The Riches of Our Ancestor

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Yidhra"]

He frowned for a moment, then slowly switched off his lightsaber.

The cave seemed to pulsate now, almost hum. There was no other way to really explain it, but it was like the darkside pulsated through this place. Vrak frowned for a moment, lingering among the corpses as he closed his eyes and simply focused upon the tidal wave of power. "Holocron?"

The question was rhetorical of course.

"No." That wasn't it. "Something else."

Without another word to Yidhra, or any of them really, Vrak began to move forward. It was almost like the Pureblood became transfixed on whatever was within the back of the cave. Slowly Vrak moved forward, ignoring the corpses, the soldiers, whatever else was in front of him.

He wandered towards the odd pulsing power, feeling it fall into rhythm with the beat of his own heart.

 

[Yidhra]

She felt it too. Felt it, acknowledged it, but didn’t let it sweep her away with the current. Even the weakest Pureblood had a different connection to the Dark side than any of the inferior species. They could sustain themselves on the Force alone, a relationship developed through millennia of dedicated study and worship.

Even so, there differences among them. In use, especially, but also in perception. [member="Vrak Nashar"] was a potent beacon in the Force, burning bright and strong and fierce. Yidhra, in many respects, shared a bond of similar strength, yet her outlook differed.

The Sith hastened forward, driven by the beckoning call now permeating the caverns. It was as if the walls themselves were throbbing with the energy of Kaas, lured from its long slumber by their invigorating presence. The slain Terentateks, a sacrifice. The soil now gorged on their blood, warm and steeped in power. The secrets of this sanctuary…

unlocked.

With careful steps, Yidhra followed after Vrak, enshrouded with tendrils of the Force like a protective cloud. If this was some sort of trap; another layer of Vitiate’s defenses; a second twist to this cruel tale; the sorceress would be prepared.

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Yidhra"]

The cave floor became smoother as they went on, evening out and turning form rough broken rock to glistening marble stone. Vrak's boots seemed to echo as he stepped from within the cavern and into something entirely different. A statue sat at the far right of the 'entrance' of the structure, it's eyes burning with two bright red gems. The figure seemed to stare at the Pureblood as he moved passed it, watching him as a Guardian would.

The loud thrum of the darkside seemed to stop as soon as he stepped inside.

For a moment the Pureblood frowned. "There."

He said to Yidhra, pointing towards one of three ornately carved doorways that stood at the end of the floor. He frowned for a moment, then continued upon his path. More statues lined the entrance of the doorway, though these were not as ornate. Simple hooded figures that seemed to loom over you as you wandered between them, seemingly waiting for something to occur. Vrak paid them no mind, instead heading deeper into the strange structure.

There was something here.

He could feel it.

 

[Yidhra]

There was no feeling quite so great as triumph, and doubly so the triumph that one felt when they were proven right. Of course, being intelligent, studied, and a Pureblood, it was a feeling Yidhra experienced on a regular basis. This, however, did not diminish her pleasure in the slightest. If anything, she soared even higher on the wings of each successive victory.

While she was indeed intelligent, and studied, and very much a Pureblood, the sorceress was not fleet of feet. It was why she was quite content to hang a few paces back when [member="Vrak Nashar"] advanced down the narrow corridor. Her extensive perusal of ancient tomes and holocrons had left her with something of a paranoia – though it was hard to call it such when they really were out to get you – and thus she peered at the statues with a healthy degree of suspicion.

If this had once been a sanctuary of a Lord as powerful as Vitiate, there was no telling what sorts of defenses he had put in place. Even if the passage of millennia had eroded much of those security measures, Yidhra severely doubted that a Terentatek and its offspring were the only protection left in place.

Were she in his place, the sorceress would’ve enchanted the stone. Made it… come to life.

In the very instant the thought floated through her head, Yidhra heard the familiar noise of rock grating against rock.

“Oh, feth.”

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Yidhra"]

For a second Vrak simply stopped in place.

His lips thinned, his eyes darted from wall to wall. It made sense that there were traps, Sith always enjoyed traps. It was an odd mark of their people that seemed to follow them wherever they went. Dromund Kaas, Korriban, even Athiss was guilty of it. Perhaps it was just the way of the Sith, trickery and deceit even when it wasn't really necessary. The Pureblood frowned for just a few seconds, then let out a loud sigh.

"Stay still." He told her.

Vrak was tiring of this. The obstacles, the things that fell in his path. The force welled up within him, a powerful raging torrent that flooded into his body in an instant. He opened every tap, broke every damn. The Darkside tore through him in an instant, and then he simply released it.

A pulse rushed from him.

It erupted outward in a singular wave, pressing through inch of the tomb and rushing down every hall and room.

The rumbling continued for a second more...then suddenly stopped.

 

[Yidhra]

Yidhra stayed still. Wasn’t difficult, either – she had to train her body into a statue for some of the experiments she liked to run in the lab. A single slip, just one tremor in the hand, and you had to throw the whole damn cadaver away. Too costly, too time consuming.

Her mind wasn’t back in the lab now, however. No frakking way. Her eyes were wide open, bright, attentive. She was consuming every movement and gesture of [member="Vrak Nashar"] as he pulled the Force towards him. It swirled and pulsed around him for a breath, then exploded in a flat shockwave outward, sweeping down corridors and halls that had gone untouched for millennia.

“Impressive,” she murmured, noting the annoyed expression on his face. She’d always known he was choleric and quick to anger, but this outburst took it to a new high. Good to know.

She reached out with her own presence, careful and shielded as ever. The Pureblood had quieted whatever was rumbling, however; everything was calm. With a nod, the sorceress stalked forward, past the watchful statues and into the room ahead.

It was a spacious study, with a sprawling desk and tens of bookshelves lining the walls. A decanter and a single glass were gathering dust in one corner, the former still half-full of some viscous brown liquid. Once rich-colored, a carpet covered the length of the room, depicting a series of battles that even history had forgotten.

Yidhra smiled.

“This is it.”

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Yidhra"]

"Yes." Now who was pointing out the obvious, Yidhra, that's who.

Vrak stepped forward first, his lips thinning as he glanced at all the bookshelves that surrounded him. There were dozens of volumes, hundreds of tomes, the library was complete with everything that one might imagine could be hoarded by and ancient Sith.

He wandered slowly, his fingers running across some of the tomes. "Most of these are Sith."

That was to be expected.

"They use the old language." Ancient Sith had of course evolved, the language going through several cycles before it settled on what was no spoken on Athiss. Most of it could still be understood, even the most ancient phrases, but there was some difficulty in the task. He frowned for a moment. "Probably written before Vitiate's Empire."

That would make sense, especially if this was his library.

 

[Yidhra]

They were in her domain now. All that business with the traps and the beasts and the Force-damned jungle – that was behind them now, and this was the prize.

Yidhra’s eyes glinted like she’d been just given a new toy. It took all she had not to rub her palms as she stroked her gaze along the precious tomes. Some were leather-bound, others made of fragile paper eaten by time; still, most were older types and models of various datapads used in the centuries before their time.

For translation’s sake, however, the sorceress preferred the books. Digging up the encryption and code in which the old systems were written was far more of a pain in the ass than restoring faded ink. (Or blood. Old Sith were hella Sithly.)

“Can you read it?” she asked [member="Vrak Nashar"] as she ran a gentle hand along the spine of a thick volume titled ‘Sith swords and Alchemic Metallurgy’.

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Yidhra"]

"Of course." He said simply.

Though Vrak was known more for his mastery of the blade than Sorceries, he was part of the Nashar line. The reason that many of his peers looked down upon him was because unlike them, he did not come from a great warrior family. He was no Ragnos or Sadow, no, he was a Nashar.

His forefathers had been historians, keepers of secrets, traditions, and the old ways. They had fallen onto a line between Kissai and Massassi, always striving to protect what others would simply destroy upon their passing. His libraries were vast, and his father had taught him to read the old language as well as the new. There was little difficulty to it once you knew the differences and how they could easily be changed back. His eyes lingered on some of the volumes.

"We cannot linger here." He said quietly. "The Jedi still rule this world."

And if they found this place?

That was far too dangerous.

 

[Yidhra]

Yidhra frowned, fingers falling away from a particularly well-preserved book. “I know,” she muttered, a somewhat sullen tinge to her voice. “We should safeguard it, hide it from prying eyes.”

The sorceress turned around to face [member="Vrak Nashar"], mouth still curled downwards. “It’s doubtful they could find it on their own, but it’s possible they’ve led research excursions into the swamp.” Nodding more to herself than to the warrior, the Pureblood continued to think aloud.

“Perhaps an illusion?” She rolled a tendril between her clawed fingers, mulling it over. “Something simple, just to obscure the entrance and gently dissuade any inquisitive passersby. If we put up violent defenses and somebody disappears, it’s bound to attract even more attention.”

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Yidhra"]

Vrak nodded.

An illusion would have to do. They had already been lucky enough that no one had found this place before them. The Terentateks they had killed would surely have given away that something was inside. The Pureblood wandered around the library for a few more minutes, simply glancing at the different novels.

Eventually he pulled one from the shelf. "Perhaps leave some of the soldiers here."

It was more of a statement than a question. This place was sacred in a way, containing more knowledge that even the libraries he held back home on Athiss. The Pureblood frowned for a moment, then shifted the novel in his grasp as he opened it.

"They won't be detected." None of them were force users, or Sith.

 

[Yidhra]

Yidhra quirked a brow as she inspected the private library. Perhaps it had once belonged to Vitiate himself, perhaps to some other Sith Lord. The traces of a powerful dark presence were unmistakable, hanging in the air like the heady aroma of a strong perfume. Even after millennia, they lingered.

“And supplies? They only brought rations for a short excursion,” she pointed out, glancing back to the corridor where the soldiers lingered. Not that she particularly cared if they died, but leaving them behind only to have them die of thirst seemed counter-productive. Even worse – they could end up exposing them when they ventured out to get food and water.

“Seems risky. And they could… disturb something.” She glanced over at the laden shelves and the imposing desk dominating the room. No telling what else clung to these ancient walls.

“Consider it, Nashar,” she said with a nod. “I will prepare the illusion.”

@Vrak Nasahar

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Yidhra"]

"We have more than enough on the shuttle." He said in regards to the rations. "They will provide safety."

Something that was required here.

"The Illusion will do, but in case it is broken I want someone here to protect what is ours." His soldiers knew better than to mess with...well anything. They weren't the most veteran or the best trained in the galaxy, but they were loyal to him.

Besides, he wanted to keep an eye on things.

"Don't concern yourself." He told her. "They will be fine."

 

[Yidhra]

“Very well.” For all his faults, [member="Vrak Nashar"] had a massive following of loyal soldiers. Yidhra herself was of the firm belief that no-one should ever be fully trusted. Especially when surrounded by Purebloods. Still, they were just troopers, human simpletons of the lowest kind. They did not possess the mental alacrity required to outsmart a Sith Lord, which is why they were even brought along to this most sacred of places.

The sorceress sent one last longing look at all the records she had yet to lay her hands on, then disappeared down the corridor. The soldiers parted, bowing their heads in respect as she passed. Carefully sidestepping the Terentatek corpses, Yidhra lifted her robes to avoid dipping them in the venomous blood now pooling on the floor of the cave.

Finally, she emerged into the overcast day, peering to the clearing ahead. No-one. Good.

She was far from a master of the field, but she was no slouch either. When she wasn’t working in the lab or slaving away in the library, Yidhra’s waking hours were devoted solely to the study of mentalism, illusion, and Sith sorcery of all kind. For what she intended to do, it wasn’t so much sheer power that was required as ingenuity, and she had that aplenty.

With a grin, she spread out her fingers, closed her eyes, and began weaving the veil she would cast across reality.

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Yidhra"]

Vrak didn't bother following after the sorceress, there were other things that still needed to be done. His lips thinned as he observed the small novels all around them on the book cases. A part of him wondered if Vitiate had collected them himself.

He knew that the idea of that was perhaps a little bit observed, mostly because the man had so many resources at hand that it was doubtful he'd ever stoop to something so low. Then again The Sith Emperor had been one of the few beings to truly rule over Dromund Kaas. Vitiate had held this world for centuries, perhaps Millenia completely undisturbed. It had never fallen into the hands of his enemies at any time, and the construction of a place like this?

It would have been a very simple matter.

He mused about this as he waited for Yidhra to return.