Shadows of Tomorrow

Chapter 75 - Malachor

Author's Note: LONG HAVE WE WAITED! Okay yeah, we've been waiting to post this chapter for months, so we're pretty excited. The next one is the real fun one, though. ;)

~ Amina Gila

The ship comes out of hyperspace soon enough, and they fly down to the greyish surface of Malachor. The sky is dark, thick clouds stretching from one horizon to the other, and it feels fitting for the ominous mood. The place is dark, and even before they reach the surface, Marr can feel distant echoes of death in the Force, or maybe it's just that he's searching for something, anything, to warn them of what they might find here. And... he senses something else too. Something familiar, but it's too well shielded to feel what.

Revan fought here once, he knows, though he doesn't know the details of that battle. His musings are interrupted with Chopper announcing that there's already a ship here. Why is he not even surprised?

They track the ship – as best they can when they can't see it anywhere – finally landing. Towering, pillar-like structures of some kind rise out of the ground in front of them

The first thing Marr notices the moment they step off the ship is how the ground beneath them is almost like glass. It reflects as they walk across it. Seriously, what happened here?

"What are those?" Ezra wonders, approaching the towering pillars.

"They have ancient writing on them," Marr observes, moving a little closer. He was never one for studying languages, but some of the writing is a little familiar.

"Can you read it?" Kanan wonders.

"A little," Ahsoka replies, "I think I can make out a few words." She kneels down in front of it to get a better look, mumbling out a few mostly incomprehensible syllables.

Ezra takes a step closer, suddenly reaching out, laying a hand on the surface.

"Wait!" Marr protests.

"Ezra, no!" Ahsoka and Kanan cry, but it's too late.

Ezra jerks back, expression the living embodiment of the word 'oops', as a strange, glowing, red marks forms on the surface he touched. It abruptly reminds Marr of what the ground looked like on Lothal after the Inquisitors had forcibly entered the Jedi Temple, but he doesn't have more than a moment to process the thought, as the red lines spread rapidly across the surface, cracks forming in the ground beneath them. It gives way in seconds, and they all fall down into the darkness.

Marr hastily activates his jetpack, catching Vizma and landing on the ground amidst the pile of debris that fell down with them.

"Nice job, Ezra!" Vizma exclaims, irritated, as the other three start to push themselves up.

"You're welcome," he shoots back, standing.

"Maybe this is where we needed to be," Marr states, turning to scan their surroundings. The towering, black pyramid not far away stands out clearest of all. The top of it is glowing an eerie red. It looks like they're in the middle of the Temple's courtyard, and he can feel the Dark Side even more strongly now. It reminds him a little of when he went to Korriban, but not quite as bad.

"What is that?" Ezra breaths, eyes widening as he spots the structure.

"A Sith Temple," Marr answers.

They start closer, walking further into the Temple courtyard. The first thing that catches his eye is the stone statues of people all over the place. But no, they aren't statues, he realizes with sickening horror. They were people. At least he thinks they were. Nothing else could also explain why there's lightsabers all over, lying right near so many of them.