The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano, Book Ten

Chapter Ninety-Nine: Risking Oblivion

MAUL

The walk down a hall lit by the faint red glow of the power of the Dark Side running through ancient glyphs had been fairly short, but already Maul could sense they were getting close to their destination.

The dark, absolute power the place iminated was unmistakable – that of the artifact that had resided there for generations even more so. Maul drank it all in, letting it fuel him and return to him the strength he had lost lifting the doors.

To this day, Maul wondered why Sidious had not come to claim the prize that would bend the Temple's will to his. When Maul had first asked during their visit here many years before, he had been told that the holocron and the destructive power it had the potential to unleash was insurance for a later date, and not to question him further.

It was an opportunity that, after today, would be lost to him forever... or so Maul's visions had told him. And having been marooned in a place so strong in the Dark Side for nearly two years had allowed him to expand his mental field of vision tenfold – he was confident they spoke truly.

"Behold the key," Maul said as the hallway ended, leading off to a platform overlooking a steep drop down into impenetrable darkness.

Across from them, a stone podium hovered in a sea of shadows, held up by a single support beam. Around it jutted stone outcroppings, opened like the petals of some ghastly flower or teeth of a wild beast. Maul saw the ancient machinery hidden in those stony jaws, and wondered briefly what it would take to activate it.

Ezra started, staring across the gap at the blocky pyramidal pillar – or, more accurately, what floated inside it. "It's a holocron!"

"You know of them?" Clearly, the boy has been better trained than I thought...

"Yeah. My Master has one, but it's..." Ezra hesitated for a moment, searching for a word. "Different."

"Because this is a Sith holocron; one that holds all their secrets."

"Well, how do we get to it?" Ezra asked, gesturing to the drop that separated them from their prize with a perplexed frown.

Maul went over the possibilities in his mind. The distance was too far to jump – even for the old masters of the Force from before the time of the Empire, and even that of the Republic – and neither he nor Ezra had climbing equipment. Besides, the ceiling above them was far too high and smooth to hope to anchor any sort of rope or ascension cable, anyway.

"It is a test," Maul said finally. "Only someone with the courage to risk oblivion is worthy to claim it."

Yes... risk oblivion indeed. The Master and apprentice must give themselves totally to the Rule Of Two or they will never succeed in getting the holocron back and learning the knowledge they seek. But how to succeed? Could this be why Sidious never sought to claim the holocron for his own save as a last resort when the need was dire?

"Throw me."

Maul was shocked into silence. Is he mad?

"Yeah, throw me. I'll jump, and then you use the Force to throw me. My Master and I do it all the time... well, a few times, anyway." The flicker of self-doubt on Ezra's face faded away, replaced by steely determination Maul had only ever seen in a few people before. "Look, we can do this."

It's unorthodox, true, but perhaps...

Maul inclined his head, and Ezra scrambled back to the mouth of the hallway that had led them here. Then, he nodded, and Ezra ran to the edge of the platform.

Maul caught him just as his feet were leaving the smooth stony ground, making the best use of the momentum he already had as he channeled the Force to propel him across the empty void.