Chapter 119: 119. Chapter

-From the perspective of Nizzal-

We have been walking through the dark corridors without trouble, while keeping a pretty good pace. Naturally, it was all thanks to Lily’s and her freshly hatched swarms’ guidings. This way, we could circle around the groups of tuk’atas, and hordes of shyracks which were very annoying bat like creatures that usually swarmed their preys utilizing their ungodly numbers. Well, and their body size… which was similar to a medium-sized dog. So yeah, pretty terrifying in all its glory.

Still, one shyrack or even a handful would pose little danger to us… However, such creatures that lived in the dark caves in their entire lives naturally developed excellent hearing. Not only their outward look resembled bats after all…

Because of this, I advised the group to try to avoid any type of contact with the beasts, as their shrill shrieks could bring hundreds if not thousands of shyracks on our heads that would no doubt result in our immediate death.

Thanks to my timely warnings, the girls, and by that I mean Kali and Barriss, have managed to shut their mouths and focus their whole being on not being noticed by the flying rats. It was a long silent walk, where only Lily spoke up a few times, in a whispering tone to give us directions or ask our opinion of certain routes.

Aside from the more obvious abominations, the caves were filled by less dangerous critters and bugs as well. I naturally had a lot of memories from Korriban, all of them from previous memory holders that meant they were out of date. Still, the fact that I knew most of the creatures from a single glance, with their general threat level and possible uses, has proved helpful. I have even gathered a few handfuls of edible moss. Its taste was bitter and watery, but beggars can’t be choosers.

The thought brought back a series of childhood memories, from times when I was looking for scraps of food across the barren streets of Ryloth. I expected a sense of disgust and dread to assault me with the memories, as it usually did, but to my surprise, it did not happen this time.

It seems that changing the internal structure of my archive, while fighting against the fear of what I was, no… of what I am, my past, that is, has resolved some unexpected issues. It could only be connected to my newly received Darth name. It was a welcomed surprise for once. Successfully overcoming a troublesome trauma and integrating it into your functional personality is always a reason to be delighted.

I noted to myself, as we took another sharp turn, presumably heading towards the general direction of the other people wandering around these caves. Normally it would have intrigued me how they managed to end up here, but I was getting tired and couldn’t allow myself such a luxury to think about such stuff.

In the last few hours, I was constantly on high alert, and even before that… watching the creeping shadows, while dreading the reappearance of that bastard of a Sith. It was not that I didn’t trust in the scouting ability of Lily’s swarm, as it had proved immensely useful already. It was more like that the Sith Lord could use a large variety of tricks through the cunning use of the force, which could easily hide him from the eyes of those less knowledgeable in the intricate workings of force techniques.

I didn’t show it to the others, for obvious reasons, but the earlier encounter had already drained a lot of my energy. Keeping up with the strikes of a physically much more agile and powerful opponent was always tiresome. It was only so much that the force and an unhealthy dose of adrenaline could do with a child’s body.

Using the force to reinvigorate my muscles was working, of course, but it couldn’t be done endlessly… Especially not in the current situation, I mean… yes quickening your regeneration was a good thing, but it also quickened your metabolism, and that meant you will start burning energy with an abnormal speed.

As if it was listening into my thoughts, my stomach started to growl loudly.

I winced from the embarrassing noise, as I felt three pairs of piercing eyes burrow into my skin. I could easily imagine their amused expressions hidden behind the veil of darkness. I sighed, accepting the inevitable.

Just as I expected, the first sarcastic comment arrived soon enough. It was none other than Barriss who said it, which slightly surprised me, but it probably shouldn’t have. She could hide it quite well, but her personality was not better than Kalifa’s, all things considered.

-Oh? Was that the sound of a dreadful terentatek hiding nearby?

I felt a light blush appear across my face as the snickering sounds of Kali and Barriss filled the corridor. Luckily they couldn’t possibly see it, as they were walking behind me in the line, and even if it wasn’t that way, the darkness would hide it pretty effectively.

I decided to ignore them all together, which suited me fine because I liked to delude myself that I was above such childish remarks… Which honestly should have been the case, but that immunity tended to only extend towards those people who I didn’t know personally.

At least, the heavy mood which was following us eased a bit thanks to that.

I guess this wasn’t all that bad.

I sneaked another mouthful of foul tasting moss into my mouth, trying to abate my growing hunger. Should have stored some of that tuk’ata meat earlier… Wait… on second thought… forget it. She poisoned them, and based on how they reacted to her poison, I wouldn’t fare much better. Ugh…

We took another turn at the next corner, this time in the opposite direction. We only took a few steps before I practically bumped into Lily’s back. Her fifth and sixth appendage chittering in front of my face, way too close for comfort.

I stepped back and glared at Lily’s back.

-What is it? Why did you stop so suddenly?

She moved slightly, turning back to look at me with those glowing eyes of hers. I looked past her and saw a strange blinking light. I raised my lightsaber a bit higher to provide more light, and the weak contours of a pressure door seemed to rise out of the darkness.

I blinked.

-A door? Here?

Lily, on the other hand, didn’t seem surprised by this revelation. She continued to stare at me with a bored expression.

The girls behind me also pushed forward in the narrow corridor, their curiosity driving them up against my back.

Barriss was the first one who reinforced my earlier observation. Quite needlessly if I might add.

-Look, look! It’s really a door, and it is in working order!

-Argh, Barriss move out of the way I also want to see it!

Complained Kalifa.

-Humph… it is not my fault that you are so small.

Noted Barriss. It seems that she, after all, managed to acclimatize to the new dark cave environment. Otherwise, I could hardly understand how her mood remained so jovial in such circumstances. A pity…

-Me small? Don’t make me laugh. Compared to Nizzal, I am a literal giant.

I was about to eat another bite of moss, but I found myself spluttering in place. What was their problem with me?

-Yeah… but she is like thirteen, or what? You can’t really be proud of that… That just makes you more pitiful, and a bully.

-You can’t be serious with the last part…

I couldn’t take it any longer…

-Would you shut up and stop pushing me!? Yes, it’s a door, and I am about to cut an opening into it… also, just for the record… I am fourteen.

There was another awkward silence filling up the room, and I could hear the smirking and whispering behind my back while I walked up to the door…

-Uh, someone is angry…

Whispered Kalifa conspiratorially. Naturally, she didn’t know when to shut up. Luckily Barriss had a bit more sense on that note and silenced her discreetly.

-Ouch? Wha-? Ugh-ummm-umm!

Or not so discreetly…

I could feel my eyes ticking with frustration, and a deep sigh unconsciously leaving my mouth. I was starting to miss the times when they were actually terrified of this place… at least they were silent.

Still, door or not… we were far from getting out of the danger zone… it was time to take things more seriously.

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-Lily, by the way, why didn’t you mention anything about this door before?

The bug girl looked at me, an eery crackle playing on her chitin plates. This current environment clearly gave an unintentional boost to her air of creepiness. She was looking me right in the eye, but didn’t said a single word.

I was starting to feel antsy under her gaze… I coughed lightly and added, trying to urge her to answer.

-So…?

With another tooth grinding noise of her natural armor, she shook her shoulders and promptly looked away from me… she was… intentionally ignoring me.

I pinched the bridge of my nose in disbelief.

-This… Sigh… Okay, fine… just let’s get over it… I can’t believe these kids…

The last part was said in an inaudible whisper, but based on the sudden snort behind me, it was not as silent as I initially intended it to be. Who cares anyway? They are openly badmouthing me behind my back.

I turned off my silver colored lightsaber and positioned it in a way that the blade was pointing towards the metal door. I was planning to cut a nice circular shape into the metal sheet. Not wasting anymore time than necessary, I ignited the blade and watched with a satisfied grin as the super-heated plasma ate through the layers of specially reinforced metals.

There were things you couldn’t get bored with over thousands of years of time. Cutting doors open with a lightsaber absolutely belongs to this category.

-From a general perspective-

A sharp clang of metal resounded through the corridors as the circular shaped part of the cut open metal door fell to the ground, stirring up a large amount of dust and sand which was now floating through the air somewhat obscuring her vision.

A grinning pale skinned twi’lek stepped over the newly created hole, stepping into a much differently furnished corridor. It was in sharp contrast to the dark, cold cave in which she was standing mere seconds ago.

-It seems… safe.

Stated the short twi’lek girl, after carefully checking the place utilizing a mixture of her senses.

Almost immediately, another girl stepped through the opening, then two more followed in tow.

-Wow, I know that I have said it many times today, but… I didn’t expect this.

Stated Kalifa, while constantly robbing her eyes, which she found very sensitive to the light in the newly opened partition of the cave.

Yes, this part was a lot cleaner than the earlier sectors, but the biggest difference was that here there were actual functioning braziers filled with burning oil carved out of the walls and running alongside the far stretching corridors.

Barriss was the last person who stepped into the newly opened chamber. She was also covering her eyes while wincing from the discomfort caused by the abrupt change in light levels. Alas, when her eyes finally adjusted, she seemed to become even more confused. This confusion soon turned into a question, a question that all four of them were currently thinking about.

- I don’t understand. How is this possible? Could it be actually possible that there are still Sith living on Korriban, to this very day?

Unfortunately, the only answer to her question was an ominous silence.

Nizzal was just as perplexed by this discovery as any one of the padawans. By her understanding there were no such places on Korriban, there shouldn’t be any more Sith here than the still lingering ghosts of long dead Sith Lords, hollow reminders of a forgotten era, existing in pitiful forms amounting to little more than weak manifestations of hunger and terror.

Death… death was the only ruler on Korriban, for ages to come. The planet was a godforsaken desert, too tainted with the darkside for even her order to save it. This world has gone too far into the darkness. There was no chance to bring it back into the light or recreate its balance in the force. A true anchor of the Darkside, created by generation of evil deeds, endless variety of suffering and torment. Even if there was a chance for its redemption, it would take so much work and resources, time… no, even then it would be little more than a frivolous idea.

Nizzal shook her head, clearing her mind for unnecessary thoughts. It was not the time to be stuck in your memories, girl. She chided herself, narrowing her eyes, trying to observe the other side of the hall.

A cold shiver ran over her skin, immediately jolting her awareness into the sky… She observed her surroundings with a new suspiciousness.

Something isn't right…

She thought, gazing into the slowly flowing cloud of dust still lingering in the air.

The dust… it was moving in a strange pattern… as if… a sudden blur caught in the edge of her vision. She faced towards the movement in a fluid motion. Directed a lot more from muscle memory than actual conscious intent.

Her eyes widened with new realization as she saw the strange blur moving through the dust, her blade already activated. She raised it above her head in a desperate parry, just in time as a heavy vibroblade edge hammered down on her blade, held in her thin arms.

-AMBUSH!

She screamed, warning the others as the blade was pushing down on her just about to cut into her shoulder. The power behind that strike was immense. She couldn’t hope to stand against it for much longer. The muscles strained in her whole body, trying to lift the blade just enough to allow herself a chance of moving out of the direction of the impending attack, however, before her attempt could have proved successful or otherwise she felt a powerful air current slam into her invisible attacker.

Pushing it out of balance, and allowing her the chance to jump to the right, while delivering two precise cuts with her blade towards the locations, she believed that her attacker’s left arm and leg were positioned.

To her delight, both counterstrikes connected, but not exactly in the places she expected. One of her attacks hit the leg, that was true, but the other has somehow managed to cut off the head of her ambusher. As a result, a beheaded form of a tall droid seemed to manifest, laying in the dust in front of her.

Seeing the strangely familiar form of the droid, her eyebrows continued to crease further. She felt a sense of lightheadedness, as she checked the droid’s motionless body again and again, only to come to the same conclusion as the first time.

It was a HK model. She admitted at last… One that definitely tried to kill her just now. But what could this mean?

She felt dizzy from the thoughts alone. There could be only one feasible answer… She was betrayed by one of the apostles none the less. Alas… that was impossible.

Soon she was forcefully pulled out of her ominous thoughts as Barriss’s worried face filled up her entire vision. There were a few pairs of hands grabbing onto her arms and shoulders, checking over her body in search of some sort of injury, predictably.

She turned off her lightsaber and allowed them to fuss over her. As they were clearly in an elevated state of emotion. She was one to talk… her heart was about to smash through her ribcage… It was only now that her tunnel vision started to clear up, and she began to hear the voices of her friends shouting her name in a worried voice.

She raised her arms, focusing her eyes on her companions, and said with a disgustingly weak voice.

-Girls, calm down… I am fine…

All three of them seemed to relax their shoulders sagging with relief, but it did not last long, as a new spark seemed to ignite in Barriss’ eyes.

-For the force's sake, then just say so next time! You were standing there for like half a minute looking out of your head with a damn creepy as hell expression!

-Yeah!

Added Kali as if she wanted to reinforce that statement.

However, Nizzal couldn’t laugh at their antics this time. She was about to submerge in her thoughts once again, which caused the others to glance at her with newfound worry.

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