Bhaal Chronicles: Summoning Spirits Part 2 Echos in the Deep

1-Shot for Ghosts of the Past writing task

IC: Bhaal the Necromancer

// 156 ABY \_ Korriban //

Part 2-Echos in the Deep

The air only became more stale as Bhaal the necromancer and his group of followers made their way into the cavernous depths of Korriban. The air around them was electric with the power of the dark side and something began to pull at his mind as they approached what looked like a massive entrance of some kind carved into the rock ahead. Bhaal came to a stop, there was something else here too.. something the force beckoned him to reveal. Despite the doorway of what he assumed was to be his targeted destination just ahead, every fibre in his body told him to go no further until he investigated this exact spot of the so far empty cavern.

Bhaal held up his hand in a silent signal instantly halting the others behind him. Crouching, as though looking for something he had dropped the undying Echani started searching the cavern floor. His outstretched, open palmed hand hovered less than a meter over the dusty floor. Bhaal could feel he was getting closer to his target.. There was a force echo here… trying its best to call on him to uncover it.

“Here!\*” though Bhaal to himself as finally the necromancer felt himself reaching the very spot inside the physical realm that tied into the past through the invisible tendrils of the force.

The white haired sorcerer closed his eyes and focused his mind, bending the force, warping it and commanding it to reveal the relevant events that had once occurred here. Suddenly the temperature dropped quite noticeably and Bhaal could feel the very air vibrate as the summoned Force Echo materialised in front of him.

Opening his eyes and standing, the white haired Echani, despite the momentary blinding white light and the dulling of his other senses whenever an Echo was exposed, remained entirely focused on holding the small time rift in the force at its current state. Revealing the secrets of the past.

Within a few moments the blinding lights faded and before the Necromancer now stood a man, human but appearing as translucent as a ghost or a hologram. He spoke looking over at the opening of the stone archway as though Bhaal was watching him through a recording but instantly the Echani knew there was also something else entirely wrong with him.

"Dathka, my friend. Dathka, save me. I did as you asked” Said the man in the Force Echo, although Bhaal could not see who or what he was talking to. “I called the lost ones, and set them on the betrayers. Dathka, my friend. Where did you go? Did you leave with the lost ones? They took your Heart. Took it from me, and now I cannot hear you. Did I displease you? The lost ones don't know you. How can they? I must find the ones who survived. They have your power; they are survivors. Like I am a survivor. I must find you, Dathka, my friend. We will be strong again. We will feast on their hearts, and the blood of the weak shall wash pure the dead stone. They destroyed virtue, and the lost ones are scattered. But you are out there, Dathka. Dathka, my friend. Dathka, our master...."

Bhaal released his focus and closed his eyes once more. Allowing the force to warp back into its normality of relative time.. he could feel his senses coming back to full capacity and registering more fully his current surroundings. Bhaal opened his eyes to find that the apparition had again disappeared and where he stood a moment ago, was now nothing more but the empty darkness of the cavern.

( Force Echo 3 )

The Echani turned to look at his followers, none of whom had been able to witness what had just happened and Bhaal could sense their confusion. Surprisingly, he himself felt that same confusion as he tried to process the information shown in the echo. This man who was he? He claimed he knew the Sith King..But how…? Who were the lost ones? And, just who was it that had betrayed him? The only thing that made sense to Bhaal was the reference to King Graush’s heart.

Mistress Nephthys had told him the tale of the heartless Sith king early in his apprenticeship. She was captivated by his ability to achieve an organic to crystal transplant and she had been working on furthering those techniques to allow organs to survive once placed inside a specific kind of crystal through alchemy and dark ritual. She claimed that one day she would hopefully even be able to allow a beings head to survive inside one even without its body attached. Bhaal had since often wondered if she ever managed to achieve the seemingly impossible feat.

“Is… is everything alright my lord..? Forgive me, but you’ve still not told us what we are doing here?” The worshiper said from under her hood in a shaky but feminine voice.

“We’ve come to awaken an ancient and powerful spirit.” Said Bhaal. His black eyes reflecting the dark green glow of his lightsaber. “Come, I sense we are close.” He said, trying to hide his confusion as to what the force had just shown him. Deciding to waste no more time nor to allow any opportunity to Korrbans monstrosities a chance to attack a stationary target, he turned and moved towards the large stone doorway carved into the cavern wall.

Sheathed in its holster and attached to Bhaals right outer thigh, the purple runes etched into the ritualistic sith blade continue to shine brightly.

( end of part 2 )