[Short Stories] - [Gamer](4)

Now, Bane had no choice but to teach himself, and he had the incentive to achieve Sith skills. He hoped Kaan’s avatar would assist him, but even without its sinister aid, Bane would do everything possible to resurrect the Sith Brotherhood.

Disoriented in the dense undergrowth, he trudged for hours in the direction that the shimmering spirit of Lord Kaan had gone. He followed his instincts like a compass directing him toward the concentration of dark side energies, a powerful well-spring that had long lurked on Dxun.

When he did not see the avatars again, he wondered if the evil specters had abandoned him. He didn’t think so. They were just waiting and watching, letting Darth Bane make the next move…

He hacked away at a dead black tree, its leafless branches drooping like clawed fingers, its bark covered with scabrous encrustations of fungus. When the broken tree toppled, Bane stepped forward under the driving rain into a small opening where even the grass had turned brown and withered. A geometric structure stood there, a pyramid with uneven planes and incorrect angles, made of a dull metal like a giant block of armor.

Bane stopped, his mouth open. He sucked in a heavy breath of the moist, fetid air. He had heard of this place, knew it to be a focus of dark side power: the tomb of Freedon Nadd, a hidden structure meant to hold the evil energies that had infected the bodies of legendary dark Force-users. The pyramid was a reliquary of lost artifacts and information that would recall the lost wonders of the Sith. It was a chance for the Brotherhood of Darkness to start again - - under his own terms. Now things would change under his stern vision.

Feeling energy tingle in his every step, Bane crept into the clearing. His lightsaber hummed and crackled as if eager to draw him forward. His skin felt electrified with the power of this place. The ruined, overgrown tomb of Freedon Nadd seemed to attract the lightning and the rain. Bane stood in front of the structure, looking up at the sheer metal sides, at the stained and corroded walls of Mandalorian iron. The lost crypt had been breached thousands of years before, broken open by some other plunderer - - Exar Kun, perhaps - - and left exposed to the vicious elements on Dxun.

Crouched inside the overhanging shelter of the broken doorway, he rested, exhausted from his ordeal - - first the flight from Ruusan, then the crash-landing on Dxun, and now the long and difficult trek through the jungle. He used a glimmer of his Sith power to summon fire and built a blaze from dead wood. The harsh orange and yellow light flickered and fought against the gloom.

Bane drew strength from the shadows around him. He seemed to hear whispering voices, a potential ready to explode here in the tomb. And yet he took comfort. “Here I will find my heritage. The evil in this place is resounding.”

Outside in the clearing, the rain droplets sheeted through the shadowy image of Lord Kaan as if he wasn’t there. “The evil is in you, Darth Bane - - as it should be. If you went to the shining towers of Cinnagar, or the plush chambers of Coruscant, or the rich savannas of Thule, the evil would still be within you.”

Bane listened and smiled.

Kaan continued, “You are a seed. Will you let the Sith Brotherhood grow… or wither?”

Revitalized, he ignited his lightsaber again. Using it as a torch, he passed into the tomb of Freedon Nadd, ready to explore. The dripping passages around him were made of thick stone walls, slimed with green moss. The floor was covered with a film of decayed leaves and vegetation that had blown in over the centuries. Brittle bones of rodents and the crisp shells of dead insects were strewn in the corners. Though he saw many signs of death, he noticed no scuttling spiders, no living creatures at all. It was as if the tomb of Freedon Nadd had swallowed all the lifeforce, holding it like a battery.

He encountered blind chambers and sealed rooms, three broken sarcophagi where tomb robbers had stolen bodies or jewels, though Bane suspected that any thief foolish enough to raid a Sith crypt had probably died a horrible death not long afterward…

At corners in the winding passages, the ethereal specter of Lord Kaan led him onward, guiding him through the labyrinth. Bane did not question his former leader; he simply followed as anticipation swelled within him.

At last, Kaan stood outside a small chamber, his eyes blazing with dreadful fire. The alcove walls seemed wet and reflective. On the floor, as if someone had carelessly tossed it there, lay a jagged pyramid with starlike protrusions and sinuous hieroglyphics.

Bane pushed his lightsaber through the doorway so that the crackling glow of the energy blade illuminated the stone-walled room. “Is that a Sith holocron? ” He looked in amazement at the shade of Lord Kaan.

“That object contains all the answers you desire, all the training and instruction you will need to master the secrets of the Sith. A wealth of information.”