Chapter 30 – Survivors of the past

Next morning, Layan was woken up by Lyn as she apparently had urgent news for him.

"Master, the probe droids on Nerit detected trees, we have to go if they really are of Master Ood species and not normal trees, Master Ood is already ecstatic."

Fortunately, they didn't have any alcohol otherwise after what he drunk last night, Layan would have a horrible headache after hearing Lyn's shouting.

"You're a noisy one so early in the morning. If you didn't have such a news, I would give you a good sparring session."

"Master, you're like a broken record. You should really think to find another catchphrase, my ears are starting to hurt."

"Psht. Pilot the ship toward Nerit while I eat my breakfast."

Layan headed for the lounge while Lyn sat on the pilot seat with T3 in the cockpit ready to obey to her orders. The trip was short, and he barely had to eat before they landed on Nerit near the locations indicated by the probe droids.

They took their speeder bike and travelled on the surface of Ossus's moon. What must have been a beautiful and temperate world was now not much different from the planet it was orbiting around, desolated and inhospitable.

"Master, do you really think there is a chance other Neti survived?"

"I don't know, Nerit was nearer to the cron cluster so the consequences must have been more severe, while Ossus may have been partially shielded by his two moons. But the Netis are all force-sensitive and are the best to use hibernation-trance, so maybe. Whatever, it may cold for me to say this, but Ood Bnar know perfectly that his race won't end with him as I told him about T'ra Saa, a Neti Jedi Master of the current order, she may be the only known Neti in the current times but surely not the last. I think he is searching for someone from the same time period as him, someone who lived the same things."

Honestly, Layan didn't bore any hopes as Ood Bnar was a well known Jedi in his time, even among his peers he stood out, so the chances that someone else may have succeeded to reproduce this exploit made him doubtful.

Finally, they arrived near a tree that looked like charred and dead.

Layan dismounted of his speeder bike and walked to the tree. Putting his hand on the bark, he raises his hope, but he felt nothing, no sign of life or sleeping consciousness.

"He may have survived for some time, but he died soon after, all what is left is a dead body."

Lyn sighed but was ready to depart to the next location indicated by the data but this setback took her mood down.

"Don't worry, we have other locations to check and the probe droids didn't scout the entire moon."

They resumed their travel around the desolate moon and stopped not far away and found three dead looking trees entangled together and Layan could feel living signatures, they must have shared the burden to survive together, their life signature was even stronger than Ood when Layan discovered him.

He did the same thing he did when he discovered the old Jedi Master and infused the force into the three surviving netis. Soon, tremors shook the ground and faces appeared on the old gnarled barks.

The trees looked at each other with stupefaction and joy before looking at the two of them. Before they could ask, Layan engaged the conversation.

"Hello, I'm Layan Vaherg, I came here survivors on Master Ood Bnar plea. Can I ask for your names?"

The three where surprised when they heard that Ood Bnar was still alive, but they choose to proceed as they had to know what happened during their slumber.

"I am Diss, this is Varoo and Tas'hra, we are a part of the expatriate neti clan established on Nerit, I have to thank you to have taken us out of this trance. Please tell us how many years passed since the supernova created by the Siths."

She used her roots to show first Varoo, at her left which appeared to be male and then at Tas'hra which appeared to be a female like herself.

"It's been almost 4000 years since Exar Kun arising. Can I ask if any of you is a Jedi?"

Once again, it was a big surprise as they slept for a far longer time than they thought.

"No, we are only Neti colonists which were able to use the trance to protect ourselves, fortunately this ability is almost natural for us."

"Good, if the three of you can move, I'll take you to Ossus to meet Ood Bnar. For now, we'll search if others survived."

The three were in better shape than Ood and could move but they were far from being in peak condition. They boarded the ship while Layan and Lyn checked the last location which like the first time was a failure, this one was dead too.

"We should hurry. The old man must be looking forward to our arrival."

Lyn said before seating in the pilot ship and heading toward Ossus. It looked like she took a liking to piloting spaceships and was stealing his pilot's role to Layan ever since.

After a short trip, they were back on the planet and headed toward the millennium year old Jedi Master. Ood sensed them ever since they entered in the atmosphere of the planet, and detecting three new life signatures elated him.

The three Netis took a more normal appearance thanks to their shape-shifting natural ability. They almost looked like normal humans except for the fact that they were lacking a nose, and that their hairs weren't lifelike and looked like tree roots growing on their head.

"My friends, Diss, Varoo, Tas'hra, I'm so glad to see you again."

"Ood, old friend glad to see you again."

The three seems to know each other before the catastrophe and were enjoying their reunion, but the subject soon change as to what happened and how they survived which made the mood low. So, they change subject and started to talk of Ood health condition and the future.

Layan and Lyn left the group of Neti and headed toward the building site of the settlement where houses started to appear in the surroundings. They were all built in the same design, in a circular shape of around 20 meters radius, surrounded by archways, the houses were two story high, with several windows to make them luminous and with a blue or green tiled roof.

The few houses already built were started to be decorated by the Ysannas. The owners either had paintings or trinkets indicating to decorate and personalize and differentiate the buildings.

"Soon, every house will be built and we will able to focus on the library and clear the way to access to the other part of the building and retrieve more knowledge."

"And Ood will fully take over the Ysanna's training and you will be able to focus on me."

While Lyn was in a hurry to start her training for good, Layan wanted to study the hidden knowledge of the library. In the past, Jedis didn't fear the dark side or search to destroy everything related to it, they were considering it as a subject matter, evidently reserved to experimented and cautious masters.

Layan knew he was extremely lacking knowledge about the dark side, he was trained by Shaak Ti, so he didn't get deep knowledge of dark side abilities. Later on, when he was roaming the galaxy, he studied the dark side by himself and discovered a few interesting things in old temples, but the sum of this knowledge was ridiculously tiny.

He also had to search his own way of balance, which wasn't something easy, as he almost fell to the dark side while searching for his own path.

"Young friend, master Ood want to see you. I think he wanted to thank you for saving our lives."

Varoo, one of the Netis they just saved, called them from behind while being accompanied by his two companions. Before he left to see the old Jedi, they bowed to them and thanked Lyn and Layan once again. Lyn chose to stay and help at the construction as she didn't work and was off, exploring the moon in the morning.

"So, how was the reunion, old man?"

"Good, thanks to you, my old self doesn't feel so lonely anymore and you proved to be a man of your words. As a gift, I want to impart you a technique which I am the only one to know and which may be useful for someone like you who search to study both sides of the force."

Layan was surprised by Ood statement because even after listening to Ood description of it, he still had no idea of what technique it could be.

"In the past, when teaching students about the force, I repeated always the same phrase 'Seek the light, always. Shun the dark, always'. It may have been hypocrite of myself as I was studying both sides."

"You won't have liked me if I was one of your students in the past."

This idea made Layan smirk when thinking about it.

"Huh. Let's resume. When I see you treading a path which leading to our genesis, our origin, I think you may know something, I possessed an extremely rare ability. When studying the force, I am able to distance myself from my feelings and being perfectly rational during my studies. This is this ability which made of me one of the leading experts about the dark side while never being tainted by the dark side."

"Really interesting, but to use dark side abilities, you must use your emotions and desires as a fuel. This technique may impede my growth in the future, but it will help me research the dark side without losing myself. So how do I learn it? If this ability is so useful, you would have taught it to everyone."

Layan was doubtful, if such an ability really existed, then all jedis would have learned it by now.

"This ability was innate to me, but I think that someone able to dissociate his body and soul at his death and succeeding sending it back into the past must be able to obtain it. I can only give you tips on how I felt when using it and you'll have to replicate it by yourself."

"Sure. Time to get to work."

Layan sat cross-legged on the rocky floor and started a meditation while listening to Ood's advice.