn, who was still gripping the brandy bottle like a lifeline.

"Hey!!" he finally growled to his commrade, "Will you lay off that stuff already?!?"

Then with one quick motion, he jerked the bottle from Jasyn's slowly lessening grip. Jasyn just scowled at him for a moment...

...and then his brown eyes turned to the still-growing planet. He furrowed his brow a bit. "What an ugly hunk of space-rock," he observed, the look in his eye actually a bit dark as he then fell silent, crossing his arms and waiting.

Somewhere, there is a ripple in the warp and weft of time.

Somewhere, a pair of shining and pupilless eyes are lifted to the heavens, seeing in frequencies not for the timid the incoming flash of fire and light and flame, as the very atmosphere of Koris'ian is ripped asunder before the descent of the mighty Sith warship.

A tendriled muzzle lifts to the heavens.

A call is sent out, eerie, moaning, beckoning, remembering...

...and yet it was not an eternity without an end. And even though not a single occupant on the Sith warship could even feel it, she at last made contact with the surface of Kori'sian and simply stopped.

But before Shayla could turn to the others, another sigil lit up on the navboard. Knowing immediately what it meant, she then did turn to the others and speak, the look in her eyes unreadable. "The ship is picking up some sort of life on the surface. I suggest we get moving...

...and fast. Something is alive out there...

...and I'm not too thrilled with the thoughts I have concerning just what it might be."

Even as she said this Shayla turned to the navboard once more and powered down the warship, then turning and standing.

...and one person in particular.

Even as that little realization slammed home, Terrin saw the obvious feelings Galen was feeling through Phalomir's eyes...

...and that alone was enough to prompt him to struggle forward.

How he hated that she hurt like that...

Shifting the still limp Graysith in Phalomir's arms, Terrin took a step forward...

...and reached out Phalomir's clawed hand to then rest it on Galen's shoulder. "I'm here," he whispered softly to her. "You're not going to face this alone."

He fell silent for a moment at that, simply staying near Galen in silent support. Then, "Allright guys, this is Terrin. If we're going to get safely inside that Temple..."

Here he hesitated a moment, "...we'd better be prepared to make use of any weaponry or skills we have. Shayla...

...can you create a Force shield to protect us all, or something of that nature? And I'm assuming you know where we'll be headed once we get inside...

I knew who that was; how could I not?

"Oh gods, Terrin, how I've missed you. I'm so sorry..."

I stopped with that, blinking back tears, yearning to turn and rush into his arms and seek forgiveness from him there. But this was not the time, nor the place, and much as I hated to accept the fact, those weren't his arms, that wasn't his hand on my shoulder.

But I knew that street ran back to him. I placed my hand on top of Phalomir's clawed one, and applied pressure there, squeezing it once before removing it to lay it against my own cheek.

That might not be Terrin's hand against my face, but it sure as hell was his spirit toward which I was sending all the love I could in the only manner that I could think of.

I didn't say anything else, but just stood like that quietly waiting while the guys settled their battle plans, holding onto Terrin for dear life while they hashed out the minor details of our departure for the Temple of the Armorers.

...as well as of the ticking time. Granted, she knew Thoran could probably offer them some sort of protection in the form of Sith magick, but she didn't really want to wait for him to state as much.

After all, every time he spoke he seemed to have a knack for making someone--or rather, a bunch of someones--mad. No time for that now.

"Yeah, I can give us a Force shield...and I know where we are going. We're right on top of the Temple, so we don't have far to go. As for other weaponry...

...I'm thinking there may be some aboard the ship, perhaps some swords if nothing else. I think I'll stick to my Force abilities for protection, since I'd prefer a lightsaber...

...but the rest of you might consider taking a quick look to see what might be laying aboard..."

I swear they're blue, honest to Khaandon...!

"Sith pilots have uniforms with belts in them, like mine," I said, patting the belt about my waist. "This one has that invisibility field thingy in it; maybe the ones in a warship would be more powerful? And hey, maybe it's mot just a pilot's uniform, but just crewmen's in general; maybe there are more than one and they all have this on them."

I turned around in growing excitement, then stopped.

"But--" I chewed my lip.

"We'd sure have to figure out how to keep in contact with each other, since we couldn't see each other if we all wore one of these devices of our own."

I shook my head, and then continued forward, coming to where Shayla was standing by the control center. Beside her was a cupboard of sorts; I opened it and begen riffling around inside.

"This is where a lot of their logs and such are kept; maybe there's a munitions list or something. I can read Sith... a little."

...and those pilotsuits as well. Let's see just what the gods have provided for us."

He paused then, pursing his lips thoughtfully, "Hey Stargazer, could you use some of your mind-linking ability so we could all communicate if we found some of these suits with the invisibility device on them? Something to think about, anyway..."

Saying nothing further than that, Jasyn turned and began to depart from the cabin of the warship, the Sith brandy he had partaken of making him feel perhaps somewhat indestructable.

That was a nice feeling, considering there might be tuk'ata out there...

“Hey,” he said, “I can read Sith really well. Let me help out. If there crewman suits exist, they’re probably somewhere else rather than the bridge, don’t you think? Maybe there’s a staging area, like for Sith marines or something?”

Panthar looked around the bridge, and seeing nothing useful, headed for the transport.

Now stand I in the temple door. Call I to the wild ones. Hear me they do. Like it they do not, but hurt they shall not. Even now giving way, even now forming ranks. A royal welcome awaits. Like soldiers they are, proud stand the wild ones, escort here the Lord and Lady.

"Can't say I remember what exactly was on this warship, and where," Jasyn observed, not necessarily to anyone in particular as he continued to walk, "But I'd think any weaponry might be nearby the pilotsuits. After all, both relate to methods of fighting, whether offensive or defensive."

He slowed a bit at this then, pursing his lips as he continued to ponder just where they should go to look for the items they were seeking. Then, "Might there be some sort of crew member area, somewhere near that dining area Graysith took us all to before...?" he queried to Matt.

Matt gave him a thoughtful look.

"Oh what the hell," Jasyn said then, shrugging. "This'll give us a start, at least. Unless, of course, Panthar has something further to add..."

Even as he said this, however, Jasyn began to head for the dining area. After all, he'd never been thrilled with sitting and waiting around...

The small sith fighter exited hyperspace near Koris'ian and scanned the planet. He detected the Sith warship had landed on the planet already, and began flying towards the ship. He set down outside the ship and sent a message to the crew, hoping that they would believe him.

"Graysith, Phalomir, are you on board?" I ask. "I am one of those assassins sent to kill you, but I am no longer in league with Aelvedaar. Please believe me, he wishes for me to die now, and I have no more allies or people that could assist me. Please allow me to join you. I swear that I have nothing to hide and no other reason to harm you now. I apologize for attempting to kill you. I just hope that you'll allow me to join you" Nothing to do now but wait I think and hope they believe in what I am telling them.

...which came at no surprise to either of them, considering how large the warship truly was. Within these corridors they found a number of what appeared to be sleeping quarters, all of which also appeared to be completely emptied. Jasyn was about ready to turn to his commrade and admit defeat when he noticed the red-headed man had stopped in a doorway, his green eyes wide. Without so much as a word, Matt entered the doorway...

...and Jasyn quickly followed on his heels. Even as he entered his eyes widened in a similiar fashion to his buddy's.

"Whoa, baby," he muttered then as he took in the large room. In the center laid a series of concentric circles, each circle a different shade of red marble. Past these concentric circles, the rest of the flooring was white marble. Along the perimeter of the room were a number of cupboards...

...but alongside one of these cupboards were a set of three hanging swords, each a different length and width, each holstered and gleaming as if waiting for their owners. Beside these swords was a set of four daggers, these too of various lengths and widths.

"Whoa baby," Jasyn reiterated, taking a step foward to investigate these swords and daggers as Matt began to rumage through the cupboards. "A pratice and training room, you think?" he queried then, turning only momentarily to see Matt rumaging through a cupboard. The red-headed man's head nodded up and down for a moment.

"Yeah," he then replied, "Appears to be..."

Even as Matt said this, Jasyn turned back to the swords and, suddenly very curious, removed one of the moderately-sized ones from its holster on the bulkhead. He held it upright then, his brown eyes taking in the beauty of the runes carved on its hilt. The sword gleamed in the lighting of the room, and Jasyn took a few steps back til he was in the center circle of the concentric circle pattern. He moved the sword in a few arcs and spirals. Then he held it upright once more.

"Whoa..." he started, but was cut short by Matt's voice.

"Hey, Jas..." he started out, turning from the cupboard he was now rumaging through holding two cylindrical items, one in each hand. "You think Stargazer or her husband might be able to use one of these...

...that is, if they still work...?"

...or perhaps they merely wanted a keepsake from those dark Jedi they had managed to actually defeat."

He paused at this thought, allowing his commrade to consider it. Then, "While we are still here and have had some success finding what we are looking for, however, we might want to finish searching the rest of these cupboards. After all, if this was the training area it appears to be, it would stand to reason there may be some armor here as well...

...and perhaps some of those pilotsuits. Still, if they aren't here, there's one more place I can think of where they may have been kept..."

He trailed a moment at that, craning his neck a bit and listening, thinking he heard some rummaging in another room nearby them. "Hey Panthar," he called then, "You found anything?"

“Vpaf ersyjrt ditbobsa hrst, cool. Don’t think we’ll need that here. Hmmm, hey, guys, here we go! Qoapy rmvpimyrt dioyd!”

He opened the cupboard, more like a closet, and peered inside at several encounter suits made of a strange shimmering material.

“Assassin? Phalomir must be doing his job well, if Aelvedaar has to resort to assassins. Is this the chap that tried to have us all fried back near the Valley? If so, I wouldn’t believe a word he says. But then again, you don’t believe a word I say, do you? Oh my, what a quandary.”

He smiled wide at Shayla, eyes glinting.

“Of course, I could speak for Phalomir if you wish. I’m sure I know what he would say.”

"You are not going to speak for Phalomir, Thoran," she stated simply.

Then she turned to look at the others remaining on the bridge of the warship. "As for whether I believe this guy or not...

...he sounds sincere, but I don't know that I buy it. But now that he's followed us here...

"I don't trust this guy a bit; if he can't prove his honest intentions, I say nail his hiney to the wall! This ship has more than enough power to--

"Hey!"

That self-imposed interruption was immediately followed by a yelp as I instinctively responded to what I had found hiding in the depths of this containment locker. As I had groped about inside, my hand had hit upon the back wall of it, deep within its depths.

To my surprise, that wall immediately slid away, revealing a hidden compartment. Further groping, and I contacted the familiar feel of the weirdly metallic paper the Sith used in their logs and other books.

I backed out on my elbows, and when I cleared the edge and was able to sit up again it was to see that I was holding another log book in my hands.

Even though it looked just like the navigation logbook, there was something about it that bespoke of another age, one different from the time period 4,000 years in the past from which this ship had originated.

Of course this was only a hunch--

"Hey," I repeated, rocking back on my haunches. "I found something."

I scrutinized the cover; there was something written in the middle of it. The patterning didn't look familiar to me, not like the title of a navigation log or something.

"I can't read this, I wonder if it's a personal log?"

I stood up slowly, all thought of our would-be assassin lost before this new mystery.

"Where's Panthar?" I asked at length, turning to Shayla.

...it's so that others can know where he's been and what he's done. So then why is this thing hidden away?"

She trailed at this, pursing her lips and not liking the road her thoughts were travelling upon. "You know, this ship was berthed in Char'lingua when we first came upon it...

...and Lord Aelvedaar was the one who provided her to us. Now I don't know much about the Sith language, but perhaps the reason you can't read this Galen is because the clan lords had another language, one which was used by only them. If that were the case...

...whoever wrote this didn't want anyone else, other than perhaps the other Clan Lords, to understand its contents. Unless, of course...

...the language on this book isn't even Sith. After all, isn't it just a little too convenient that, when I had to take Graysith's place on that Yuuzhan Vong ship, Aelvedaar was able to find it at all? Perhaps he could have the ability to do just that...

...but the universe is a big place. What if Aelvedaar knew where that ship was because he had already visited it himself, and perhaps aboard this very warship? We have got to find out just what's inside this book..."

"Well," I finally said, beginning to wave it about for emphasis.

"We can speculate about this until the dewbacks come home... but we won't know diddly squat until the damned thing is translated.

“He went out to find pilot suits. Mumbled something about a huckleback sandwich and left with the other mooks.”

I stomped over to Phalomir where, stopping and standing up on my tiptoes, I thrust the book up into his face.

Perhaps it was the murderous look in Galen’s eye that caused him to quickly add:

No longer in control of his senses, he could only experience what his mind randomly threw his way. Bits of sound, images, smells, and sensations flitted by. He knew was still holding Jharmeen, he was still on the bridge, but that was about all he could tell.

Finally he stopped struggling. Without his magick there was little he could do, and perhaps if were still then more sensations would somehow come to him.

And more sensations did come.

An image of a book, held aloft to his face, flashed before him. A sudden familiarity rushed over him, and he suddenly felt very anxious. A sense of urgency came over him, and he doubled his efforts to break free. Still. He could not break his spirit out of the bonds, and his tormented screams echoed through the empty corner that Thoran had thrown him into.

Then he paused.

If Terrin were still here, perhaps he was still free. If he could somehow send a signal to him, maybe there was way he could help. His magick was gone, but he was still the Dark Lord of the Armorers, and the power vested upon him by the Symbol of Entitlement could possibly still be tapped into.

“Terrin!” he called out, trying to amplify the word through the power of his station. “Terrin! Help me!”

Even as he thought this, Terrin then began to struggle forward in Phalomir's mind...

...only to be stopped short for a moment as he swore he heard words coming from another direction within Phalomir's mind...

...words which sounded alot like Phalomir's.

He managed to push forward enough through Thoran's hold on Phalomir's body to take control back. "This is Terrin again," he said then, "I think Phalomir's in trouble, I can here him..."

He trailed, his thoughts darkening. "And you can hear him too, can't you Thoran?"

I blinked, taken quite aback. Suddenly the atmosphere had shifted a hundred and eighty degrees, from Thoran's dark and dire "whoa," to Panthar's gleaming eagerness to see what I held.

A bit numb by the sudden turn of events, I held the book out to him, and sidled closer, telling myself it was just to get as far away from Phalomir-cum-Thoran as I could, even though I knew Terrin was in there too.

But really, I was curious as hell to learn what that mysterious writing was saying....

...but I sure as kriffing hell hear Phalomir struggling in this head of his somewhere. I know he's in some sort of trouble..."

He trailed, a brow cocking as Panthar showed such great interest in that book. "And just what the hell does that book say already?"

Thoran blasted his way past Terrin, driving him harshly into the background. He sent a mind-numbing blast of magick into Terrin’s spirit, sending him reeling back into the dark recesses of Phalomir’s mind. If he could feel pain, Terrin’s head would have been spinning from the intensity. Instead, his spirit felt an oppressive crushing for a moment, then was surrounded in darkness.

I jerked, and turned to Phalomir.

"What's wrong with him, Terrin?" I asked, knowing he knew I meant Phalomir.

"Can you try to reach him and find out? Call to him; maybe that will get through or something."

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" I growled, sidling up to Phalomir with murder in my heart and fire once again blazing in my eyes.

If there was anything I hated most in the universe, it was a terrible fake. And I could tell in a heartbeat this wasn't Terrin; by simple process of elimination, there could only be one particular personage who had just spoken.

"Mind digging around in there a tiny bit further, pal, and letting us in on what in Hell's Seven Circles is going on? Unless, of course, you're doing something inside Phal's head that you really oughtn't be doing...."

He took the book gingerly from Galen’s hands and sat on a chair. He carefully opened the cover and turned a few pages.

“My, this is extremely well preserved,” he said, eyes not leaving the pages. “Where did you find this?”

As if forgetting that he asked a question, his finger pointed to a passage on a page and he yelped.

“That’s it! Oh, I wish I knew how to read Sith 10 years ago!”

He looked up, excited, and saw everyone looking at him.

“Now that I know how to read Sith, I can tell more about these runes. This is in a language similar to High Sith, but it’s different enough to be of particular interest. I studied this for a long time, thinking that there was a link to the runes I found on various planets and the old Jedi and Dark Jedi hocus pocus of the past – no offense, Shayla – but this confirms instead a link with the ancient Sith race itself! I’ll need a little time to look this over, but I might be able to glean some sort of information from it.”

He turned back to the book and mumbled.

...and totally unable to regain control of Phalomir's body.

Phalomir? he called, struggling, Phalomir can you hear me?

Then he directed every amount of energy he could into regaining control of Phalomir's body once more, hoping to the gods that he could send Galen some sort of sign that all was not well. He didn't know just how successful he would be, seeing as Phalomr was apparently unable to regain control...

...but he was at least not expending a great amount of his energy keeping another person alive and away from harm, as Phalomir was.

For the barest of moments, Phalomir's eyes flashed blue...

Where have I seen these symbols before? Wait, this one, this symbol grouping has certain characteristics resembling the High Sith word for “antiquity” – the cave! Back when life was more or less normal, when I was a well-funded archaeologist exploring the caves on – oh, what planet was that? It seems so long ago now, but I remember that cave. And finding the Eye… That word was on the stone columns surrounding the skeleton.

DING!

Oh my, and I just remembered where I saw other words like this. Ohmygosh!

Panthar slammed the book shut and looked around. Hs eyes rested on Galen, staring up at Phalomir – or Thoran, actually. He was still holding Gray, tenderly, as if Thoran wasn’t completely in charge of the arms that supported her. Interesting.

But not as interesting as the memory that popped into his head.

“Um, guys? I think we really need to get going.”

No-one seemed to pay him much attention. Galen and Thoran still stared at each other like two rancors vying for dominance, Shayla and Eric looked on waiting to pick up the pieces of whoever lost, and the others were busy figuring out the suits. He sighed, pulled the cover off of a seat and wrapped up the book in it. He stood and walked to a portal and peered out at the morning sky.

The temple was in the near distance, looking much the same way it did the last time he was sitting in a ship waiting for people to be ready to move. The birds flew ovehead, just like before. The vines wound around the trees, just before. The trees gave way into a clearing, giving a clear path to the temple from the ship, just like before. Two rows of tuk’ata lined the path all the way to the temple, just like –

“Hey!” he cried out. “What in the kriffin’ name of womprat butts is going on here?”

...and that Panthar was now urgently suggesting that they haul rear.

Once he'd gotten his suit in order, he addressed the former first.

"Look, buddy!" he growled at Thoran, actually stepping forward and pointing a finger. "What the hell have you done with the Boss..."

He trailed a split second, "...with Terrin?!?" he then ammended. "You had better damn well not be pulling anything funny now."

He paused once more at this, trying to look as threatening as he possibly could, fire quite nearly shooting out of his ears. And in this silence, his ears registered Panthar's final words.

"Huh?" he asked, turning just enough to look in Panthar's direction...

...and just enough to see exactly what had grabbed Panthar's attention. "Oh hell," he muttered, his eyes going wide, "We are so dead..."

He struggled to send a thought back Phalomir's way, uncertain of whether he could be heard or not. I'm trapped here too now, he started, And everyone else is in trouble. Thoran is up to no good...

One glance was all it took.

"That's your bud?!" I gasped, stepping back reflexively as one of the immense creatures turned its great head, seeming to stare me straight in the eye. I winced, even though common sense told me that it couldn't see me, that it was just an animal, that we were perfectly safe as long as we just remained here.

"I don't know if the invisibility shields will protect us from those things," I went on, ignoring Panthar's statement of friendship with the Devil's very own sidekicks.

"How well can they smell--? Oh, Hell's Seven Circles, how are we going to get into the Temple past those critters, anyway?"

I shot a look to Panthar then.

"They look like they're lined up waiting for the smorgasbord to begin; you're plain nuts to go out there, if you ask me, at least not without some kind of weapon with more oomph to it than a stupid sword!"

My hand slapped against my thigh where my blaster used to be; I sighed, and just crossed my arms and continued to stare out at the certain death arrayed so nicely outside the ship. After a bit of this, I pulled away, our desperate position suddenly strengthened as Terrin's last, pleading whisper trickled through my mind.

I went over to Phalomir and, standing on tiptoes, reached up and grasped him by his royal collar. Yanking upon it only served to pull me up more closely to his face; oh well, it served the purpose.

"Listen here, creep. I don't know what game you're playing in there, but it had better come to a halt now.

"You let Terrin go now, or Jharmeen be damned, I'm gonna toss this body you're in to those nasty canastas out there... and follow it up with dessert as well!"

He grunted and moved to Erik. He spoke in low whisper.

“I’m telling you, that big guy at the steps is the tuk’ata that led you and me through the temple. He spoke to me, somehow, in my mind! He tried to protect us from Thoran when – oh, whoa… Just thought of something, remind me to tell you later. Anyway, something really interesting is going on out there, at least open a window so we hear them! Better yet, open the door and let me go out there.”

"That's the idea; good boy!" I spat between clenched teeth; then with a dramatic shove I pushed off, releasing my hold on the satiny material and landing a couple meters back. My attention was then drawn to what Matt held in his hand--

"Lightsabers?

"Now, where in Hell's Seven Circles could those have come from? Anything else, like maybe a good old fashioned blaster wherever you found them?"

“Here,” he said. “I need my hands free, and this way you can feel useful.”

He looked at the light sabers in Matt’s hands and rolled his eyes. How convenient, he thought. I wonder what else has been planted along the way for us. I don’t like it when things are too easy.

“Now, shall we open the doors and have a tuk’ata bloodbath? I’m ready, and maybe someone could even stay here and man the ship’s guns? Oh, and don’t forget, there was some sort of communication from some assassin.”

He paused, then burst out laughing.

...but I'd assume whatever she's got will be pretty powerful and far-reaching. I don't think I want anyone using any of those particular weapons on these tuk'ata while the rest of us are trying to get into the temple. Too much chance of one of us being hit...

...or for that matter, all of us. Now, if there were something we could hit to knock over and get rid of some of those tuk'ata before we get out there...

...I could see that. But I have to be honest..."

Here she trailed, pursing her lips and sensing outward, "I know tuk'ata are only semi-sentient, but they do radiate specific feelings in the Force...

"How?"

I snorted, turning from Shayla to Panthar again--

This from the guy who wanted to "open a window" on a spaceship, fer Khaandon's sake...!

--and stomped over to him.

"Just how exactly are we going to do that? Just stroll out into their midst, like meat-on-a-stick, saying, 'here we are?'"

For a moment I held that sarcastic facade before me like a shield; then I let out a sigh and crossed my arms. I couldn't help but notice how--well, nice he looked, standing there cradling my sister in his arms.

"Look, what if you're wrong? I mean, if you are... well, you're bantha fodder -- er, tuk'ata fodder, and you know it!"

And hell, much as I hated to admit it, but even though we'd had our differences I'd sure hate to see Big Red eaten...

I found myself standing right in front of Panthar, one hand reaching out to touch his arm, hanging on as I stared up into his face.

But that wasn't what I was seeing.

I had seen firsthand the terrible injuries these predators could inflict, and I knew how lightning fast they were.

"Panthar, this is Terrin. Listen to Galen," he said simply.

And saying that he found himself once more stepping closer to Galen, reaching out and squeezing her shoulder for a moment in silent support.

Sheesh, do I ever feel stu--

"Yeah!" I said, trying to brighten up some. Obviously the memories I had been lost in were dragging everyone else down; surely such a mood was not conducive to creative thought, and I had to give Panthar credit for his brainstorm, as silly as it was.

I mean, really. Picture it: Panthar being levitated over the heads of snarling, flailing tuk'ata....

I jerked, going back to something Shayla had said.

"You said you sensed no hostility from them; what kinds of emotions are they radiating, anyway? And--

"You guys are Jedi; can you offer protection against these things in case they're not quite the chums Panthar thinks they are?"

I hate it when my brain burps; it's worse than helmet hair, I swear....

She paused, trying to find a word for it, "...expectancy? Maybe even honor? It's difficult to say, since these guys are semi-sentient, and I've only been around the ahhh...

...more domesticated version. But in terms of getting around them, we might be able to use the suits and disguise our scent with something onboard this ship," Shayla answered thoughtfully. "I don't know if levitating anyone will work...tuk'ata can jump pretty high. But you know, I was just thinking..."

She trailed for a moment, pursing her lips and tapping them with her right pointer finger, "Who says we have to go in that way? This temple has rooms with balconies...

...and I could levitate each one of us up into one of those."

At this she quieted, waiting to see what everyone else might think.

"If you think you can do that, then I guess we should go for it. Like our buddy here said--"

I jerked an offhand thumb Phalomir's way.

"We'll never get anywhere if we yammer about every conveivable angle we can think of.

"I'm for trying this; and ready to-- wait."

I strode over to Jasyn, who had been remarkably taciturn throughout this entire exchange--

Probably just waiting to see when the Sith brandy breaks out, and from where--

--and yanked a nicely weighted sword from those he had carried onto the bridge. Stepping back from the others, I gave it a cautious swing; it sliced the air with a whoosh, leaving goosebumps tingling all over my body.

"I'm ready," I announced, feeling a touch more secure now that I was armed, Jedi among us be damned.

"Somebody pop the hatch, and let's get this show on the road..."

Stepping up to the red-headed man, she took one of the lightsabers...

...and quickly discovered it was useless. She took the other one, ignited it...

...and the blade came alive, although she could tell the workings of the weapon were crude.

"On second thought," she then said, turning the blade off, "You take it, Erik. I'll rely on what the Force gave me. If anyone else wants a weapon, hurry and take your pick."

Saying this, she tossed her husband the operational lightsaber, and headed for the navboard, sitting and quickly pushing a sigil here and there. After a moment, the hatch popped obligingly open.

He turned to Shayla and called out, “See! If you still want to levitate me then go for it, but I think I’d rather walk!”

For, Hell's Bell's, it sure as there's treasure on Roon looked like that was exactly what it was.

Those tuk'ata were making a remarkable racket, but it wasn't composed of threat-screeches or attack-yowls. They yipped and yodeled, and every now and again a muzzle would point skyward, tendrils waving, while the massive, clawed feet would stamp and rip at the ground beneath them.

But they never moved from their positions which so clearly flanked a beeline straight toward the temple, upon which steps there awaited an even larger tuk'ata. He sat there, a misleadingly tiny figure on those distant steps, head cocked as he listened to his fellows sing.

Dammit, that's what they're doing... they're singing!

I turned an astonished gaze to Shayla, for by now Panthar had apparently taken heart, and was proceeding toward that temple with an increasingly confident stride. At one point he paused, looking over his shoulder at us with a big ol' beaming grin plastered across that red face of his; then he turned round and kept going, nearly sauntering now.

"Well," I said in a low voice.

"They're either going to let us do this or not. I mean, Panthar is in a Sith body, we're not. I hope that won't make any difference."

I shot a final look about, taking in the anxious faces of my companions. Then, gripping the sword even tighter, I stepped down the gangway and onto the soil.

The nearest pair of tuk'ata stopped singing and turned their heads to me, eerie pupilless eyes raking me up and down.

I shivered--

In for a credit...

--and kept going, quickening my pace a bit as I passed that pair and then hurrying a bit further in order to catch up with Panthar.

"Great Khaandon's Ghost, but I think you're right, pal!" I whispered as I caught up to him, then fell into respectful silence and just kept moving, listening to the wildly beautiful song of the tuk'ata as it wafted us along.

...but only a moment.

"If everyone else wasn't seeing this too," he heard Jasyn say, "I'd think that I had one too many Sith brandys."

At this Terrin, still in control of Phalomir's body, shot the other man a sidelong glance. He was sporting one of the swords, holding it in front of him with a serious look etched onto his face.

Some things never change, he couldn't help but think.

Then he turned forward once more, willing his feet to move, finding that the motion wasn't as difficult as he originally thought it might be with his newly-surfacing memories. But then, perhaps there was a reason for this.

If one of those creatures...or heavens forbid more than one of them...changed their tunes, there was no kriffing way he was going to stand around and let them turn on anyone here.

He gripped the sword now in Phalomir's hand, his blue eyes intense and very alert.

"I sure as kriffing hell hope this is a hint of the reception we'll get once we're up there," he said in a low voice then, nodding towards the large tuk'ata at the front. Then his look turned a touch darker, and he frowned. "I wonder where the hell Thoran went..."

Saying this he trailed, eyes still trained on his surroundings as the group continued to move closer and closer to the foot of the temple.

"Please, believe me," I yell towards them as they walk through the ranks of tuk'ata, several of them snarling at me as I prepare for the worst to happen. "I truly do not wish to harm you." I hate having to degrade myself like this, but it is necessary I think as I run to join the group, hoping they don't attempt to attack me.

In the meantime, he would allow Terrin to control the body, and lie in wait until either the time was needed or Terrin failed to follow the direction of images and suggestions Thoran would quietly throw his way. For now, it seemed to be working, as the calming and reinforcing power he sent to Terrin seemed to be overcoming the man’s desperate fear of tuk’ata. This feeling blanketed Terrin’s thoughts, and Thoran feared that without assistance Terrin would not be able to guide Phalomir’s body through this corridor of death. He wondered what had happened to cause such an intense emotion, but for now it did not matter.

The destination was the Temple, the goal was the Shar’tak. In their way stood the guardians of the temple.

Standing at the start of the rows of tuk’ata was a man. The look in his eyes was almost pleading, and as the others turned to him the end tuk’ata stalked forward and hunched down on their forelegs. One of them turned to the group, as if waiting for a command.

Panthar turned his head slightly to Galen, but left his eyes on the ever-stranger-growing scene.

“Um, do you know who this is?” he asked. “It’s almost as if those tuk’ata are waiting for us to decide if he lives.”

"Is this our assassin that we never replied to?" he queried then, falling silent a moment. "I don't know about you guys...

...but I don't figure someone who intends harm on us running through a horde of tuk'ata who seem to be on our side. And as for what the tuk'ata are waiting for..."

Quieting a moment at this, Shayla pursed her lips, her greeny-blue eyes assessing the newcomer as she then finished with, "...maybe we should give him a chance to state his case...

Panthar looked at the tuk’ata, who still seemed to be waiting. He shrugged and threw his head back.

“Growl!” he called out. “Grrr! Meow!”

He looked back to the tuk’ata, who now seemed to be more in confusion than in wait. He turned back towards the temple and fixed on the large tuk’ata on the steps.

“How the heck am I supposed to tell these guys to let the new guy pass?” he asked sidelong to Galen. The tuk’ata on the steps lifted its head and let out two rough, loud grunts that carried even over the singing. The two tuk’ata on the end answered, and Panthar turned back in time to see them backing off and rejoining the ranks.

He looked to Galen, eyes wide.

My, how the songbird does change its tune....

"I dunno about tuk'ata, they've never sung me a bedtime song yet!" I growled under my breath. Then I gave my head a jerk back toward Shayla, whose Jedi powers I was suddenly finding myself in very much doubt of.

I whispered as much to Panthar.

"I don't trust that newcomer one bit!" I hissed. "I said as much on the bridge, and I reiterate now. What the hell-- here he comes, tooling in a nice as you please, straight towards a tuk'ata hazing line, and getting only polite little growls from them?

"Now pal, you seem to have a connection with these critters, and you're in a Sith body anyway. Can't say I believe that this guy would be held in such high esteem, more like meals on wheels.

"Am I the only one around here who smells a womprat?"

I fell silent and turned to face the large tuk'ata, placing a protective hand on Jharmeen's unmoving shoulder as I did so. The beast seemed to be waiting for something; I hoped as hell it wasn't for his dinner.

He turned to look Galen in the eyes.

"Yeah, let's end this now," I breathed in the tiniest of whispers before I turned to Panthar and, with a grunt, took my sister into my own arms so as to free his. I staggered beneath my burden, and was rewarded by a couple of growls from the sidelines, but not one tuk'ata moved toward us.

They just stood there, casting their eerie eyes up and down our party, then turning to wave those snake-like tendrils of theirs in the direction of the white-haired stranger.

I squeezed Jharmeen's slight weight more tightly and steadied myself, widening my stance, placing one foot back a little behind me, and flexing my knees so as to hold her more solidly.

“As you wish,” he said.

He turned to the white haired stranger and began walking down the line of tuk’ata. Shayla and the others all stopped to watch him pass, and the howls of the tuk’ata intensified as he approached the wide-eyed man. He stopped 2 yards from the stranger.

“These are my friends, and they think that you are a threat. These big guys are my friends, too, and they don’t like strangers. You have 30 seconds to explain who you are and why you are here. If I don’t like the answer, I ring the dinner bell. Go.”

...but he was certainly not thrilled with the idea of him being assassin. He took a step closer to Galen, who was still struggling with the weight of her sister.

"If that guy turns out to be lying," Terrin stated then, "He's gonna have to get through the kriffing lot of us--and particularly through me --to get to you and Jharmeen. And by the way, this is Terrin," he stated, hoping to clarify any doubts of just who was speaking. "Thoran is disturbingly quiet at the moment...

...and I have to wonder what he's up to, considering I know I heard Phalomir calling for help."

Pausing a moment at this then, his eyes intense, the sword still in his hand, Terrin then turned to one of his commrades, keenly aware that Galen was still struggling somewhat with Jharmeen's weight. "Jasyn, can you help Galen carry Jharmeen?"

Jasyn nodded at this statement, and went to Galen's aid, relieving her of Jharmeen's weight so that she could take off running when and if it was necessary.

"I've never been a swordsman, and I know I have the duty of keeping Phalomir safe, since this is his body," Terrin then finished with, stepping just a bit in front of the group, the sword in front of him once more, "But as long as I'm in control, if that guy comes near with any intent to harm, I'm making certain everyone gets to safety, one way or another..."

...but something he had just spoken had caught her immediate attention. "So, you would run to us for protection, fully knowing that doing so will endanger us all more?" she called to him.

Falling silent at this, her greeny blue eyes never left those of the newcomer...

...and while she still sensed nothing but sincerity from him, she was becoming increasingly aware just what sort of threat he now presented to them.

...we're your last resort?" Her look hardened a bit. "I'm not sure you're the kind of ally I'd like, on second thought. After all, one seeking a final resort usually isn't the most loyal of companions when something else better comes along."

Falling silent once more with that, Shayla again waited...

...keenly aware that this guys thirty standard seconds were well more than up.

Freed from my sister's weight, I was able to more comfortably wield the sword I had taken; my former load-bearing stance shifted subtly to one of readiness and I cocked my head, eyes narrowed to judge the distance to this guy, ready to leap out in attack or defense.

"Words are simply that; how can we believe what you say is true, especially after you tried to assassinate my sister?

"How can we trust you after that?"

With each word I spoke I took a step forward, and then another, until I had passed Phalomir completely and had come up nearly shoulder to shoulder with Panthar.

He came to them first? What the...???

Then a memory struck a chord with her. She wasn't certain, but...

"Oh wait a minute," she said, stepping up a bit more, the look she was directing at the newcomer growing icy. "You came to us first? Were you the one we ran into back on Khar Delba, the one who tried to trap us?"

...but nevermind. I find your arrival here oddly convenient, and the timing of it even more so. Whether you are sincere in what you say and intend to do, your presence here clearly functions as a distraction, whether that is your intention or not."

Shayla paused, then turned to Panthar. "Panthar...we need to get moving again."

But I can garuntee they will regret it I think to myself as I wait for their final answer.

"Kriffing hell, but this guy sure talks alot," he growled under his breath, but not totally inaudibly. "I don't like this..."

Then, his words now totally in the hearing range, he finished with, "Could we please get moving sometime this year?!?"

“I believe you,” he said at last. “I won’t ring the dinner bell.”

He could see the relief in the man’s face, but it was more of the look of someone who got out of an unpleasant task rather than someone who had his life spared.

“But we don’t trust you, and so far there has been nothing presented that could change that. As I heard someone once say, actions speak much louder than words, and so far all we have from you are words. For all we know, you could be working for Aelvedaar right now.”

The nearest tuk’ata growled low and rough.

He looked to Galen, standing next to him, and inhaled slowly.

So I held back the sneering words I had been readying, and merely nodded once to him instead. Then before I could talk myself out of it, I turned on my heel and began walking back toward the temple, where the large tuk'ata sat with the strangest look on its face.

I didn't want to show fear in front of this would-be assassin. And I didn't dare stop.

I just kept going, passing by Phalomir and Shayla and the others once more, and without slowing my pace moved ahead until I came to the bottom step of those leading up into that alien stone edifice.

The tuk'ata tilted its head, tendrils waving, and stared at me.

I don't know which created the fiercest of all the goosie-feeties that were marching about my body: that look, or the one I felt the stranger behind me was sending into my back.

Settling on the lesser of two evils, I mounted the stairs and headed up.

The tuk'ata watched my approach with those eerie eyes it had... and wiggled sideways to get out of my path.

Unmolested, I kept going up those stairs, and soon came to a stop in front of the ornately carved doors leading inside. I paused there, one hand still clutching the sword, the other laying against the cold wood.

...but that didn't mean the past wasn't still drilled deeply in his heart and mind. Those animals were deadly...

...and this he knew firsthand. If that thing reacted the wrong way when Galen walked past...

...well, he'd put up the most valiant effort he could at keeping the thing away from her, his own past be damned. So he fell in step not far behind her, a sword in his own hand. Fortunately he never had to use it, as the tuk'ata merely stepped to the side, almost in deference. He paused, sparing the creature a momentary glance...

...and shoved all of his hackles to the side. He knew Jasyn and Matt were right behind him, but they had little of his attention. All that had his attention, aside from the tuk'ata, was what was ahead of him.

Or rather, who. He didn't know what awaited them within the walls of the temple, but he sure wasn't going to leave her alone, not this time.

The tuk'ata didn't move from the position it had moved to when Galen passed...

...so, his eyes focused ahead, Terrin simply walked in the door. His eyes were immediately met by dimmness, and for the moment, he couldn't make out much...

...at least, not til his eyes adapted to the lower lighting. He took a few more steps inside, then turned to look over his shoulder.

With that he winked and turned around, following Galen and the others. He nodded at each of the tuk’ata as he walked past, and turned when he reached the steps. He looked out over the tuk’ata, still lined up but no longer singing. He then turned to the big animal on the steps.

I guess you know the deal I just made. If he does anything suspicious, have the gang sic’ em.

The tuk’ata roared a series of commands, and an echo of grunts and growls chorused through the lines. Many of the tuk’ata moved into the forest, not going far, while a few others formed a wide semi-circle around the stranger, leaving a pathway to his own ship.

“Let’s roll,” he said more to himself than anyone else. He turned back for the door and began walking.

The large tuk’ata hauled itself up and turned for the door. It followed Panthar as he caught up with Galen. The tuk’ata gently moved past the group, turned and sat in front of the door leading from the antechamber to the inner temple, blocking the way. Panthar walked to Galen’s side.

“I think that’s everyone. We’ll see if our new friend waits for us. I think Diffy here intends to stay with us. That’s OK with me, he was pretty nice to have around last time, wasn’t he, Eric?”

He noticed the look on Galen’s face, tight and nervous, as if a million geese were marching up and down her back.

“Hey,” he said. “You all right?”

He? She?

--halted and sat down, moving only to rake once against the door with its hideously immense claws. The rasp those great claws made as they scraped against the wood set tiny hairs tingling on the nape of my neck; I was about to turn to say something to Panthar when the beast turned its elegant head and stared straight at me.

Its eyes were icy, like a moon on harvest night.

I shuddered again, but not quite aware of it this time; those eyes grew icier and larger, expanding exponentially now as my vision tunneled, until the creature and I were linked together in a weird and utterly silent communion. The antechamber dimmed before the brilliance coming out of those eyes, the murmurs of my companions disappeared beneath the music flowing from them, music which filled my ears and my soul and every cell in my being, combining with that icy flare until there was nothing in my personal universe but simple, all-encompassing perfection.

In the middle of that perfection there came a blot: a dark shadow, turning, two red dots glimmering toward me, waving an amorphous pseudopod toward something even icier than the eyes of that tuk'ata.

It was my sister... and Phalomir.

Frozen.

Their eyes as empty as the death for which they seemed to scream.

I gasped, jerking backward in reflexive shock, and quite suddenly found myself sitting on my hiney on the cold stone floor of the great and echoing chamber we had entered.

I shook my head.

"Wow." I said, unable to elucidate much more, other than:

"What in Hell's Seven Circles was that?"

The tuk’ata snorted and turned, pushing open the double doors and stepping through. It walked a few steps and turned its head, waiting.

Panthar stood and offered a hand to Galen. He looked up to Phalomir.

...tour guide know that we have some things of our own to do here?" Jasyn interjected, cutting off the words anyone else may have been preparing to speak. "I'd love to have a little look around this place to see what might be here to help us out...

...but I'd like to finish at least one thing very soon. Terrin's body is in the underlayers of this very Temple, waiting for his soul. I'd like to ahhh...

...in whose body my husband was being remarkable taciturn, considering the fact that I was sprawled on my tush on the stony floor at his feet.

I couldn't help but frown a little; then I reached a hand back to Panthar.

"Thanks, pal," I said a bit gruffly as I clambered upright. My own words hit my ears, and I cringed at the tone I was using.

"It's not your fault, sorry."

I let the apparent non sequiteur hang on the quiet air of the temple, then broke that uncomfortable moment by brushing my hands together then fisting them upon my hips. It was then that I noticed the doors were open; in that brief look, I caught the unmistakable outline of a tuk'ata's tail vanishing into the darkness beyond.

All offense vanished. I blinked.

"I don't think I want to follow that critter; you don't know what's in there... and I think I do.

"It ain't pretty."

I shot a glance to Phalomir, envisioning again his frozen doppleganger passed on to me by the tuk'ata. Immediately on the heels of that there arose another, unbidden vision: that of father going into carefully lectured detail of the impossibility of time travel, of the inability of matter to occupy two places at the same time.

I shook my head once again to clear it, then spoke to no one in particular.

At that statement, Terrin glanced to Panthar, but only momentarily. He returned his look to Galen, growing more and more concerned at the look in her eyes. He reached out a hand to then place it on her shoulder, meeting her eyes with Phalomir's green ones, which were probably looking more blue than anything at the moment. "What is it that you think is in there?" he asked in concern, falling silent at that and simply waiting for her reply.

Her greeny-blue eyes widened, and for a moment she glanced down to the motionless Jharmeen, who was stil cradled in Jasyn Lancaster's arms. But her gaze was drawn up once more to the open doors through which the tuk'ata departed.

"They're in there, aren't they?" she queried to no one in particular, her tone completely unreadable as she did so...

There is no way for me to do this on my own...well, last time I checked there was still Imperial ships blockading the planet...maybe I can convince one of them to bombard the temple. I doubt it would kill Aelvedaar...or my brother for that matter...but it could distract him so much that he cannot keep his concentration on Graysith. I think as I begin to prepare for my trip. I better let them know, but I doubt that they'll even believe me. I think and pick up the comlink they gave me.

"You guys, I'm sorry but I'm going to leave. I have a matter than I'm going to attend to, and I hope that it proves to be benificial to both of us. It is also something that I hope will help earn your trust. This will be something you have to trust me with." I say over the comlink, and not waiting for a reply, lifted off, set a course for Khar Debla and lifted off. This just might concinve them of my sincerity I think as the small sith fighter slips into hyperspace.

((OCC: Sa'kal'ishaalas flies off to The Flame, Triumphant, Burns in the Jedi/Sith forums.))

“I guess that’s one problem down. See? We’re doing great so far. He’s leaving, and it’s going to be beneficial. And as for our beastie friend here, he hasn’t led me astray yet. So unless someone else has a better idea, then yes, we’re going in there.”

He turned to Shayla, his expression a bit darker than he realized. “And yeah, I think they’re in there. But I don’t know if that’s what he’s taking us to. I’m hoping it’s Terrin’s body.”

Panthar sighed and followed the tuk’ata into the next room. He looked back to Galen as he walked.

"I didn't see any tuk'ata, but I did see a body." I called after his receding form.

"Two of them, in fact."

I nodded toward Phalomir, and then turned around and indicated my sister with a jerk of my chin.

"I don't get it; if it was a vision of what is in there, as I think it is, well... how could it have been them?"

Not willing to follow anyone into what I was beginning to believe more and more to be the jaws of impending death, I remained fixed in position, trying to ignore the sudden arrival of goosebumps that set the nape of my neck to tingling and every cell of my body on alert.

...but she knew it had to be said. She shivered a bit at her thoughts then firmed, speaking up. "The only conceivable way for those frozen figures to be Phalomir and Jharmeen--at least, the only conceivable way that I know of--is through pulling them from a point in the past, freezing them, and placing them here. As to just who could do this...

...we all know of at least one individual who could do so. Lord Aelvedaar pulled himself from the past into this future, so it is highly possible he could pull someone else from a time in the past and place them into the future as well. I don't know why he would do such a thing...

...but I suspect he may have had some sort of plans for them. Unless, of course, this Master has the capabilities to pull someone from the past and into the future, and in which case...

...just what reason would he do such a thing?"

Trailing at this, Shayla's eyes darkened, as she waited for anyone's response to her suppositions.

I shook my head.

"I haven't the foggiest clue of who would be doing this, let alone why. All I know is that it's just getting creepier and creepier by the moment, and I just don't want to go in there."

I pointed toward the door through which the tuk'ata had departed, followed by Big Red. Shaking my head for emphasis, I then walked over to Phalomir and stood in front of his towering form.

"Sorry Terrin," I murmured before hauling back and socking the Sith square on his jaw.

"Thoran!" I yelled, socking him again.

"I know you're in there! I also know you've probably got a pretty good idea of what in Hell's Seven Circles is going on around here; now wake up and offer us something helpful!

"Phal here is sure out of commission!"

I belted him one last time for good measure and then fell silent, hands on hips, filled with a strange admixture of an unaccountable seething rage and the most tremendous fear I have ever felt in my life.

...and red.

Tell your babe...?!?

Terrin gritted Phalomir's teeth...or rather fangs, for a moment, and thought something right back to Thoran.

Look, buddy, don't you dare refer to Galen like that again. Give her the respect she deserves. And while you are hiding...

...you could at least give us a clue as to why there is a frozen figure of Phalomir and Jharmeen here.

His vision clearing a little then, Terrin finally spoke up after reaching up to hold Phalomir's jaw with one hand. "Oh, hell," he started with, "And Thoran's not coming out...

...he just told me that he's hiding from Panthar's buddy right now, and says he won't do anything else until we get to..."

He trailed a moment, then finished with, "...my body. In the meantime, however, I'm waiting for him to at least tell me why those frozen figures are in there."

Of course....

"When did I ever say that what I saw was really Phal and Jharmeen?" I whispered, backing up a bit as one hand fluttered to my mouth.

I was almost in awe of myself; this answer was so, so simple, really.

"I mean, yeah, it's them," I amended, then went on, slowing a bit to think this thing through as I spoke.

"But is it really them? It might just be an image, a disguise, a masquerade; oh hell, something that just looks like what it's supposed to be but isn't really.

"And isn't it the strange and intriguing that invites the prey to dinner, once initial fear wears off?"

I folded my arms and did a three-sixty, sinking a serious glance everyone's way. All except Panthar's, that is; he was still somewhere in the other room, following that damned tuk'ata.

"That discrepency is meant to be a riddle; don't you see it? Identical bodies can't occupy the same time; there are all sorts of physical laws that prevent it. So someone is giving us something that shouldn't happen, in the hopes that we trot right on up to it and try to figure it out.

"Don't you see? It's a trap, but for who?

"And why?"

I took another step backwards, away from the door ahead, and crossed my arms as I then came to an adamant stop.

No way in all the known universe was I going in there.

Uh-uh; not this li'l red hen....

...after all, the laws of time and space corroborated them, as far as Shayla knew anyway.

"I think you're right," Shayla said simply, then, her greeny-blues widening once more. "We'd better stop Panthar...

...one way or another."

Quieting a moment at this, Shayla took a few steps forward to the beckoning doors, stopping when she was standing directly in front of them, but not in them...

...and where she was able to make out Panthar's departing back.

"Panthar, stop, it's a trap! There can't be two Phalomirs and two Jhrmeens in the same time frame!" she called out, simultaneously sending thoughts of warning his way as well.

Thoran ripped his consciousness through Phalomir’s mind, seizing control of the body in a blast that left Terrin reeling once again.

Saying this, she reached out with the Force towards Panthar and levitated him just a little bit off the ground, sending him a mental message as well.

Come back now, Panthar. Your buddy there has you going the wrong way.

Then she set him down, waiting for him to make the final move back their way. Turning to the others in the group then, she spoke once more.

"As Jasyn has already stated, Terrin's body is in the underlayers of this Temple. If everyone will follow me, I can get us there, and then we can get on to the business we are here for...that being getting Terrin back then trying to find some help so that we can get Jharmeen and Phalomir back as well. I have a feeling Panthar will be heading back in our direction shortly...

...but perhaps a couple of us should stay behind, just in case he doesn't follow suite. Erik and Matt, do you mind holding up the back and making certain we get Panthar?"

The two men nodded in agreement, so Shayla then finished with, "Allright then. This way."

And with that she gave a nod, one which indicated the direction she would now take. In that pathway they would find a corridor which would then take them to a set of richly carved and wooden double doors, ones which would open to reveal a series of winding stairs which would finally lead them to the underlayers below.

Nodding for emphasis, I hurried after Shayla, following her down the corridor she had indicated until we came in front of that set of doors. A slight push and they opened obligingly before us, the movement as light and whisper-quiet as thistledown on the wind.

Beyond them, the corridor narrowed, dimmed, and disappeared downward into the bowels of the temple, a pathway that was suddenly familiar to me. Somewhere in the distance came a flicker of light, undoubtedly from wall sconces set there to light the way.

The fact that they were actually lit didn't even register with me; all I had eyes or thoughts for at the moment were those descending stone stairs, which I knew led to the burial chambers of the temple.

Well... at least to one in particular.

I moved quickly forward at the prospect, trying not to remember Terrin as I had seen him last, trying instead to bring out his gentle smile and the laughter in his blue eyes. I hung onto that image like a lifeline, knowing that if I let it go all I would see would be that last horrid view of his fearfully ripped body...

And that was an image I didn't want in my head when we came upon his actual body.

I stumbled a little, then strengthened and continued downward. En route I grabbed a sconce; it really wasn't necessary, as the corridor, although dim, was lit enough that our path was not a treacherous one. But the fact of having light in my hand seemed to transform the prospect of Terrin's resurrection from simple hope into a more tangible reality.

It's funny how light can do that.

I didn't realize how fast I was moving, hadn't really noticed that I had hurried faster and faster until at length I was leaping down those stairs two and three at a time. Before I knew it I had reached the bottom of the stairway, which made a junction with three more corridors. These were utterly black, totally unlit.

But I had light. And that light banished the demons even as I moved with almost instinctive precision to the corridor on the left. It wound away like some stone tributary, not traveling straight, but bending and turning smoothly. It's walls gradually segued from cut stone into rough-packed dirt, and then finally to solid rock.

And finally that snaking tunnel brought me to a single door, one heavy with age and memories.

And magick.

I paused a moment, my heavy breathing joining with my rapidly beating heart to break the otherwise deathly silence of this place.

I placed a hand upon that door then, and pushed gently. It creaked open...

...and there upon a stone bier, covered with a simple flowing and white coverlet, was Terrin.

I went up to him and then just stood there, looking down at him. He looked to be asleep; now the memories of his ripped and torn body fled into the ether, replaced by memories of happy times we had together, before I had gotten stupid and had run from him.

I laid a trembling hand on his forehead, making silent promise to him that I would make amends, sure as there's Treasure on Roon.

And this was how I was when the others finally found us.

“Sorry,” he said. “I need to stay with them. I’ll come back, really!”

The tuk’ata lowered its head and turned away, continuing on its path.

“Oh, crap, don’t make this hard. Wait, what am I saying? It’s not hard!”

Panthar turned and joined with Matt and Jasyn, then followed the sounds of feet ahead of them down the stairway. They entered the chamber to see Galen standing over a body, her face a mixture of sadness and joy. She was about to be reunited with her husband, a miracle beyond miracles. This must be the greatest moment of her life.

Panthar suddenly felt an inexplicable pang of sadness himself.

Why, Panthar? What the heck is going on?

He shook himself and grabbed at his chin, the feeling of his claws on his flesh bringing him back to the moment.

He looked to Phalomir.

“So, that’s you?” he asked quietly. “This is truly amazing. But now how do we put you back?”

...but it was only for a few moments, as he seemed to recede back, as if still trying to hide from the tuk'ata while everyone decided what to do. And perhaps he was doing just that...

...or perhaps it was something else entirely. But as the group began to move downward, it was Terrin who moved Phalomir's feet all the way there, each step becoming a bit faster as he tried to remain near Galen.

He had promised her she wasn't going through this alone again. And he had meant every word.

Even as they finally reached that place, Terrin gathered his wits about himself, his eyes falling on the form of his body...

...with Galen standing over him, an admixture of hope and sadness in her eyes. And that was when Panthar's words finally hit his ears.

"I don't know," he then replied, his eyes never leaving Galen. "That's our buddy Thoran's job."

I let a brief moment pass, almost afraid to say anything. But faint heart ne'er won fair reward, or some such; taking in a deep breath I opened my eyes and turned to Phalomir, raising my eyes to the green pair towering above me.

I peered deeply into them, seeking shadows hidden amidst the wind.

"All right, Thoran ol' buddy ol' pal, here we are.

Now why did I strike this deal? Oh, right, to talk to the Master about a deal… wait, this isn’t following. Put numbnuts back so they could all be happy, THEN go make a deal with the Master to save the galaxy? What is wrong with these priorities? What is wrong with these pansy-sniffing sissy-whipped lollyfarters? And they called ME crazy?

Oh well, whatever. Just do it, Thoran. Get it over and done with, freedom is in your grasp. Back home, after so long! It will be good, won’t it? No more time skipping. No more high and mighty Sith lords to deal with. Just the peace and tranquility of an orderly society. Everyone living their own lives, not bothering anyone else, under the rule one of race. And remember, this is the moment that really makes it all possible.

So put the bozo in the body, let him have his day. They’ll all be oh-so-wonderfully happy, then it’s sit-back-and-wait time.

But I can’t just go…. I’ll leave him a little present for down the road.

No smoke, no lightning, no blazing host of intense energy. No pomp, no circumstance. Just a blink of the eye and Terrin was gone from Phalomir’s mind.

And so was Thoran.

I couldn't help it; I knew this miracle was going to occur... yet I also knew with a certainty that went deep into my bones that Terrin was dead, he had been killed, and this just wasn't natural....

He stirred, coughed and sat woozily up. The coverlet fell from his body, revealing a completely unmarked chest.

I took an involuntary step backwards.

Panthar smiled widely, but somehow the feeling in his heart did not match the look on his face.

This is nuts, you doofus. Shake this out of your head right now and get back on your-- Phal!

Panthar walked to Phalomir’s limp form and knelt beside him. He was breathing, and struggling for consciousness. Phalomir’s eyes opened and tried to focus on Panthar. Finally he managed, then his hand shot up to grab Panthar’s shirt. He pulled him closer and rasped out a short question.

“Where is Jharmeen?”

No bud. You've been dead for a couple of years.

That little observation jarred him into reality, and he opened his eyes as the small universe around him swam into focus. His eyes fell on the almost shocked form of Galen immediately. She was looking like she'd just seen a ghost.

Well... a little shoulder devil popped up. Terrin smacked the thing immediately into oblivion and swung his legs over the edge of the bier upon which he was laid. It was not much to his surprise that he was wearing some fairly impressive looking Sith robes.

Sith robes. Here we go again...

Shaking himself from these thoughts, he refocused his gaze on Galen, clearing his throat, not sure how the words were going to come out for the length of time in which his vocal chords had not been used.

"Galen, it's me," he replied to her, letting his eyes rest on her as he then attempted the feat of standing a body which had been laying for the past couple of years. This was no small feat, but he did manage, still somewhat shakey but standing nevertheless.

He reached out to Galen, gently resting a hand...

...his hand...

on her shoulder. "It's me," he repeated, then fell silent, not wanting to push her in her initial shock.

Then he stumbled, falling against me, his grip tightening on my shoulder while my own arms flew to him in support.

From deep within that darkness, a smile formed.

Yes, love, it’s Terrin. And friends…

Was Phalomir now in control of himself, as it appeared? Had he asked about Jharmeen? Hadn't Terrin mentioned that he thought Phalomir was being trapped by Thoran?

And speaking of, WHERE WAS THORAN?

Her frown deepening at this, Shayla stretched out towards Phalomir's mind, knowing that she should easily be able to pick out Thoran's Force signature within. But find it she could not...

...so she immediately deduced there could be only one other logical location for Thoran's essesence. Her thoughts growing more and more troubled, she stretched out to Terrin Danner's mind...

...yet came up with no Force signature. Still, a certain tremor in the Force screamed at her in warning, so she turned to Panthar, Jasyn, Phalomir, and the others, not wanting to disturb the reunion now taking place with her troubled conclusions.

"Ummm...guys," she spoke up quietly, "I can't get a lock on Thoran's Force-signature, not in your mind," she said, pointing to Phalomr, "Or even in his...at least, not at the moment," she continued with a small nod in Terrin's direction, a dark look glinting her greeny-blue eyes. "I have a really bad feeling about this..."

“My thanks, Panthar,” he said softly. He raised his head to Shayla.

“Thoran has vacated my body,” he said quietly, keeping his voice from carrying too far. “I feel… cleansed. I have no doubt as to Thoran’s whereabouts, he must believe he will have more bargaining power if he hijacks Terrin. I do not feel we need worry about that too hard at the moment, I think he is sincere in his desire to make a deal, but he does not trust us.”

Phalomir raised his eyebrow.

“As he is right to. I will kill him the first chance I receive.”

After all, it might be more difficult to keep tabs on him now...

I jerked back, shoving against Terrin and making a quite instinctive and automatic "ptooey-face."

"Yuk!" I growled, rubbing my lips with the back of my hand. Then the frown on my face grew deeper yet as I stepped back into Terrin's personal space, now to reach up and grasp him by twin handsful of High Sith robes.

I yanked him down to meet my ire.

"Is what Phal says true?" I seethed, jerking the robes again for emphasis. "Are you lurking in there, you creep?"

My grip tightened, and for a moment I thought that nothing would satisfy me better than to just haul off and kick Thoran where it would hurt him the most, and believe me my knee was in perfect proximity to do so. But the simple fact that it wouldn't be hurting him, but rather Terrin, kept me from putting that luscious thought into action.

My brows lowered even more.

"All right, lurk if you want. But at least you did follow through with your promise of putting Terrin back together, and for that... well, not that I think you can understand the sentiment one whit, but I'm truly grateful.

"Now what is it we have to do to assist you and Phal with this Master confrontation thingy-- wait a damned minute here! Kill him the first chance you receive?!"

My hands loosened a bit as I cut myself off in mid question, turning my head Phalomir's way.

“We will make our deal if it is to be made,” he said quietly. “Let him believe he has the power to bargain. But Thoran is much too dangerous to us all, if he does not leave as he has stated then he must not be allowed to live.”

He looked up to Panthar.

Pausing at with this pointed question, Jasyn look darkened further. "If you continue along this line of thought, you'd kriffing well better find a way of doing so without putting the Boss's life at risk."

“Then obviously the first chance I receive will be when Thoran vacates Terrin’s body,” he said. “I have no intention of letting harm come to any of us, as long as I may help it. We need to be together, my friend. All of you, my friends.”

Phalomir stood, his powerful legs moving from a crossed position and lifting his frame into the air almost effortlessly. He scanned the room, his strength seeming to return to him bit by bit. The color in his face was brightening slightly, augmented by the soft glow of the Tattoo of Entitlement of the Armorer Clan which had now come to life.

Panthar paused at the doorway, ready to lead the way back to the upper chambers. He looked back to Phalomir and was caught for a moment by the sight. Phalomir smiled to him and then scanned the other faces in the room.

“Being here, it now seems so much like… home. And being here with all of you, especially, I feel a strength that has been vacant from me in some time. Despite Thoran’s ill will, we will survive this. I thank all of you for staying with us.”

He glanced down at the sleeping Jharmeen, held protectively in his arms, then looked back to Panthar.

“Lead on?” he asked. "Unless someone feels there is more to be learned in this room."

“I’d say that’s a no,” he said, turning and heading up the stairs. He felt anxious to be away from that place. Away from Terrin. Why, Panthar? What the heck is going on? Something's not right.

He shook off the feeling and turned back.

“Next stop, the shar’tack!” he called back. Then to himself, he said “If the beastie boy is still interested in leading us there, that is. I sure as heck don't remember.”

Allright, Thoran buddy. I've got my mental eye on you, as everyone else has their physical eyes on you...

His eyes still dark, Terrin then jerked himself to full alertness as the group began to move out of the underlayers.

"Listen, everyone," he then spoke up, "If at any time you believe Thoran has seized control of my body and he's doing something to place you in harm's way..."

"Don't worry, love," I whispered softly. "I'll be the first to handle it...

"Ya hear that, Thoran ol' buddy, ol' pal?"

My scowl came back tenfold, along with my voice, and I gripped Terrin's face more tightly. Peering deeply into his blue eyes, I sought the flicker of dark I knew was lurking therein.

"Don't think you have any special immunity from any of us, just because you're hiding in my husband's body..."

Like a dianoga in a garbage heap, came the addendum, hot on the heels of that statement.

"Terrin would forgive me two hundred percent if I had to lambast him, just to get you out of our hair!"

I gave an emphatic nod, and let myself down on my heels again. Then I turned away, only to see Panthar hurrying off into the gloom.

"Just a sec, Terrin..."

I squeezed his arm fondly, then took off after Big Red until I had caught up with him. He didn't slow but kept a steady pace, not even bothering to turn and look at me as I hurried up.

"Hey, Panthar," I said, reaching out a friendly hand to touch his arm.

"Wait a minute, don't be in such an all-fired hurry to go wherever it is we're going... well, at least wait until we all have an inkling of an idea of what we're going to be getting ourselves into.

“The beastie is the little feller up there that tried to lead us a little bit ago. He somehow belongs to this place, and when Erick and I were here before he gave us a grand tour of the place. There were two rooms in particular that were interesting. One was the place that had the ice blocks in it, he wasn’t too keen on that room but obviously it was important for us to know about it. But there was another room, an armory really. It had all sorts of weapons and things in there, and one thing in particular caught our attention. It was a red ball, sort of like the Eye. But if we stared into it and thought hard – OK, not even so hard – about a Dark Lord it would show us what he was doing at that moment. Sort of like a spy camera. That’s how we accidentally met the Master, and ended up with you. I heard Thoran call it the shar’tack, so I assume that’s the name.”

He took a breath and saw that Phalomir was now standing beside Galen, Jharmeen cradled close to him.

"I don't think it's a good idea to split up," I stated then, craning my head around Panthar's solid frame in the attempt to see where this "Diffie" had gotten himself off to. I couldn't see much in the gloom that lay ahead, but I could clearly hear his echoing growls, accompanied by the unmistakable clatter of claws on stone as the sounds wafted into our ears from the distance.

"I hope he waits for us; what's taking the others so long?"

I turned on my heel with that, expecting to see the rest of our group directly behind.

Mysteriously enough, they were nowhere to be seen. Something about the blank place where they had just been standing seemed to smile ominously; I shivered a little and gripped Panthar's arm again.

Oh no, not again! I mourned inwardly as I squeezed his arm, shuffling a little nearer for support. Outwardly, I did my best to keep up a facade of strength, even if it was beginning to wear a bit thin around the edges.

"You said you saw weapons?" I whispered, turning back to him.

"I think we just might be needing them; I've got a bad feeling about this place. Like there's eyeballs watching us from everywhere, waiting for the next set of womprats to stumble into their booby-traps...."

Galen, after having taken a step or two after Panthar, returned to Terrin and stood beside him. From there she watched as the doppleganger came back to join them.

"This way," said the false Panthar, and took off in an entirely new direction.

"We don't want to be going after that tuk'ata after all now, do we Terrin?"

The skillfully produced image, complete with a sense of life within it, brought into being by the immensely honed abilities of the Sorcerers to protect their most cherished ordinance store, stared meaningfully into Terrin's eyes before turning and leading the group away, first down the path they had just come through, then off on a byway and then another and another, sometimes going up cold stone stairs, sometimes down stairs even colder...

...until the group was thoroughly lost, somewhere deep within the bowels of a tunnel system that snaked into myriad corridors and false ends, deep beneath the surface of Koris'ian. There wasn't even so much as a footprint beneath them on the stone floor when the pair of images turned to the others and....

Vanished.

“Yes, weapons would be advantageous. And are we all agreed as to what course we are taking, and what our true purpose is in this temple? Terrin is restored, and were it not for Thoran then at least he would be safe. I am sorry you were all drawn into this, but I am truly grateful for your assistance.”

He sighed, placing a free hand on Galen’s shoulder. “We will be all right, we have to be. Please do not make mention of this to the others. I know what Thoran intends, he could hide most of his thoughts from me but not all. He intends to make a-- ”

A chill went up Phalomir’s spine, forcing him pause. He turned around to look behind into the room and saw what Galen had seen… nothing. He poked his head into room and looked into the dim lighting, and still saw no sign of the others.

“Shayla?” he called out. “Terrin?” Only the faint echoes of the ages answered.

Phalomir spun back to Galen and Panthar, his eyes blazing.

“Terrin, wait!” he called out.

Terrin, braced for Thoran’s lies, paid him no attention.

“Terrin, this is the wrong way! Stop!” Still Terrin ignored him.

"Yess-sss...." it whispered silkily, linking arms with its fellow doppleganger.

"Blood indeed."

He looked past Galen’s shoulder and down the dark corridor.

"I- I don't want to go back and check," I whispered, a hunch about the prudence of that course of action raising red warning flags everywhere within me.

"I don't want whatever happened to them to happen to us. Besides, they have a couple jedi with them... and don't they have Phal? He's a Sith, and ought to have some means of protecting them, more than we have.

"Er... that is, more than I do," I appended with an apologetic glance at Panthar's horns and claws and red skin. Gulping in embarrassment, I hurried on.

"I think we should continue on the way you were going and arm ourselves... and maybe find this beastie boy of yours.

"He just might come in handy."

He placed his hand on the arm around his own and squeezed lightly.

“And if something has happened, I’m sure everyone will be all right. Let’s hurry, though.”

...or rather, just past him. Terrin whirled, his own eyes growing wide with concern.

"Galen?" he called out, receiving no answer. He took a few steps forward, trying again. "Galen, are you there?!" Then he paused, turning back to the others, a troubled look on his face. "And where is Panthar? Maybe they are just ahead of us. We'd better move quickly, we should stay together..."

...and she only knew a couple of people capable of such a feat. That thought didn't comfort her in the slightest, but she stretched out with her Force-senses, just to investigate Terrin's propostition that perhaps the pair had simply gone ahead of them.

"I'm not certain," she then voiced out loud, "But I don't sense either Galen or Panthar ahead of us...

...and furthermore, Phalomir is also missing."

Falling silent for a moment at that, Shayla closed her eyes, stretching out just a little bit further. Then she opened them and looked directly at Terrin...

...but it wasn't to him that she was speaking. He greeny-blue eyes penetrated his blue ones, her small stature placing no limits on her ability to see straight through the tall man. "Allright Thoran...what is going on here?"

Terrin, buddy. Listen, I’m not going to take control of you, all right? Your body, I mean. I know this is difficult, but listen to me. What you just saw there was not Panthar, and it was not Galen. There was a very powerful magick at work here, Sith magick. I would have recognized it sooner if I wasn’t hiding in here. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I have an idea that someone – or something – wants us split up and lost. And it did a good job, I’m guessing. But please, make sure nobody panics and for the love of salty rocks, nobody split up!

...but he had to at least take note of his words, since Shayla had asked Thoran to explain what was going on. "Thoran is apparently still hiding," he spoke up then, "But he says that the Galen and Panthar we were following was the product of powerful Sith magick, and that someone or something has been trying to split us up."

He paused, frowning, not liking how his thoughts were progressing. "You all know as well as I do that if Galen and Panthar aren't nearby that there are only a few other possibilities. Thoran may be telling the truth...

...but finally, she opened her eyes. "I can't pick up anything specific," she admitted, drawing an even more concerned look from Terrin. She held up a hand to stop any comments he might have as she then continued, "But I do sense sentient life that is most likely human. I can't get a lock on that life as of yet since we appear to be some distance from it...

...but this information definitely leans in Thoran's favor. After all, there should be no sentient life on this planet other than us, particularly not of the human variety. I believe that both Panthar and Galen are still here, and that we need to quickly get to the business of finding them. But first we are going to have to find ourselves. Unfortunately, I don't think any of us has great knowledge of this temple...

Sure as kriffing hell did he mind. But if Thoran knew something that would help them find Galen, there was going to have to be at least somewhat of a compromise here...

Considering this along with the group's overall feelings about Thoran--particularly Galen's rather obvious ones and his very own--Terrin made a choice.

Yeah, that is really gonna help us get the hell out of here quickly...

Looking to the others then, he relayed Thoran's reply, including the left-hand trick. Then he added his own two credits worth.

"I suggest that we move in the direction of the lifesigns you think you sense, Shayla, and try to get a handle on precisely where we are and what happened to Galen and Panthar as we progress--and as soon as possible--I don't like that we've been split up like this at all. This really is the only option we have, unless someone else has another idea."

Let the others stumble around in the dark, communing with the spiders and the other guardians of the temple. As for me, I’ll be content to stay here where it’s warm. I am the only one here with magick, oh my. I wonder…

Thoran let his powers flare a little, reaching out to the space around the group. He felt magick all around him, as if the very hallway was alive with it. He tried to trace it to a source, but it was too diverse, too chaotic. It was almost as if something was deliberately trying to confuse him, using the magick in this temple. Being bounced around in these underground hallways, it was acting like n amplifier an scrambler. But why?

Oh…

Hey, Terrin? Um, watch out, all right? I think there is something going on here, something more than us getting separated. There’s an incredible amount of Sith magick bouncing all over place, but it’s, well, chaotic. I’ve never felt anything like this before, like we’ve walked into a trap of sorts. I’m not sure I’ll be able to do much with my powers while we’re in this mess.

“What is this?” he asked the emptiness. He looked down at Jharmeen, still silent in his arms. He raised his face to the near darkness and peered into the quiet nothing. There was no sound, no movement of air save for the steady but faint whisper of Jharmeen’s beath. He inhaled himself, turning it into a contemplative sigh.

His thoughts turned to the others, hoping for their safety. While he no idea where Shayla, Terrin, and the others could have gone, if Panthar had indeed made it to the steps perhaps he was safely above these passages with the tuk’ata. The guardians of the temple…

Guardians.

The tuk’ata, above, were indeed the guardians of the temple. The temple itself. But what if there were other guardians, powered by the Sith magick that flowed through this place, and fashioned by the Sith Armorer clan? Of course, the Sith would not simply abandon this planet and leave its temple unguarded. Accoring to Jharmeen, the entire clan was relocated to Khar Delba, leaving this planet alone. But Koris’ian was still a Sith world, and held secrets of the clan and of the race itself. It would simply not be abandoned!

So, were what he thought Galen and Panthar simply phantoms manifested through magick? If so, the magick would most likely come from the temple itself, or if not that then at least from some ancient protection placed upon the temple. He had already experienced something of the sort upon his initial arrival here, when he faced the spirit of Lord Rean.

Where he earned the Lordship of the Clan! Phalomir, you fool! He thought, placing his hand upon his cheek. This is your temple. You are the Dark Lord of the Armorers! Your magick is gone, but the tattoo of entitlement remains. These phantoms, if that is what they be, fall within your realm. Perhaps they could they provide a link to the magick of this temple?

He inhaled deeply once again and placed his back to the wall. He looked to his right, then to his left, noticing that the passages seemed somehow different, as if someone had simply rearranged the hallway. He lifted his head and spoke out.

“I am Phalomir, Dark Lord of the Armorer Clan. I have obtained this rank through right of combat, vanquishing the soul of Lord Rean. I bear the mark of entitlement, granting me authority over this domain and all who dwell within it. Hear me now, and speak with me.”

He paused, gave a slight nod, and glanced once again to Jharmeen.

Well, my love. It is worth an attempt.

Deep underneath the surface of the planet of the Armorers there rambled a great and long unused maze. Indeed, there had been no need for this maze to rise up from the sleep in which its masters and creators had placed it in, for no one had come to disturb the silence of four thousand years. But now... now the corridors of the underlayers resounded with the echoes of bootsteps.

Unfamiliar bootsteps.

And so the maze had quickened from its long sleep, raising at first slowly, insidiously, and then gaining energy from the very life force of those who dared to tread within it. Bolstered and fed by that energy, it began coiling and twining about itself, like vines in the wind, and where junction met wall another corridor was created and the old lost behind a dead end. All throughout this maze the magicks remained strong, and grew stronger, and the maze grew more and more convoluted.

But then...

From nowhere there appeared a pair of great eyes. They were huge, the size of banthas, colored a brilliant periwinkle with jagged streaks of brilliant silver crackling within them. There was no pomp or circumstance in their appearance; they just...

Appeared.

And studied Phalomir in calm appraisal.

"Other foci?" came the silken thunder at length.

"A--clan? Of Armorers?

"We know not of what you speak; there are no clans here. We are of peace, we are of the ages, we are that which brings order and peace to all.

"We are Triumvirate Made Whole.

"We...

"Are."

The thunder echoed softly down the corridors, which picked themselves up and laid themselves back down again, in yet another arrangement of stone gone liquid.

Somewhere, lost in yet another corridor, a tuk'ata lifted it's muzzle and yowled in fear and protest against the vagaries of its peculiar brand of gods.

“There seems to be much that we do not know of each other, and I am very interested in sharing tales with you. You exist on a world that was once inhabited by my people, and in fact this very hall lies beneath the main Temple used by the leaders of this world. There were three worlds that formed the center of my race, each housing a different clan, this world was home to the Clan of Armorers. They were forced to depart the planet long ago, and I assumed you were placed here to protect the Temple in those vacant times. I see that perhaps I have assumed incorrectly.

With each syllable that thundered against the cold stones of the walls and floors the very atmosphere grew darker, not in color but in feeling, until it seemed every molecule of which said atmosphere was made up stood out in strange and sharply velveted relief.

The great eyes blinked, seemed to darken a bit themselves.

"He who made us...."

Time stopped, literally, while the anomaly paused to think. Phalomir froze in mid-breath, his lady between one beat of her heart and the next; without the place where they confronted each other every living thing, avery non-living thing, every being thing simply stopped being for a moment.

A moment which stretched out into eternity.

"There is no He."

The returning words rang into the corridor like an audible tsunami, washing life and breath and existence back into all that was, along with a subtly subliminal awareness that, frighteningly enough, for an unfathomable moment all indeed wasn't.

"He is Us, We are He. I am that which is, and this is my place of all places that Are."

“The Triumvirate made whole… You speak of something my race aspired to attain, an ideal we tried to reach. It was to save us. If you are what you say, then that which we sought was with us all along, and we were too blind to see it.”

Phalomir lowered his head and bowed slightly, bending his knee to the floor. Jharmeen remained cradled in his arms.

“You are the spirit of my people, and I thank you for palaver. Here before you are two Dark Lords of the Sith, humble and in need. The third of our Triumvirate is at odds, and believes in the rule of One. He is set against us, and the fate of the race you embody is in the balance.”

Phalomir raised his head to the darkness.

At length she simply stopped, the determination still set in her eyes even though her shoulders slumped slightly. "This is not going to work," she then stated simply, turning to the others. "It's as though the maze keeps changing itself...

...and I wouldn't doubt that this is exactly what is happening. This thing is clearly designed to keep people lost and seperated. I only wish that there was a way to get back to the others without having follow this neverending maze...

...but I'm afraid the only way to do that would be through nothing short of All usage."

Shayla paused at that, her look dark as she continued to ponder. A thought then occurred to her, and whether it was plausible or not she spoke it aloud, hoping it would at least spark further ideas.

"Thoran stated that we seemed to be underground, in some sort of maze. What would happen if we simply tried to go up to the surface rather than wandering on through this maze?"

“Well,” he said. “We made it. Looks like no-one else is waiting for us here though.”

The rattled growl that cut its way from the room’s only door told him otherwise. Panthar and Galen both looked to where the sound emanated and saw the tuk’ata just rising from the spot it had apparently been laying.

“Hey, looks like he came back and waited for us. Hey, Diffy! Can you lead us to the armory room? Where we saw the red globe thing?”

The tuk’ata cocked its head and snorted.

“Ar-mor-eeeee room,” said Panthar, enunciating every syllable slowly. “Red globe thing-eeee…”

The tuk’ata rose fully and trotted over to Galen and Panthar. Panthar felt Galen’s hand tighten around his arm, and tensed himself, ready to throw himself in front of the beast should he need to. But the tuk’ata stopped a few feet away and whined. Panthar glanced to Galen and then extended his hand out. The tuk’ata leaned forward and let its face tendrils sniff and caress Panthar’s hand. It then turned and started for the door.

"I'm thinking we might let him try to find the others with his powers. Not that I trust him...but I'm certain he wants out of here just as much as we do. In the meantime..."

A terrible vision of a tuk'ata leaping straight at me, ten-inch claws extended and eager... an entirely too personal view of its sleek underside as it flew gracefully over my rolling body... a brief and bloody flash of my sister, pale hands held to gory midsection as the swipe meant for me impacted upon her flesh instead....

Another: a foreboding and echoing chamber, vaulted ceiling lost to the shadows which commandeered its walls... the sneering horror of Dark Lord Roan smiling so smugly down upon the still body of Terrin, who lay limply between the claws of a hunched and growling and drooling tuk'ata....

I jerked slightly, digging my fingers into Panthar's arm. He didn't seem the least bit disturbed by the animal, who was beginning to act like Man's Best Friend toward him.

I however knew better. Man's "Best Friend" possesses what sometimes proves to be the Teeth-Best-For-Ripping-Man-Friend-Or-Not; I didn't trust this critter in the slightest.

I, after all, wasn't wrapped up in Sith flesh now, was I?

So I just stood there, stone still, digging into Panthar's arm, and hoping to Hell's Seven Circles that when this critter finally realized I was there it wasn't going to be as an hor d'oeurve....

Thoran gathered his powers around his spirit. The magick energies that were all around him fed into the mix, and when he felt the time was right he sent a powerful surge up the length of Terrin’s arm. A blue energy blasted from Terrin’s outstretched finger, illuminating the hallway and colliding with the dark ceiling. The bolt ricocheted from the ceiling and angled to the corner where the wall met the floor, then bounced to the far wall of the hall. It continued to bounce from one wall to the next, coming dangerously close to several of the group before finally striking Jasyn squarely in the chest. He flew backwards and slumped against the wall, falling slowly to the floor.

Jasyn’s hair smoked slightly, and sparks flew from his eyes and ears for a few seconds. He twitched a little and then went limp, before his eyes flew open and he shuddered involuntarily.

Quite suddenly there came a pounding, a rhythmic beating which struck against the walls, the floors, the ceiling of place where Phalomir stood quietly waiting, crashing against them in a rising crescendo of power and intent unguessable.

Until the familiarity of that rhythmic pounding revealed itself to puny ears simply for what it was:

Laughter.

At length the chuckling lessened and the shaking quieted, save for the bits of loosened stone which fell from the ceiling to litter the floor.

"We know not of Sith...."

The words were barely discernable against the fading echoes of cracking and falling rock.

"We are... and this is Our Place of Places.

She paused, furrowing her brow a little as she continued to analyze what she felt, "...like the Valley of the Dark Lords. Thoran...

...do you know if the Dark Jedi had already gotten to the Clan of the Armorers here on Kor'isan before the Sith were pulled into this time frame? I'm not certain, but something is telling me that they had been...

...and that this magick anamoly which traps us was to protect this place from further attacks. It is also then very possible that the magick is fueled by the fallen spirits from that attack by the Dark Jedi, just as the Valley is protected by fallen Dark Lords. The fallen Dark Lords in the valley can be communicated with...

...so perhaps they can be communicated with here as well. I'm going to try, regardless."

The air darkened, grew hushed.

Existence seemed to blink.

And far, far away from the tiny walls of the Temple of the Armorers of the Sith, hundreds of meters beneath soil-encrusted solid rock, even tinier entities were tumbled from their feet in something not even approaching an afterthought.

The light from Jasyn's head faded, leaving the group to stumble about in in soul-muffling blackness... a blackness laced with a suddenly booming voice, and the abrupt appearance of chrome-laced periwinkle eyes the size of a SandRider's favorite mount.

"Why do you disturb our slumber?"

Echoes resounded from the walls surrounding Phalomir as well, as the question was put to him yet again.

The vong on that warship, where she had taken Graysith's place...

Firming then, she stood straight, a strength gathering deep within her. "We seek you so that we may be freed from this place," she responded simply. "I know not who or what you are, but I sense a great collective within you. We mean neither you nor this place any harm. Rather we seek to prepare ourselves to face a threat which is coming to the Sith..."

She paused a moment, those chrome eyes in her memory once more flashing across her mind's eye, "...a threat which I hope those who once resided here have not somehow already faced."

Oh great, Galen; now that damned tuk'ata will go into a feeding frenzy or something....

The fact that I was totally terrified that our world had gone both topsy-turvy and utterly dark could not stop that incongruent thought from popping into my head. What did, however, was the pair of glowing eyes the size of small moons which hovered over us, peering down and stabbing us to the cold stones with an even colder look.

I knew those eyes could see us, even in the dark, for quite suddenly the very air shivered beneath the onslaught of a deep, bass voice.

"Why do you disturb our slumber?"

I tried to dig a hole under Panthar's arm, en route coming into physical contact with one of the damned writhing-twining thingies that Sith-hound wore instead of whiskers. It snaked about my waist, then gripped me tightly in turn.

A frightened sort of whine whispered into my ear, right on the heels of that bass echo.

"Oh great, that's just great!" I said to Panthar from the side of my mouth.

"Fido here is scared spitless; what in Hell's Seven Circles terrifies a tuk'ata?"

Something about the expectancy ringing in the air made me shut up then; I sure as Khaandon made lil green worrts didn't want those eyes to narrow their focus to just me. So, wrapped in Panthar's arms and the beastie's face-tendrils, I managed to silence myself, trying along the way to become invisible in the darkness.

Friends of yours, buddy? He sent to the tuk’ata. The minute trembles from the tendrils and the soft whining told Panthar otherwise. He somehow managed to pull Galen even closer.

“I don’t know what scares a tuk’ata,” Panthar whispered back to Galen. “But apparently it has something to do with disembodied eyes. If it weren’t for Diffy’s shakes, I’d think this was part of that stuff that happened downstairs… actually, I don’t know why it couldn’t be. It might even be the Master doing it, and I’m willing to bet it is. Ah heck, might as well try the upfront approach, right? If nothing else, maybe I can scare it off if it’s not him.”

Panthar mustered up his courage and inhaled importantly.

“Powerful forces are making our lives downright nasty. We are here to make a bargain with a powerful entity to bring a little order back and deal with the lunk-head who is causing us all the grief. So if you are he whom we came here to see, then let’s talk. Otherwise, sorry to disturb you. We’ll tuck you back in and get you a drink of water.”

Panthar nodded.

...after all, for a while he was seeing nothing more than brillant sparks. As it did, a rathar huge pair of periwinkle eyes with some chrome in them swam into focus, everything else totally dark. For a few more moments after that, Jasyn couldn't hear a thing...

...and he completely missed whatever it was being said. Thus it was that he had to assume he was somehow hallucinating.

"W-w-what is h-h-happening?!" he exclaimed, still barely hearing. "I'm seeing things..." he then continued with, stating nothing futher, still very much disoriented after having been slammed with the unforseen blast which careemed his way.

No knowledge of the Sith… Place of places…. We simply are…

They are not the gods of the Sith, at least not as the Sith revere them. They are seeming to be more than mere Temple guards, real or created by spell. Yet here they are, in the labyrinth beneath the temple, as if protecting it. But with no knowledge of the Sith…

Which means either they -- “it” -- was placed here by the Sith -- without their/its knowledge, or it was here before the Sith. I wonder if these halls were here before the Temple, then. In fact, was that why the Armorers built the temple on this spot? Is it why this planet was chosen? But this is all conjecture, Phalomir… what is important at this moment is finding an answer. What did we do down here to wake this being? All we did was… restore Terrin. But this does not explain… it matters not, simply answer the question.

If mortal hands had been attached, it would have spread them.

"Collective..." the gale howled in Shayla's and Jasyn's ears, thundering there like a great tymphany.

"Powerful forces..." it agreed with Panthar, sending him and his companions to their knees in a flurry of robes and tendrils and flailing appendages.

"Repose... death...." came a blasting rumble almost too deep to be picked up by even Phalomir's keen Sith ears.

"Yess-ss-sss...."

Somehow the air nodded, conveying to all the tiny motes that their tiny ideas were upon the correct tract. Then to all:

"You have broken That Which Is; you have come to Our Place of Places and in the breaking have awakened us from our slumber.

"Thus you have Called Out to Us; will we now play a game?"

The question echoed into silvered silence, accompanied now by a soft blue light, which appeared from no direct source to show the way to all the Being was choosing to reveal itself.

He trailed a moment, the look in his eye growing dark as he then ammended with, "...or maybe I should hope you don't see it."

...then what is it you are a collective of? Sith spirits..."

She trailed, but only momentarily as something flashed once more across her mind's eye. "...or perhaps not even spirits at all, and not even Sith. What are you, and what is it that you want from us?"

"Who are we..."

Again the sigh came upon them, this time light, soft, like a spring zephyr; then freshening once again to gale force.

"We are that we are; We are Us, and Us are He, and this is Our Place of Places in All That Is."

Even with the lack of eyelids, the eyes appeared to blink.

"Yess-ss-sss..." it agreed with Shayla, allowing everyone to hear this discourse.

"A game indeed is wanting to be played, that What has been broken shall be broken no longer."

It paused.

All that is...

"All that is?" Shayla repeated alooud then, the wheels in her mind turning around these words and joining with words she had heard before, words spoken by another.

You can be Whole. You are only a small part of a Big picture...

"If you simply are..." she then continued with, "Then you must be the All...

A great shiver sliced the air at the word, once more stopping time in its tracks while the being scrutinized first the word, and then delved deeply into Shayla's mind to see from what life's experiences it had sprung. With the ease of a rancor playing in the sand it shoved aside the magicks left therein by Aelvedaar, plucking this deep memory and that like musical chords.

Withdrawing, it allowed time to run once more as it let those memories spill freely into her consciousness once again.

"The Life's Blood," it thundered, shaking the stones about all parties involved into near liquifaction.

"You have knowledge...?"

A bolt crackled from the shining pupils, impacting first Shayla and then Phalomir, striking the latter a bull's eye blow where the Eye was tucked away upon his person.

"That Which Is has been broken. Resolution is at hand, to He It Is who would win it!"

...as she was also keenly aware that such would not have happened without a much greater purpose.

"Yes, I have knowledge," she whispered in a barely audible tone, knowing that she would be heard nevertheless. "I am but a small vessel to be used in the grand scheme of the Greater Good..."

She trailed at this, something deep and instinctive rising up from within as understanding dawned. What Aelvedaar had done to block her understanding of the All, at least for the moment, had been negated. Because this was true, perhaps that was not the only thing which Aelvedaar had done which was to be negated so That Which Was would no longer be broken. And after all, Shayla knew she was but one small player in the Game...

Resolution is at hand...

"Use me as you must," Shayla then spoke, her voice growing stronger though it was still soft, "For Her Restoration, I would give my life..."

Words circled through his head, as if he was at the center of a large crowd of people all speaking at once. Slowly a strong, bold male voice pounded its way through the crowd and became clear above the din. The other voices withdrew as the words became clear.

One Eye to embrace the magick, One Eye with the key to all, One Spirit to feed them, One son to rule

The words repeated.

“I have heard these words before,” he said to the Eye. “You have told me many things, disjointed clues. But it comes to this, does it not?”

Again the words repeated.

“Long ago, before I even remembered her, you told me I must protect Graysith. You told me she will understand her legacy.”

The words stopped.

“You used her to kill Roan, used me. You told me you killed Roan for unity. You could have done the same with Aelvedaar, why did you not? You know of things, you speak prophecies to me in the form of riddles, things to come. But these are not prophecies, are they? There is a bigger picture, a larger connection of all things. The Sith are here from the past, I am here from the future, there is a point to this convergence. We are both here from times the race was facing its doom. And she was involved on both ends. She is the key…”

One Eye to embrace the magick…

“That is me. She has my magick now, it is buried deeply within her.”

One Eye with the key to all…

“I thought it was you, but no. It is her. You channel it, you take it from that which has and give to that which does not. But she is the one with the key.”

One Spirit to feed them…

“That Which Is…”

One son to rule…

“Has not yet been born.”

Phalomir’s vision cleared, yet he remained focused as his gaze shifted to Jharmeen. He closed his eyes and said “It is time for resolution.”

The Eye flared, sizzling Phalomir’s fingers. He kept a firm grip, and the Eye continued to gain intensity. Finally a trio of bright red streaks flew from the Eye. One enveloped the pair of eyes hovering in the air, a pair of eyes which now held a sort of amusement. The second streak shot into the wall, cutting a direct line from the Eye to the spot where Shayla stood. She was encompassed in a red glow and held immobile. The third blasted into Jharmeen.

The Eye drew upon the newly acquired knowledge of the All from Shayla, using it to feed itself. It took a tremendous amount of power from That Which Is, and sent it all into Jharmeen. The force knocked aside the protections Phalomir had placed upon her, sending most of the magickal energies back from where they came. The Beast, startled, dove for the gray kernel which it had been trying to once again possess. In the same instant the energies flew into the kernel, lighting it ablaze with a brilliancy that sent the Beast reeling backwards into the darkness of Jharmeen’s mind. Her spirit rekindled, infused with the traces of Phalomir’s magick that had been left behind.

Phalomir felt the rush of magick returning to him, the surprise sinking him to his knees. The bright beams dissipated as quickly as they had begun, leaving a red afterglow about Jharmeen. Shayla fell unconscious to the floor.

The Eye in Phalomir’s hand pulsed slowly, fading a to a dull gray, then turned black. It fell from his hand and shattered on the ground.

“Are you all right?” he whispered, his concern showing foremost in his voice. “I don’t know what the heck is going on here, but it’s gone beyond simple tricks to get us all separated. I don’t think Diffy is doing too well, either. I know for a fact that he is supposed to be some sort of temple guard dog, so whatever this thing is could be just the opposite.”

Galen was too involved with catching her breath to answer.

“It said we have broken that which is, and woke them up. And it said resolution is the end of the game… what did we do? All we did was come here, say hello to a bunch of tuk’ata, bring Terrin back to life, and…”

...and seemed to be simply unconscious, for all he could tell.

“Terrin, I can’t say for sure, but that’s the sort of thing that would happen when the Eye of R’lous would draw power from someone to feed someone else with All power. But that would mean that she would have had knowledge of the All… and that Phal, or someone, was using the Eye. Something definitely happened, there was a great disturbance in… in something. If it was the Eye, then she should recover, she has been drained of her energy.”

Something I had learned from Dad popped into my head, stuck there like a tiny kernal and then exploded into even more crystal certainty until I knew, I just was positive, right down to my very bones, that this was right, oh so correct....

So terribly correct.

I blinked, then scowled and clambered to my feet, breathing heavily.

"Entropy," I whispered as I wrapped my arms around myself, to hold myself physically quiet so that certainty, that crystalline clarity which strangely enough was niggling just at the outermost reaches of consciousness, could niggle just a tad wee more until everything would click, and....

Everything clicked.

I turned wide eyes to Panthar.

"Entropy," I breathed, a little louder this time.

"Everything winds down toward the ultimate heat death of the universe, everything decays.

"Yet you're right, we have brought Terrin back to life. It's opposite of how things should be.

"Things...."

I paused momentarily, still shaking like a leaf as there suddenly appeared alongside that aforementioned certainty yet another one.

And that was our true position within the universe.

"A game," I breathed through teeth chattering so hard I could scarcely get the words out.

"A game; we're the pieces, things go along as... well, as someone has designed--"

Oh how lovely to consider oneself a mote suitable only as a gamepiece in some strange and unguessable cosmic game....

"--and someone has decided that everything comes to an end... only we changed the rules."

I turned to look at that hideous pair of eyes, which merely blinked at me but remained silent.

Which was all it took.

"You're not getting him back!"

Red-hot rage flooded into me like a tsunami, drowning the near terror which had filled me mere seconds ago. I didn't give a damn in all the Circles of Hell if I was right or wrong, even though I swear I was...

But there was no way I was going to let Terrin die again, even if it meant the entirety of Entirety took a left turn into twilight.

"Point to all."

The words crashed around the heads of everyone, booming and resonating until the sound waves produced ran into each other, and in that contact negated themselves until the underlayers and the tunnel-maze lay beneath a crushing blanket of absolute silence.

She sat bolt upright, arms outstretched, reaching with grasping hands for something that lay just beyond her reach....

"Dagobah," she said, shattering the silence with a dagger-sharp whisper.

"Spiders. White spiders...."

With that she fell still, yet reaching, not quite fully conscious yet, and most certainly not aware of where she was and who she was with.

If the eyes had a mouth, it would have quirked into a slight smile. As it was, when those great orbs redirected themselves toward the increasingly indignant Jedi, it was to cast over him a look which was filled with obvious amusement.

"Yes-ss-sss," came the disembodied Voice, its tone obviously one laced with not a little satisfaction as the eyes bored holes into Erik's skull.

"Spiders.

"White spiders...."

The Voice fell silent, and the Eyes crackled with energy.

At those particular words, Shayla stirred slightly as the flash of an image came to her mind; an image of two trees, each with a myriad of white spiders. Spiders were venturing from each tree, then returning to the same tree from whence the came.

Shayla took a breath, focusing on the image, trying to figure out just where it had come from...

...then dismissing that curiosity entirely as her eyes fluttered open and she saw the look in her husband's eyes, let alone the look in everyone else's.

"There is more at stake here than our own small lives," she whispered, feeling completely drained and for the moment unable to move further. "Like white spirders, we always return to our "home tree" and to that which we know..."

She paused a moment, breathing deeply, "...but we fail to understand or even try to see things from anyone else's angle."

Quieting at that, she took a few moments to let these words sink in. An image of a t'yplikk fruit now came into her mind, one seemingly marred by the existence of a blanworm inside it. She struggled to sit up, relying heavily upon her husband to do so.

"The blanworm appears to be an evil to the ty'plikk fruit because the former destroys the latter, but the blanworm needs the ty'plikk fruit to survive."

Quieting once more, she turned her head slightly to the eyes which yet hovered, seeming to listen intently. "We have failed to see the grander spectrum of things, the Bigger Picture; we have failed to see that everyone has an angle, despite whether we view their angle as good or evil. After all, there are two sides to every coin."

Falling silent at that Shayla closed her eyes for a few moments, her head still feeling very heavy. Then she opened them and waited, knowing that whatever was going on had to do with something far greater than perhaps anyone here was aware of.

“I think she should go back to sleep, Terrin. What the heck was that about? White spiders? Blanworms? Failing to see the grander spectrum of things?”

He thought a moment.

“Dagobah”

The word echoed through Phalomir’s mind, holding him in the balance between darkness and light, consciousness and oblivion. Then two voices entered his mind, the first light and feminine, ringing with a familiarity that brought a comfort to him. But the next voice was dark and mysterious, rimmed with a sinister coldness that left Phalomir with a sense of insignificance.

“Spiders, white spiders” the voices chimed, at first disjointed but then ringing together. Over and over the words carried, interspersed with the smaller whisper he could not discern over the voices. His head swam, the darkness threatening closer and closer, the words now circling like a slow whirlpool of thought and confusion.

Yet in the confusion, there arose a light. The Eye of R’lous hovered in the whirlpool of darkness, a small light in the ribbons of confusion. It glowed brightly, gaining intensity until it exploded into a multitude of white dots that dispersed into the darkness. One dot fluttered near Phalomir’s inner vision, revealing several small legs. As a spider, it landed and looked around in all directions. In a panic, it started out in one direction, then backed into its original position. Then it turned and tried another direction. Over and over it tried to move, but each time its fear overtook it and it returned to its starting point.

“You must pick a direction,” Phalomir called out, his voice reaching both inwardly and externally. “Explore! When you know not where you are bound, any road will take you there. Choose, my friend, or stay safe where you are, knowing your own world.”

From out of the darkness, with incredible speed, flew a large silver-winged bird. Its beak dripped red liquid, and it swooped down upon the hapless spider with a swift smooth motion. It turned its head to Phalomir, its bright metallic and blue eyes seeming to peer menacingly into his soul. It shrieked and flew back into the darkness, leaving a small greasy smear where the spider had been.

“But knowing only your own world leaves you blind to others,” he croaked. “For there are many others. And their paths may cross yours. Life is life, it is not a field of silos.”

Phalomir opened his eyes, his head still swimming. He gathered Jharmeen closer to him, her breathing deeper than before. Noticing the shards of broken glass on the floor, he held her head close to his chest and looked up to the hovering eyes.

“There is no resolution,” he said. “There are only the intertwining cycles of life. Round and round, as empires rise and fall, life is there to honor the universe that spawned it. But all leads to entropy, for even Antiquity itself shall someday bow to the end of all things. But even that is a cycle, is it not?”

Phalomir’s eyes narrowed.

“But then the meaning of one’s life lies in the living of it, does it not? For unlike you, our lives are bound by time, and it is short. Our legacy is what we leave behind, the memories we pass to those who come after. This temple, the remnants of a society so powerful they caused the galaxy to tremble, this temple is the memory they left us. In the end, it too shall dissolve into nothingness. But for the time they existed, they had meaning.

“We are not powerful, we are not wise. We are not eternal. But we ARE, as others ARE, and in our living we honor the universe. Our dramas unfold before you, our worlds move along in synchronicity, we find our natural order in it all.

“And yet, we strive for more. And in that striving, we have met with the other side. We have seen the Darker Realms, and we brought a life back with us. Are we so unique now? Have we broken the rules? Or in the doing have we discovered a new world, and broken down a silo?”

Phalomir inhaled deeply.

“Do you deny us this discovery? Are you, too, afraid to venture from your own comforts?”

Or perhaps to challenge; to the entity it mattered not. A game indeed was afoot, one which the motes were coming close to at least realizing existed, a game whose rules were older than Time, whose paradigms were unyielding, unchangeable.

Else the Game simply could not exist.

From the very molecules of the matter which surrounded the group, the stone, the sconces which flickered here and there, the coarse and gritty rock which floored the tunnel, the very air itself, there arose a deep vibration. It boomed forth, dwindled to silence, and repeated again and yet again, primal for the sheer repetitive rhythm of its cycle. Louder and louder came the sound with each onslaught, until once more the ceiling was loosened, sending bits and pieces of ringing rock down upon the heads of all, and the apparent solidity of the stone beneath their feet showed its true face by rippling like water.

It was as if the Universe itself was laughing.

It was.

Finally the sounds receded to a level tolerant to human ears, quieted so that each individual heart could again beat independent of the others, with rhythms unique to itself.

"Honor the Universe?" came the Voice as in answering Phalomir it responded to all.

"Tiny motes, you are the Universe! Why then do you break That Which Is, the Natural Order, and in the doing disturb our slumber?"

Huddled in the darkness there, wrapped in Panthar and tuk'ata and the awful stare which emanated from those improbable eyes, I shivered, a cold sweat springing out over my entire body. Even though my hands felt like twin blocks of ice I managed to dig my fingers even deeper into the muscles of Panthar's arm; I think en route I snagged a tiny bit of tuk'ata tendril, judging from the sudden yowl which split the dark.

No matter; the simple fact was that I was terrified, more terrified than I have ever been in my entire life, and I wondered with an even greater desperation why Panthar wasn't.

Doesn't he know? Can't he sense this? Doesn't he realize...?

My fingertips almost met themselves in his flesh.

"Panthar," I croaked in a cold whisper.

"I was right; don't you see? Don't you get it? The Game this thing is talking about, the rules, it's awakening...

"Panthar, I think this thing is... well, it Is. It simply represents everything, and to it everything is a game... or else it just is a game and we're a part of it and we broke the rules and it doesn't like that..."

I jerked to sudden silence, shivering and shaking even as that logical little part of me waved a hand to inform me of just how ridiculous that supposition sounded.

But I didn't care. I knew I was right.

“You are That Which Is. Yet we have broken you, awoken you… But you also said you are Triumvirate made whole, yet you have no concern for the Sith and its Triumvirate. We are the universe, we are part of what makes the natural order of things. Things external to us influence our lives, yet even those external things are part of the whole. The natural order… the game?

“The universe is everything: space, time, existence… continuity. But there are rules, and the rules are everything, aren’t they? Rules say you live, you die, you don’t come back.

“And what do the rules say about time? About crossing the lines of existence and living out your life in another time… I do not belong here, do I? The Sith do not belong here…”

Phalomir focused on the eyes once again.

“But how can That Which Is be fixed?”

Great booming waves of pure energy erupted from the hearts of every atom in existence, roaring forth in an awful cacophony which sent everyone bowling heads over hiney down whatever corridor they happened to be occupying. But as before, at length that terrifying power lessened, dwindled, grew quieter and gentler until there was nothing left but silence and the glowing eyes hovering over all.

"Time?"

This time the Voice came chillingly, icy as a north wind blasting across a glacier, down from a towering mountain, emanating from the near-absolute zero of the heart of space itself.

"Though perhaps merely to you, in reality there is no Time.

"There is only... That Which Is, which you have broken. Resolution must be met, lest the Game cease."

“Why Dagobah, my love?” he whispered. “Why is it so important that those are the words you uttered, and are now silent? You have spoken so little of this to me, but there must be something in what you have told me. You lost your child at that time, wrapping it a blanket of love and sending both far away into the Elseness. Is that where we are now, my lady?”

She lay silent, her eyes closed. He looked up once again, then closed his own eyes.

The reply was swift, dagger-sharp, nuance clearly stressed.

"That Which Is Broken cannot be repaired, but Resolution must be at hand. That Which is Broken must break no more.

"The Triumvirate must slumber once again, lest the Game cease."

"I'll put it to sleep!" I growled beneath my breath, striving to keep the ever-present specter of terror at bay.

"I'll knock it into the next dimension, just gimme a chance...."

Luckily, the combination of Panthar's renewed grip and his beastie's twining tendril kept me from making good on that stupid and obviously quite empty threat.

“Hold on a minute, let me catch up here. I’m an archeologist, not a… something that understands what is going on. Let me get this straight… You mean this thing is the embodiment of EVERYTHING? Like, the entire universe? Existence? Natural order and all that. So, we’re in a big game of life and everything, and we broke the rules… what exactly did we do? Was it bringing back Terrin from the Darker Realms and sticking him back in his body?

“And now it says that it can’t be repaired, but Resolution must be at hand and things can’t break any more.”

“And so… all this Triumvirate stuff? Is that the Sith triumvirate? Or is it something else, like a trio of things, maybe the ‘us’ and ‘we’ it keeps talking about, eh? The Game, the Natural Order, and the… um… Eyes. But if we can’t fix it, then what is the resolution? How do keep it from breaking more? Or stop it from breaking again? Or whatever the heck it means!”

"Hell if I know, but yeah, that's kinda what I'm thinking.

"But why don't you ask it? I mean, I'm just guessing here...."

I looked up at the great glowing eyes, which merely scrutinized me coldly for a bit before blinking, as if it was awaiting that very thing I had just spoken of.

Not just a question, but A question.

The right question?

"Free will?" came the booming Voice, curiosity clearly evident in it.

"Free will is that which sentient beings possess, that which drives them to not merely be pawns in a game, be that game the Game of Life or something smaller. The drive to...

She was not taking very well to the idea of being a mere meaningless speck in the Universe. She could deal with look at things from other angles. She could deal with good and evil relying on one's own point of view. But this...

"I will not be a simple gamepiece in a game played by uncaring Fates!" she growled.

"You are what you are."

The words seemed to coalesce from the very rock itself, which in turn inexplicably began to sing.

“Did we break the game by bringing Terrin back from the dead?” asked Phalomir. “Are you keepers of the Darker Realms or some such thing?”

He looked down at Jharmeen once again. “Do we break the game by using the Claw of Sla’an?”

He looked back to Eyes.

“Why were you asleep?”

"We are Keepers of nothing!"

The bellow was almost indignant.

"We Are That We Are, and this is Our Place of Places. We are Triumvirate made whole, and That which is Broken must break no more."

It paused there for a moment, seemingly waiting for a reply when Phalomir's final words seemed to finally sink into whatever it used for a brain.

"Tell me of this Claw of S'laan," it thundered, then did indeed fall silent.

"The Natural Order."

The Eyes blinked once more, then darkened as though suddenly infused with the combination of every hurricane, every dark nebula, and every unfathomable abyss known to the universe.

“Stop this!” Phalomir shouted to the Eyes. He roared his anger and held her as closely as he could without hurting her. “Very well! The Claw is a device which allows an All user to negate the restrictions of using it as a weapon! Now stop this!”

The Eye did not respond, but seemed to ponder Phalomir’s words. Phalomir continued to frantically speak, trying at the same time to keep Jharmeen from hurting herself in her wild throws.

“The natural order has been broken, but how? If we did it, how was it done? If it is not me, not the Sith, then is it Terrin? Answer me!”

Already tired, both physically and mentally, and reaching a point of frustration, he looked directly at the hovering Eyes, his own eyes flashing red.

She let out a whimper, and settled into something resembling sleep, quiet and apparently at peace.

The Eyes blinked, then one drifted up from its mate at a strange angle, as if a gigantic and invisible head had cocked in curiosity.

"The All?"

The words whickered quietly, shocking for the gentle tone in which they crept into everyone's ears.

"The Life's Blood...."

Silence fell then, as upon the planet's surface great roiling clouds once more gathered, black and purple and green, flashing noisome energies, all in utter and eerie silence as time ground to a halt.

For the planet... and the Universe in general.

Everywhere, that is, with the sole exception of a tiny and until that moment quite insignificant bubble within it, inhabited by ten infinitesimal beings.

The eyes grew darker.

"This cannot be allowed, lest further breakage occurs."

A streak of pure, molten silver shot from the Eyes, straight to the quiet form of Jharmeen. It danced along her person like some kind of weird St. Elmo's fire, nosing about until it came to a sudden halt directly atop the Claw which topped her prosthetic finger.

With very little fuss, it simply disappeared, leaving the artificial digit pale and whole in its wake.

The Eyes focused on Phalomir again.

"What We are..."

A miniscule pause followed, one in which lightyears seemed to pass beyond the perimeter of their protected little bubble.

"We are Triumvirate Made Whole. We--

"I am All/Life, Non-Life, and That in which they Exist."

Another pause.

"The Natural order has been broken, and must break no further. This Claw--"

The Eyes darkened.

"Would have allowed that. It cannot be.

"Others of its kind cannot be."

Another pause, but one in which some kind of struggle clearly shone forth from the periwinkle eyes. They blinked, and another sigh of wind whickered past everyone's ears.

"That Which Is must continue along its proper course; which is a simple thing: that which is, is, and that which is no more, cannot be any longer."

The Eyes turned off to one side then, as if paying close attention to a particular person in the little group. The struggle within it's gaze grew more evident, as it sought to find the proper words to speak.

"All must end in Natural Order. That which now is, is, but Natural Order must remain natural again.

"It can be broken no more."

Now the struggle in the eyes turned to a black scowl, and it shot that look straight at the quiet Jharmeen.

"There are some who yet break the Natural Order, and who would continue; this too cannot be."

Another molten spear stabbed forth, shot into Jharmeen's closed eyes, and spread within her psyche. She trembled beneath that sudden attack, just once, then sighed and quieted, almost snuggling down as if for a restful slumber.

Within her being, the Beast was smitten a mortal blow.

"That Which Is broken must break no more."

The terror, the panic, it was gone. He could no longer sense Aelvedaar’s malice. A certain peace seemed to pervade her soul now, but there was something more. Phalomir could feel tremendous energies locked inside of her, but his magick could not unlock their secrets, nor did he press.

He slowly raised his gaze to the Eyes. He held it there, not speaking, but contemplating what had just happened.

“All must follow the Natural Order,” he said finally. “Even the All, the Life’s Blood. I feel so insignificant under the weight of what you show me. But life, matter, and that in which they exist, everything is connected; everything is… Everything. And I, we, are part of that. Thus we, by the actions we take, are part of what moves the game along. We are small parts, yes, but as individuals which make up a greater whole we are not insignificant – Not when one being, one action, can alter the natural course.

Or greatly pained by what the Dark Lord had just spoken.

Then they opened, and a mild breeze ruffled Jharmeen's hair, freshened against Shayla's face, moved the silken robes worn by the Sith.

"The Natural Order... all that is, is, and when it is no more it must be no more.

"All is Us and We are You; the Life's Blood runs in all things, which move the Game in the direction desired.

"The Game ends, and begins anew.

"Do you now see?"

"In every end there is a new beginning," she whispered lightly. "The sun setting gives way to the moon rising, and the sun rising gives way to the moon's setting. This is what creates balance, when we also understand and accept that we--and all things in the Universe--simply are."

Quieting a moment at that, Shayla pursed her lips. Something was niggling for her attention, and she still couldn't quite put her finger on it. "But because we create That Which Is and are That which Is, we must take charge. We are not simple gamepieces to be played, not if we know this and have come to accept it," she then stated.

Pausing once more, she now looked directly to the eyes, recalling that beautiful singing which had graced her ears only a few moments before.

Only when she had said she would not be played...

Standing up then, she felt strength rise deeply within her. "I am what I am," she then spoke in a whisper which carried not just a little bit of determination in the words, words which were a repetition of what she had already been hearing...

"You are what you are," the Voice affirmed solemnly.

"All is Us and We are you. The Life's Blood moves the game in the desired direction, until Resolution is at hand and the Game begins anew."

It paused a moment, sensing the struggle within Shayla, sensing nearly overwhelming bewilderment in most of the others, sensing a fierce and defiant rage in Galen.

All mattered not; all was insignificant to the Game. Mere attributes, to be used accordingly.

The great Eyes blinked.

"That which has been Broken must break no more. Resolution must be at hand lest the Game cease."

The eyes cocked sideways again, and throughout the soul of Kori'sian, every bit of rock began to sing. Then those terrible orbs blinked.

"There is no Time," offered the Voice, repeating what it had said earlier, and fell silent, letting the rocks sing their wonderful chorus, which was once again underscored by the group's attendant tuk'ata.

I clapped my hands over my ears, shut my eyes, and cringed against Panthar. At least that's what an objective outsider would have seen; in reality, reality itself had just shrunk from my grand view of it to a horrible realization that niggled just beyond conscious awareness.

Between that realization and rational thought, madness beckoned.

All I could do was shiver and curl up into a fetal position.

"Yes," the Voice affirmed.

"There... Is. Time is what assists the movements of the Life's Blood, and moves the Game along until Resolution.

"Then it begins anew."

It fell silent a moment or to longer before offering up another enigmatic comment.

"Point," it said...

"Yes," it said simply, then continued a bit further.

"This is my Place of Places, and what Has Been Broken must break no more. The Life's Blood can bring momentary Resolution, and the Game continue until Resolution is at hand and the Game begins anew.

"Third point."

The singing of the rock rose in a silvery crescendo until every atom about the group seemed to be vibrating with the sheer beauty of it.

Then the maze unraveled, unwound, straightened, and rejoined in a stick-straight tunnel that was interspersed here and there by ten particular beings.

And closed off on either end by solid, joyful granite.

...but then at last she turned to regard the others, the look in her eyes clearly reading that they should get on the move.

"I sense the others," she then said, "Let's get moving. I have a feeling this isn't over yet, and we're gonna need everyone's input."

“Galen,” he whispered. “Galen, come back. I can see the others, I’m taking you to see them. Come on, come back to me.”

“Jharmeen?” he asked, his voice too hopeful.

A sound of footsteps and the clicks of claws on stone came from behind him, but he remained focused on Jharmeen. Finally his logic began its slow and steady return, and a semblance of deduction clicked in place. Behind must be Panthar and the tuk’ata, and the other sound of breathing would hopefully be Galen.

He forced his eyes from Jharmeen and looked down the long corridor. He saw shapes moving in the near dark, then glanced behind to confirm his suspicions. He smiled, then returned his attention to Jharmeen.

After everything that had happened, after everything he'd heard, he could only worry about how Galen was taking all this.

Even as they met up with Phalomir and Graysith, Terrin saw Panthar enter with Galen in his arms. His heart dropped to his stomach to see her like that, and he hurried to her, collecting her in his own arms. She was shivering like a leaf...

...and his mind immediately went back to another time and place, a time when he had seen her do much the same. He sat down with her, then placing a hand on each of her shoulders and shaking her.

"Galen, Galen!"

But a whisper told her this was not her Place.

Her eyes fluttered, opened, the yet-alive Glyph blasting into life of its own to further light the dimness as she swam up from the beckoning green, aching to have to do so.

Directly ahead of her, another green lay waiting.

She blinked.

"Take what is offered," she whispered, her words coming only into Phalomir's ears.

"Not Power...."

"There is no Time," the tiredly familiar words repeated themselves, thundering in their ears even as the rocks burst out into an even louder chorus.

"That Which has been Broken must break no more. Resolution must be at hand, lest the Game not resolve."

It paused yet again, and yet again added an addendum to the puzzling words it kept repeating.

"I say no more. All is said. Else the rules be broken, and all paradigms be changed."

And absolutely terrified out of my mind by them.

At whose design did that shaking originate? For what real purpose? Where indeed did the words Panthar spoke originate?

My eyes flew open, as did my mouth. But I couldn't utter a word.

All I could see was a dancing river of motes, all surging along at the whim of a terrible and completely invisible current.

Far easier to will the world to go away...

...only it simply wouldn't.

“My love,” he said quietly. The words sang from his lips, sprouting first from his very soul. “There is no power that can compare with what I feel at this moment. I should have seen it before. I am offered hope, friendship, and love. This moment could last forever as far as…”

He realized that the moment could indeed last forever. He sighed and positioned his legs so he could stand, then did so, still cradling Jharmeen.

“Jharmeen,” he said, his lips close to her ear. “How much do you know of what has transpired here?”

He pulled back his head a little to look into her eyes.

“I believe we should find Aelvedaar.”

((OOC: Follow everyone in this thread to The Natural Order in the "Jedi/Sith" forums, thank you.))