Chapter Text
Fin rotating into place, the Mantis extended its landing struts to touch down on Broditur, a fairly oceanic planet in the Mid-Rim.
Cal, with BD-1, practically leaped out of the Mantis, eager to return to action and learn more about the mysteries of the Force now that his Sith-inflicted injury had healed. An easy mission to start off with: Cordova's notes referenced a small Zeffo temple for the Minor Sage Ulzid, one he had thought peculiar, but hadn't had time to return to with his studies on Bogano. Though without the ability to restore the Jedi order (and he had made the right decision in destroying the holocron, he knew), he was determined to figure out whatever secrets the Zeffo had left behind.
"Doing okay, Beedee?" Cal asked his droid friend.
"Wooo, bee-boop," BD-1 trilled enthusiastically.
Nodding, Cal called back to Cere and Merrin. "This shouldn't take too long, Cordova's notes said the temple was pretty small. I'll comm you if I find anything cool!"
"Be careful out there," Cere replied. "We don't know what you'll find."
Merrin simply smiled at him, turning to look around their landing site.
Cal waved off their concerns. "Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine. Plus, I have Beedee to protect me."
"Woop, beep!"
And with that, Cal was off. Jogging around the tall grassy cliffs, running along walls to avoid falling into the ocean below, and fighting a few crustacean creatures, he made his way towards the marker on BD's map. He even picked up a sweet-smelling red-orange flower for the Mantis' expanded terrarium ("Think Greez could cook something up with this?" "Boo-beep!").
Finally, sliding down some slippery rocks on a pathway overlooking the sea, he came to a weathered archway carved into the cliff's face. It was...less impressive than the other sites he visited - no massive effigy, no swirling storm or towers to the sky, just an arch inscribed with glyphs, which BD immediately scanned.
"No new message from Cordova, huh bud?" Cal asked, pulling up the data entry, which, unhelpfully, noted they were similar to glyphs found at other Zeffo sites. "Anddd, we still don't know how to read Zeffonian, yep." Putting away the entry and strolling towards the arch, he added, "Only way to go is forward, right?"
The temple was darker than Cal expected, lit only by light streaming in from a few cracks overhead. Lightsaber in hand, Cal and BD descended stairs into the main chamber, the size and shape of which reminded him of Eilram's sarcophagus room. Evenly spaced around the perimeter were alcoves containing finely carved Zeffo heads. A single pillar in the center of the room supported the ceiling, itself carved with the flowing pattern of a river.
There were also no paths leading out from the room, save the stairs he had descended. "I guess I can see why Cordova only visited this place once," Cal told BD, "I wonder why they built a temple for this Ulzid guy. Seems like most of the sites Cordova found were tombs, but there's definitely no sarcophagus here."
Punching in the frequency for the Mantis into his comm, he said "Cere? I've found the temple - it's about as small as we expected. I'm gonna check it out a little more then head back."
"Copy that, Cal. Comm us if you find anything."
Lowering his comm, Cal turned to his companion. "Come on, Beedee, let's see if we can find anything."
Walking around the room, he noticed that each carved head was different. Growing in size, head shape changing, wrinkles - it almost seemed like they were aging from one statue to the next. What he assumed was baby Zeffo was to the right of the entrance, and seemingly an elderly one was on the left. He got the sense it was almost...a cycle? Cal squinted his eyes in thought, maybe the Zeffo or Ulzid had a concept of reincarnation or something?
With that thought, Cal turned towards the next statue - and caught something strange out of the corner of his eye. The pillar... it looked normal, the same as when he came in, at least.
"Beep-boo?" BD chimed in concern.
"Thought for a moment the carvings were...moving? Flowing?" He shook his head, "Must've been my imagination."
He made a wide berth around the central pillar, just in case, as he walked over to the wall opposite the stairs, where the largest alcove was. Cal inspected the head. Was this what a middle-aged Zeffo looked like? He looked closer. It seemed like a normal alcove...no, there was something about the base - was the statue supposed to be moved? He reached out with the force...and felt it give, just slightly. Pulling harder, he managed to slide it all the way forward and out, dropping it gently to the ground. As it hit the ground, a passage swung open in the back of the alcove.
Intrigued, Cal said, "Don't know how Cordova missed this one."
"Beeeep, woo." BD seemed interested, too.
"Definitely wasn't in the notes."
They shimmied through into another, smaller chamber. This room contained only a single, ornately engraved stone pedestal with a strong Force presence. Entranced, Cal reached out with his hand -
A rapidly aging Zeffo. Desperation and determination - I can not lose them, I will not;
*Just as the wind may lift the leaf from the stream, so can the Wind of Life unmoor one from the River of Time.*
- and shook himself out of the vision (echo? It certainly didn't feel like one) to BD's concerned chatter. "I'm fine, just another force echo." Looking back at the, now mundane, pedestal, he said "Whatever that was, the echo is gone now. Let's head back, bud. I think we're done here."
He turned, and....that wasn't right, the room he was in was supposed to be smaller, more...ruiny.
BD let out an alarmed 'wooooo'.
"Yeah, me too, bud," Cal said, staring at the intricately carved door on the wall in concern. "Me too."