The Krayt Dragon was in hyperspace and had made its last jump. Brenum sat at the controls; Trylia was at the co-pilot’s seat. Shadie sat next to Fane discussing strategies. Talyc and Knarf sat farther back.
            ‘So, you know what the next step in your relationship is?’ said Knarf, cocking his head in Fane’s direction.
            ‘Yes, I do,’ replied Talyc. ‘You know what the next step in yours is?’ he asked, cocking his head in Shadie’s direction. ‘The next logical step…’
            ‘I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about that. I thought Jedi weren’t allowed…’
            ‘My eye you haven’t thought about it,’ said Talyc, leaning in closer to Knarf to continue in a whisper. ‘And the Jedi Council has granted a lot of permissions for the two of you. As if they’d stop there now.’
            ‘It’s just that it scares me, what with all this dark side power thing and the whole claiming of the Crypt thing. I know I don’t want to lose her, and I am committed to her, for the long haul.’
            ‘So, what’s the problem, then?’ Talyc didn’t get it. Knarf and Shadie were it; they were the embodiment of true love.
            ‘I know what it would mean for Shadie, what it represents in the Force. I guess I just need to find what it means for me, within me.’
            ‘Fair enough.’
            The ship returned to real space as the starlines stopped, and the Crypt, the strange asteroid-like station, loomed in the viewport at a distance.
            ‘We’re approaching the Crypt,’ said Brenum, ‘on a direct vector.’ He turned to look at Fane and at Talyc. ‘Can I trust the two of you with my ship?’
            Fane looked aghast. ‘Brenum! What do you think we’re going to get up to?’
            ‘No, not that!’ Brenum laughed. ‘I mean, can I trust you to fly her gracefully.’
            ‘Oh,’ said Fane, blushing.
            ‘Fly her gracefully?’ said Talyc. ‘Yes. Leave her unscathed? No guarantees.’
            ‘I suppose that’s the best I can hope for,’ said Brenum, looking worried.
            ‘All jokes aside, I’ll take good care of her,’ said Talyc, chuckling.
            They had determined that it would be safer for Talyc and Fane to remain with the ship, seeing as Talyc wasn’t a Force-user, and he and Fane didn’t have a strong Force-bond like Shadie and Knarf or Brenum and Trylia did. They needed to play it safe just in case Relsor was there and would attempt to create illusions in the Force. Besides, someone needed to fly the ship in the event the others needed a quick escape.
            Talyc stood and walked to the viewport as the ship entered the atmospheric field of the Crypt. He shuddered. There was something about it he didn’t like.
            ‘I’m not Force-sensitive,’ he said, ‘but even I feel that.’
            ‘That,’ said Shadie, ‘is the dark side, in its purest and rawest form.’
            ‘Be careful down there, Master,’ said Fane. ‘Stay safe.’
            Talyc looked at Fane; his worry was evident. He took Fane’s hand and squeezed gently. Fane closed his eyes and took a deep breath; a Jedi trick to clear the mind, Talyc knew it to be. He looked at Knarf who understood his concern and nodded back to him. He’d lost one close friend recently; he didn’t need to lose another.

* * *

            The Crypt felt much the same as it had the last time Shadie had been here: heavy, dank, with a strange smell about it, and the dark side being ever strong, ever raw, feeling ever pure. She could feel it calling out to her, craving for her to take it in her bosom and embrace it. 
            ‘Wow,’ said Knarf. ‘This is intense.’
            Brenum and Trylia looked uneasy, but they could use the Force more easily than Knarf could to keep themselves from becoming overwhelmed. Knarf put his helmet on. Shadie had instructed him to relay anything he could back to Talyc, just in case anything went wrong. So far, they were alone, but she knew there were others here, she knew Relsor and Perce were here; she could feel them through the Force.
            They walked along the large area. The Krayt Dragon took flight as soon as they had exited the ship and it now lurked somewhere, secure for now, and hidden. They passed the area where Shadie had fought Kromus the first time, when the dark side had empowered her and somewhat taken over her. She could feel Kromus’s signature in the Force. His presence had been strong.
            “The dark side is absolute,” he had told her. Strangely enough, Relsor has said those same words to Knarf.
            They walked some more, and then she was hit from the side with a blast of intense dark side energy. Her stomach lurched and she felt like keeling over. She held on to Knarf’s arm, feeling dizzy. She looked up: quite a distance away, yet close enough to be seen in full detail, stood Relsor and Perce.

Continue reading Chapter Five

Catch up on previous Star Wars Fan-Fiction from the Shadie story series.

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Shadie returned from her extensive “meeting” with the Sphere. Knarf looked up from his datapad.
            ‘The Dark Council apparently has appointed a new liaison between the Empire and the True Sith,’ he said.
            ‘Honestly, Shadie,’ said Talyc, ‘he’s like some grandma hooked to a holodrama. He hasn’t taken his nose off his datapad for hours.’
            Knarf could sense something was off. ‘My love, what is it?’
            Shadie looked at everyone. ‘I had some discussions with the Sphere, regarding my…lightness. The Sphere claims to understand that I have mastered the dark side and have combined light and dark to coexist within me. I allow passion to reign within me, despite being able to achieve serenity. It believes my light is a result from such darkness and that my darkness cannot exist if there is no light bright enough in which for it to be visible. This is why I remain its master and the Lady of the Crypt. However, I have not claimed the Crypt.’
            ‘What does that mean?’ asked Fane. ‘What must you do to claim it?’
            ‘That’s the thing, it can’t tell me. I have to discover that for myself,’ said Shadie. ‘The Sphere mentioned it serves a High Master, I’m assuming that’s the energy within the Crypt itself. The Sphere knows many secrets that those who claim mastery of the Crypt don’t know, unless they are worthy or ready to discover or in need of that knowledge. So now, I’m ready to claim the Crypt. Claiming it would make me Master of the Crypt and of the Sphere. The problem is, if someone else claims it, they could command the Sphere.’
            ‘That’s not good,’ said Brenum.
            ‘There is a silver lining in this, however,’ continued Shadie. 
            ‘Which is?’ asked Knarf.
            ‘In the event someone else claims the Crypt, the Sphere still considers me the Lady and its master. It favours me. Although I will still need to go and claim the Crypt for myself, but it will retain its connection to me. Through deep meditation I may be able to communicate with it, but not command it, and not gain information from our enemy. The Sphere in turn will not divulge my information to our enemy due to its undying loyalty to me, but it will have to obey every command given to it, on the sole exception of destroying me. It will not attack me or try to kill me. We agreed to that.’
            ‘Splendid,’ said Brenum, sarcasm in his voice.
            ‘I have managed to convince it to extend that courtesy to the rest of you, including you, Talyc.’
            ‘Thanks. I think.’ Talyc cocked a brow.
            ‘Why did it never share this information with you before?’ asked Trylia.
            ‘Because I never asked. And I never asked because no one else ever returned to the Crypt. Kromus had been the last, and he had never mentioned a High Master of the Crypt or anything like it. The Sphere will not divulge certain secrets if the one it wants to serve does not ask. It will keep the Crypt’s most ancient secrets hidden in this way. And I mean, I get it.’ Shadie inclined her head to the side in a half shrug. ‘Now that our enemy is going there, and I think the Crypt commanded the Sphere to do so, it shared some secrets with me, which I honestly should have explored a lot sooner.’
            ‘I say,’ said Brenum. ‘But there’s no point in dwelling on the past; there was no way we could have known.’
            ‘So what happens now?’ asked Trylia.
            ‘The Crypt permeates the most powerful dark side energy I have ever felt,’ said Shadie. ‘We still need to go there and stop Relsor. But we’ll need the Krayt Dragon just in case we arrive too late. In that event, we will need to escape and return when the coast is clear so that I can claim the Crypt as mine once and for all.’
            ‘We need to contact the Council and let them know we’ll be arriving late on Tython,’ said Trylia.
            ‘Really?’ said Brenum, a bit incredulous. ‘You’re worried about what the Jedi Council thinks when we might lose a powerful ally in the Sphere, and Shadie must face whatever horrors await her in a place where the dark side is at its strongest?’
            ‘Well, claiming the Crypt can’t be that difficult,’ said Knarf. ‘We fly there, Shadie does whatever she needs to do, the Sphere returns to us.’ He looked at Shadie. ‘Right?’
            ‘Ultimately,’ replied Shadie. 
            ‘Then let’s make sure we get there before Relsor does,’ said Knarf.

Continue reading Chapter Four

Catch up on previous Star Wars Fan-Fiction from the Shadie story series.

Perhaps you’ll also enjoy Stardust Destinies I: Variate Facing; fantasy action-adventure taking place in a realm strong with magic where prophecies are dictated by dragons. https://binkyproductions.com/stardustdestinies