EXT. KORRIBAN – VALLEY OF THE SLEEPING KINGS – ROAD – DAY

Here in the Valley of the Sleeping Kings, there is perfect silence. Aside from Anakin’s footfalls upon the stone road and the odd crackle of thunder that reverberates through the air with each strike of lightning that passes down from the heavy clouds, there isn’t a single sound to break the monotonous quiet. The effect is peculiar, eerie, and most unsettling.

EXT. VALLEY OF THE SLEEPING KINGS – GREAT TEMPLE – DAY

Anakin finally reaches the rear end of the Valley and with it his destination. Before him stands the Great Temple, the grand mausoleum he saw in the vision conjured by Nykres Eikhan. As it was in his vision, a carved effigy of a Sith male frames the entrance into the temple, its stone arms extended. Here, though, the braziers in its hands lie dead, cold as the Sith who sleep beyond.

Unholstering one of his blaster pistols, Anakin cautiously heads inside.

INT. GREAT TEMPLE/ANTECHAMBER – DAY

Anakin soon comes to the antechamber of the Great Temple’s burial chamber. The roof of the antechamber caved in a long time ago, leaving great boulders covered in layers of dust and cobwebs upon the floor. Making his way across the chamber, stepping across or between the boulders, Anakin comes across the shattered fragments of a large crystal lying amongst the debris in the centre of the chamber. Unable to discern the original purpose of the crystal, he proceeds onward.

INT. GREAT TEMPLE/BURIAL CHAMBER – DAY

Anakin enters the burial chamber. The chamber is rectangular, several metres across with a high ceiling – easily vaster than Eikhan’s tomb on Xuthltan or the atrium in the temple on Thule. Along both the left and right sides of the tomb are large, high thrones which bear the bodies of all the Lords and Ladies of the Sith who reigned in the final age of the Sith Empire. Past the thrones, at the far end of the chamber, are two peculiar objects: a large tetrahedral crystal and a cyclopean statue of a hooded figure, a sceptre held in its right hand and an orb in its left.

Anakin examines the thrones and the bodies seated upon them closely. Carved from obsidian, adorned with pairs of counchant tuk’ata statues which rest on secondary levels below the Sith, the thrones are identical in colour, size, and shape; only the unique crests adorning the face of each individual throne – the personal crests of the Lords they bear aloft – distinguish them. As for the bodies themselves, they all belong to the Sith race, though decay and desiccation have removed most distinguishing physical characteristics from their features.

Stopping in the exact centre of the chamber, Anakin holsters his blaster. Unslinging his rifle, his eyes dart left and right at the two rows of thrones.

ANAKIN: (presents the rifle to the mummies) Taka zeech ma toka duuwaj.

Slowly, Anakin places the blaster rifle down on the floor before his feet.

ANAKIN: (removes his gunbelt and presents it to the mummies) Taka zeech ma toka duuwaj.

He places the belt with pistols and vibroblade down with the rifle.

ANAKIN: Taka zeech ma toka duuwaj.

The former Jedi then slowly kneels down. Clenching his hands into fists, he places them against his forehead, the base of his palms pressed together.

ANAKIN: Taka zeech ma toka duuwaj.

He then takes his fists away from his forehead.

ANAKIN: (unclenches fists) Taka zeech ma toka duuwaj.

The rite completed, he slowly stands back up.

ANAKIN: I am Anakin Skywalker. I am a former Jedi Knight, outcast from that which you knew as the Galactic Republic. I have come before you, the ancient Lords of Sith, seeking an audience. I beseech thee – lend me your ear!

Anakin waits. All is still, all is silent. The tall braziers lining the chamber remain dark, the mummies naught but empty, lifeless shells. Still he waits and waits and waits. Several minutes pass, then he gives up.

ANAKIN: (crestfallen) Nothing. It’s been too long. There’s nothing for me here.

As he reaches down to retrieve his weapons, the braziers spontaneously ignite. Orange torchlight fills the Great Temple for the first time in five-thousand years. Forgetting his weapons, Anakin stands straight, eyes darting from throne to throne.

SITH SPIRIT #1: (O.S.) Jedi ….

A baleful glow begins to resonate within the empty sockets of the mummies. The sleepers have awakened. The Lords of the Sith live again.

SITH SPIRIT #2: (O.S.) Jedi!

ANAKIN: I –

SITH SPIRIT #3: (O.S.; angry) The hated enemy! Jedi!

ANAKIN: I am no longer Jedi!

SITH SPIRIT #4: (O.S.) Its tongue clicks with deception! Cut it from its mouth before it poisons the air with further lies!

ANAKIN: (frantic) Please! Hear me!

The disembodied voices of the Lords continue to rail against the former Jedi, raining venomous curses and threats upon him. Finally, from out of one of the mummies emanates AN AMORPHOUS BLUE SPIRIT. Assuming vaguely humanoid form, it rises to the ceiling, looming over the thrones beneath it.

SITH SPIRIT #5: Enough!

The other spirits fall silent.

The glowing blue spirit comes to hover over Anakin. It takes on a more defined shape: the form of a wizened Sith male wearing long hair, clad in voluminous robes and a horned helmet.

ANAKIN: (afraid) W-whom do I address?

SITH SPIRIT #5: In life I was Marka Ragnos, last of the true Lords of the Sith to reign before the fall of the Sith Empire. (beat) You court danger invading this, our inner sanctum, Jedi. Do you believe you can challenge us here?

ANAKIN: I have come for knowledge, not battle.

MARKA RAGNOS (SITH SPIRIT #5): You are Jedi.

ANAKIN: I am Jedi no longer. I have turned from that path.

MARKA RAGNOS: Explain.

ANAKIN: I became Jedi under false pretenses. I was ignorant of the history between they and the Sith, ignorant of the genocide perpetrated against your people. Once the truth was made known to me, I left my master.

MARKA RAGNOS: Thus you have come to Korriban. You yearn for the honour we bestowed but once before to the Jedi Exar Kun, yet your blood burns without his passion; you have not the heart of a Sith born.

ANAKIN: (passionate) My heart beats for my people! My blood burns for the peace, freedom, justice, and security of my Empire!

MARKA RAGNOS: From the Republic your Empire sprang forth?

ANAKIN: It did.

MARKA RAGNOS: Then you have sought our counsel in vain. The scion of our enemy is our enemy also.

ANAKIN: Almost two-hundred generations separate yours and mine. Sons do not rightly bear the sins of their fathers – or their grandfathers.

MARKA RAGNOS: The memories of the dead are long. Bygone transgressions remain fresh as hot milk, splinters in our mind’s eye.

ANAKIN: Then temper your wrath with honour. The Sith knew honour, didn’t they?

MARKA RAGNOS: We knew it.

ANAKIN: Then consider it now, for a million worlds are at stake. They are endangered by an agent of the dark side.

MARKA RAGNOS: (contemptuous) Light side, dark. Puerile oversimplifications as conceived by children.

ANAKIN: (frowns) An evil man – I do not know who – covets the throne of the Empire. If he takes it, his reign will be terrible; billions will die, billions more will suffer under his heel. I need to stop him; I need the power to stop him. You are the only ones who hold that power. Share it with me!

The Lords begin to chitter amongst themselves. Though Ragnos does not pitch in, he listens to their thoughts with rapt attention.

MARKA RAGNOS: (to Anakin) Your weapons.

Anakin’s brow furrows ever so slightly.

MARKA RAGNOS: (con’t) You will need them.

Ragnos then dissipates. As he vanishes, the eyes of the tuk’ata statues open, all glowing a dreadful red. Rising from their reclining positions, it becomes clear that they were never statues at all; they are real tuk’ata and they will not suffer Anakin’s presence in the chamber of their masters gladly.