“I do not know,” she said with another sigh. “I know that such a temple exists, that Roan had his sanctum there, hidden away from Phrinnchatka, and that from that hidden base he performed his evil deeds with the plan in mind of eventually ruling over all the Sith by himself. This I know from the fact that before his death he managed to persuade the warriors to withdraw from their allegiance with the Triad; I have not yet turned them back to the old and traditional ways.”

Her clear eyes clouded momentarily as the thought of why she had not yet attempted thus rushed into her head. Then she shook herself, and continued on.

“Roan had connections with a dark and dire place which essentially is a sort of… otherness, not quite that which I have tapped into before, and that being that inter-dimensional place called The Elseness. This place Roan would go to was… something other, something dark and very dangerous, a place from whence pure evil flows into our universe, and in which demons dwell.”

She paused once more, her eyes clouding further.

“My daughter once dwelled there,” she said to no one in particular. The she brought her focus back with a palpable jerk, and continued.

“I cannot state for a fact that Galen has been taken to the temple of S’slan or been taken into this Darker Realm. All I can state for a fact is that it was from that temple that Roan placed at least one such a link, a doorway if you will; whether or not he took her through that or to somewhere completely other yet remains to be seen. Lord Phalomir—“

Now she turned her gaze to the imposing Sith Lord.

“Is there a possible connection to this Darker Realm and the mysterious master who we feel has overpowered your once-friend, Thoran? What connection could there be; you mention that you feel a possiblity of all events somehow intertwining; could the connection be this Dark Realm, and if so, why in all the fates would it necessitate the kidnapping of my sister?”

Letting the Sith Lord mull this question over, she tossed out a comment to the group as a whole.

“Ideas, anyone?”

[ 01-08-2004 08:02 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

"Well," Shayla started, stating any thought she was forming aloud, "Thoran did state that his master knew me...

...and the only All-users who have known me aside from you, Graysith, are Lord Roan and Lord Aelvedaar. I also had a brief meeting with the deceased Lord of the Armorers, but he did not know me well, and has been dead for quite some time. Unless, of course, one of these two Dark Lords is controlling Thoran from the grave..."

Shayla paused, shivering a bit. "I suppose that it is possible considering we were once able to communicate with the Lost Lords of the Sith in the Valley of the Lost Lords..."

She trailed a moment, the look in her eyes turning distant. "...a place which Lord Aelveedar himself placed a chronotic shield about...

...and which later was moved to the very Dark Realms which we speak of..."

[ 01-08-2004 09:28 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

“And a place of very great power, a place which enhances the inherent powers of the bearer,” she finished Shayla’s thought in a near-whisper.

She couldn’t help but send yet another long glance Jharu’s way, recalling the last time she herself had been in the Valley of the Dark Lords, and why. For a moment her eyes closed; logic again reared up its head to chuckle that emotion yet remained in abeyance from the images now rushing through her head.

Recinis….

Shuddering a bit, she opened her eyes and simply stared out across the table.

“Do you think Lord Roan may have somehow taken Galen into the Valley, even though it is hidden from us, beneath Lord Aelvedaar’s chronotic shield, and buried away in the Darker Realms? Although I cannot perceive how this may possibly be so, if indeed it is what in fact has occurred the primary question would still be…

”Why?”

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

"Well, we did establish that Roan probably took Galen either because he percieved her as a threat...

...or because he had some sort of plan in relation to the fact that Galen is able to birth children with All-inherency. And Roan has taken genetically-enhanced, All-inherent children to the Eternal Flame once before."

She paused frowning darkly. Then, "Now, how he could have possibly gotten there...

...my logic tells me the only way he could have gotten to the Flame at all...

...even to complete the task of bringing the Sith into our time...

...would be by having Lord Aelveedar himself lower the shield. I somehow doubt the probability of that considering that Roan and Aelveedar appear to be at odds..."

Shayla trailed a moment more, frowning even more darkly, "...but could it be that there is some sort of "shortcut" to the flame via the Darker Realms? After all, the Flame itself is made of pure darkness...

...and that would leave the possibility open for Roan to have an alliance with that being who dwelt in the Darker Relams with your daughter instead of Lord Aelveedar, whom Roan appeared to be working against."

Shayla raised an eyebrow, looking to Graysith as a dark aura pervaded her. "Is any of this possible, and if it is, what can we do to verify it...

...or do anything about it at all?"

[ 01-08-2004 10:32 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

“The way to verify, of course, would be to go into the Darker Realms ourselves. What and who we might encounter there…”

She bit her lip, cutting herself off before the great waves of sheer terror the very idea was invoking within her could ride off on any further words. Well indeed did she remember her own travels and desperate deeds in that hideous other dimension of which they spoke—

How handily it is confined by the simplicity of a title, the so-called “Darker Realms,” she mused to herself, another judder of fear racing through her to set her heart pounding. How cleverly the true hideousness of that non-place is masked by such, making our discussion of a possible journey there nothing more than a stroll through a park in the soft light of eventide…

Another shudder forced her upright as even more memories flooded into her: memories of dark beings composed of nothing more than pure evil, memories of strange beings having abilities to find death in life, and life in death, memories of slavering creatures and demons of darkness whose sole reason for existence was to act as opposition to any and every thing in the universe that was good…

Memories of another Dark Lord, one with turquoise eyes as vivid as life itself, one with ashen black hair, one who had by merit of his own uniqueness let her find her first great love in him. Memories of that great undying love which in turn had dealt out death to the one she loved so very much, forced by circumstances manipulated by the evil in that place.

She swallowed thickly, and tossed her hair from her eyes.

“This is not a place in which we may tread lightly,” she said at length. “If indeed, we find a need to go there at all. But Shayla does bring up some good points, as well as possible connections between those we knew as our enemies, and those we once thought of as friends. And not unique to certain people, by any means…”

This latter was directed toward Phalomir, even as she sent out the accompanying thought:

The enemy of my enemy is my friend, while the friend of my enemy is my enemy. Which to believe, and of who, my Lord? I somehow feel that there is someone other, some great manipulator, someone with greater cunning and power than either Roan or Aelvedaar.

And you know of this, don’t you? You and the Eye; the Eye which I fear to let you use.

She quieted then, and let herself simply remember the overwhelming effects of the Darker Realms. For if they decided a trip into those black depths was necessary, they would have to be armed as heavily as they possibly could.

Great darkness recoiled only from great light. Where and what that light could be, she truly did not know.

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

Blackness. It moved before him like a crouching tuk’ata slowly stalking its prey. He lay on the cold stone, exhausted, unable to move. Its voice, an insidious curse upon the air, wafted to him. “Rejoice, Lord Phalomir. Your death shall bring life to the galaxy.”

Phalomir’s eyes snapped open. He felt the entire room was looking at him, but a quick scan showed the only pair of eyes upon him belonged to the Dark Lady. He met her gaze and grasped the orb tighter.

There are many secrets stored within the Eye, my lady. It tries to tell them to me, but they are riddles. Allow me to enter it, to discover these hidden mysteries. If we are to face our enemies, then we must know them. All of them.

[ 01-09-2004 01:47 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Phalomir ]

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

Silence rang about them like a death-knell, until the words Graysith shot back into Phalomir’s mind could hold back from the remainder no longer, and came from her lips in a ragged whisper.

“Lord Phalomir has a certain… device by which he states an ability to discern the answer to many of our questions,” she said aloud, ignoring the surprise springing into Jasyn and Matt’s eyes, and strengthened by growing understanding found in Shayla’s. She took in another deep breath, as if bracing for a coming storm.

“Perhaps it is time at that, Lord,” she said, turning to fully face Phalomir and letting her eyes sink deeply into his.

“Be forewarned, should the Eye prove deceitful…”

She said nothing further but held up the Claw-bearing hand in quiet meaning.

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

He nodded to her and slowly pulled the Eye from under his robe.

It was an orb the size of a normal-sized man’s fist, yet it seemed small within Phalomir’s grasp. It glowed a soft red, pulsating slowly and smoothly. Phalomir’s eyes never left the Dark Lady’s as he continued to stare, the pulsing light from the Eye casting eerie crescendos and ebbs upon his face.

I hope indeed that the answers we seek are within. I hope even more for a safe return from its depths. Should something happen to me, my lady, then know that I lo— know that I tried, and remember.

Phalomir closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He opened them again and stared into the Eye of R’lous. The pulsating grew in intensity and Phalomir’s eyes became vacant.

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

How long had he been here? He realized with a jerk that had no recollection of travelling to this place… or where this place was. He vaguely remembered something about large blocks of ice… but, no, that must have been some other time… Here there was beauty, here there was peace, here there was… freedom.

“Thoran?” came the voice from behind. It broke through the sounds of the wind and chilled him to the bone. The voice brought with it sudden recognition, sudden guilt, and a pang of fear. He stared at a point across the canyon, miles away, and let out a deep breath.

“Yes, Phalomir?” he replied flatly. He slowly turned in the direction of the voice.

Phalomir stood several feet away, perched on the cliff as if he too had been surveying the scenery. The look on his face was a mixture of surprise and trepidation. Admittedly, he looked very regal in his formal robes, and the new tattoos upon his brow brought a certain charm to an otherwise hopeless face.

“You are not who I expected to be presented with,” said Phalomir.

“Oh?” replied Thoran. “Indeed, this comes as a surprise to me as well.”

Thoran suddenly realized the implications. Somehow Phalomir had managed to pluck him from the… well, wherever he had been before… and bring him here. He must have found the Eye and mastered its use, perhaps combining with it the power of the Sith magick… The Master must be furious…

The Master?

Where was he? The ever-present power resting in Thoran’s mind… the comfort, the eternal energy, the living nightmare… The Master was… gone…

Thoran’s eyes snapped up to Phalomir.

“Where are we? Why did you bring me here? What in the name of S’slan do you want?”

[ 01-09-2004 02:04 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Thoran ]

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

Abruptly, a look of surprise seemed to cross his face.

Graysith tensed, and lifted the Claw of S'slan the merest fraction...

...and waited.

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

The Master must penetrated the Eye after all, and left a trap.

“I brought us nowhere, my old friend,” Phalomir said coldly. “You know where we are, and I have come seeking the truth to many questions, and you shall not stop me. Stand aside and allow me passage.”

Now it was Thoran’s turn to allow the surprise show upon his face. He furrowed his brows and smiled slightly.

“I do not know what games you wish to play with me, Phalomir,” he returned. “I will stand aside when you tell me where we are, and how it is that you brought me here. And what have you done with the Master?”

Phalomir again gave pause. His suspicions were high, but something was not quite right. Still… He decided to play this scenario to its end.

“The Master?” he said. “The Master is not here? Then perhaps this gives us an opportunity to catch up on old times? How have you been? I see you have your old body back.”

This realization gave Phalomir a sudden pain. He sincerely hoped this was a riddle of the Eye, for if not then Panthar Dantares was most likely dead.

Thoran stared at Phalomir a moment, then looked down at his own hands. He shot his eyes back to Phalomir, then grabbed at his face. He ran his fingers over his features, grabbed at a horn, and crouched into a defensive stance.

“All right, Phalomir,” he growled. “No more games. Never mind where we are or how we got here. What do you want from me?”

The suspicion in Phalomir turned to confusion.

“I want answers,” he said. “I know that this is simply my consciousness inside of the Eye, and you are a manifestation of its power. So tell me what I need to know or I will leave now.”

Thoran’s eyes widened, a look of stunned confusion on his face. He shook his head slightly and snorted. He glanced outward to the canyon and scratched his head.

“I don’t know what to believe,” he said at last. “If you truly had me cornered with some new great power, why haven’t you killed me? But then, if you want answers, then I suppose that’s why. Allright, sure. I’m game. What are your questions?”

Phalomir nodded.

“Where is Galen Danner?”

Thoran stared for a moment then burst out laughing.

“Of all the things I expected to hear you say, that was not even on the list! Who in the bloody moons is Galen Danner?”

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

“All right,” he said. “Let’s begin with something easier. Who is the Master and why are you trying to kill me?”

Thoran wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes.

“Ahh, now that’s better,” he said. “The Master, eh? You of all people should know the Master, or is that memory still hidden from you? Ahh, I see, it is indeed. Well, let’s just say that the Master is someone close to your family. Very close. As to why he is trying to kill you… well, he’s not. He was, actually, but that time has passed. Hey, how about we make this a game? You ask me, now I get to ask you a question. Let’s see, how about this one: where the hell are we and how did we get here?”

Phalomir nodded.

“Very well. You speak in riddles, which is what I expected, so in a way you have set me more at ease. I will play your game. We are inside the Eye of R’lous. I arrived here when I allowed my essence to be drawn inwards. I can only assume that you arrived here when the Master placed a doppleganger of Thoran’s mind in here. The doppleganger being you, of course. As to where we think we are, this appears to be an image of an enormous canyon, such as the one found on—“

Phalomir paused, looking out over the expansive hole.

“I recognize this place… I have been here before, sometime…”

And it brought him great fear to think of it. He shuddered, and was filled the sense of strange memories wanting to surface but held back by some strong inner force. He scanned the rocks below, searching for things to prompt his memory. It all seemed so close, yet it was all just beyond his grasp.

His strong Sith eyes caught sight of movement far below. He stepped closer to the edge and crouched, peering down at the two people towards the bottom of the canyon. He strained for a better look, but the distance was too great. He looked back to Thoran.

“Perhaps the answers to our questions lie below.” He turned back to the location he saw the movement. Now he noticed a stranger site, an eerie blackness that seemed to writhe at the bottom of the canyon. Another feeling of familiarity came over him, accompanied by an inexplicable need to run as far away as possible. The need grew quickly to panic. Yes, he had indeed been here before, and the thought of returning terrified him. He scrambled backwards from the cliff’s edge.

“Thoran, we must leave…”

He was answered only by the rushing of the wind.

“Thoran…?”

He looked behind him, then all around. He was alone. Alone in the one place that brought terror into his heart. He brought his knees to his chin and held his legs tightly. Far below, carried by the wind, he could swear he heard a deep, guttural chuckle.

---

Phalomir’s eyes snapped open and the Eye dropped into his lap. It stopped pulsating and grew black. The terror on his face was plain as he stared into the eyes of the Dark Lady, and he drew in several quick breaths before regaining control.

“The canyon,” he rasped. “The black canyon.”

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

Phalomir suddenly seemed very frightened and began mumbling about being here before. Before Thoran could turn to see what he was talking about, a strange sight caught his eye. The bottom of the canyon seemed to writhe, as if a snake as black as death was winding its way up the canyon floor. The blackness moved fluidly, almost beckoning to him. Thoran suddenly wished for a closer view, and felt compelled to enter the darkness.

Beside him, Phalomir’s mumblings became faster and louder. He ignored Phalomir’s mad scrambling and leapt from the cliff.

The descent was slow… slower than Thoran had thought it would be. The wind whipped around his body, stretching his hair into a single black strand above him. The wind was cold but exhilarating, and he smiled as the bottom of the canyon grew closer and closer. The writhing darkness beckoned still, and as it drew nearer Thoran had a sense of comfort.

“I’m going home,” he thought, as he fell towards the noneness.

[ 01-09-2004 03:51 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Thoran ]

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

The feeling that unseen eyes were crawling along the nape of my neck grew more and more insistent, even though logic told me I was probably nuts to be experiencing such a thing. After all, hadn’t we just trudged through Khaandon-alone-knew how many miles of desert, with the only thing found coming close to a living lifeform being that occasional scrubby plant and scurrying bug? It had to be my imagination that was making my skin ripple, it just had to be.

But then again, such improbable feelings had saved my hide more than once before, and that of others as well. I let my eyes shoot around me for the umpteenth time, trying to take in everything at once.

Around me was nothing more than shades of ochre and yellow, rust and brown and sand. Here and there that tenacious little plant spread leathery leaves along the dusty ground, its edible root somehow embedded into the very rock beneath our feet. The only thing to mar this expanse of desert was that roiling black whatever-it-was; now that my attention was drawn to it again I took a step toward the lip of the overlook we were standing on, battling down a fresh wave of terror as I forced myself to peer over the edge into the inner gorge below.

It still roiled and convulsed there, as if it was an oil slick come to life.

Or something not quite life, I couldn’t help but think as my arms went instinctively around myself. I shuddered again, and was turning to Rhua Ki when that awful black and terrifyingly, insidiously, creepingly and somehow familiar darkness suddenly sent a tendril of itself shooting upward.

“Awp!”

The sound, little more than an animalistic squall of terror, burst from my lips as I shot backwards. Indeed, I moved so unthinkingly that I slipped on the loose scree beneath my feet. That instinctive squawk was followed by a resounding ”oof!” as the part of my anatomy best suited for the job hit pay-dirt. It was only then that I discovered, much to my relief, that the tendril was not reaching out to us, but rather to a blur of something I sensed more than actually saw.

I braced myself on my elbows and craned to see over my back.

”Oh, Great Khaandon’s Ghost!” I whispered, then fell into shocked silence. For there, up and away and above but approaching nearer and nearer with each passing second was…

Something. Or, quite possibly, someone. I couldn’t quite tell, actually; it was a shade, a ripple in the very air, as if something was there only just enough to compress the molecules in passing. Sort of like a bit of visible atmosphere, if such a thing could be said to exist. But whatever it was, it was heading down-canyon the hard way, and was impacting seemingly every outcrop and overhang en route.

I couldn’t help myself; I just sat there on my hiney and watched as this weird whatever-it-was made a final jouncing bounce and proceeded to wing out over the rim of the overlook, perhaps some twenty meters from where I sat. But before it disappeared altogether I’d swear that the black ugliness roiling below reached out and scooped it up, withdrawing back to itself then with its invisible prize.

I shook my head, blinked my eyes. Blinked them again, then reached up a grimy hand to rub at them. Then I scrabbled to my feet, my eyes scouring the distant rim of this immense canyon, looking this way and that for the possible source of that weird thing.

Nothing.

I turned back to Rhua Ki, who once more looked as if he wanted to bolt in panic. I’ll give him credit though: standing his ground, he stared about himself for a moment before reaching into the remnants of his robes to pull forth that weapon he had used getting us out of the laboratory.

“Wh-what do you suppose that was, Galen?” he asked me in a cracked whisper.

I could only shrug and shake my head, completely disconcerted by this strangeness, and nervous as all hell that my shining knight of science couldn’t offer a comforting explanation for it.

I gripped myself even harder.

“I haven’t a clue,” I whispered back, now chillingly focused upon the fact that both of us seemed to have come to an unconscious but shared realization that a great need for stealth was in order. I sent another glance out toward that part of the rim from whence the odd compression had seemed to come.

It was as empty as my speculations on the matter.

[ 01-09-2004 05:50 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

“Phalomir?” she asked worriedly as he turned terror-ridden eyes upon her, then she shook him a bit. This seemed to help in some small way, for after a moment the Sith Lord came to better grips with himself, as evidenced by the growing clarity in his gaze.

He turned that gaze up to her then.

“The canyon—the black canyon,” he rasped before falling silent, shaking his horned head as if attempting to further clear it.

Graysith froze, squeezing his shoulders even more tightly. Shook him again.

“What do you speak of, Phalomir?” she questioned, now shooting a puzzled glance at all present, silently asking if any there knew what he could possibly be speaking of.

“What black canyon is this? What has the Eye revealed to you?”

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

“The Eye showed me the Black Canyon…” he forced.

He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. When he reopened them, the spark had returned.

“In my childhood,” he expalined, “the Black Canyon was a mythical place of great evil used to warn little children to behave. ‘Clean your mess or father will throw you into the Black Canyon’ or ‘Go to sleep or evils from the Black Canyon will find you’. Never did I believe it was real place.”

He squeezed the hand on his shoulder.

“But the Eye showed me this place. And it made me remember, for I had seen it before. In my days before ascending to Dark Lord, I had been taken to the Canyon by my father – my REAL father. I did not then know it was the Black Canyon, but surely the horrors I saw that day could only come from such a place. We were met by other Sith, I thought one of them to be a Dark Lord, but that memory still escapes me. It was some sort of negotiation…”

Phalomir shuddered.

“My father was negotiating… to trade me. They held me down, and from the blackness… that fluid, horrible snake of nothingness… came a man. No, not a man, but a black slimy mockery of a man. It wanted me. It wanted to… possess me.”

He looked again into the eyes of the Dark Lady.

“It was that day I discovered my inherent Sith magick, my lady,” he said flatly. “I killed them… the guards who bound me, I killed them all. The Dark Lord and the man-thing escaped into the black river, but not without their punishment. My father…”

He sighed again, holding the Dark Lady’s hand.

“I was furious… I hit him with a blast that sent him flying backwards into the canyon wall, and when I released him he fell into the blackness.”

He slumped a bit.

“My father was selling me to a demon and I killed him for it. I killed my father.”

[ 01-09-2004 08:59 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Phalomir ]

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

...and demons???

Shayla frowned as she turned inward to her thoughts, trying to think of any one solitary place which may fit this description of blackness and evil. Her look darkened further, her mind to caught up in finding possibilities to really hear anything else which was going on.

Demons and darkness. Sorta sounded like the Dark Realms...

...but then a canyon? Now what canyon have you come across which is pervaded with evil and darkness?

The only answer Shayla could think of slammed into her with the force of a Super Star Destroyer.

"The Dark Canyon?" she muttered aloud, her eyes widening with her thoughts. "Korriban...the Valley of the Dark Lords and Eternal Flame...

...could this be the place of which Phalomir speaks?"

[ 01-09-2004 09:16 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

“But of course!” she breathed. “What else could that canyon be… except that the Valley of the Dark Lords is hidden inside the Darker Realms, and now beneath a chronotic shield—“

Now she turned back to Phalomir.

“Did the Eye show you your surroundings while you were at this place you call the Black Canyon?” she asked, shuddering yet again at the thought that he had possibly been whisked away into the hellish fount of pure evil.

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

...but then again, he wasn't exactly certain. This Sith stuff was never his thing. After all, it was Terrin who had been the strategist, with Matt asisting him. He'd just been along for the ride...

...and the Sith brandy, ready to help when the final call was made on just what to do, but not before then.

He shot a quizzical look to the strange scene playing out before him, one of a still somewhat shocked looking Phalomir with Graysith at his side, and one of an anxious Shayla Stargazer...

...none of whom seemed to have considered yet that any of this may be over his and Matt's heads.

He cleared his throat. Then, "Excuse me...

...but could someone fill in the rest of the class on what the kriffing hell--"

He paused at this, shooting a look towards Phalomir, "--everyone is talking about? And for starters, what does this Valley have to do with Galen's whereabouts...

...and your mysterious Dark Lord?"

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

He stood and regarded Jasyn.

“Indeed, let us ascertain the answers.” He strode quickly to the table where the food was displayed, walked past it and opened the doors to the pantry. He grabbed a bottle of Sith brandy, popped the cork with his teeth, and drank deeply. He did not turn.

“It was an enormous canyon, stretching for kilometers. The canyon itself is beautiful, with multiple layers of rock eroded away with eons. There was not much in the way of vegetation, though there was some. It was a deep valley, riddled with plateaus, and at the bottom writhed a black, fluid river of… nothingness.”

He took another drink and turned to face the others.

“All of this in the middle of a desert.”

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

Graysith shuddered again, and turned to Jasyn, gathering her composure visibly as she did so until the façade she presented was once more calm and in control.

“Korriban is a Sith world, one of what is called the Diamond of the Sith, and is where the mysterious Valley of the Dark Lords is. Or rather, was; it has since been… removed from our reality by a dark demon and placed in that darker otherness we call the Darker Realms.”

She paused a moment more, now sending a glance to Shayla.

“My adept and I traveled there once,” she said thoughtfully, “and I have returned there several times since. It is a place of great power, a place where something called the Eternal Flame enhances magicks and powers held by others.

“But—“

Again she trailed off, flicking her eyes back to Jasyn. She gave him a long look.

“”But only from the standpoint of what jedi would term the dark side.”

Turning from him then, she went to where Phalomir was standing, brandy bottle in hand. With a smooth, quiet motion, she reached out and laid her hand upon it.

“My Lord, it is early in the day for such things,” she said gently, letting her other hand now reach up to rest on his shoulder like a bird coming to perch there. She squeezed his shoulder then, and continued on.

“From your explanation, you have been to Korriban, and have gazed upon the influx of evil which exists there, since the Valley of the Dark Lords is in the Darker Realms itself. What is behind must be some sort of dimensional… rip.”

Giving his shoulder yet another squeeze, she turned back to the others.

“Why would the Eye take you to this place?” she wondered aloud, and fell silent.

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

He looked around and offered his part softly.

"Perhaps the eye was trying to show him where he should travel if he wants to know the truth."

Jharu considered his knowledge, what he had learned, what he had heard.
"if the flame enhances the 'dark side' of the force, then it would stand to reason that it would bring out all of ones negative emotions and idea's, whether you are concious of them or not... Maybe the eye was trying to help us determin truth from lie...."
Maybe it can prove to me who i am...

"what im saying might not make sense, i dont know exactly what is going on... But i would imagine that going there would bring answers to many questions..."

his mind traveled back, remembering something phalomir had said... A slimy man.... Coming from the darkness...

An image of his sister flashed through his head, his sister torturing his aunt, all while a dark figure laughed in pure delight. he shuddered with the memory.

As he remembered his gaze went to his mother, a feeling rose within him... The memory of the love he once pondered, the love his mother seemed to give his sister even though she had at that time become evil...
Such unconditional love... That is what she's drawing from with me... And i've done nothing but condem it.
He winced as the thought crossed his mind.

Suddenly he felt out of place and stepped back a step,
"im sorry if i dont make any sense..."

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

Almost.

A brief smile flicked across her lips.

“Perhaps what you say is true… son,,” she said hesitantly. Then she firmed, but with obvious questions rising in her eyes.

“But which is it that the Eye wished to reveal? The Canyon on Korriban, or the Valley now hidden in the Dark Realms? If there is a connection between Thoran and the dark evil which resides there, why was Phalomir taken to Korriban?”

She fell silent then, thoughts of that dark and terrible place running rampant in her mind.

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

He looked down at the bottle, and then thought better.

“I asked him where Galen was, but he did not know. He laughed out loud at the question. I then asked Thoran of the Master, all he would tell me was that he was very close to my family. It was then I saw movement at the bottom of the valley, as if someone were moving along the plateau there. And also when I saw the black river, and the memory of my father came back to me.”

He looked directly at the Dark Lady.

“I believe the Eye was telling me the location of you sister, why would it reveal the movement immediately after the question was asked?”

He sighed.

“I also believe it wanted me to know the identity of the Master when it gave me the memory of my father…”

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

“You said you saw movement, far down in the canyon,” she said, approaching him once more.

“That very well could have been Galen…”

She stopped as she came directly beside him again, laying a sympathetic hand once more on his broad shoulder, that small action having nothing whatsoever to do with her concerns over her missing sister.

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