Valley of the Dark Lords
Korriban
Esstran Sector
38 ABY
The winds whipped and blasted sand into Dracaryis’ face as he trudged through the floor of the Valley of the Dark Lords. For the past week, he had scoured and searched the ancient ruins of the Sith home world for a Sigil Nova crystal...the key to the formation of his lightsaber. Dracaryis had always felt a pull towards anything involving fire, so a crystal that created a superheated blade capable of igniting anything near it made complete sense to him.
The quest had been relatively uneventful. Armed with a simple BlasTech DL-18 blaster, Dracaryis had first traveled to Kashyyk in search of an Upari crystal. Dracaryis intended to train in the Form VII art of Vapaad, and the eventual necessity for a dual-phase lightsaber would require the acquisition and usage of an Upari stone. His time on Kashyyk was fruitless for days, until he learned of a Wookiee commander who wore an Upari stone as a family sigil. Dracaryis tracked the Wookiee to his home, and relieved the beast of his sigil while he slept, putting a blaster bolt through his head before leaving for good measure. It would be so much easier to take a Sigil stone from another person, but he knew Darth Pravus would expect him to actually track down and recover at least one of his stones.
Dracaryis pulled his hood off of his head and scanned the valley floor. The entrances to the great Sith tombs stood dark and forlorn against the bright yellow backdrop of desert and sun. Would he find a Sigil crystal within one of those tombs? To enter a tomb of one of the ancient Sith Lords was strictly forbidden to all except the highest-ranking Equites and Elders of the Brotherhood...for a Jedi Hunter to have the audacity to enter such a sacred place…
Pravus will murder you in your sleep if you go in one of those tombs, Drac. Find another way.
Dracaryis continued to plod across the sand of the valley floor. He was amazed at the power the Dark Side of the Force held over the planet. Simply being here filled Dracaryis with a sense of confidence and control he had never felt before. The very air he was breathing seemed to enhance his abilities...surely he could sense the presence of a Sigil crystal if he just concentrated hard enough…
Dracaryis stopped and closed his eyes. Controlling his breathing, Dracaryis reached out with his mind, tendrils of thought grasping every nook and crevice of the valley in search of a crystal. After minutes that seemed like hours, he felt a pull against his mind. A veritable pool of dark energy seemed to be radiating from a cave a few kilometers away. This was it, the confident Jedi Hunter thought...this had to be a Sigil crystal. Pulling his hood back over his head, Dracaryis made his way towards the mouth of the cave.
As he approached the cave, Dracaryis was overwhelmed by the presence of the Dark Side of the Force...something extremely powerful was here. He had heard of the cave on Dagobah where the Jedi Master Luke Skywalker had once confronted a powerful Dark Side presence...but he had never experienced anything like this before. Filled with the power emanating from the cave, Dracaryis crossed the rock threshold and stepped inside.
Weaving through passageway after passageway, Dracaryis delved deeper and deeper into the underground labyrinth of the Force cave. After what must have been an hour, he entered a large open area with an underground lake. He stepped up to the water’s edge and looked around. There appeared to be no other way out except the way he had just come...had he been wrong? Was there really nothing here? The pull was so strong...surely a crystal was here, he just had to find it.
Without warning, Dracaryis heard the roar of a large beast and turned around quickly. Approximately fifty meters away stood a huge Hssiss beast; it’s fangs bared and powerful limbs poised to strike. Dracaryis had seconds to react. He drew his blaster and opened fire, concentrating and calling upon the Force to guide his shots with precision. The Hssiss gained speed and bore down on the Jedi Hunter quickly. Dracaryis leapt into the air and arced over the beast, opening fire again once he landed. The blaster fire seemed to be deflecting off the creatures hide...he might as well be using a child’s toy against the monster. Looking around for another weapon, Dracaryis found a sharpened rock on the bank of the underground lake. The beast rounded on Dracaryis and charged once more. Dracaryis charged the beast as well, and man and lizard collided with such a force that the walls of the cavern appeared to crack and shudder. The beast snapped and lunged at Dracaryis’ throat, while the Sith looked desperately for somewhere to stab the beast with the rock.
You are a Sith...find its weakness
Dracaryis heard his master’s voice in his mind, and instinctively closed his eyes while desperately fighting to keep the beast from ripping out his throat. Suddenly, he heard it. The beating of the creature’s heart pulsed near a weak point in its hide. Dracaryis thrust the point of the rock into the creature’s flesh, and felt the satisfying spray of blood as he severed the Hssiss’ main artery. Pushing the dying lizard off and climbing to his feet, Dracaryis closed his eyes again. Reaching out with his mind once more, he tried to locate the Sigil crystal again. The only presence he felt emanated from within the creature’s body...could the stone be there? Dracaryis grabbed the sharpened rock again and began gutting the great beast. Surely enough, Dracaryis found the animal’s stomach, and after successfully cutting it open, the Sigil crystal within. Smiling to himself, Dracaryis placed the stone in his cloak and retrieved his blaster. All he needed to do now was begin the process of marrying his two stones together and designing the hilt of his weapon.
Filled with a sense of power and purpose, Dracaryis left Korriban and began his journey back to the Anchorage. Soon, he would stand proudly in front of his master and present his lightsaber, and his master would reward him with the rank of Dark Jedi Knight. Finally, the orphan boy from Tatooine would be rewarded for all his suffering. Finally, he would have a purpose.