Kael stood in the hangar bay of Outrider Station, arms folded as he stared at the locked containment unit housing the cracked kyber crystal. The faint pulsing red glow within shimmered at irregular intervals, and the room around it always seemed just a few degrees colder than the rest of the base.
It wasn't just broken — it was remembering.
And Aris's reaction had proven one thing: this wasn't a random artifact. It had purpose.
Kael turned as Voro Kres entered, datapad in hand and a sand cloak slung over her shoulders.
"I finished decoding the Sith datacard," she said. "The one we recovered from Maul's case."
Kael stepped closer. "Anything useful?"
Her eyes narrowed. "More than useful. Disturbing."
She handed him the pad. A series of coordinates blinked across the screen — long-forgotten galactic reference points, most of them labeled in ancient Sith code.
But one was local.
TAT-CRD-09Status: REDACTEDLabel: Shrine of Tros'Kar – Silence Holds the BladeLocation: Deep beneath the Dune Cradle Basin, 80 km southeast of Anchorhead
Kael exhaled slowly. "A Sith shrine. On Tatooine."
"I cross-referenced old Jedi field reports," Voro said. "Nothing official ever logged. But there are legends — stories of something ancient buried in the sand. Not from the Jedi. Not even from the Sith as we know them."
Kael looked again at the crystal. "That thing came from there."
"Maybe," Voro replied. "Or maybe it just wants to go back."
The HLAF-500 flew low and silent across the southern dunes, hugging the terrain to avoid detection. Voro sat in the co-pilot seat, her rifle strapped to her back and a satchel of scanning gear beside her. The sun hung low, and the horizon blurred with heat shimmer.
[ Mission: Echoes Beneath the Sand ]Objective: Investigate Shrine of Tros'Kar | Trace Kyber ResonanceThreat Level: Moderate–UnknownStatus: Site Undocumented – Expect anomaliesReward: Knowledge of Kyber Shard Origin | Unique Force Artifact (Potential)Optional: Leave without disturbing the inner sanctum (bonus reward)
Kael glanced at the readout. "Think we'll get lucky and it'll just be an empty ruin?"
Voro laughed once, dryly. "This is Star Wars. If we're lucky, it'll only try to kill us."
The ship landed on a flat shelf of stone barely poking through the sands. There was no visible structure — only a depression where the dunes shifted unnaturally, as if refusing to fully bury whatever lay beneath.
Voro activated her scanning gear. "There's a subterranean structure. Partially collapsed. Vague power signatures — residual, probably from old Force-reactive crystals."
Kael's HUD blinked.
A dark circle appeared on the MercNet map overlay, directly beneath their feet.
[ Hidden Entrance Detected – Sealed Door 4.2 meters below sand ]Activating Excavation Subroutine…
The ground trembled. Then a pulse shot through the soil, and a ring of sand sloughed away to reveal a narrow obsidian door etched with spiral patterns — neither Sith nor Jedi, but older. More primal.
Voro stared. "That doesn't look like anything I've seen in the archives."
Kael knelt, ran a gloved hand over the stone.
He felt it again — a pull.
Not dark.
Not light.
Just old.
The interior of the shrine was dry and silent. Kael's boots crunched over age-hardened dust as he led the way through the narrow stone halls. Their lights cast long shadows on the carved walls — murals of faceless beings wielding blades made of light and fire.
"I think this predates the Jedi-Sith schism," Voro whispered. "These aren't Sith Lords. They're something else."
"Keep your weapon ready anyway," Kael said.
They reached a circular chamber — a sanctum. At its center stood a black pedestal with a shallow depression the exact shape and size of the cracked kyber shard.
Kael didn't move.
Voro stepped to the side, lifting her scanner. "Energy reading's climbing. Residual Force resonance. If you slot that crystal in, something will happen."
Kael looked down at the shard in his hand, the light within it flickering like a dying ember.
"I didn't come here for something to happen. I came for answers."
And yet…
He placed the shard into the pedestal.
The room trembled.
A low hum began to rise from the walls — not mechanical, not environmental. It was memory, bleeding out from the stone.
Images flickered across the chamber walls — not holograms, but Force echoes. Scenes from long ago:
A child with glowing silver eyes, holding a perfect red crystal.
An ancient being — cloaked, horned, masked — whispering in tongues as he shattered a kyber with a gesture.
A blade forged, then cracked.
A scream.
Then silence.
Kael staggered back, gripping the wall. The visions pierced his mind like razors.
[ Crystal Memory Unlocked – Origin Confirmed: Child-Split Kyber | Artifact once belonged to Tros'Kar, Pre-Sith Entity ]New Entry Logged: Force Fragmentation Techniques | Unstable Crystal Use – RareAris Resonance Updated: Signature matches 47% of archived shard memoriesPotential: Inherited Echo Imprint (Dangerous)Reward: Artifact Unlocked – The Black Blade's Hilt (Incomplete Saber Hilt – Requires Core)
A stone panel at the edge of the pedestal shifted open. Inside, a hilt lay dormant — carved from obsidian and inlaid with crimson etchings.
Kael picked it up slowly.
[ Item Acquired: Black Blade's Hilt (Broken) ]Status: Requires Compatible CrystalEffect: Amplifies wielder's latent Force nature (polar alignment dependent)Side Effect: May accelerate Force personality divergence
Voro exhaled beside him. "That thing's not just a weapon."
"No," Kael said. "It's a test."
He turned back toward the pedestal — the kyber shard still humming.
And for a moment, just a flash, he saw Aris standing there instead of himself.
Cloaked in black.
Eyes silver-red.
Hand extended toward a blade made of screaming light.
Kael ripped the crystal free.
The visions vanished.
Silence returned.
Back at Outrider Station, Kael sealed the shard and hilt in separate containment fields, locking them deep in the vault wing. Aris was kept unaware — for now. The girl laughed quietly that night as she played dejarik with Ghost in the mess hall, unaware of the darkness her presence had disturbed.
Kael stood alone in the operations room, staring at the Force resonance scan.
[ Timeline Divergence Marker: Phase One Confirmed ]Aris' potential may lead to future bifurcation – Possible Light/Dark Duality EventSuggested Actions:– Monitor closely– Recruit Force mentor (aligned)– Avoid exposing to corrupted relics
Kael whispered to the darkness, "You're not going to take her. Not you. Not the past. Not the Force."
He looked at the empty hilt again.
Not yet.