Mysteries: The Journey

[Zereth Lancer]

A lone black colored Tie Defender soared down the length of the space route called The Corellian Run. The Raven’s Claw had departed from Korriban and traveled across the Hydian Way and then turned at Corellia onto the Correllian Run. The flight had not gone peacefully. First a band of space pirates had tried to blast the Defender out of the sky, the tie defender managed to sling shot around a moon and then jump to hyperspace. A second incident accured when a small wing of Rebel Alliances fighter came out of nowhere and assumed him to be an imperial scout. It took several minutes of wild evasive flying and words over the comm to finally convince the Rebels that he was no imperial and after giving his flight destination but lying about where he departed from, claiming to have come off dantooine. The rebels veered off and returned to their hiding spot behind the moon.

The Tie Defender flew down the Corellian run until it reached Rodia. It was grounded on the planet for a few days before lifting off again and heading out. Now it headed away from Rodia and eventually arrived at the planet of naboo. The defender was there for almost a week before lifting off of the giant green orb and heading once more into the vast void of space. To the average person the vessel’s purpose was as unknown as its destination; so far it had simply landed on planet at random. It stopped on Sullust, soared over Dagobah, spent a little time on Bathawui, and a week on Ryloth.

The ship rose again into space, this time headed for the planet that was in the center of all the planets it had visited so far, Tatooine. The red-brown planet filled the fighter’s view screen as it flew threw it’s orbit. It landed in the city of Anchorhead. The crude sandstone huts where almost all identical in appearance and they all matched the color of the sand and dirt around them, making them almost camouflaged to the pilot of the defender as it flew overhead. After gaining clearance; the defender set down in a open cave like room that served as a docking bay. The defender set down on its landing struts and the pilot rose from the repulsor couch and jumped down from the cockpit. With every step a cloud of dust and sand rose into the air and the heat of the planet’s two suns cooking the pilot alive in his black flight suit..

The pilot walked back to the defender’s cockpit and pulled a large duffle bag from behind the seat and, after finding a side room in the private docking bay, he changed into something more suitable for the planet’s environment. After several minutes passed; the pilot emerged from the side room. His black flight suit and helmet were gone and in their place the pilot wore a pair of loose fitting black pants, knee high boots, and a light sleeveless tunic. The pilot’s long black hair was loose now and his red eyes darted around the bay, to make sure nothing had changed since he had been in there only moments ago. A lightsabre hilt was held tightly in the pilot’s hand. Zereth Lancer was now ready to search Tatooine for the thing he had not found on the other planets.

[Zereth Lancer]

Zereth walked back to the cockpit of his ship and emerged, after digging around for a few moments, with a second lightsabre hilt and a double bladed bastard sword. He stuck the lightsabres into the pockets of his pants and strapped the bastard sword to his back. Now fully equipped; Zereth headed for the door of the private docking bay and out into the blistering sunlight.

In truth Zereth didn’t even know why he was here, or why he ventured to those other planets. Something seemed to be calling him. It was either someone or something calling him through the force or the force itself was calling him. He had visited those other planets because he thought he heard the call coming from those planets, but he was wrong. He was sure it was coming from somewhere on tatooine, but he wasn’t sure where on the planet it was coming from.

He walked down the crowded sandy street; people would stop and stare at him as they passed by. For one he was an off worlder and two, red eyes where uncommon among human species. His clothing and sword also caused people to stop and stare. Walking boldly down the street with a sword strapped to your back was a open invitation to trouble, and wearing black clothing meant curtain death in the heat of the twin suns.

Zereth reached the end of the street, and the end of the city. A short sandstone wall was all that stood between him and the unforgiving lands of infinite sand. No one ventured out in that land except the sand people and experienced hunters. Zereth stepped over the two foot wall and strode out into the hot sand. The eyes of the people on the street followed him until he disappeared over the closest dune. Many of them commited him as a stupid overworlder who didn’t know anything about the dangers he was walking into. If the sun didn’t kill him the sand raiders would.

[Zereth Lancer]

The suns had dropped from the sky and arisen again and still Zereth walked on. A normal person would have been dried up and crawling along from dehydration. The twin suns could dry the moister right out of your body, unless you wore the proper clothing and equipment that would protect you. But Zereth wore no such clothing and carried no equipment and he was walking strong and boldly across the dunes. He only carried heat protected bottle of water, so far he had drunk none. Zereth called upon the force to give him energy and protect his body from the heat. His flesh burned in the suns’ rays but not to the extent that would kill him.

The thing still called to him, it called to him through the force and he followed it. He walked a straight like and only diverted from his path when a boulder or stack of rock stood in his path. He kept on going till nightfall, when the hot sun left and a frigid chill came over the land. Zereth laid down on the ground and covered himself with the still hot sand and went to sleep.

He awoke with the sun rising in the sky. He dug himself out of the sand and finally took a drink of his water, although a small one. He didn’t know how long his journey would be but he was determined to survive till he got there and hopefully till he returned, which meant he had to conserve his water.

He continued his journey through the sane, his clothing drenched in sweat and his bare skin burnt by the sun. At midday Zereth removed his shirt in a vain attempt to reduce the amount heat that covered his body. The path before him became rocky and hard. He heard noises ahead of him and quickened his pace in eagerness to see what was causing the noise. On both sides of him cliff faces rose, created a cool, rocky shelter between them that stretched for almost a mile.

The sounds he heard where echoing through the narrow space and on the ground around him where the fallen bodies of the rodent like scavenger race known as jawas. He moved cautiously down. He crouched behind a large boulder and peeked around its edge. There before him was a large hunting party of sand raiders, their strange brown clothing almost hid them from his sight and only their movement allowed him to see them. They were armed with low grade blaster rifles and gaffi staffs and obviously it had been them that had killed the jawas.

The sand raiders blocked his path through the rocky channel. Zereth was faced with a choice: either to turn around and make his way around the cliffs, try and sneak by the raiders, or go through them. Going around was not a choice, it would take days to travel around this and the cliff channel was too good of a path to give up. Zereth eyed the cliff edges for a moment; He couldn’t sneak by then either. He grew angry now, he didn’t want to have to spent time butchering these nomads but it would take longer if he didn’t.

He stepped out from behind the boulder, his bastard sword in hand. The sand people noticed him, raised rifles, and brandished gaffi staffs. Zereth walked boldly forward, despite the weapons pointed in his direction. The largest of the raiders stepped forward and made hand motions and waved his gaffi staff at his fellow raiders, obviously he wanted to kill the strange man himself. The raider moved toward Zereth with his gaffi staff held overhead and then brought it down like a club at Zereth’s head.

[Zereth Lancer]

Zereth’s movement was like lightning. He brought his blade up in both hands and held it horizontally over his head, blocking the incoming attack. The raider backed up with surprise but quickly composed himself as Zereth launched his own overhead attack. The raided used the same defensive tactic that Zereth had employed. He held his staff over head with a hand on either side of the staff. Unlike with the sand raider’s attack; Zereth’s blade cut through the staff, leaving the raider with a half in each hand. The raider managed to pull his body back keep his head for the moment. But, as soon as his swing had brought his blade to waist height, Zereth plunged his sword blade forward and into the stomach of the raider.

Zereth withdrew the blade and removed the raider’s head as its body slumped to the ground. The other raiders did nothing for a moment, they only stood and stared at the headless body of the raider. Then all the raiders let out savage war cries and charged; gaffi staffs in hand. Zereth hurled his sword, impaling the closest warrior through the chest. Then his lightsabres where suddenly in his hands and activated. One was a silvery white blade and the other a dark blood red, almost black.

He charged forward, his blades cutting through gaffi staffs and flesh. Limbs were severed, bodies decapitated. Weapons destroyed, warriors slain were they stood. In the end Zereth was all that remained, surrounded by a circle of dead bodies. The blades of light flashed out and the hilts were placed back in their hiding place in the pockets of his outfit. He took several steps forward and pulled the sword from the warrior’s chest and wiped the blood off on a fallen raider’s clothing. He returned the bastard sword to his back and continued down the cliff channel.

[Zereth Lancer]

And so the journey of the sith warrior continued. He encountered several more sand raiders, but dealt with them all in the same manner. Hunting and slaughtering all those that came in his way and leaving none alive. There had only been one event when he could not continue his destructive intentions. After striking down another group of raiders; he had come upon a sand raider child. He had raised his sabre and prepared to strike, but he could not will his arm to fall and strike down the child. He extinguished his blade and let out a savage growl “Get out of here, NOW!” He shouted and, although the child did not understand, it rose to its feet and ran off across the desert sands and out of Zereth’s line if vision.

The sun was still high but Zereth could not will himself to continue on his path. He layed down on the sands in the shade of a large boulder and went to sleep.

When he awoke the stars filled the sky and the sun had gone and the moon replaced it. He rose from were he had laid and continued his journey. He walked over the moon lit dunes, climbed over rocky outcroppings, and around large points of rocks jutting from the ground to great heights. He reached for his water container and found it empty. He curst his bad luck and continued on all the same.

[Zereth Lancer]

Several days had gone by now since he had run out of water. He only traveled at night now and the rate of ground he covered was drastically shortened. Thirsty and tired; Zereth stumbled under the night sky, falling and picking himself up more times then he could count. His lips were dried and cracked his body screamed in protest to ever action he made.

Finally he stumbled and could not will himself to stand. He knew not how long he laid there, minutes or perhaps hours, but his eyes fluttered open when he heard the sound of footsteps on the sand around him. He raised his head to see a hunting party of tusken raiders approaching from all directions. He managed to get to his feet, but his lightsabre slipped from his hand and fell to the sands below. He raised his hand to summon it back to his hand but something hit him from behind. He fell to the sands again and everything went black.

[Zereth Lancer]

Zereth awoke to the sound of booted footfalls on the desert sand. He realized he was lying on the ground with his face in the sand. Another thing he also realized is that tusken raiders do not wear boots hard boots but cloth ones. The tusken’s cloth boot would not made the kind of sound he was hearing now, in fact, he could hear a slight noise of tusken footfalls behind the loud ones. The non-tusken footsteps stopped infront of his prone body. “Wake up, mighty warrior.” Spoke a voice in perfect basic.

Zereth rolled over and squinted in the harsh sunlight. He was not surprised to see a group of armed tuskens surrounding him on all sides. What surprised him was the sandy blonde, blue eyed man that was looking down at him. Zereth wasn’t sure what the tusken’s looked like under their clothing, but he was sure that the blonde haired man was no tusken raider.

“I apologize for the blow to the head,” Blondie was saying as Zereth slowly rose to his feet, “But the Sand people couldn’t understand the concept of taking prisoners without force.” After he was up; Zereth looked past the raiders that surrounded him and saw several crude huts, made from some kind of leather stitched together and wrapped around poles to make the hut, and realized he was in a tusken raider village. “Do not be alarmed,” Blondie was talking again, “According to the tusken chief…” at this Blondie gestured to a tall raider, who didn’t look much different then the others except that his gaffi staff was a different shape then the others, who stood beside him “…You are their honored guest.”

“And who are you?” He asked Blondie as he inconspicuously stuck his hand in his pocket to discover his lightsabres were gone. Curses, He swore inside just as Blondie started speaking again. “Among the Raiders my name would mean nothing to you. But among the people of the cities I am called Leo Bak’ar. I’ve been living with this tribe almost my entire life. I rarely venture into the cities anymore.” Blondie stopped when the chief whispered something, in a strange tongue, into his ear. “The Chief and his people hold you in high regard. They know you must be mighty to have slay half of his best war parties, you even managed to kill his high captain.”

The chief waved his hand and the circle of raiders started to get smaller as they moved forward. “The Chief wishes to test you know to make sure you really are the one that killed his people” Blondie finished and then stepped backwards and out of the circle. The warriors brandished their gaffi staffs and then six of the ten surged forward. Zereth launched himself high into the air, a feet impossible to a normal being. He flew high over the heads of the warriors and off to the side. The tusken’s moved around where he would land and waited for his decent. Zereth sped his fall and hit the ground with a loud thump, without using the force to protect himself; he would have broken several bones. His impact sent sand flying, and a few raiders, away in all directions.

When the sand had cleared and vision was restored; two tuskens were laying on the ground, their chests opened up and red blood spilling all over the sand beneath them. The only thing mystifying was the fact that Zereth held no weapons in his hands. Seven of the warriors stopped and re-evaluated their strategy. The eighth raider, though, charge in. Zereth raised his hand and the raider suddenly stopped in his tracks. It dropped its weapon and clutched its stomach. A moment later a hole erupted through his stomach and the raider collapsed to the ground in a gory mess.

The other raiders shouted war cries and charged in. Zereth ducked under an incoming gaffi staff and drove his fist up in a fierce uppercut to the raider’s chin. He heard, and felt, his jaw break and had no time to watch him fall as he back flipped over a low swung attack. He landed and jumped high into the air, throwing up his foot and kicking the incoming raider to the side of the head, knocking it down to the ground. A third attack was coming from behind. Zereth turned and outstretched his hand. The gaffi staff stopped cold and no matter how hard the tusken tried the weapon would not budge more then an inch. The raider let go of his weapon and was astonished when he found it still flouting in the air, without any visible means of remaining so. With a wave of his hand; Zereth sent the raider flying off into the air and towards a distant outcropping of rocks that’s sharp points guaranteed death for the raider.

The remaining four warriors all attacks at the same time, from every side. Zereth summoned the force and used it to collect the air around him and throw it back out in a nova of air that blew all four of the raiders off their feet and onto the hot sands. Zereth spotted a rock near his feet and quickly picked it up. He took aim and threw the rock, with the force pushing it and increased its speed, at the first tusken that was rising from the sand. The rock connected with his forehead and the force of the impact shattered and removed the upper half of the raider’s head. Blood, bone fragments, and remains of the raider’s brain, flew in all directions.

[Zereth Lancer]

Zereth spun around to face the remaining warriors but instead of turning to find them advancing, he found kneeling on the ground, hands at their sides, and their weapons on the ground. They were slowly chanting words that he couldn’t understand. A single word stood out in their babble, the word Ha-Raphah. Zereth turned to Blondie with a perplexed look on his face. The chieftain was also on his knees. Blondie stood still but his head was bent forward in a rebellious bow. “What’s going on?” He asked Blondie. “The chieftain is now sure that you are their promised savior, Ha-Raphah, The Fearsome one. They believe you are here to save them from the mighty beast that now plagues their territory.” Blondie said, raising his head. “Beast? What kind of beast?” Zereth asked as he walked over to where Blondie was standing. “The people of the cities call it a Krayt Dragon. A giant lizard with razor sharp teeth and claws and its sheer size makes it impossible to kill. This krayt dragon is the largest the chieftain’s people have ever faced; so far it as decimated three villages and killed hundreds. The raiders think the beast has been possessed by demons and is intent on killing every last of his people.”

“So He thinks I’m the savior of his people, a mighty deity to slay this beast, a being of such power that I can contend with the dragon?” Zereth asked. Every second things were getting weird. He had come here intent on killing anything that got in his way. He knew he couldn’t waste time here, to slay this beast. But somehow he couldn’t bear himself to turn his back on these primitive people. Something stirred in his heart. Perhaps it was pity or compassion, or a mix of both. He now felt obligated to hunt this dragon down and put down its reign. He looked around at the raiders who were still on the ground, chanting. He felt like a god among these people but such an honor and responsibility was not his to have. He had not come here to deliver these people from their affliction.

“Where is this beast?” He asked after several moments of silence on his part. “Where is this beast, so I can slay it?” He repeated, the fire of determination and deadly intent filled his eyes. Blondie actually looked afraid and took a step backwards. “It’s a few miles away, in a cave that serves as its den. The chief is willing to send a hunting party to guide you to the cave and even assist you in the battle, if you so wish.” Zereth considered it all for a few moments and then nodded his head. “We will be off at daybreak.” He said and started to walk away but stopped. He gestured with his hand towards the remaining raiders from the earlier battle “I want these warriors to be part of the hunting party...” He paused, considering a thought “…In fact, I want them to lead it.” Blondie looked puzzled, Zereth then explained “These warriors knew in there hearts they were facing me, a god, of sorts, to them and still they did not back down or try to get out of it. They did not flee but instead fought to the death. Such bravery is what I need to face the beast.” Blondie seemed to understand and agreed.

Blondie said a few things in the Tusken language and the raiders got up from their knees and returned to whatever duties they had before this event. Blondie and the chieftain shared a few words and then the chief walked away. “A tent has been prepared for you, if you follow me.” He led Zereth to a small tent set off to the side of the village. A few other tuskens brought some kind of cooked meat for Zereth to eat. Everyone left and Zereth curled up in a blanket and went to sleep instantly.

[Zereth Lancer]

Zereth awoke at dawn and started his preparations for his upcoming battle. He refilled his water canteen, latched one of his lightsabres onto his belt and his sword onto his back. He exited his tent to find a group of ten tusken raiders, fully armed and supplied, waiting for him. The three survivors of the battle the day; each had a strange mark drawn on the front of their face masks to mark them as the leaders of the hunting party. Each mark was different but similar, but it was easy to tell the difference between each one. Zereth decided to give them names for him to better remember them. The first one, the largest of the three, he named Rath. The second one, smaller compared to Rath but walked with more stealth then the rest, he name Loki. And the third one appeared to be younger then most of the others in the hunting party but stood tall, brave, and determined despite the fear that Zereth could feel glowing inside the young raider. This one he named Zurr. With a wave of his hand, Rath started the hunting party walking. Zereth walked at the head of the procession, next to Zurr.

They traveled through the barely lit dunes and on into the morning and then into the afternoon. The heat grew and grew till it was almost unbearable. Zereth removed his shirt in a vain attempt to lessen the heat. They kept walking, never slowing down or speeding up, keeping a consistent pace and walking in a straight line, the tusken raider technique used to hide their numbers. On and on they walked, not stopping for rest or water. They reached a rock outcropping and Rath waved for them to stop. All the raiders pulled out animal skin containers of water and took a few drinks through the strange mouth peace of their masks. Zereth took a few drinks of his own as well. Rath made a few hand gestures at Zereth and he understood their meaning. The krayt dragon’s den was on the other side of the rock outcropping they were sitting against. Zereth nodded his head to show he understood and all at once the raiders were on their feet with gaffi staffs at the ready.

The hunting party split into two groups, the first one, led by Rath, contained himself and four other raiders. The second group contained Loki and Zurr and the three remaining raiders. Zereth walked with Loki’s group. They all walked around the outcropping and walked straight for the large stone cave that jutted out of the ground a good distance away from them.

They reached the cave entrance and peered into the gloom. They could not see through the veil of darkness. They all went back a bit and stood there, waiting for the dragon to come out. They waited for half an hour and then suddenly a roar sounded through the air, but it came from behind them. They all spun around to see the giant krayt dragon charging towards them over a large dune; in a mere moment it had reached them and stomped a large leathery foot down on top of the nearest raider, who had been too dumbstruck with fear to move.

Rath was first to react and shouted something to his raiders, Loki did the same. All the raiders spread out around the dragon, enclosing it in a lazy circle. Two raiders came in from both sides and each attack the thigh of a hind leg. The dragon whipped its tail around and sent one of the raiders flying into a large boulder. The other raider ran back to his position in the circle. Zereth pulled out his sword and charged in at it’s head. The monster sighted him and opened its large mouth of sharp teeth and snapped at Zereth. But Zereth through himself into the air in a force increased jump that sent him over the creature’s head. He landed on its neck, He held his sword in one hand and one of the dragon’s many horns in the other. He raised his hand and swung the blade of the sword down. The blade pieced the scaled flesh but only sunk a few inches in. He pulled it out and raised the sword for a second strike but the dragon suddenly shook its head, causing Zereth to be pulled off by his firm grip on the horn, and thrown into the air.

He soared through the air; the Krayt Dragon’s mouth was open and waiting for him to fall into it. With a firm grip on is sword; Zereth raised it over his head and then threw it straight down at the dragon. The beast seemed to understand the danger of Zereth’s weapon and closed its mouth and pulled its head away from the falling blade. The sword struck the sand below, the force of the throw caused the blade to sink into the sand to the point at only part of the hilt stuck out. By the time Zereth landed on the ground, using the force to soften his fall; two more raiders had been killed and one wounded by the dragon’s feet. Zereth looked down to pull his lightsabre from his belt. He raised his eyes in time to see the tail a few inches from his body. He jumped into the air but the tail connected with his lower body and sent his flying. He landed on his stomach and started to push himself up when a large leathery paw was placed on his back and pushed him down again, crushing him under it’s weight.

Zereth strained to push against the weight of the foot but he couldn’t budge it. He couldn’t breath and black spots were appearing around the edges of his vision. The world was almost completely black when he heard a war cry and a growl from the beast. He managed to turn his head and see Zurr rushing forward while his comrades crouched behind a series of boulders. The young raider rushed up to the foot that was pinning Zereth and hacked at it with his gaffi staff. The dragon huffed and kicked the raider with it’s other foot. Zurr went went flying and disappeared from Zereth’s vision. The dragon’s kick had caused it to release enough pressure from Zereth’s back to allow the warrior to roll out from under it. Zereth glanced over and saw Zurr’s body laying facedown on the ground. Blood was pooling around Zurr’s stomach. The young raider had given his life to save Zereth. A fire burned inside him, a rage of anger, a intense longing for the death of the dragon.

Zereth turned to the dragon and pulled his sabre, from where it had fallen, back into his hand and activated the silver blade. He charged forward, dodging the dragon’s tail time and time again. He reached the beast and jumped high into the air again. The dragon was expecting this and opened its wide mouth to receive him. But Zereth used the force to pull him farther and he bypassed the monstrous maw and landed on the creatures back. He looked up to see the giant tail falling for the sky and heading right towards him. Zereth rolled off the creature’s back and landed on the soft sand below. The beast seemed confused to his location and he took this opportunity to run under its stomach and stab his sabre straight up. He must have hit a vital organ because the next thing he knew the Dragon’s body was crashing down onto him.