Star Wars: The Untold Stories

The Jedi archives were perhaps the largest holder of knowledge in the universe. It had entries that could be dated back to even before the Old Republic. Some texts even predated the Jedi and Siths themselves.

Though much of the knowledge were either forbidden or redacted due to the Orders ever present concern about the temptations of the Dark Side.

It was in this great building of knowledge that Sar now found himself in. He had the night before grumbled over what paths he should take beside the obvious one of furthering his Jedi abilities.

He had come to the conclusion that reading up on, and learning a bit more about the Jedi's ancient enemy could come in handy. While pretty much everyone in the Order and the universe itself believed the Sith to have died out millennia ago. The events that had transpired these past few years left Sar uncertain of their demise.

Sar had certainly felt a shift in the Force in recent years. A shadow slowly covering the things that used to be so clear in a veil of fog and uncertainty, and he had a ever growing suspicion that the Sith would one way or another have a role to play in the events yet to come.

So, learning about your foe could prove invaluable, and who knows, maybe learning of their ways would further Sar's path in the Force.

But as you might imagine information about the Sith was heavily restricted even with his newfound rank of Knight, he still found his path to more knowledge barred, and what little information he could glean from the few files were filled with Jedi rhetoric and propaganda.

Growing more and more frustrated by the lack of clear information about the Sith, Sar decided to go over what little he had uncovered.

Much like the Jedi the ancient Sith also had a clear hierarchy. Though, it was clear that the names of the ranks was to make clear who was in charge and who was not. Ranks such as Lord and Overlord clearly demonstrated that these rankings were meant to dominate.

What perhaps surprised Sar the most was that he discovered, after having sorted through all of the Jedi propaganda, that it was actually Dark Jedi that had inadvertently created the Sith by trying to enslave and alien race that would later form the Sith.

The last really meaningful thing he managed to uncover from hours of research and going through almost all of the relevant files, was the fact that while the Sith did draw power from the Dark Side their strength came from emotion and passion. This was something that completely opposed the Jedi's way of thinking and something that left Sar curious.

This was a strange thing to learn about as Sar had spent pretty much all his life listening to people telling him that emotions was the bane of every Force user and they must be kept in check. While he had no interest in the Dark Side he did become curious about the Sith's way of thinking, something that should the other Jedi learn about his thoughts, he would probably be kicked out of the Order.

But Sar could not turn his back to this. He had already learned that the Order was by no means perfect, and this knowledge could perhaps not only further his own understanding of the Force but every Force users understanding.

Sar began skimming through the few remaining files, searching for further information about the Sith's training methods.

Of course Sar never found any actual Sith training methods as those would have been destroyed by the ancient Jedi long ago, but he did manage to find something that might yield some of the results he was looking for.

In one of the text there was mentioned a Sith Code. While the actual code was not written down the fact that one existed was a huge discovery for Sar.

There was a reason why the Jedi Code was considered so important for the not just the Younglings but for the Masters as well. The code contained not only the doctrine of the Order but the very core of all of their knowledge about the Force.

If Sar managed to somehow obtain a copy of the Sith Code he would be able to learn about the core of the Sith's understanding of the Force. Not only that, since there had not been a 'real' Sith order for thousands upon thousands of years the Code would have remained unchanged as opposed to the Jedi Code which had countless iterations throughout the years.

Ancient knowledge was not only rare, but very beneficial as it held insights in the Force that had been lost to time.

Sar felt that he had a clear goal set now, he had to find a version of that Code. It would not only grant him insight into the Force, but also more knowledge about the Sith themselves and what to expect from them.

Having written his notes down, excluding his plan to search for the Sith Code, Sar leaned back in the chair and stretched his sore muscles, before planning his next move.

While he certainly knew what he was looking for where to start in order to find it was a totally different question, one he did not have an answer for at the moment.

He dared not ask anyone from the Order or the Republic about it as that would just be inviting trouble, so he had already lost pretty much all of the sources he had. A few more minutes passed by as Sar sat and thought about where to begin when it suddenly clicked.

It had slipped his mind because he had only heard about it once three years ago, but he remembered his Master mentioning a list of planets that had been under the Sith's control. The fact that his Master had mentioned the list so casually meant that it was probably not seen as that important by the Council, another testament to how sure they were of the Sith's extinction.

Sitting up straight in his chair Sar began typing away at the holo-computer in front of him until he found what he was looking for.

A list of planets popped up in front of him. Each planet had a short description of its history and when it had last been visited by a Jedi. Many of them had been left to their own devices for centuries or where a barren wasteland with nothing of interest.

Sar spent about an hour scrolling through the list until he finally landed on something promising.

It was a planet that had no name merely listed in the system as Unknown #23. It hadn't been visited by a Jedi in about three hundred years and there were apparently an ancient Sith temple located on the planet.

Typing a few more things into the system Sar soon had the planets coordinates stored. Now he had a destination but before he could begin his journey. Pulling up yet another file a doc.u.ment with many strange symbols and letters popped up.

The Sith language was actually one of the few things the Order did not restrict access to about the Sith, probably because a dead language held little threat of turning anyone to the Dark Side.

And so Sar set out to do the grueling task of learning an ancient dead language. Though, of course he also made sure that he wrote a lot down so he had some kind of makeshift dictionary. This removed the need to learn the entire language before he set out.

***

Setting foot on the planet alone was a weird feeling. While Sar had experienced a solo mission before that one had been sanctioned by the Senate and he had been given clear instructions, plus Alistar had accompanied him on that little adventure.

This time he was truly on his own. While the planet was uninhabited it certainly wasn't lacking in life. Huge trees and foliage spread out in front of Sar's eyes and surrounded the clearing he had landed in.

The dense fauna may have proved a hindrance in finding what he was looking for had he come here back when he had just earned his Padawan title, but now his senses and mastery over the Force made it easy for Sar to find his way.

Using his lightsaber to cut down the plants and trees that stood in his way Sar made his way through the humid jungle-like forest.

He was glad he had changed his normal Jedi robes for something a little more practical.

He was currently wearing a simple combat suit with a few pieces of armor covering his c.h.e.s.t, back and legs, his hands were wrapped with some kind of coarse bandage, and his face and hair was covered in some kind of cloth shawl leaving only his eyes exposed.

As he moved through the forest he followed the weird sensation he had felt when he first landed on the planet. It was unlike anything he had sensed before. It was diffidently the Dark Side but it seemed almost faded as if it had long disappeared and only a weak echo remained.

Finally he arrived at a clearing and came face to face with what he had been looking for.

Like the Sith structure he had encountered on Eoliv, this one was also in the shape of a pyramid. Although it was a bit smaller and made out of some kind of mundane brown stone.

You could definitely see the tears of time on the structure as most of the rocks were cracked and covered in vines. The huge staircase that let up to the entrance of the temple was missing chunks of the railing and even many of the steps had crumbled.

Removing his lightsaber from his waist Sar moved towards the entrance to the temple, remembering to keep his guard up.

The insides of the temple was pretty much what you would have expected from an ancient structure, barren with pieces of rubble scattered across the cracked stone floor. The room was ,however, surprisingly well lit due to the various holes in the pyramid that let in streams of sunlight.

Sar's gaze soon landed on the wall right in front of him. The wall was covered in mysterious writing that emitted the weird dark echo that Sar had been following.

Stepping closer and inspecting it he soon figured out why the Jedi had not either burned this temple down or kept it's location under better guard.

The writing was indeed Sith but a more advanced and rare type of dialect, namely High Sith. While Jedi had an understanding of Common Sith, High Sith was generally ignored due to its rare use.

That was probably why the Jedi had left the temple, they had simply thought of it as some common Sith handwriting and left it here to crumble, but Sar knew that High. Sith held more power than mere writing.

While Sar had a pretty good understanding of the language it was really his makeshift dictionary that allowed him to decode the writing on the wall. While it was not the Sith Code he had hoped it would be, he still felt that it held a secret that would be revealed by reciting it.

So he did.

"Strength comes from passion. Show no mercy. The Dark Side guides no one who cannot guide themselves. Let hate and love flow through you and open your eyes to the true way of the Force. The way of the Sith."

With each word recited a letter of the writing lit up in a inky black color on the wall. When he finished the short text all the words shone with the same black color.

Sar studied the weird phenomenon that clearly had something to due with the Dark Side, but didn't really have long to think before the black color faded from each of the words, and after the color faded so did the letters, before a crack appeared down the middle of the wall and it parted revealing a small room behind it.

The room was barren except for a white marble pedestal, upon which sat a small black and red pyramid.

The pyramid was made out of a kind of dark gleaming metal and red tainted glass. The metal was engraved with a cryptic markings which pulsed with a red light.

Sar's breath halted for a bit as he realized what that thing was.

A Sith Holocron.

Much like the Jedi these Holocrons held powerful knowledge, but Sith Holocron as you would expect was very rare and was seen by the Order as the most dangerous artifacts in the universe.

Cold sweat ran down Sar's back. How in the Force was there a Sith Holocron in this unassuming temple?! Thoughts raised through his head and he was unsure what to do.

His duty would be to bring the Holocron back to the temple so that the Masters could seal it in a secure location, but this course of action would make the Order question why he was out looking for Sith temples and how he knew how to speak High Sith.

His other option was to just leave it here and seal the room. This would eliminate the need to explain anything to the Council and Sar could just act like this never happened.

But Sar opted for telling the Council about his discovery despite the trouble and potential danger it would bring. For at the end of the day, despite Sar's disagreements with the Order, he was a Jedi and it was his duty to keep the galaxies safe even if that meant disadvantaging himself.

Taking a deep breath Sar reached out and grabbed the Holocron, but as soon as he touched it something he had not expected happened. Sar knew that only people who wielded the Dark Side were able to open Sith Holocrons, so when the small pyramid began glowing and opened he was truly caught off guard.

Sar tried to throw it away but it was too late as a thin lazer. like beam emerged from the now opened pyramid and entered his forehead. Immediately fire-like pain engulfed his head. While Sar was no stranger to pain this one was so intense that even the well-trained Jedi Knight dropped to his knees, his lightsaber slipping from his grip and clattering unto the floor.

Sar grabbed his head and screamed as ancient knowledge of the Sith flowed into his brain. The changes brought forth by the artifact did not stop there as the pain in his head transferred down to his right hand.

Sar removed his hand from his head and grabbed the wrist of his right hand with that of his left as he tried to keep the screams of pain locked in his throat.

His eyes soon locked onto his pained right hand. It was violently twitching, each finger seemingly having a mind of its own as it tried to escape the unbearable agony it was in. Soon his hand starting from the tips of the fingers started to turn an ashen grey color and black veins slowly crept up his arm.

Sar's eyes became wider and wider, and an unbearable fear started creeping into his mind even as he tried to gather his wits and fight back against the dark powers that had infected him. It was useless however as soon black lighting started to coil around the fingers on his right hand.

The lightning became more intense as time went on, before it slowly began forming a dark electric sphere that kept sparking with the dark lightning. It was unlike anything Sar had ever seen before and he could feel the powerful precesnse of the the Dark Side within the lightning.

The sphere kept expanding until finally it exploded into a wave of black electricity that engulfed Sar's body and launched him out of the room and into the air.

The pain in his hand had been replaced with the numbing feeling of electricity coursing through his body as Sar felt himself sail through the air, time seemingly having stopped, allowing him to observe the condition of his body.

Until he hit the cold stone floor and rolled a small distance before coming to a stop, unconscious.

***

When Sar awoke once again the first thing he noticed was that he no longer felt pain, except for the state of soreness his body was in. Sitting up from his prone position with a groan Sar quickly looked at his right hand only to find that it had returned to normal.

After that he closed his eyes and was relived to find that beside the thing he had actually come for the other Sith knowledge had seemingly disappeared, though he was a bit perplexed as to why.

Now standing up completely, Sar directed his gaze to the small room to make sure that the Sith Holocron would not cause more trouble. His worries were unfounded however as the Holocron, still open and no longer glowing, laid on the stone floor with a plume of black smoke coming from it.

Relived to see that he had avoided both being killed and having to deliver the Holocron to the Council Sar used the Force to grab his lightsaber that he had lost during the ordeal with the artifact.

Attaching it to his waist Sar slowly limped out of the temple and down the stairs. When he was a good distance from the temple entrance he felt a weird wind brush against his back quickly turning around all that greeted him was the clearing where the old temple stood. Turning around and shrugging his shoulders Sar walked the rest of distance to his ship, and left the planet.

However, Sar had not realized that when he had felt the wind and turned around his eyes had glowed briefly...with a sickly yellow color.