The Legend of the Jedi Queen

23. Mysteries of the Force

This time, they landed in the valley, right outside the pyramid that Jaina had specific interest in.

"One of the holocrons was a map," she explained. "This is the one that correlates with Snoke, specifically."

"Why aren't we looking for Revan's, if he was so important?" Nellith asked.

"Revan never had a tomb in the valley," Jaina said. "At least, according to that map holocron. But interestingly enough, Snoke did."

"What? Didn't he just come out of nowhere? I thought no one knew who that guy was," Nellith said.

She'd heard bits and pieces, from an incredibly reluctant Rey. Never from Ben. What she knew was that Snoke was the first Supreme Leader, and Rey and Ben had teamed up to kill him. She also had gathered, from bits and pieces, that somehow Snoke had been responsible for Ben's fall to the dark side. But most of the details were missing.

Jaina hesitated, looking very uncomfortable with the subject.

"I don't know everything about it," Jaina said, looking away. Her long hair swished forward to hide her face. "Mom. . . Mom said she knew who he was. But she never told me, or Ben. I think if she had told us or Dad, the galaxy would be a very different place."

The resentment dripped from her voice. She sighed.

"I can't say a lot, but Ben specifically wants us to check this one out," Jaina said. "You can't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you. Can you keep your mouth shut?"

Nellith only hesitated a moment before nodding.

"Ben told me he's been dreaming of Snoke again," Jaina said. "And you and I both know—"

"Snoke died fifteen years ago," Nellith finished. "Oh my gods."

She looked Jaina in the eyes.

"This isn't about the Second Order, is it? This mission is about Dad," Nellith said.

"Not completely," Jaina said. "Andromeda might be interested in Snoke. We don't know anything for sure."

"So two birds, one stone," Nellith said. "I understand."

"Good," Jaina said, standing up. "We'd better get going."

Nellith and Jaina left the Twin Suns, and started climbing the steps of the entrance to the tomb. Several rocks covered the entrance, pieces of statues and molding that had been destroyed in a feeble attempt to keep others out.

Jaina and Nellith reached out their hands, and lifted the debris out of the way. Nellith pulled out her multi-tool and illuminated the inside of the tomb. Jaina ignited her lightsaber, and the two entered the pyramid.

On the tall walls, Nellith could see painted murals and runes of some language long forgotten. Nellith knelt, trying to read and understand it.

"It's Ancient Sith," Jaina said, kneeling beside her. "See the markings? Same as on the holocrons and staffs."

"Do you think Tallis might understand it?" Nellith asked. "He seems to know a lot about all the Sith things."

"I sincerely doubt it," Jaina said. "And besides, we didn't bring anything to get holos with."

Nellith nodded, disappointed.

"But this gives us some more information than we had before," Jaina said. "We're now getting an idea how old Snoke is— at least three-thousand years is what I'm getting. Damn, I wish we brought Rey. She'd know this stuff."

"Three-thousand is probably right," Nellith said. She closed her eyes, trying to feel the Force around the room. Her fingers hovered over the wall. She could feel pure darkness and chaos surrounding her, and could feel the age. She nodded. "Definitely three-thousand."

"Interesting," Jaina said.

Nellith opened her eyes, looking up to the murals. "What could this mean?"

"I don't know, but look at the Star map over there," Jaina said, pointing up. Nellith directed her multi-tool to get a better light and squinted.

"That's Jakku," Nellith realized, seeing the highlighted spot on the map. "What does that have to do with Snoke?"

"I don't know," Jaina admitted. She looked up at it. "I think we ought to keep looking."

The two got up and continued into the next room. Several gold treasures and comforts littered the room. It appeared that Snoke had lived in opulence when the tomb was created— although Nellith wondered why the tomb had been created.

He lived so much longer than this, he never died, Nellith thought. What happened here?

As Jaina used her lightsaber to investigate the artifacts within the tomb, Nellith approached a section of the wall, suspecting something was different about it. She couldn't pinpoint what it was—perhaps it was merely a feeling.

Whatever it was, Nellith reached out for the wall, and immediately felt the darkness. Overwhelmed by it, Nellith retracted her hand with a yelp.

"Everything alright?" Jaina asked.

"There's something behind the wall." Nellith's voice trembled a little. She outstretched her hand, and saw her fingers shake. Nonetheless, she decided to open the side of the wall, using the Force.

With a great shake, the wall rumbled inward, revealing a passage, and within it, bright red light. Nellith clipped her multi-tool on her belt and grabbed her magenta lightsaber. She held it up high, fingers still trembling as she entered the passage.

The red light warbled as it spoke, in a voice that surprisingly resembled Tallis's.

"My greatest mistake in my studies was her," the voice said. "I wanted to open myself to the power of the dark side of the Force. She claimed she could teach me everything, if I let her in. She claimed that all she wanted from me in return was to help her find her family. I never knew what she meant by that, but I figured I could shortchange her. I was wrong."

The voice sounded frightened. "I don't have much time, before she takes over again. I should have listened to my master, Plagueis. But I didn't. I have doomed the entire galaxy. Whatever I, Snoke, become, let this be said— beware Abeloth, she—"

The light then completely died. Jaina and Nellith turned so they were back to back as they looked around, trying to figure out what extinguished the light. Then Nellith felt an icy cold wind blow through her— and all went black.