I thought about it awhile.

"I dunno," I finally said, fidgeting as conflicting responses rose up within me. On one hand, I agreed wholeheartedly with him, positive that I too would feel strangely violated somehow if person or persons unknown up and decided to reproduce replicas of me without my knowledge or consent. But--

But having discovered them somehow negated that. For I was certain I would also feel strangely protective of the bodies, seeing as they were, or would be, after all, me.

I waffled, and finally explained how I saw things, ending with a shrug.

"It's all kinda moot though, don't ya think buddy?" I finished with. "I mean, they're kinda out of the loop of reality, so to speak; go ahead and destroy them if it would make you feel better, but I can't see how they're going to get out of here to harm you in any way.

"We sure as hell don't seem to be able to..."

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

"Well then, let's just get rid of this shall we?" I said, commenting lightly as I stepped back. "Solid things are more your specialty. Do you mind?" I asked, gesturing to the stone that impeeded us.

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

He clacked his mandibles.

"Transportation device for a single person, obviously this is," he observed as he backed himself against the wall of the surrounding bubble in the vain attempt to give the others more room. To no avail; the bubble, meant for one, simply was not large enough to allow the others the room necessary to gain their footing. The sounds of grunts and a briefly whispered curse brought the futility of it clearly to the Verpine's ears.

"Remain as we are, must we. Sorry am I for unintended inconvenience..."

The weird bubble continued it's pellmell race into the unguessable dark, surrounding them with a "wall" of solidity which was at the same time as incorporeal as a true bubble of, say, soap. He leaned more strongly against the inner wall, trying to pierce it; nothing. It merely stretched outward a touch, then rebounded as he pulled back his querying appendage. Fumbling briefly then, he found and ignited another glowstick, and peered down at his feet.

It sent a greenish shimmer downward, illumintating the softly reflective bubble wall he was standing upon, beneath which the stone of the passage rushed by at a dizzying rate. He gulped at that, raised his eyes forward to gain equilibrium, then grunted himself.

"To somewhere of importance this device will us carry, is my guess," he stated, now peering ahead. Nothing rewarded him but more shadows and gloom, and after a bit he turned to see how Thea fared. Reaching down with a manipulatory appendage, he suddenly noticed the racing ground seemed to be slowing; that was the only indication that the bubble was indeed slowing it's incredible pace, as within it's confines he could feel absolutely nothing.

He pulled back his hand, shared this new discovery with the others, and simply waited. Not long thereafter the ground segued into immobile solidity once again, and moments afterward the bubble disintegrated around them.

He lifted his glowstick, now illuminating a set of richly carved doors, one in which runes similar to the ones inscribing the stone statue were carved. On either side of the door solid rock bore similar carvings, rock that blended into the walls of the tunnel itself.

"End of the line, this is," he said as he stepped forward, going up to the doors. He placed a pincer upon one of them, raised the glowstick higher. Perfectly balanced, the doors immediately swung inward, letting the feeble light of the glowstick now illuminate an area ahead of a few meters in diameter.

A richly carpeted area, for a sort of tapestry or rug stretched from the doors and disappeared ahead of them.

"Somewhere we are, to find out where, in go we," K'kihl stated the obvious as he then stepped forward and entered the unknown ediface, knowing Aaron and the others would be following.

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

Aaron pursed his lips, thoughtfully surveying the door...

...and then proceeding to push it open. His jaw nearly dropped as he held his glowstick in front of him, for now they found themselves entering a room with three walls full of large wood bookcases and shelves, holding a multitude of books and odd items. But it was the item on the final wall which caught Aaron's main attention:

A strange sort of mirror-like device, wide and taller than himself, rimmed with gold. The center of the object seemed to move in a greeny-golden swirl.

Aaron's jaw nearly dropped to the floor. "Where ae we?" he queried aloud, to no one in particular. To his amazement, the greeny-golden swirl in the center of the device shimmered, and the image of a strange sigil appeared, one Aaron realized, with a start, was quite similar to that of the marking on Phalomir's wrist.

Strangely enough, however, two more sigils appeared along with this one and merged into something that resembled the sign for infinity.

[ 04-24-2007 09:15 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Mara1Jade ]

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“I feel no sense of kinship to these clones,” he said. “However, destroying them does send a pang of guilt through me. I see your point in that they are fairly harmless as they are, but at the same time someone did create these, and will try to retrieve them for whatever purpose. If only I knew how long they have been here…”

Phalomir turned to Yaoksi and sighed.

“I will not bore you with my life’s history, for I do not actually know all of it. I will, however, share with you a secret or two that may help you understand. I am not of this time. At least, I do not believe I am. You see, my earliest reliable memories are of as recent as two standard years ago. I was retrieved from a state of psycho-stasis transference. My consciousness was taken from me and held inside a crystal – all right, do not laugh. I believe I was inside of it for 4000 years, placed in it right before the Sith were brought-- before the Sith removed themselves from view of the galaxy.”

Phalomir shifted and walked closer to Yaoksi.

“Thoran was there with me, inside of the crystal. We were discovered in the ruins of an old Sith colony by Panthar Dantares, an archeologist. He triggered something that sent both myself and Thoran into his body, it was rather crowded. Eventually I was reunited with my body, which had been also frozen in stasis, and Panthar was unfortunately placed inside of a Sith body. Do not ask, it is very complicated.

“The point I wish to make is that my memories of the whole time before that are as holed as herder’s cheese. All indications say I came not from the past, but from the future, and the Master had something to do with it -- he and another Dark Lord of the Sith, now dead, named Ankrist Roan. My fear is that these clones are part of that bizarre plan! Are these 4000 years old as well? Were they created recently?”

Phalomir’s face turned a brighter red as the temper within him flared.

“And by whom, my father? Roan? That Which Is, or perhaps some other creature or entity that we have yet to meet? I am unwillingly being involved in a vast game of Mash, and all I want to do is lead the Sith into a time of peace with the woman I love! And I cannot even do something as simple as to be with the woman I love because she is possessed by the Darkness of the Darker Realms!”

Phalomir’s fist clenched and he sent it sailing through the air as he turned toward one of the blocks. He connected with it, cracking the ice for several inches. The block rocked backwards, teetering for a second before tilting forward again and coming to rest back on the platform.

“Perhaps,” he said. “If I were really dead, the game could take a new direction. If I were to thaw one of these, and make sure it did not breathe, and bring it to K’eel Doba… assuming we find a way…”

Phalomir trailed, lost in thought.

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

“There is much more to be gained by study than by constant destruction,” he said. “If they went through the wall, then they are either still there or they have found a way to the surface. In either case, unless they somehow convince our friend with the large eyes to send them home, they will still be here. But this--” The Master indicated the statue.

“This is most fascinating. To begin with, this is the likeness of a famous – no, rather, infamous – Sith mage from long before my time. Trelanicus. He was a rebel, one who dabbled in the use of the power some have come to call ‘The All’. The jedi and their dark cousins make use of the Force, but even it has a surrounding source, a parent. The All is everything, that which is around us and between us, both binding and destroying reality. Everything is connected, and he knew this. He also knew the dangers of learning how to manipulate this power, and foresaw terrible things to come. So he stole away with a cult of followers, and was rumored to create a device to limit the ways the All could be used.”

The Master chuckled.

“And that he did,” he smiled. “But before this epiphany, he dedicated himself to creating ways to use the All in better and better ways. He made many such devices, each one an improvement over the next, and named them all after his god. Body parts of R’lous. But when he realized his mistake, he created the answer – the Eyes of R’Lous. With those, he and his followers tracked down and destroyed the other devices. Unfortunately, he was hunted and destroyed by the Warriors under control of those who would use the All if they could, and he and his secrets were lost to time.”

The Master smiled further.

"Well, whatever he made, apparently he messed up enough to leave his little Pandora behind." I said, making a reference to the infamous Finger of R'lous. "I suppose there's might be some other minor experiments left behind as well. Maybe this is one." I shrugged.

"But right now, as we talk, they could be digging a tunnel to freedom or something. We can take care of inanimate things later. It's the living that bother me a bit more. Are we going to keep going? Or do you need to keep staring at that to decipher some magical meaning of life?" I asked, knowing the irony of saying that in regards to the creator of the known uses of the All.

I also secretly now knew the value of such artifacts that this sith had made. Things that limited and controled the power of the All. If those were destroyed or controled, then one could easily manipulate the All to limitless ends.

Things that could be most advantagous if possessed. I thought to myself, though none of this showed upon my face. "We'll come back here later if need be. Let's get the dirty part of the job done."

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

Hunt? came the singular question, somesthing in its unspoken tone interested yet warning at the same time. We must be on the move, and quickly...

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

“I suspected as much,” he said. “The runes tell a story, albeit a bit lacking in plot and character development, but a good story nonetheless. It tells of a cycle, one initiated by the discovery of the All. We have the Sith Triumvirate, you see, the ancient ruling body that has led our people through many countless generations. But when the Dark Lords of old learned of the All, this brought with it greed and a lust for power, and I think you can guess where that sort of thing would lead. That is why Trelanicus was hunted down, and why he allowed his secrets to die with him.”

The Master then ran his finger over several of the raised runes, tracing their lines and curves.

“But his cult lived on,” he said. “To every corner of the Sith worlds they fled, hiding their secrets and burying them in shrouds and riddles only a member of the sect would recognize. They hid clues in temples, on mountaintops, in deep frozen caves, and in simple peasant huts with deep wells.”

The Master continued to run his fingers over the runes, his face becoming more and more calm.

“But this set of runes tells more of the story,” he continued. “It mentions the triumvirate of old, and the path down which it led. The path to its ruin. It tells of the rise of the new triumvirate, and warns against it – that of the female. Oh yes, a female triumvirate alone would be scary enough, but that is not the reason of this warning. This rise will bring about the end of the game.”

The Master moved his hand further along the runes.

“But fear not, lad,” he continued. “For there is a reason for every warning. Someone had the vision to see into the future, you see, giving us the vision to change the present and affect the future. And so we shall, once we find the key to your doorway there. Help me, would you?”