Yerbol's feet sunk into the once-rigid earth, steeling himself as a tremendous amount of energy surged through his saber and out towards their attackers in jagged arcs that resulted in several chassis explosions and sparks haphazardly flinging through the air, coming dangerously close to setting the nearby foliage and trees ablaze. The Champion spun his head backwards at Aria's exclamation, nodding in agreement before ramming his way through the rear guard of now electrified droids, throwing blaster rifles and robotic appendages aside as the party descended deeper into the wilderness.
Once they caught their breath, Kytra managed to act as an effective watchman, informing them of their visitors garbed in ominously familiar attire. Instead of launching an assault, a woman (presumably based on the way her armor was structured) told them to follow, the duo spinning on their heels and running back the way they came, which was, of course, further into the forest.
"Son of a bantha herder..." He muttered, turning to meet the gaze of his wife and Neta, both women oddly silent.
"You know we have to follow them." Neta's jaw flared for a moment, upper lip curling before she spat out:
"Kronging planet already tried to kill us once and we might be walking into another trap. What other choice do we have, though, eh?" She patted the pistol on her hip.
"I got your back, kids. Let's move out."
"They look like those Faceless assassins we faced just a few weeks ago." Yerbol's brow shot up.
"You fought the Faceless?"
"I was sent to clean up the stragglers on Voss-Ka after the Gormak were defeated. Even without their leader, they were..." He shuddered, hands balling into fists.
"They were unsettling, to say the least. But we don't KNOW that this pair have the same motives as Manus does; to be fair, we ARE thousands of lightyears away. We follow them, keep our guard up and be ready to navigate another fight if we need to." With another glance at the party, they all began their trek behind the duo of potential saviors.
It was difficult at times to keep up with the pair, seeing as their swift navigation of the twisting paths in the forest left the party scrambling to keep up. Yerbol could tell that Kytra would have an easier time following from above, but those on the ground were running into trees (not him, of course. Trees just suddenly appeared when he was walking.), swearing after pulling their legs out of needle-ridden foliage and slipping on slick, viscous slime oozing from the ground in random places. The forest almost made Malachor's surface more appealing. At one point, Yerbol found himself face up staring at the thick canopy above, thankful for the glimmers of light that filtered through the cracks, yet angry at the fifth fall he had taken. When a hand thrust forward to help him, he didn't object, taking it and muttering thanks when he saw that the hand belonged to a young man with ashen blonde hair and crystalline blue eyes with an almost violet tint. He had a striking profile, one that Yerbol had never seen in their party of the galaxy.
"This is a difficult forest to get through if you don't know the way." He motioned to the woman who stood at the precipice of a cliff, mask still remaining.
"We are almost there."
"Where are you leading us?"
"Home." When the party arrived at the cliff, Yerbol's jaw dropped, Ethan's eyes widening as they surveyed the scene below.
The valley that stretched out in front was about half a mile of crisscrossing streams, foliage and trees with four stone, square buildings at each corner of the valley, roofs supported by barely visible pillars. In the center of the valley stood a circular shaped building with two towers flanking it that barely peeked over the trees dotting the serene area.
"This looks..." Yerbol cleared his throat, looking away for a moment, eyes glistening as he resumed his gaze.
"Tython." Neta said quietly, putting a hand on Yerbol's back.
"Tython? What is Tython?" The young man asked, eyes trained on the party with stark curiosity.
"It was home. For a time." Yerbol smiled, the gesture lingering.
"Your home looks like ours and this is favorable in your eyes. Good. Master Revan will be pleased."
What?
"Wha-what did you say?" Ethan managed to eek out, ruddy face going three shades more pale than normal.
"Master Revan." The woman, who now removed her mast to reveal a similar profile to the young man, the only difference her hair color being a shimmering ebony.
"He felt you coming and knew you would come here. We were told to escort you and keep you safe from Arcann until he can return from his latest expedition." Arcann? Expedition? REVAN?
"When will Master Revan return?" Yerbol asked, trying to suppress a quiver in his voice.
"He told us that it would be several days, but time has passed to where he should return tomorrow." She gestured towards the sun on the horizon.
"The day grows shorter. Come, allow us to show you to where you can wait."
There was a snaking path cleft into the side of the cliff that they managed to follow, albeit precariously. Once the party was on firmer footing, they were led to the stone building on the lower right hand corner of the valley. The building itself was supported by previously seen pillars, but upon closer inspection there were elaborate patterns etched into the granite, an auburn colored tapestry wrapped around each column which allowed the viewer to admire both the inscribed pattern and quality of tapestry. Escorted through the wide, rectangular entrance-way, the party could note the torches burning brightly in each corner of the room along with several different hallways that branched out in various directions. The main area was bleak, furnished with only two weapons racks where blades of various sizes dangled loosely and water purifiers that stood next to each rack, respectively.
"This is our training complex that also houses some of our Order."
"Order?"
"Yes, the Order of the Heralds. Master Revan asked us to allow him to explain much to you himself, so please forgive us if we do not give you the information you seek as of yet." The woman looked away from her companion back towards the central building, gaze set as the young man continued:
"Please follow the hallway there, to the right, to find quarters for yourselves. Adequate supplies have been provided for you. Master Revan also request that the meditation chamber and training area be available to you until he returned, so please make use of them if desired." After pointing out the location of both (one of which they were standing in), the young man added in a bit sharper of a tone:
"Master Revan does implore you to not leave this area until he has spoken with you. While my sister and I have interacted with you, others have not and will not until Master Revan has spoken to you. Please respect his wishes. If you need anything, either myself or my sister will be at the entrance of this building." His tone softened when he added:
"I am Desunama, or Desun for short. This is my sister, Kyla. Until our next discussion, we bid you farewell." The duo walked to the entrance, leaving the party with far too many questions unanswered. Silence permeated the air for several moments before Ethan said with a befuddled grin:
"Well, that was a lot of information. Anyone else confused? Confused? Dazed? Anyone?" Yerbol chuckled.
"I think what we need to do right now is take their advice. They've given us a place to stay and enough incentive to stick around until we get more answers." He told the party quietly.
"Obey their wishes. We don't need to upset the only people so far who have taken an interest in keeping us alive."
Member
El Taco Taco
The Elvenqueen