"Where is Eris? I don't feel her."
"I don't either." Evan replied as he dusted himself off. He moved into the hall with the light and saw prints leading into the chamber on the other side. That was only a small part of the many foot prints in the dust. Much larger feet than he had or the two women showed on top and from the scuffs in the dirt the person had held a stance before running.
"Someone was here and caught her."
"Evan, why would she run? It makes no sense for her to run and she didn't go back the way we came."
"She didn't have much of a choice. Come on let's follow." Bastila nodded as they moved ahead. It didn't take long before the trail crossed over itself many times. They followed the most likely path and continued to reach one intersection of hallways or another several times.
"This is getting us no where. I do not feel that she is in any danger."
"Agreed, we need to stop using our eyes." Bastila when down on the floor and got comfortable as Evan joined her. They both reached out with the Force increasing the bubble around them reaching out farther and farther. Bastila felt her battle meditation grow and she had a rough sense of everyone who was close as it expanded out she connected with more and more beings. Some were bright in the Force while other were normal. A few were dimmer than they should have been. Animals of many different sizes joined into the large area she felt. Many had a purpose and she subconsciously aided them in their efforts. Many of the Jedi were searching for something while some meditated or practiced far above.
She wondered as she touched a clone for the first time and could not separate the one from the other. The feelings she got from those beings made her nearly break her concentration, but they raised her curiosity first. She got the impression that these being were watching the Jedi. She did not know that they were soldiers or what their purpose seemed to be other than a feeling that did not sit right.
Several tunnels away Ahsoka sank to the floor no longer able to think straight. She was tired and wondering why she even came on this slug hunt. She was sure she could find her way back just from how she was the only one to walk this hall in forever. She closed her eyes only for a minute.
"Ahsoka." Her eyes flew open to see Master Kenobi face dimly reflected in his glow lamps light.
"I'm awake, master."
"It is fine. I am tired as well."
"How long have I, seven hours! How could I sleep so long?"
"We have been down here for two days. They have called off the search as scout droids are mapping the tunnels for a more thorough search."
"What of Anakin?"
"I haven't reached him yet. He feels far off.
Let me refresh and I will lead you to the check point."
"Very well, master." Ahsoka shifts into a more comfortable sitting position as she reaches out with the Force. She doesn't understand most of what she sees, but her search has a bit of success. She can feel her master far below her and off to the side. He feels okay, but very concerned. This raised an alarm in her mind as he had never felt this way before.
"Master, Kenobi?" She opened her eyes and he was leaning against the wall. She shook him and he did not wake. "Talk about me being tired." Ahsoka stood and hummed adding the audio map to what she was seeing. She moved down the hall leaving Kenobi far behind as she followed the sounds echoing in the hallways.
"Oh, my head."
"Easy now we're on solid ground."
"Let go of me." Eris tried to get out of his grasp, but he held her tight.
"Hold on you are going to hurt yourself." She gave up struggling as he held her with more than just his arms.
"You have me at your mercy." She relaxed in his arms strangely feeling safe.
"Hey, I am not going hurt you, but I am curious. What was that power you used. It felt so cold, dark?"
"If I told you I would have to tell you how I was trained."
"I don't see that as a problem. From what little I can see we are not going anywhere any time soon." Eris looked around and if she didn't know she was far below the planet city of Coruscant she would think she was in an old ancient city.
"My people train in the Force. We use all of the Force and the skills the light or the dark give us. Some follow the light others the dark. More follow a middle path. In our training we are required to use the dark side for a year or more than we turn back from the dark and into the light again."
"What would be the purpose of using the darkside? It is wrong."
"No staying only in the light is wrong. As a Force Adept we are taught both ways, so we can find our balance. Only then can we move on and up. I am an Ashla Adept, but I am stronger in the dark side. That is what you felt as I let my anger and frustration lashed out."
"What ever you did saved our lives." Anakin looked over to where they nearly landed. Eris saw the many narrow poles and spikes covering a nearby mound. "Does it not make you a Sith to used the darkside?"
"A Sith is a species who were strong in the dark side. Warriors yearning for battle. Their lust combined with the Force made them monsters. Corrupted the darkside as they used it for selfish reasons. For them hate and suffering was the only way to live. But they were wrong."
"The Sith use only the darkside. They are evil?"
"Am I evil because I used the darkside? No, Jedi I am not. Are you pure because Jedi only use the light? Do they not cause suffering as well?"
"No, we are the defenders of peace, justice." Eris shook her head. "You do agree?"
"I may not have seen the galaxy as much as you have, but you are no different. You fight battles and destroy as much as they do. Cause chaos in the wake of your battles. Your temple is pulsing with the darkside."
"The temple is a place of peace and calm. A place to heal. The darkside is nothing like that." Eris moved slowly out of his arms. She felt conflicted now. She felt his aura and his words conflicted with who he was.
"I need to heal. Meditate with me."
"We need to find a way out of here. Not meditate."
"You could go if you like, but I have several bones broken."
"I'll carry you."
"I would rather heal. Come I need your strength." Eris moved as best as she could as she focused on introspection.
"Who are you."
"Ashla Adept Eris Harret."
"Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker."
"Then Anakin help me." Eris began to glow making Anakin curious. He sat like she did and reached out in the Force. He felt her and the Force guided him suddenly in what he needed to do. Slowly he started to glow as his eyes closed. From a distance Ahsoka sees at first a white light growing brighter as a red glow joined in with the white. Ahsoka moved forward between the ancient shrines and statues of long forgotten Jedi. As she got closer she saw the light change as two different colors, one blue and the other red. When she finally came into the small clearing the two colors had merged into purple before pulsing white. As the light faded she saw Anakin and this other Jedi meditating.
"Skyguy!" She yelled out as she rushed over.
"Snips. I would like you to meet Eris." Ahsoka stopped as she looked from him to the woman. Her eyes shined with the brightest blue she had ever seen. She gasped as she saw Anakin's eyes. They had turned a bright red as in contrast to the blue.
"Master are you alright?"
"I am fine, Snips. Why are you acting defensive?"
"You're eyes, they're glowing red." Anakin closed his eyes and shook his head as if to clear it. The one called Eris flared briefly and the tension left Anakin's posture. When they opened their eyes again, Ahsoka blinked several times as the strange glowing was gone.
"Never mind." Ahsoka looked around and the place felt colder, eerie in how it felt. "What is this place?"
"No idea Snips. We came from up there. I hope you have an easier way out." Ahsoka looked up and clicked a few times. Her eyes widened as she brought them back down to look at the two.
"That is about 200 meters you fell. No way you could survive that."
"We did not come out of it without injury. Come I need to eat and you look like you could use something as well." Eris pulled off her pack and snapped another glow stick. She handed out some of her rations. She stood unwrapping her bar and taking a bite as she looked around.
"What is this made of?!"
"Ewe, this is disgusting. You eat this stuff?"
"It has everything you need for the day. It will give you plenty of energy." Eris looked at them as they made strange faces while they ate. She then chuckled as they were so similar in action. She ate about half of her bar as she looked around. There was something calling her and she started to step in that direction.
"Hey the way out is back that way."
"Anakin, do you not feel it?"
"Feel what?"
"That we were drawn to this place. It is so filled with the Force. Almost too much. I should still be injured, but I am not. This is power, strength."
"I only feel cold. That is the darkside."
True young one, but not all of it. Something hidden. Out of sight. Something out of balance. Focus you can feel it."
"The feeling here is intense. Over here." Anakin passed Eris and headed the direction that Eris was going to go. Ahsoka followed her master and the strange Jedi. She had never seen this woman before. The three of them wandered around the ancient structures until the came to a solid monolith. It pulsed with the Force stronger then anything the three had ever experienced. Pure neither light nor dark, the unified Force of Life of the very planet. Spiraling around the nexus was a tendril of darkness, corruption. Ahsoka followed the trail as Anakin moved along its route.
"What do you think that leads to?"
"A darkness I have not felt in years or millennia."
"Revan, Bastila so nice to see you."
"There you are and the outlanders we are looking for."
"Master Kenobi."
"The Council wants to talk to you. To ask you to explain what your purpose being here is about."
"A honeymoon of sorts. That is what I had planned. A scouting mission to see the state of the Republic. Of all things I did not think to delve into the depths of the Jedi Temple."
"Yet here you are. I suggest we return to the surface. I doubt we have enough water to remain here for very long."
"You worry of water when the very foundation of the Temple is tainted. Can you not feel the imbalance? A corruption lies behind that stone."
"Eris are you sure?" She nodded.
"Open yourself to the Force you can't miss it."