Serran and Atrus exited hyperspace and were now orbiting around the planet full of cities, Coruscant. It was strange to be back on this planet. Serran had made it his life's goal to leave Coruscant after he left the Jedi order but now he had willingly come back to it.
Atrus spun around in the pilot's chair. "Why are we here? We both have bounties placed on our heads." He asked bitterly.
Serran stepped forward and looked out the window to get a better look at the planet. It was dark but lit up by all of the buildings. "We're going to the shrine in the depths." He said, staring out the window.
Atrus tilted his head slightly. "The shrine... in the depths?"
Serran turned his head towards Atrus. "Do you have a problem with that?" He asked threateningly, gently placing a hand on his lightsaber clipped to his belt.
"No," Atrus responded carefully. The Shrine in the Depths was an ancient Sith shrine situated at a force vergence on the planet Coruscant, constructed before the rise of the modern Galactic Republic. The Jedi Order later constructed the Jedi Temple over the shrine, hoping to neutralize its dark energies, and occasionally nullified dark side artifacts inside of it. The Sith constructed the shrine on the planet Coruscant around four millennia ago on top of a sacred spire, a powerful light side vergence, hoping to corrupt it with the dark side of the force, which eventually succeeded. The enormous black edifice stood against the Coruscant sky as a symbol of Sith dominance until it was razed by the Jedi at the end of a great war.
Following the Sith Order's defeat, the Four Masters created the Jedi Temple over the shrine's foundations in a symbolic attempt to bury the legacy that the Sith had left behind on the galactic capital. The Jedi also hoped that the placement of their temple over the shrine, and the presence of so many light-side users within it would serve to neutralize and cap the dark power inherent in the shrine, and eventually return the vergence to the light side. The shrine itself was something of an oddity, as such places were known to exist only on planets that had been historically considered to be Sith worlds. But this one, it was on Coruscant, a planet known for its light side energies and for being the galactic capital. Why would someone decide to create a dark side force vergence on a light side world dominated by Jedi? Serran needed to know.
Atrus flew the ship into the planet's atmosphere. They had picked a spot that had a few to no ships orbiting it. Once they broke the atmosphere, Atrus slowed the ship. "Where to?" He asked.
Serran thought for a moment. He knew this place better than the rogue trooper did but how would he even get to the shrine in the depths? It was underneath the Jedi temple of all places. If he showed himself anywhere near the temple then hundreds of troopers would be going after him and he would have no escape. He looked out the window and spotted the ginormous hole that led to the lower levels of Coruscant. That was it. "We're going to level twenty."
"Excuse me, what?" Atrus asked, unsure if Serran was serious.
"You heard me correctly." He replied.
Atrus laughed. "You expect me to fly all the way down there where all the scum live?! And where the air is barely breathable?!" He screamed.
Serran looked him dead in the eye. "Is that a problem?" He said, saying each word with bitterness.
Atrus laughed again but this time as a way to show his fury and how much he hated this plan. "Yes, that is a damn problem! There is no way that I'm going down there just so you can do some weird force stuff!"
Serran sighed and reached out a hand. "You will take me to the shrine in the depths." He said loudly and clearly, drawing on the force to rewrite his companion's thoughts.
"Your force tricks won't work on me. I've been around plenty of Jedi and their mind tricks haven't worked on me once." Atrus boasted.
"Jedi don't use mind tricks on their underlings." Serran corrected. He knew that all too well. He sighed again and pulled out a pouch of credits. He threw it in Atrus's lap. "It's yours. Now take me to level ten." He demanded.
Atrus opened the pouch. His eyes widened at the sight of all the credits. He closed the pouch and tucked it away. "Fine." The ship accelerated and flew to the entrance of the lower levels. Once at the gaping hole, the ship descended.
~
"You have succeeded in capturing the terrorists on Chandrila." A council member congratulated Meera. She bowed slightly in response.
"Thank you, master." She thanked. She was standing in the middle of the Jedi Council meeting room. Only four of the Masters had attended in person while the others attended as holoprojections. Kresonri was one of the four that attended in person.
"Since you have proved your worth to us," One of the council members began, "We have decided to give you another mission. This mission is to transport an ancient Sith artifact to the sanctum of the exalted. Master Kramsilva will be joining you." He finished.
Meera nodded. "May I ask what this artifact will be?" She asked.
"The artifact is a knife written in the ancient tongue of the original Sith." Kresonri chimed in. "It must be neutralized."
~
Meera exited the council room and now walked through the white stone hallways of the temple. "Master Kramsilva is waiting for me." She said to herself. Sith Artifacts, sometimes known as Sith treasures, were priceless dark side items, ancient in their creation but invaluable to darksiders for their potency and unique interaction with the dark side of the Force. Sith artifacts included Sith spellbooks, Sith amulets and talismans, Sith holocrons, Sith swords, and Sith scrolls or tomes. Sith Artifacts were deemed highly dangerous. While some of them were known for their healing powers, Sith amulets and talismans were weapons of the dark side, channeling immense dark side power. They also granted the ability to learn Sith scrolls and spellbooks, containing dark knowledge of Sith alchemy and ideology, which were often plagued by their author's madness, driving their reader insane.
Around four millennia ago, after the Great Hyperspace War, most of the Sith Artifacts were destroyed or taken by the Jedi Order to prevent the propagation of Sith ideology and their fall into the wrong hands. These were stored in the sanctum of the exalted which was also known as the shrine in the depths to the Sith.
Meera made her way down a winding staircase that led to the sanctum. The master she would meet at the entrance was already waiting for her and she didn't want to keep him waiting. She could tell that the staircase was old. It was made purely of smooth stone that had small cracks in it. The stone was stained with water damage and age.
Once down the winding staircase, she could see a person standing in front of a large rectangular entrance made of stone. She recognized the person as a Miraluka. The Miraluka were a Near-Human species that differed from Humans in that they lacked eyes, only retaining vestigial eye sockets, and saw the environment around them through Force sight instead of regular vision. This vision was so strong that if a Miraluka looked upon a Jedi or Sith, they could "see" Force radiating off them. The strength of a Miraluka's connection to the Force varied by individual.
Because of their connection to the Force, many Miraluka were drawn to the Jedi Order. Miraluka Jedi fought in the Great Sith War and helped shape the Jedi Order for centuries to come. Miraluka Sith was extremely rare, as the species' outlooks on life and the Force were largely incompatible with Sith teachings. However, as with all who felt the Force, a fall to darkness was possible with the Miraluka just as with any other species.
"I've been waiting for you, Tendulkar." The Miraluka greeted.
"Sorry for the wait. It took me longer than expected to get here, Master Kramsilva." Meera answered. The Miraluka nodded.
"I see," He said. "I suppose you know what we will be sealing in the sanctum?" He asked. Kramsilva had an odd presence. Even though he had no eyes and covered his empty sockets with a thick piece of cloth, she felt like she was being watched from all over. Perhaps it was the master's force sight or maybe it was the sheer presence of all the Sith artifacts in the blocked-off room beside the two. Either way, she didn't like it.
"Yes, I do," Meera answered. "A dagger carved with the ancient Sith language."
Kramsilva took the dagger out from inside his long dark brown robes. He held it out in front of him. "Yes, this dagger has Sith words carved into its surface." He said. He dragged a finger across its surface and felt the carved words. The dagger was thin and made of sharp stone instead of metal. The shape of it was peculiar though. Instead of maintaining a sort of triangular shape, the middle of the dagger was narrow and split the dagger into two oval-like shapes. The cross-guard curved upward as well. The Jedi master placed two fingers on the edge of the cross-guard. "There's a secret about this dagger that many can miss." He started.
"A secret?" Meera asked cautiously. She felt threatened and with her being a Zeltron, could sense something wrong with the master as if he were hurting. Her instincts were telling her to make him happy and to ease his pain but she couldn't do it. She was afraid.
"This." Kramsilva grabbed onto something in the cross-guard and pulled it out. It was a thin sheet of metal that curved upward and pointed. "It points to the whereabouts of the Sith'ari." He explained.
"How do you know that?" Meera asked, unsure of what to do and if she should trust the master or not.
"The Sith text is imbued with the force, making me able to read what it says," Kramsilva answered, raising the dagger to his covered eye sockets.
"Why can you read that?" Meera demanded, putting a hand on her lightsaber. She didn't want to believe it. She couldn't. But still, she knew. She knew from the very moment she came down here.
Kramsilva chuckled. "You remind me so, so much of her. Your force energies are so similar and you're even the same species." He admitted. Then he sighed. "It's a shame," he whispered, "I'll have to kill you just like I did with my wife."
Meera drew her green blade and held it in front of her. "You're a traitor to the Order." She said softly. "I knew it."
"No," Kramsilva countered, "The Order betrayed me." He drew his lightsaber and ignited its green blade. "The Order forced me to leave my wife and let her die from a disease that I could have prevented. They did this. They made me like this."
Meera dropped her arms low and then attacked from below, swinging her lightsaber upward at Kramsilva. The master blocked the strike. He thrust out his hand and threw Meera onto the stairs using the force. She did a backflip and landed on one of the steps. She then jumped down and swung her lightsaber horizontally. The master stepped back far enough to dodge the potentially fatal attack.
Kramsilva drew on the force and pushed his arms out. Meera created a force barrier around herself just in time to block the attack. Kramsilva chuckled. "You've already lost." Meera then noticed that the master didn't have his lightsaber on him anymore. She looked to her side and saw his green blade coming straight for her neck. She brought up her lightsaber and blocked the hovering lightsaber. Kramsilva was controlling his lightsaber with the force alone but it was still hard to keep it from killing her.
"That's... a dirty trick." She said in a strained voice, still blocking the lightsaber from cutting her throat.
"There's no such thing as a dirty trick when in a duel," Kramsilva replied. He brought up his other hand and used the force to pin Meera against the wall behind her. She stood no chance against him.
"You don't need to do this. Don't let the dark side twist your mind into doing something you'll only regret," Meera pleaded. Her abilities were nothing compared to a Jedi master who had spent far much more time training in the ways of the force.
"I am doing what's right. Not what I'll regret."
~
The vessel landed on a landing pad. They had successfully reached level twenty of Coruscant. Serran and Atrus both stepped out of the ship. He was back. Serran was back in the place he had been longing to forget for so long. Level twenty was one of the lowest points that someone could reach on Coruscant. Even though it was barely habitable down here, there were still people who survived off of what little there was.
"What are we even doing here?" Atrus sneered. He glared at every bit he could see; the rusted metal beams holding up the ceiling around the landing pad, the mold and moss growing on the floor in damp areas, and the beggars huddled by walls.
"I told you already, I'm going to go to the shrine in the depths," Serran repeated. He walked briskly away from the landing pad and went down a street. Atrus ran to him.
"Yeah, but, what exactly are we doing here? You said you hated this place so why bother coming back?" Atrus argued.
Serran sighed. "I'm going to attempt to corrupt a force vergence back to the dark side and kill a certain person that has been messing with my plans." He turned his head to face Atrus. "Happy now?"
Atrus nodded. "Look," He started. "I don't want to get caught up in all this Jedi and Sith stuff that you're obsessed with." He looked up and sighed. The ceiling had small animals running across beams of metal. "I'm just a simple man trying to stay away from conflict so I won't get in your way, okay?"
"I don't need your help anymore. Stay with the ship until I come back and then we'll part ways." Serran said abruptly, dismissing the moment Atrus was trying to create.
Atrus stopped walking and put his arms out. "Well, screw you too, man," He shouted as he walked backward toward the ship. He spun around and headed off. After all the time they spent together, Serran still didn't trust him. He could see why but it still infuriated him that a guy who he had spent a few days with didn't trust him enough to let him go with him to do something important.
Serran left Atrus with the ship and headed off. He breathed in deeply and opened himself up to the force, letting it guide him to the shrine in the depths. Even though it had only been a couple of months since he had left Coruscant behind and had made a new life for himself, it still felt like it had been ages since he had been here. He could feel every bit of pain, fear, and hatred that he had of this place. He could feel it in the scum who lived on the streets here as well.
He felt a faint calling in the force coming from the north. He stopped walking and closed his eyes, focusing on pinpointing where this calling was coming from. He saw a large stone wall with an entrance guarded by two temple guards. Though it was for only a split second, he saw where he needed to go.
He drew on the force and used it to strengthen himself. With the push of his foot on the cracked concrete, he pushed himself forward and sprinted towards the force vergence, his black robes flying behind him as he dodged beams of metal and people. The air down here was thick and smelled of mildew.
It was always spectacular how the force could make a person so much stronger than the average person with only a little effort. The fact that one could almost run as fast as a speeder by only being force sensitive was so interesting to Serran.
Serran could make out the silhouettes of two figures in the distance. Because he was planning on ending all his troubles once and for all, he had decided to bring the lightsaber he had taken from the twi'lek Jedi back on the cruiser where he was imprisoned with him. He figured he would try using two lightsabers at once for any foes he wanted to eliminate quickly.
Once he was close enough to the two temple guards standing by an entrance, he jumped and climbed up a beam, launched himself off of the beam, dove toward the guards, igniting both his lightsaber and the blue one he stole, and decapitated the two at once.
The door the two guards were stationed at was a small arched doorway with smaller arches carved into the frame. The door looked ancient. Serran could feel the force resonating behind this door. He was getting closer. He could feel it.
Placing a hand on the door, he blasted it open with the force alone. The inside was narrow and dark, perhaps a corridor of some sort. He extinguished the blue lightsaber but kept his out to use it as a light source.
He entered the corridor, his lightsaber illuminating the walls in a red glow. Immediately following his entry, a long staircase came into view. He couldn't tell when the steps stopped but he felt that this was the right direction.
With each step he took up the staircase, he could feel the force becoming stronger and stronger like it was calling specifically to him. The narrow corridor looked ancient. The walls were cracked and had cobwebs attached to them and the floors were covered in a thick layer of dust that flew up into a cloud with every step. No one had been here for ages.
He continued walking up the staircase. He stopped walking. He felt the force surge behind the wall next to him, even more powerful than before. He placed a hand on the wall and attempted to create a hole in it with the force. It didn't work. He sighed and reached into his black robes. He pulled out a charge and attached it to the wall. He backed away from the wall and detonated the charge, causing the wall to be destroyed and creating a huge hole.
He coughed up the dust from the explosion and then entered the entrance he created. He gasped at what he saw before him. "I should have known it was you," he spat. Before him were two Jedi. One of them was laying on the stone ground with a piece of the wall buried in his chest and the other was standing against a wall. The one alive Jedi was a zeltron with long, braided, brown hair and warm pink skin with a scar across her left eye.
"Meera."