ANGEL'S MORTALITY

vii

KOBOH
UNDERGROUND - PYLOON'S SALOON

Diane grunted as their wings hit the ground. If they were nearby, she knew that the angels and demons must have gotten a whiff of her power. Cal had felt minimal impact but winced when Diane fell on top of him.

"You okay?"

"Peachy," she wheezed.

"Beep boop."

She rolled off of him and watched the small droid approach them.

"Never look when you can leap, eh?" Cal joked.

He gently pulled himself up before helping the angel stand on her feet. BD crawled onto his back once more.

"The sooner we get to Greez, the sooner BD and I can—"

Diane raised an eyebrow, questioning why he stopped mid-sentence. She followed his gaze and behold a collapsed passage in front of them. There were rusted parts of some sort of machinery hugging the rocky walls.

"We should check this out," Cal said.

"Okay," Diane replied in awe.

"This place," he said, "reminds me of my old Jedi training grounds only...more ancient."

"Boop boop."

Diane could see a gold outline surrounding the blue hues on the platforms. If anything, it seemed as though the area could've been a few hundred years younger than them.

Amongst the rubble, the angel spotted a higher platform.

"Cal."

The ginger looked up and could feel sweat build up on his forehead.

"Diane, don't."

The angel saw how pale his face was.

"If we go my route, we'd get to explore the place and head back to Greez before nightfall."

The Jedi pondered on her words for a moment. BD-1 nudged him as if saying, "You know she's right, so just do it."

He gave in.

"Fine."

Diane grabbed his arm, and for a moment, Cal felt a large gust of wind. He remembered the outline of a feather behind her and instantly knew that the wind he felt was from her wings.

"Cal?"

The ginger snapped back to reality and realized they'd been standing on the platform for at least two minutes.

"Sorry. Got distracted."

Diane saw that his face wasn't pale anymore, and his gagging reflexes weren't triggered, so she decided it would be best not to speak another word of this in fear of triggering him to vomit.

"Let's go."

The two saw that the room would bend inwards, and so the trio came to a halt when they saw rubble blocking their pathway.

"We could squeeze through here," he said, gesturing to the small crack in the middle.

"Boop."

Diane sighed and followed behind as they slid through. When they were on the other end, the angel noticed an unknown source of energy pulsating.

"The power's still running down here," Cal told them. "Let's see if we can turn on the lights."

There was a golden ball levitating on a wall, surrounded by a purple hue. Cal extended his hand out and placed it on a small half-circular pedestal. When they connected, a dark substance appeared as a pathway toward a large, gold-broken object hanging above a platform in the middle.