I pulled myself to my feet, feeling like I was strapped to a bunch of tubes; perhaps a psychological drawback to the healing he was performing. "There's no reason they should be here. Your son is dead, and there's nothing of value. Let's just take your portal to the darker realms, and then get back to reality and leave them to die. They're all worthless anyway."

As far as I'd surmised, everyone in the group I'd come upon aside from Shayla and the Master was unimportant; just civilians who bumbled into sith politics and affairs. If the Master and I left, then chances were, they'd all end up eaten sooner or later like Phalomir.

"Then with them out of the way we can be done with Graysith, and we can set things right." He said simply, feeling his chest vice momentarily as he straightened up.

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

If you are hungry, and seek food, we shall find it. Help me follow the large tracks before us to their endpoint, and you will find quite enough to satiate your hunger there.

Opening her eyes then, Shayla stood, waiting for the tuk'ata to rise and follow and sensing its strength and understanding of the bargain they had made...

...and sensing its attempt to block out something as well. Something dark flashed, briefly...

...and then slipped back into hiding. "Come, now," Shayla spoke aloud, placing a hand on the creature's back, her eyes looking into the pupil-less ones of the tuk'ata without any fear whatsoever.

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

"Impossible, this is," he asserted to the others, giving his burden another shift.

"Two beings in same time, impossible. But--" He drew into a slow, thoughtful pause, clattered his mandibles again.

"Not in the universe this place is," he reasoned. "Laws of physics different are, perhaps?"

He turned to Aaron and cocked his head, then nodded toward the door.

"Go there inside are we?" he asked, shifting Link in his arms once again.

[ 04-17-2007 10:26 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

“No such luck for us, yet, lad,” he said. “We must deal with Graysith, but we cannot without the Finger. But we cannot leave Shayla here, she will find a way to survive. Her kind always does.”

He stared down the path and sighed.

I looked over at him. "I'll lead. Unless of course they taught Sith lords how to track through jungles. Then by all means, take point." He said, a slightly cynical tone to his voice.

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

For several minutes the pair descended through twists and steps, deep into the heart of the dark temple. Finally the tuk’ata stopped at a large wooden door, ornately carved. It stood open slightly, and a soft light poured from it into the dark hall. The tuk’ata lowered its head to allow Yaoksi to slide down.

From inside came the low voice of someone whispering, as if reading out loud.

I shook myself and slid gratefully from the animal's back, my suddenly sweaty hand clasping my blaster in a near death's grip. Fortifying my courage with a painful swallow I inched up to the cracked door, muzzle raised beside my face, as tense as a sandcat in a roomful of Tusken Raiders.

"Phal, that you buddy?" I mouthed in something between the lowest whisper possible and complete silence. I took another step, and peered cautiously inside...

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

“It is all here,” he said. “I- I do not understand it, but it is here. The triumvirate, the darkness… how? The ancients have written it down, have foretold the change in power… I do not understand it.”

Phalomir placed the book on the small table that stood next to him and stepped forward.

“The tuk’ata, my hunt brother, brought me here. He did not know what this room was, but he knew there was knowledge for the Dark Lord here, when the time was right. But the volume is not complete; it ends.”

Phalomir looked back to the book and paused, then raised an eyebrow to Yaoksi.

“Why are you here, my friend?”

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

"Ahh... because we thought a tomato had killed you and run off with you, and even you deserve a decent burial," I floundered, lowering my blaster but still holding it tightly, striving to ready myself for any unseen attack from the myriad shadows that seemed to lurk just behind my peripheral vision.

[ 04-18-2007 11:35 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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“I think I understand,” he said. “But I had to be dead, to you, and to everyone. But there would be no need for a burial, for a tuk’ata would leave nothing to waste. But this one, the one who took me, he is my friend – my hunt companion. He showed me a strange thing, a statue – I cannot explain it. But I must tell you, this raises so many more questions that I must find an answer to. Such as what lies beyond the door behind me.”

Phalomir gestured to a stone door behind him. It blended in with the wall so well that it was hard to discern even with the assistance.

“The book here contains knowledge for the Dark Lords, things I must take with me when I meet with Lord Aelvedaar. But it ends without revealing the most important answer, which is how this all came to be known.”

Phalomir closed his eyes and held his forehead.

“But I cannot tell you more,” he said. “But my friend here told me that the door will lead to more answers, and I intend to open it.”

Phalomir turned to the door, then stepped towards it. When he reached it, he paused.

“Where are the others?” he asked, turning his head back to Yaoksi. “Do they know I am alive?”

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

"Not per se, no," I admitted, "Although there was some hope that you might be. Which is why I followed the tostada's footprints-- er, pawprints."

I paused a moment to scrutinize the door.

"Any idea what's so important behind there?" I asked, nodding toward it.

"And more importantly... any idea how some animal would just happen to know these things? Remember there are those with, ahh--" I floundered again. "--Weird powers who seem to have all kinds of influence over others people and things. If a toscadero can tell you something, maybe someone else can tell it what that something should be."

I came up beside him and stopped, not merely because we were now standing a scant meter or so from the door in question but because my proximity to it was suddenly making the tiny hairs on the back of my neck do the tango once again. I gripped my blaster more tightly and just stood there, wishing like hell I was sitting in a hot spa on Sullust with a nice glass of Whyrene's in my hand.

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

“I think the trail is clear enough,” he said. “But by all means, dazzle me with your cunning skills. You’ll need to hone them anyway, before we enter the Darker Realms. I fear it will not be an easy to even just enter there.”

The Master watched as Rykounagin gave a doubtful look and then followed the trail through the wide beaten down area the Master had cleared earlier. As they followed the trail through the jungle, it eventually reverted to wild game trail. But Rykounagin easily kept the tracks in view. Eventually he paused, looking out into a clearing.

A wild tuk’ata sat in front of a stone hut, burying its face in what appeared to be a door. It let out growls and wails, and pawed at the stones.

“It appears we have found them,” whispered the Master. “Perhaps I should handle this one.”

He held out his hand, allowing his powers to spring forth. The large beast slid backwards on the ground, its face set in a mix of confusion and panic. Its claws dug into the soil as it moved. The Master then lifted his hand, and the large animal rose effortlessly into the air.

“Shall we?” he asked Rykounagin.

The Master led, walking nonchalantly to the hut. Rykounagin followed, and began examining the doorway. The Master smiled and turned to the tuk’ata.

“Such a noble beast,” he said. “Representing all that is fierce and true about the Sith, it stands as a symbol to the unity that has persevered through the ages – of the traditions of justice and trust amongst the clans, and their Lords.”

His face hardened, and a frown turned quickly into a sad sneer. He brought his fingers together into a fist and turned it quickly. The tuk’ata gave out a sudden cry of pain that was silenced immediately, replaced by the sickening sound of bones cracking and fleshy tissues ripping. The Master opened his hand, releasing the tuk’ata. But instead of the wild animal, a mass of bone and gore fell to the ground, turned inside out.

The Master turned back to Rykounagin.

Exactly what had caused an animal as terrifying as a tuk'ata to shriek out so was something K'kihl did not know, nor did he pause to speculate upon it. Instead he quickly shouldered past Aaron, reached out and yanked open the door they had been debating in committee over.

"In we go-- now," he said, clattering his mandibles anxiously as he herded the others through. Before following, he turned to look back the way they had come.

The footprints they had left in the dust were like scrambled neon signs to anyone they might wish to hide from. He shook his chitinous head, his antennae trembling as distant, indistinct noises grew imperceptibly louder.

"Go faster, must we," he asserted, slipping inside and finding, thankfully, an ancient iron-like locking mechanism on the backside of the door. It, as was the backside, was covered in strange runes and symbols.

He slammed the door when all were through. The lock engaged by itself, it's runes glowing a weird greenish blue.

He clattered his mandibles, and freeing one manipulatory appendage found and lit a glow-stick.

"Where are we?" he asked of no one in particular.

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

“There are too many strange powers that abound in our galaxy,” he said. “But the Sith are rich in these powers, and it is part of our lives. We learn to deal with it.”

He put his hand on the door.

“As for the tuk’ata, however, it is my companion. I made a bond with it some time ago, and we share our spirits. If something had corrupted it, I would know.”

Phalomir gave the door a push. It budged slightly. He looked to Yaoksi and raised an eyebrow.

“This may prove interesting,” he said. He placed his other hand next to the first and shoved hard. The door slid backwards, opening into a dark room. Phalomir paused, then stepped gingerly forward. A bright light flickered on above him, lighting the room before him. He then stopped in his tracks and stared into the room, driven to stunned silence.

Lining each wall of the long room, perhaps 10 on each side, were small black platforms with what appeared to be blocks of ice encasing a large naked Sith male. Phalomir swallowed hard, then stepped to the first. Frost covered the features of the face, but Phalomir hesitantly wiped it away with his hand and came face to face – literally – with himself.

He stepped back until he bumped into the ice block behind him. He quickly brought his hand to that one, and wiped away the frost until he saw the same face inside. His mouth setting into a grim frown, he moved frantically from one block to another, confirming each one to be the same. Finally at the end of the room he stopped and turned to Yaoksi, who was standing in the doorway.

But all he could do was stare with his mouth hanging open.

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

Although that does not necessarily mean it lessens in intensity any...

I strode into the chamber, eyed a blockful of frozen Phalomir, and continued to the next. It was still frosty, obscuring the image within; raising my arm I wiped it with my elbow. Tiny crystals of ice adhered to my shirt, sparkling in the dim light.

"This one, too," I announced even as I moved en route to the next block, and the next. Every one that I visited bore the same enigmatic image of the living Sith Lord. I stopped after checking out the fifth or sixth block and turned Phal's way.

"Anyone you know of sneak off to Kamino with something personal of yours, say, hair or cheek cells or blood or something?" I asked, nodding then to the block at my side.

"It's obvious these are clones."

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

...and it was extremely narrow in width, and in depth. Aaron's head quite nearly touched the "ceiling."

What was of even greater note, however, was the length of the room. Aaron's eyes widened with the realization that this wasn't a room at all.

"This is no room," he responded, nodding in front of them to a winding passageway, "I think it's a tunnel."

Then, glowstick in his own hand, Aaron began to lead the way once more, creeping further and further ahead, his eyes remaining wide, his senses fully alert. A few minutes later, he was met with a decision:

A split in the passage. Both passages had some strange runes at their apexes; both different. Both, however, had one identical symbol: an infinity sign, with some extra strange markings Aaron couldn't quite make out in their centers.

For a moment, Aaron looked down, pursing his lips in thought...

...and then looked up, his eyes widening once more. "Look!" he then exclaimed softly, as if suspecting that, at any moment, whomwever or whatever was following them would catch up. But even so he pointed downward to the dirt flooring beneath their feet...

...where large footsteps left a track leading from the passageway to their right and into the passageway to their left. By their appearance, they may have been there for quite some time, but the fact that they were there at all meant two distinct things:

First of all, someone had been there. And secondly, unless someone had been trapped and died here, the passage to their left probably lead to somewhere.

Aaron quietly stated as much, and waited to see if anyone else concurred with his line of thinking.

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

I sent out a longer probe then, feeling for life. "Yeah... they're still down here somewhere. Do we kill them or leave them?" I asked, pausing in my decent to look back at the Master.

"Or is the witch our only concern?" I asked. I wasn't taking orders, but I also didn't want him to revoke his healing magics until they were done. Otherwise, I knew he would likely do so, and that wouldn't end very well.

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

But no, he would leave that for later, if need be. For now, this one had power, had purpose.

The tuk'ata lowered its head and touched Shayla's face with a tentacle. It then lowered itself by dropping to its front knees.

The Master stepped inside behind Rykounagin.

"I want to first know what they discovered of my son, if anything. That is Sith blood in the dirt outside."

The Master then motioned into the darkness of the stairwell. His finger burst forth into a beam of light that lit the steps.

But luck and fortune are fickle friends. I thought, looking in turn at my own fortunes over the year as I came down to the bottom level of the stairs.

"Well this is interesting..." I murmured, examining the chamber we had found ourselves standing in. "Very interesting indeed..."

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

"Your arms, free should be, but travel faster now of primary importance is. If walk these can, down tunnel one hundred meters set," he directed as he cast a final look about. All looked as well as it could for the plan he was hatching; now lifting his face he motioned toward the lefthand passage.

"Go you there, that way," he indicated, pointing to the wallow of footprints. "But first, boots you must give."

Saying nothing to the resultant queries and grumbles this odd command evoked, he merely stood his ground until the others had removed and handed their footwear over to him. As each set came his way he quickly tied the laces of each pair together, slinging them about his neck. It wasn't long before he looked like a walking shoe advertisement.

He nodded again, chittered his mandibles, and pointed down the left passage.

"Go now... quickly; to the bare stone walk, on dust and dirt not. Join you later, will I; take care."

Seeing them off, he then turned to the right passageway. Placing the first set of boots on his chitinous feet, he stomped down the passageway for several meters, swishing his feet around and trying to displace as much of the ancient dust that he could, mixing it with the odd bits of detritus laying about so as to leave a fairly clear indication that human feet had come this way.

Fairly clear.

After progressing nearly the length of an SSD's primary hangar bay, he slipped the boots off, re-tied the laces, slung them around his neck... and then, being the insectoid that he was, crawled up the stone walls to the ceiling over his head. Traveling in this manner he retraced his path back to the initial fork, crept carefully down, and replaced Aaron's boots back about his neck. He then repeated the entire procedure, using first Thea's and then Link's pair, for his feet were small enough to fit into the youngsters' boots as well.

He paused at the fork after his final pass, studying the results of his efforts. To even the closest of scrutiny, it appeared that the party had traversed the right-hand passageway, the footprints he had laid down doing a magnificent job of obsuring those coming from the opposite direction.

He nodded to himself with satisfaction, and turned his attention to the other passage. There was an odd partial footprint here and there, adding to the myriad Sith tracks which led down the tunnel. Hunkering down on all his appendages, being careful not to drag the slung boots into the dust beneath him, he drew in a great breath of air through his spiracles and let it poof out in a staccato burst. In all directions the dust rose a few centimeters, then settled back to the stone floor, some of the finer elements hanging motionless in the still air of the tunnel. He moved quickly down the passage about thirty meters, repeated the process, then worked his way back to the fork, pausing to puff away the incriminating footprints as he did so.

He then repeated this odd procedure on the right-hand tunnel's floor... only being careful to not totally erase the footprints he had laid down.

Now both tunnels bore a light misting of dust above their floors, with the righthand one showing the faint outline of human bootprints. The left showed only dust covered rock.

Satisfied with this ruse he had learned while in the company of the best bounty hunter to come down the galactic pike, namely one Sorben Tarnus, he carefully climbed the walls of the lefthand tunnel and once again gained the ceiling. Putting on speed, he scurried through the darkness, allowing his acute hearing to notify him of the others' presence before he came within sight of Aaron's lone glowstick, close to one hundred meters into the otherwise inky dark.

"Misleading trail, have I laid," he said as he lept lithely down to join them.

"Hopes have I time this will us give. Know I not what harm beast obtained had, or giving it to him which culprit guilty was. Know I only someone behind us is, hearing odd noises have I."

He laid a quick pincer on Aaron's shoulder.

"Go faster, must we, and with stealth. Here remain..."

Saying nothing more he picked up Link's light form once again and, scurrying up the wall set off via the ceiling into the darkness at an increasingly rapid pace. He carried her another three hundred meters before gaining the tunnel's floor once again.

"Move not, return with others will I," he said, handing her his glowstick. He then hastened back along the ceiling and in this manner transported first Thea and finally Aaron to the point where he had deposited Link.

"Still faster, and with stealth must we hurry," he asserted as he let Aaron fall from his strong arms to the floor of the tunnel. Igniting another glowstick he began jogging ahead, hurrying as quickly as he could while keeping a pace the others could maintain.

The tunnel appeared to stretch for kilometers...

[ 04-23-2007 01:42 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

...and if they would ever find their way out again. But one small observation kept bringing itself up as a point of hope in the darkness: there had been footprints leading here, Sith ones. Which meant, unless there was a Sith body at the end of one of these trails, someone had come and gone from this direction.

Which meant they were headed soemwhere.

But where?

Aaron continued to keep moving, holding pace with the insectoid.

Aaron frowned to himself. "I hope once we get ourselves lost in here, we find a way back out, he commented quietly to his compainions. "I wonder if..."

His words dropped off then as something finally caught his eye, something not readily noticeable, but perhaps favorable to their current condition. He kept moving, but shot a sidelong glance at the Verpine.

"This passageway is fabricated, not natural," he spoke up quietly, suspecting that the Verpine might have already guessed as much. "And every so often, there appears to be some knots in the wall that is made to look cavernous," he added, pursing his lips. "We found one secret entrance already..."

Trailing then, Aaron stopped, pushed one of the random knots slightly, and at first was rewarded with absolutely nothing. But then, quite suddenly, a strange sort of bubble was cast around them.

Aaron took one involuntary step back as the bubble then disappeared as quickly as it had come.

"What was that?" he whispered, his eyes now wide.

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

"To discover truth, one way there is," he asserted before he reached out and firmly grasped the knot. The weird bubble appeared around them once more, shining translucently in the dim green light of their glowsticks. This time, however, it did not disappear; perhaps some inherent timing device was being initialized since K'kihl yet held his grasp. And when he cautiously removed his hand...

"Bubble around is still is," he announced somewhat unnecessarily.

Then he was knocked from his feet and into a mass of writhing arms and legs as the bubble suddenly shot off down the tunnel, heading in the direction they had been following, it's velocity unknowable in the velvety dark...

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

“I do not know who would have done such a thing,” he said. “The Master would have had ample opportunity to take whatever samples he would need from me, either when I was a child or when I was held in the Black Tower. But this… this does not smell of the Master, this feels different somehow. I mean, why clone me?”

He stood again and walked to the first duplicate. He wiped away the growing frost again and stared at the face inside, frozen in a deep slumber.

“A handsome fellow, is he not?” Phalomir forced. His worry and anxiety showed clearly, however. He glanced to Yaoksi, then back to the frozen block.

“If this was the Master, then I would feel better, actually. He, at least, is known to be insane. But if it is not his doing, then I shudder to think of who, and why. The statue I saw, it told of a prophecy, one of great change to the ruling of the Sith. But what I do not know is if it was an augury of predestined change, or a warning against it. That is the question I hoped would be answered in this book, and in this room, as the tuk’ata had thought.”

Phalomir thought for a moment then looked back to Yaoksi.

“You must think us all quite mad,” he said. “You come to our worlds for the first time, and are instantly caught in a whirlwind of political intrigue and power plays. You see exhibitions of powers that are likely alien to you, and now you find yourself between dimensions staring at a choir of frozen clones.” He shook his head and looked back to the frozen figure.

“I do not quite know what this is telling me, but I do feel I should destroy them. I cannot help but feel somehow… violated. Tell me, what would you do were you in my position?”

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

“Indeed,” he said under his breath. He stepped closer and ran a hand along the book that the statue held out, illuminating each rune with the light emanating from his finger. After a few seconds his paused and looked to Rykounagin.

“Do you understand these runes?” he asked. “This is indeed most ancient, and interesting.” The Master glanced to either side of Rykounagin, peering into the shadows.