The corridors twisted and curled around her like a living thing, their winding paths leading her deeper into the labyrinthine underbelly of the Sith temple. The air was thick, almost viscous, saturated with the residual weight of rituals performed over time. Every surface, every stone, seemed to drip and hum with the echoes of whispered incantations.
She moved carefully, her steps measured, her senses stretched outward. The deeper she ventured, the more the shadows clawed at her resolve, as if the very walls resented her presence. But she was undeterred.
She had come with purpose.
Then at last, she reached it.
A vast, circular chamber lay before her--an area with suitable alignment underneath its many levels. A place where the nexus of Dark Side could still be felt. The room was eerily silent, but the air crackled with unseen power. Symbols of Sith origin lined the towering walls, their meanings etched in corruption and secrecy. The space was perfectly aligned within the structure, the central point of the temple's architecture and power.
This would be the place.
She stepped forward, reaching for the satchel at her side. The weight of what she carried had been a constant presence throughout her journey, but now, as she carefully pulled the two crystalline cubes from within, their radiance seemed to push back against the oppressive darkness; they sensed it. One was capable, two sealed it.
They shimmered in the dim chamber, reflecting a spectrum of iridescent hues--blues, purples, golds--like captured starlight held within their multifaceted forms. Each face of the cubes was meticulously carved, inscribed with the sigils and ancient protective markings that pulsed with a soft, rhythmic glow. They were unlike anything Sith sorcery had ever encountered -- she knew that because she created them in another life, for this purpose.
These were not weapons of destruction.
They were creations of pure intent--of balance, of light.
She knelt in the very center of the floor, aligning the cubes with precision. This was not just about placement; this was about resonance, about ensuring their presence could weave itself into the fabric of the temple's foundation.
She pressed her palm to the stone beneath her, feeling the corruption that festered within. The darkness fought her touch, slithering against her senses like a wounded beast. It would not go quietly. But it would go. It had to.
Closing her eyes, she reached deep into the Force, drawing upon it as she activated the cubes;
The Runes of Kathmandu.
At first, the change was subtle--a soft pulse of energy rippling outward, almost imperceptible. Then, as the sigils began to glow, the cubes responded to the taint in the air.
The inscriptions shimmered, their radiance intensifying as they aligned toward the unseen pockets of Sith corruption. The very fabric of the chamber seemed to shift in response, as though recoiling from the intrusion of something so pure. A thin, translucent barrier formed around each cube, its light expanding as it sought out the stains of darkness clinging to the temple's core.
And then--the containment began.
The Dark Side reacted violently.
A low, guttural hum filled the air as the ancient Sith energies stirred, resisting the luminous force encroaching upon their domain. Shadows twisted and writhed along the edges of the chamber, forming shapes that barely clung to existence. The air turned heavy, charged with a pressure that sent shivers down Askani's spine.
The cubes pulsed again, brighter this time, their energy weaving into an intricate lattice that stretched outward. The containment mechanism had engaged, and already, the Sith energies were being drawn in.
She could feel it happening--the shift, the pull.
The dark energy was being stripped apart, its elemental threads untangled and exposed to the cubes' intricate crystal matrices. The malevolent forces, once woven together through pain and suffering, were methodically disassembled. The emotional imprints--the anguish, the hatred, the rage--were unraveled, broken down into their base elements before being infused with the luminous frequencies of the Light Side.
The shift was agonizingly slow, but it was happening.
With each cycle, the temple's oppressive weight began to lift, like a wound being cauterized and healed from within. The air would eventually start to grow lighter, more breathable, as the cubes' purified energy spread further in the area around her, pushing back against the corruption that had lingered here for generations -- but it had so much more longer to go.
Askani's breath hitched as she fought to maintain her connection to the cubes. The process demanded more from her than she had anticipated; she fought through her own breach for this...to give
them an opening. The weight of guiding such an intricate conversion drained her strength, pulling at her very essence as she directed the transformation. This was not a passive act--it required intention, control, and endurance.
The cubes could sustain the process, but they could not function alone.
They needed a conduit. A guiding hand. A wielder of light to ensure the dark energies were not simply contained but fully cleansed.
And that burden fell on her.
She grit her teeth, pressing her hands to the temple floor, grounding herself in the Force. She could not falter. Not now. Not when she was so close.
The luminous glow of the cubes intensified, their radiance growing until it bathed the entire chamber in a soothing warmth. The inscriptions along their surfaces burned with celestial fire, their resonance harmonizing with the very essence of the Force itself.
Askani exhaled, steadying herself against the pull of exhaustion.
The process had begun. The four from prophecy would have their window, and any light siders inside would get a boon.
-----
"What have I sacrificed? Everything..."
