Private Pitty the Dead who never Died

[Empor]

It was easy for the eyes blind in the Force to mistake the feral beauty of Halcyon for a place of tranquility. The illusion of peace was quick to find roots in the mind of the ignorant or he fearless, for the dense flora covered much of the scattered hints of the planet's grim realities. The little light that pierced through the canopy illuminated the black waters that bogged inbetween the ancient roots of the trees that gave the jungles the iconic height. The humidity was often trapped beneath the canopy, resulting to white ghostly flows inbetween the dark wood and the green, adding to the natural beauty of the land.

Distant echoes of the wildlife created an inexplicable sense of unease, as if the very jungle had a will of herself. On occasion, tribal drums were heard from miles away, coming from the once numerous tribes of savages and mutants and alien creatures who had somehow failed to adopt any form of technological advancement past the stone age in which they seemed stuck into. Alas, after decades of purges and conflicts with the Imperial colonial troops, the tribes were reduced to a mere fraction of their numbers, their cannibalistic rituals becoming rare enough that their death-worshipping ways were gradually passing to myth.

They were not to blame. For a Force Sensitive, the darkness that shrouded the planet was not a decay in the little civilization that had once existed, nor the result of a single event that shifted the tide. It was decades of corruption, the work of numerous dark adepts and sorcerers who had made the highest peak of the planet their base, the Blackhill Mountain, and acted in such a way the very Nexus of Halcyon shifted to the Dark. Something that was evident on every aspect of the environment, a screaming protest to the reality enforced upon it. The water was filled with toxins that gave it a characteristic dark shade, poisonous to most life forms. The beasts that lurked the wilds had become more and more aggressive, perhaps on occasion to a self-destructive degree.

Down the narrow path between the dense flora, the body of a large rodent being lied against the stone. Its blood, hot and sticky, trailing a limping path from beyond the river, to the place it collapsed, still breathing painfully by the predator's claw.

Across the path, beneath the heavy tree trunk, a beam of white light emitted in the invisible fabric of the Force; A supressed essense, too overwhelmed by the oppressive environment around it to shine as bright as it could. It was rare on Halcyon, to find any form of Kyber formations, much less, in the likes of such...

 

[Master Afarzel]

Among the beautiful nature of the planet, a planet covered by a dark Nexus, a beacon of light was standing. A Master of the Jedi Order, from when the Order was thriving before the war against Zakuul. A powerful Force sensitive with enhanced connection with the Force, like all the people of his species. A Miraluka he was. Living in a cave found into the deep forest, not much far away from the Blackhill’s temple, Master Afarzel chose to remain on the planet where his former padawan, Jedi Master Regus Vor, summoned him seeking for his guidance.

The Miraluka are a species mostly attuned with the light side. They are strongly connected with the Force and they use it to see their surroundings. As they do not have eyes anatomically, like most of the other humanoid species of the Galaxy, the Miralukas are watching only through the Force, hence, there is no Miraluka without this strong connection with it.

The connection in addition to their traditional attunement with the light side, have made Master Afarzel this Pylon of light. On a planet like Halcyon with its dark Nexus, the Jedi seemed a paradox. However, he was a Miraluka and a Master of the Jedi Order. So, the dark side aura of the planet and its corruption did not affect him. He and his apprentice, recently found out, that Master Afarzel was strangely way stronger the Force than the average people of his species. After a ritual Master Regus Vor had performed, he found out that something special existed inside his Master. What it was, it remained to be found out.

Master Afarzel recently had some visions from his past. They seemed images from another life. A life full of battles and cruelty. He did not remember any of those battles nor he could understand what the Force was trying to tell him. After he saw them and experienced a hidden part still unknown to him, he turned his mind and became a fanatic pacifist. He believed that the Force would solve any problem the lightsaber used to solve. A noble point of view and one his apprentice, Master Vor, was not sharing with his Master.

The Jedi Master, after his apprentice left the planet for some time already, left the temple where he was staying and found his own place in the woods. He made a shelter in that cave he found and strangely enough, in a radius around his presence, everything was more calm. Serenity and tranquility existed where previously there was an endless fight between predators and their victims. A small lake, a nice water supply for the Jedi, once poisoned and toxic became clean and lifegiving source for every being. This was not the only miracle occurred close to Master Afarzel. The trees changed their appearance also. From sick dark trunks and leaves they got the healthy brown and green color. Even the behavior of the animals changed. When they were coming closer to the Jedi, they were losing their desire to hunt and attack one another. Predators and their preys were drinking from the lake together. Even the light from the planet’s two stars was passing through the trees on that territory. While the whole forest was dark and depressing, on Master Afarzel’s shelter there was light and serenity for every living being.

That day, Master Afarzel had gone for a walk further away from his new home. He reached the path of blood and followed it to end up at the heavy breathing injured creature. He would not let it die in agony. It managed to escape its hunter it seems and be still alive. Once the Jedi came closer to the creature, it turned its head towards him praying for help. It was calm like the injured who finally met his rescuer. The Miraluka touched the creature’s body close to the wound and using the Force he started rapidly healing it. Soon, the creature’s pain went off and it stand on its feet. It bowed its head towards the Jedi Master as a sign of gratitude and left in rush. Master Afarzel felt satisfied after his effort of help and wanted to continue his walk when he felt the strong presence of the Force nearby. He followed that presence and he reached the strange Kyber formation. Where others could see this formation emitting a bright white beam to the sky, the Miraluka could see through the Force an even brighter beam of pure Force and the crystal formation glowing and pulsing like the heart of the living. He walks closer to that wondering what it could be. It didn’t seem like the classic Kyber crystal formation he knew. This was something different. He kneeled before it and extended his hand to examine it though the Force.

 

[Dreadheart]

Light flickers in the darkness, as the clouds of foulness spread over the skies of the Force. In stark contrast, ever protesting, of the planet's bleakness buried beneath the layers of feral beauty, the crystal beckoned the light emitted by @Master Afarzel, craving for the sensation other than what it was lost into. The appearance of said crystal was all but natural, brought into shape of a cube, stained and consumed by growing vines and dirt that felt almost magnetized by its encapsulated energy. An energy of Light. An energy of Life.

Buried; In the Darkness.

Made of what seemed to be Force-embued crystal, or a similar material fused into a crystallic form to become the object's heart, the exterior was an exoskeletal craft meant to hold the object together in a maintained shape, against the feral wrath that had already formed a thick layer of dirt, mud and vines of almost an inch thick around the object. By the very proximity of the Jedi around it, it emitted a blue light, breaking through the many pockets of air within the mud. A datacron. Primitive as it may be, in the scarce environment of Halcyon it had the very same urge for contact, the unnerving urgency, its maker had upon its creation. A mirror to a person that one could only wonder where it was now, if it still drew breath...

"Lost?" A voice heralded the light that emerged from the datacron as soon as Afarzel's hand reached close. The projection belonged to a Jedi. His reflection in the Force disturbed. He looked about, clearly stressed like a thief in the night. "Fear not!" he continued. "No one will find you down here. No, this place, they never stride!"

The Jedi turned his gaze to the Miraluka. He tilted to the side, captured by the appearance before him.

"Wait... No, this isn't right... This isn't the place! Where... are we?"

 

[Master Afarzel]

As the datacron came to life and the holoprojection of its creator appeared, Master Afarzel was watching with his unique way, the white figure among the yellow environment.

The Miralukas are detecting emissions of the Force on their surroundings. They cannot see colors. These emissions are transferring the data to Miraluka mind, converting them into shapes. The way the shapes got transferred on each individual is unknown. For Master Afarzel though, everything appears in a yellow font. The objects emitting the Force are turning into white and the absence of the Force into black, like a hole on the Force grid. From the moment everything in the universe is covered by the Force, takes a shape in the Miraluka mind depending how strongly the Force emits.

When the figure appeared, the Jedi took a step back and listened to its words. They seemed threatening at the beginning but soon came clear that the datacron was confused at the end. The Miraluka didn’t know how much time it was hidden in the jungle. How long it had been since it was activated for the last time if it ever did? Was it ancient, or recent and where was its creator? All these questions instantly filled Master Afarzel’s mind. After the first shock he decided to ask the figure.

“Who are you? Where is “down here”? Where do you think you are?”

 

[Dreadheart]

"You are a Jedi. You must be! Forgive me." the strange figure of the datacron explained himself. Signs of stress printed on the very essense of the relic, causing strange flactuations in the aura emitted by the projection. Alas, as the moments passed, the projection gradually calmed itself.
"I am Talig deKaleen" he introduced himself then, taking a deep breath, focusing himself through a clearly practiced subconcious ritual. "Jedi Master. I served in the Kantiirean Crusade, when my Enclave joined the cause against the Sith of Halcyon."
The projection was struggling to collect his thoughts. He was weary of the surrounding jungle. His eyes constantly scanning around him as he spoke, almost through muscle memory.

"This is not the place. It is not where I hid the Datacron. No, something happened! They must have found it!"

He remained silent for a moment. Pondering.

"I made this datacron in a cave, deep in the wilderness, after the battle. I knew that they would be after me, for what I found. You? Who are you?" he then immersed himself in what seemed a whole new idea. A plan of action.

"You can help me, no? I will share with you my discoveries. I will show you things none has seen for millennia! By the time you found me, now, I must have already found the truth. Or..."

He fell silent again.

"No, I have hope in me. I must have found it. When I fled the Blackhill, I wandered for days. I was short in supplies, hunted by the Sith. But my discoveries in the Libraries forced my hand, barred my mind. I had to keep on digging! This planet... This world. Halcyon. It has history. Its far more ancient than what we believe. Out there? In the wilderness? There are tribes. Natives, who are not near-human. They -are- human. When the Crusade first came to this planet, we thought they were slaves of the Sith, but no. Inside the libraries, I found records of the Sith. They studied them. They didn't bring them to this world. They found them. The Sith have been here for decades! Much earlier than the first fleet sightings! This is a major world for them. When I told Master Alkaaron of this, he told me the files were corrupt. He told me I should not dig to it, before the Jedi purify the archives.... I failed. I kept on my search. And then? When the Sith came, and the Blackhill burned? I found myself stranded in the jungle. There was no way to escape. So, I took the decision to keep up my research. And you won't believe what I uncovered...!"

 

[Master Afarzel]

“What did you uncover?”

Master Afarzel stoped. He asked too soon. Like a child listen to an interesting fairytale. He got exited by the datacron’s story, but a Jedi must be patient. He was teaching patience back on his days as a Master in the academy. The Jedi restarted his speech.

“I am Afarzel. I was a Master of the Jedi academy on the Planet Tython. Now, I am exile on the planet Halcyon. This is Halcyon. I have come here to guide my apprentice, Regus, to not fall in the dark side during his mission. I have finished this task and I am following the will of the Force. I have questions for you. Your datacron is still in the woods of the planet, near the Blackhill temple. Not in a cave of course but still in the forest. How long ago you have created it? When was that Kathiirean Crusade you mentioned and what was that huge discovery in the temple’s library? Why the natives of the planet were that important for you and your enclave? Many Sith and Jedi worlds have natives who live alongside them. Why is that so strange?”

The Miraluka Master waited for the holoprojection to fill the gaps. Something important must have been covered there.

 

[Dreadheart]

The very aura of the projection changed the moment Afarzel presented himself. It was clearly long since he had encountered any other of his fellow Jedi.

"Jedi Master?" Talig pondered. "Oh, it must have been long! Did we recapture it?" He urged, only to restrain his own self, realizing how much his anxiety had impacted his judgement. "My apologies, its been long. Very long. The Kantiirean Crusade was meant to destroy the Sith in the Sector. Master Alkaaron had finally discovered their hideout, on Halcyon. Here, where we are now! He rallied a mighty fleet, already three dozen ships by the time my Enclave agreed to sail under his banner. Kathalla, a planet not far from here, was in civil war. When the Republic navy flooded the sector, the Sith pulled out. Their allied were spent. We took Halcyon in a swift assault! More than a hundred Sith were killed in Blackhill Mountain alone."

Talig's voice changed, after recalling the incident. A strange feeling of regret usurped him.

"It shouldn't have been that way. We gave in to the taunting and the malice of the Sith. We all befell in blind rage, when we breached the Sith Temple. We all knew we fell to the Dark of this place, when we woke up in blood and corpses. Master Alkaaron told us this was a just sacrifice. Master Tarkayr led us back to the stars, leaving some to the defence of Halcyon. If only we knew, what the task was truly about... A great ion storm disrupted communications. We lost sight of the fleet for weeks, while we faced the countless natives and techno-barbarians of the jungles, along with the remnants of the Imperials and Sith that escaped the massacre. Every three we sent out, one returned. The Sith knew everything we could even conceive before we even enact it. We ended up trapped. Lost. It was then, in the libraries, when I begun my research."

As the story progressed, Talig once again sparked in enthusiasm, the passion of an explorer and a historian bright within him.

"The Sith had records of the Natives as cultists of an ancient religion. They had them registered as remnants of an old civilization, which they claimed had ties to the Sith themselves, eons ago. They had several records of programs and strange sciences they experimented in on Halcyon... But the natives? They were already there, when they came! This isn't an unexplored feral world, Master Afarzel! This planet has much history! If only I had time... Before I could finish my study, the Sith returned with fire and sword. They bled us out of Blackhill, and drove us to the wilds. We became the scavengers we once faced, while the Sith turned against the remnants we once fought. It was chaos. I remember a Sith ship being shot down by their own artillery.... But the discoveries...! Oh, I had to find them! I made this datacron so that I could retrace my old self. My old studies. This planet is foul. It changes you... It corrupts! I made a vow to make these Datacrons the more I delved into the wilderness, so one, long after I am gone, would find what I found, and tell the galaxy of this world and its secrets. I planned to travel South-West, to the high Mountain. The Sith had named it Ardasamosh; Hellmouth. A volcano, active and fiery, which the Sith studied for strange phenomena that occur around it. It is where I chose to start my journey. If you follow my trail, I could share my discoveries with you. There is so much we have yet to know. And, if I did not make it... Maybe you could finish this."