Tombs of the Ancient

[Judah Lesan Jr.]

The desert sands were like sandpaper to Judah's skin as he stepped off the boarding ramp of the ship which had ferried him and [member="Aria Vale"] to the ancient world of the Sith. It was under control of the Silver Order now, but for all the work done to purge the darkness such a world would always have pockets of the toxic energy moving about the place. Hssiss still littered the world, dark side creatures which hunted in two's. One visible the other masking itself until it was too late. The Valley of Tombs was what had called to the young guardian. History was something he was doing better at understanding, and for tihs particular excursion he took advantage a secret it was questionable whether he was to know. Aria was a shadow and so she was the perfect choice to accompany him.

Something else had drawn Judah to this place other than the history and the darkness of the ancient tombs. Even after all this time he could sense what remained of his cousin Jaron. The older cousin of Judah's had ventured to this world having learned force rage from one of the ghosts which had remained. The bond he had forged with another darksider still lingered in the atmosphere as well. Perhaps it was only noticeable to him because of the relational connection he had to Jaron, but this world stung with the pain of betrayal. This would be a test of whether Judah would remain with the light.

His dress was simple. The pants, the shirt, the vest, boots, and bracers were all designed to keep the sand from cutting away at his skin. A scarf was used to wrap around his face as the wind was strong in this part of the planet. It was nearing the stormy season for the planet. The weather would prove as much a challenge to deal with as the tomb raid would. The young guardian was ready however. He wanted this test, welcomed the test, and hoped it would prove him to be worthy of the title he longed to carry.

Looming ahead of them were rows of many tombs. All of them Sith Lords with some ancient legend. There was one which drew his attention, unmarked, unknown. Whoever had been buried in this one was lost to history, lost to legend. This was a story looking to be uncovered, and likely meant there were still pockets of artifacts drawing the darkness to this tomb. The silver jedi reached deep within himself as he and his partner approached the ramp. The wind was so loud he could not hear his won words as he had been trying to speak. His mind pressed into hers.

"There doesn't seem to be a way in. I don't suppose we should just knock?"

The tone his words carried was playful. In his mind he could trust Aria. His mind was fond of the time they had spent getting to know each other during a night of socializing and dancing. It was something the Silver Jedi were not known for, but something that had proven to be a reprieve from the dull routine of their recent conquests and liberation of other worlds. Aria had wanted to dance, and while JJ had been hesitant about the idea, he had been glad he accepted.

 

[NightSister]

At his request, Aria had left the temple that day to accompany [member="Judah Lesan Jr."] on a mission to raid a Sith Tomb. Her only other time exploring a Sith building had left Aria with plenty of injuries brought about by numerous exotic dangers, but that was nowhere near enough to put her off the mission. After all, what was adventure without a little danger?

Dressed in a fairly standard set of exploring gear with her lightsaber at her belt in case any unexpected surprises showed up and a scarf tied around her face to fight the wind, Aria reached the tomb alongside Judah and sensed his message without hearing it. Chuckling, Aria pursed her lips beneath the scarf as her eyes searched the structure for an easy way in. As she'd expected, there was none - funny, it was almost as though the late Sith hadn't wanted Jedi raiders in there - so she broadened her search: a way in would suffice.
Of course, the walls seemed reluctant to part even when she used the Force to coerce them a little. If I just stick my lightsaber through the doors, will the Sith's ghost get offended? she wondered.
"I got nothing," Aria replied through the Force, examining the Sith symbols adorning the entrance. "You wouldn't happen to know the Sith language, would you?" She was hesitant to go for the destructive option, sure that breaking down the doors would prove a worse option that tricking them open, but it was beginning to seem like there was no other way.

 

[Judah Lesan Jr.]

The Sith language, Judah shrugged. "I must have skipped that day in school or something." His jokes likely were not funny, and being a guardian, Judah was definitely the break the door down type. Despite that there was a sense of mystery which surrounded the history of this place. He felt it would be a shame to destroy even on piece of it. There was one thing the ancient Sith did have going for them, their architecture. It was beautiful and built to last. JJ's eyes wandered over the magnificent stone work. There was not a single flaw to it... wait. His eye caught a hieroglyph which seemed to be out of place. The way it was set into place made it jut out more than the others, and from his trained craftsman eye the others were perfectly even with each other. Why would this one different.

"There, do you see it," he pointed to the marking. That's gotta be it." He did not wait for Aria to agree or disagree. Perhaps this was the Corellian side of the Jedi coming out, but he pressed the glyph and as he did a loud click was heard when it locked into place. For a moment they stood there as the doors did nothing. However, the ground beneath them began to shake. Judah looked down at his feet, then back to the doors as the sound of stone scraping against stone arrested his attention. Part of him had been waiting for a trap, but there was none. Either this was going to be a dead end, or the danger was so high that traps were not needed. He shrugged again.

"Well there we go. I guess we can go in now."

Judah took a lamp from his belt and flicked it on. The light washed into the darkness ahead of them. He was amazed at the condition of the floor. It was still solid, the walls seemed untouched. From the looks of things, the tomb had been undisturbed since the day it was closed. There were no signs of raiders, tomb robbers, or explorers. The padawan suddenly got the chills, the kind a person got when they had a bad feeling about something. Instead of voice it, he pressed ahead inside. There was no turning back on this now.

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

"Good one." Following Judah into the tomb, Aria took a minute to scan - and in part, admire - the remarkable structure. She was no architect, but it would have been impossible not to notice how grand and menacing the tomb looked, even more so on the inside and out.

However, even while appreciating the building, Aria maintained a certain degree of caution. It seemed odd that it had been so easy to get in . The pristine condition of the tomb told her that likely nobody had broken in before, so that meant that either they had somehow been immune to a spell or protective shield of some sort or that the Sith buried here hadn't expected raiders, which seemed even more unlikely. Why was it so simple? Aria was running around in circles in her head - she was a spy, not a detective.

A subtle whispering sound snapped her back to reality. "Did you hear that?" Aria asked quickly, whipping her head from side to side. "I heard...like somebody talking. Or something. I don't know. Holocrons do that, don't they? Maybe a holocron?" She talked quickly and quietly, the oppressing Darkness weighing down on her the whole time. Whatever surprise the late Sith had left for them, Aria had a feeling that they wouldn't be much fun.

[member="Judah Lesan Jr."]

 

[Judah Lesan Jr.]

(ooc: sorry this took a while to get to)

Everything happened as it should, but the sense Judah felt from the tomb was certainly a dark and ominous one. Things were as they appeared, and it was rarely different. One thing Judah had learned about the world was that there were a lot less mysteries than people wanted there to be. "Well if something looks out of place then it is out of place on purpose usually. That was something my old mentor taught me," he said in another attempt to get to know Aria better. In this instance it was offering a bit about his background. What he didn't mention was that mentor had been his father. They'd discussed briefly his father's involvement in the Silver Jedi, but Judah had been reluctant to mention who all his teachers had been.

Naturally as they pressed further into the tomb everything went quiet. The darkness was so think that it stifled whatever conversation they could have. This wasn't exactly the environment to get to know a person better anyway. They were there to recover a holocron, to keep it out of the hands of anyone that would use it for evil. Why Judah had though it was a good idea to ask another Padawan along for such a journey was beyond him at the moment. For now he chalked it up to the fact Aria was one of the few among the Silver Jedi he could consider a friend of some kind. Considering they had only recently met that said something about Judah's involvement in the order.

There was a voice, a whisper, a beckoning. It made ever alert sense in Judah's mind jump to the ready. His feet stopped. "Yes, I did..." he said reaching for his lightsaber. His hand hovered over it as he let it go. There wasn't a need to grab it now, but the guardian in him wanted to face down the evil which was speaking to them. "Maybe... yeah... I've actually never seen a Sith holocron before so.........." Judah blushed as he admitted he had invited her along for something that was new to him. Yes, he had killed a sith, but never had he seen a holocron. "Sith, I've had to kill one, but this... this new to me." Judah pressed in deeper.

The pair walked into what seemed to be a large courtyard, a statue of the late Sith in the middle. It's finger was pointing to a particular archway. With a shrug Judah commented. "I think he wants us to go that way..."

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

Calling her saber to her hand for safety, Aria followed in the direction the statue pointed with a cautious look around. She craned her head this way and that in an attempt to locate the voice, but it was everywhere and nowhere and thoroughly diconcerning her. She had been in the presence of a Darkside-nexus before; this was worse, to the point where Aria didn't even like to speak for the massive darkness weighing her down.

The turn took the pair down a long, narrow corridor which was faintly lit up by an untraceable red light. "There'll be a holocron somewhere," she guessed, activating her lightsaber to use as a light source. Carefully holding it up, Aria could see the markings of the Sith language all over the walls, though still unable to understand any of it. Would it seem suspicious if she tried to learn it upon returning to Voss? Probably.

Her boots were one of the few noises she could hear as she walked down the corridor, eyes still flickering everywhere. They were raiding a Sith Tomb - there had to be a reason they'd been shown this way. What was more, nothing had sprung out of the shadows to attack them yet, which had Aria on edge. The hall took a turn, and Aria made a small noise as she saw it lead into another courtyard, with a small glowing holocron on a pedestal, whispering enticingly.

"Judah, look," Aria said quietly, pointing her saber at the pedestal. "There'll be something to try and stop us for sure. Get ready."

[member="Judah Lesan Jr."]

 

[Judah Lesan Jr.]

The hallway was filled with the sound of their steps as the two walked in the direction the statue pointed. Judah was grateful for the illumination the light saber provided. JJ had seen his dad conjur a light from within himself for situations like this, but Judah was too conflicted in his core to produce such a skill. His father had always told him it comes from the light within. Judah would never admit to Aria, at least not now, but he felt as though part of him belonged in the tomb. His conversations with Tey had led him to the conclusion that while his calling had not changed it was possible the Sith and Jedi were both wrong. He'd suggested as much to her.

Runes littered the walls of the corridor. This was a curious thing to Judah. He wished he'd learned the ancient Sith. It was possible they were a warning of some sorts, a puzzle, something to tell them why a holocron was sitting in an open room unguarded. This was easy, there seemed to be no challenge to it. Could it really be this easy?

"Yeah, I agree. No way it can be this easy." Judah's eyes looked passed the woman and to the holocfon on the pedestal. The Sith were known for their tricks and challenges. Being deceptive was part of their nature, it was celebrated. The fact a holocron would be sitting in the middle of an empty room and the only challenge being the entrance didn't sit right with JJ. He was cautious for the first time in a long time as Aria suggested they would be tested in some way. His caution caused him to slow enough that the brunette passed him up.

Judah stopped moving. His hand reached out and wrapped itself around Aria's arm. It wasn't firm or harsh, just enough to stop her from going forward. "You don't think it's a trap do you? I mean the statute pointed here, the holocron is just sitting out in the open. This hasn't been easy, it's been too easy..." Judah reached into the pouch on his belt and pulled out a ration bar. He tossed it out into the room, and as it cleared the threshold of the doorway Aria had been about to cross the room filled with fire.

"Well... that is going to make things difficult..."

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

"Oh, good thinking," Aria said quietly, watching Judah trick the hallway. Then her eyes narrowed as the corridor burst into flames; indeed, that would make things difficult. With a considerable amount of energy and willpower, a Force push with a shield of some sort might keep the fire at bay, but she did not possess the strength to keep both of them safe from as much fire as there was for as long as it would require. Perhaps if they alternated...

"You can do this, right?" Pointing a hand downwards, Aria directed a stream of energy in the form of a Force push towards the floor in front of her as she took a step towards the flames. Directly where her fingers pointed, the flames dispersed, instead fleeing in every direction, and Aria took a hasty step backwards as the barrier edged an inch close. So maybe not that.

"Well, if we do something like that we can maybe make it, but it'll be fiddly and it'll be dangerous. Unless you can think of something better?" With a hopeful glance his way, Aria tried to apply logic to the situation. There was a way past, one that would seem obvious to a Sith. Oh... A hand extended, and Aria summoned the holocron from across the hallway. It remained firmly where it was, but a further hissing emanated and the red light strengthened as though she had alerted whatever controlled the tomb's tricks and traps to their presence. Kark.

"And I don't think we'll have an infinite amount of tries."

[member="Judah Lesan Jr."]