2 THE SITH MASK

The place that should have been my apartment was nothing I could recognize anymore. Instead, after leaving the place where I had woken up, I found myself in a hall with rows of shelves stretching on both sides. 

The floor was made of shining marble that reflected the red light emanating from whatever lay on the shelves.

Further ahead, I spotted a familiar-looking helmet glowing within a glass cabinet right at the end of the shelves. 

The sight of it felt very familiar yet somewhat altered.

 I soon realized why. 

The helmet looked a bit like the one worn by the famed Sith, Darth Vader, except it was tweaked in a strange way that the sharp ears protruding above it made it resemble Batman's head mask.

 It was quite an artistic blend.

I walked with slow, calculated steps as I examined the contents of the shelves one by one. 

I hadn't even reached the middle of the room, but my heart was already pounding in excitement.

"What the hell is this place?" I exclaimed as my eyes bulged at the absurdity of what I was seeing. 

The shelves were packed with a weird variety of what looked like light weapons.

 Whoever lived here had to be a die-hard Star Wars nerd.

I almost ran from shelf to shelf as I examined the contents.

 Soon I noticed that the damn things were not replicas. 

"My God!"

 I took a step back and stared at the collections. At this point, the worry of finding myself in a strange place had paled compared to what I was seeing now. Most of the weapons I was seeing did not even exist in the Star Wars universe.

There were light bows and arrows that, I had to admit, looked sick. On another shelf lay the most beautiful sight that would have made any Viking cry with joy: a red glowing freaking light axe. the sight of it had my heart pumping just thinking of the possibility of wielding that thing.(see image)

'god', I wanted to touch it, wanted to feel its weight...I mean how the hell did it even work?

usually, a battle axe had to have a good weight on it, it was what made its blows lethal, but seeing the smooth hilt and the well-crafted head, I doubted it had that kind of weight, still if it employed the same saber fighting style, that bit made little difference.

Unfortunately for me, none of the glass doors on the shelves opened and I did not want to force them...I mean who would intentionally provoke this kind of Sith especially when you were trespassing inside a place he was more likely to protect with his life?....well, certainly not me.

Further ahead, there was a light spear standing on a shelf of its own, not to mention the most bizarre of all, 

the coiled whip.

Having been a huge fan of Star Wars, I had spent quite a healthy amount of my time thinking about all the varieties of weapons that the Jedi and the Sith would have made aside from their mundane sabers and staffs. What I was seeing right now was all that I had dreamed of and more.

Several other strange sections were filled with the source of energy that powered these weapons: the kyber crystal. 

Knowing how rare finding these crystals was, I was even more astounded that someone had enough to even store some.

I had so many questions buzzing in my head right now that my movements appeared to be of their own accord. I wasn't paying attention to how I navigated the shelves. One thing had become apparent to me; this room was definitely tailored for a person who was a user of the dark side of the Force...to be specific, a Sith. 

That much wasn't hard to figure out. I mean, everything glowed red, even the kyber crystals.

I was aware that the crystals often adapted its color based on the aspects of their user; however, for a crystal to turn red, it had to be corrupted using some of the Sith rituals. 

So, who was this Sith? 

I had been here for around ten minutes, and no one seemed to come out to confront me. 

Another thing occurred to me. 

If this happened to be in the Star Wars world and I had seen this much, there was no way I was leaving this place alive. No Sith would take the risk lest I rush and rat them out to the Jedi council....unless...well unless it was the Sith who were in power. Even then, my chances were slim.

The trouble was that only walls surrounded me...no door or at least none that I could see

Having covered almost all the rows, I found myself on the glass that held the strange mask. My eyes were now transfixed on it, and it seemingly stared back at me.

Again, looking at it closely, I now realized that it was designed to be a blend between Darth Vader and Batman's head mask. Why the hell anyone would do that, I had no idea, but I had to agree that its aesthetics were beautiful.

Reaching over, I pulled the glass door and to my surprise, this one opened. 

I pulled the mask out. 

My hands froze momentarily. An electrifying thrill rushed through my body the moment I made contact with the mask.

An overwhelming urge to slip it on intensified within me to the point my hands were trembling.

Slowly, I turned to scan the room to see if anyone had finally noticed my presence. Heck, I didn't even know for a fact whether there would be anyone. There was no sign of any life other than me.

 Behind me, only the red hue from the unused kyber crystals and the variety of weapons lit the way.

 I swallowed hard.

Slowly, my trembling hands brought the mask towards my head, all the while whispering some motivation to myself. 

"Come on... what can a damn mask do to me?" My thundering heart, however, was not buying the whole ruse. I mean, call it intuition, but my brain was answering me back, 'Given the fact that you are standing in a room full of stuff that should be nothing but fiction, I would say a hell lot of things.' 

It was not helping.

Shutting my eyes and drowning out the warning bells that were blaring in my head, I slid the mask down my head. 

It took no effort at all; the damn thing was apparently twice the size of my head. And that was saying something given the fact that I had been told quite a good number of times that I had a generous head. 

I was beginning to like this world slowly.

I mean, if there was someone who would do me the honor of becoming the reigning champion of the Big Heads Association, I did not mind bowing out. 

My sidetracking thoughts were suddenly jolted back to the moment. The mask had slowly begun feeling less loose... the freaking thing was adjusting itself to my head until it clung to me as if it had been specifically made for me.

Those blaring warning bells were back.

I quickly reached out and tried to pull the helmet off my head, but then it would not budge. It felt as if I was plucking my head out.

 damn it! I was now stuck inside a murderous Sith's souvenir. 

For a while, I just stood there, listening to the thud from my heart and waiting for whatever would happen next. And something...something eventually did.