Auro Syrdash

[Auro Syrdash]

Outer Rim Territories
World of Fray
Baku Spaceport
Republic Charger c70:
The Saberjowl
Lounge
c. 2919 AOK

As the severed head of Auro's friend rolled across the floor of the abandoned Jedi Council Chamber's, Auro's blood began to boil. Staring directly into the frigid blue eyes of Maya's murderer, he suddenly knew what it was to feel hatred. Part of Orchid's veiled face was exposed to reveal tattoos, half were illuminated by the crimson light of her double-bladed lightsaber, the others glowed in the green light of Maya's blade. Auro raised the blue blade of his own lightsaber and attacked his friend's killer only to be thwarted by an explosion between the two of them.

Just as someone might hear a distant voice calling out during a nightmare, Auro recognized a familiar voice. Suddenly, Auro felt Gadeon tugging at his arm, shaking him from the fog of vengeance in which he had lost himself. As smoke filled the once stately chamber. Finally, he was able to hear Gadeon's words and, reluctantly, Auro retreated with him to the airspeeder hovering outside the crumbling temple spire. There, he found his loyal albek companion there waiting for him. Heartbroken and confused, Auro held Pablo-Jill close. Moments laters, he had regained control of his emotions. Nonetheless, he had failed his friend. They had both sensed the suffering of numerous spirits trapped within the decaying temple. Why had he felt that the Force had guided them there despite the surrounding darkness?

Time and space gave way to blurry swirls as Auro heard Gadeon's voice echoing repeatedly inside his dizzy mind. "Auro, come to the temple now," he insisted. Surreal colors and odd noises bled into images and the sound of footsteps. Back inside the temple, he saw a dozen Jedi Masters and several Padawans meditating together in a circle. The oppressive darkness that had inundated the temple before had now been replaced by a sense of peace and calm. No longer were tortured spirits imprisoned within these walls; they had been released. With Pablo-Jill in tow, Auro and Ashla followed Gadeon to the decaying spire where Maya had lost her life and Auro had lost control of himself. Upon arriving there, they sat cross-legged in the center of the chamber.

When Auro looked up, the visage of his Rodian friend and fellow Jedi, Maya, stood before him, radiating light and warmth. Her translucent, bluish spirit form knelt before him. "I can't maintain this form for long," she told him as he listened intently. "Journey to the world of Clovis in the Antemeridian sector to seek out Al'Mor'Ah. It is time for an old debt to be repaid," she told him. "Even when you suffer defeat, good can still come from that. Don't give up on yourself or those closest to you. I am always around you," she promised as her spirit faded and rejoined the Force.

"Al'Mor'Ah," Auro whispered, emerging from his meditative trance. Pablo-Jill grunted sleepily, tilting his head and looking up at Auro from beside him on the couch. "The Force spoke through Maya, just as Maya spoke through the Force," Auro realized. "I am a servant of the light, and the life which infuses it," he intoned. It was a mantra attributed to his late father's Ithorian Master, Llim Lumas. "We're meant to abide by the Will of the Force," Auro affirmed. "When the Force lights our way, we must follow that path."