Chapter 1: The Mask

The hallways of the usually bustling Temple were barren. Devoid of any life, the Temple was quite eerie. Joruus hated the silence. His mind wandered as he crouched on the corner of the wall, thinking about how much he preferred to be around the liveliness of large groups. Joruus Lasta was a tall Humanoid teenager with long curly black hair with a single braid in the back, indicative of his status as a padawan. He had dark olive skin and his eyes were deep silver, the color of a dark ship, with gold specks throughout his irises.

"Come on already, or do you want to get caught?" a voice whispered sharply. Joruus snapped out of his stupor and quickly rolled across the hallway and into the open door. He stood up and dusted his robes off, greeted with a friendly pat on his shoulder by a green hand.

"Took you long enough," teased Xumi [pronounced "zoo-mee"].

"Yeah yeah, whatever," lamented Joruus as he scanned the area, his eyes finally landing on his green friend. Xumi Shakkawr was a tall, slender Nautolan with shoulder length tendrils falling from his head, indicating his youth.

"How did you even get the door open?" Joruus asked.

"Barely anywhere in the Jedi Temple has locks, they want us to stay true to the Jedi Code of honor. It's part of our training, remember? Anyways come on, they've gotta be around here somewhere," Xumi whispered with a slight smile, his massive round eyes full of mischief and excitement. Rubbing his hands gleefully, he walked around the small storage room. Joruus began rummaging through cargo containers, his mind drifting once again. He felt uneasy about bending the Code this way. 'I guess entering a storage room isn't technically breaking a rule..' he thought to himself.

"I FOUND ONE!!!" Xumi exclaimed loudly.

"SHHHHHHH! What's wrong with you? Do YOU want to get caught?" hushed Joruus.

Xumi rushed over to Joruus with his hands behind his back.

"Are you ready?" said Xumi with his hands behind his back. Joruus nodded, gulping in anticipation.

Bringing his hands around, Xumi held out a white mask. It was accented with gold designs sprawling down the center between two eye slits. The two young padawan stared in awe at the mask, observing every corner of it to try and unravel any secrets of the Jedi Temple Guard. They found nothing but a commlink and in-helmet scanner, however.

The Guards were pulled from the ranks of exceptional Jedi Knights and chosen to follow this higher calling. They became anonymous sentinels who devoted their entire being to serving and protecting the Jedi Order. Joruus always admired the Guard; he believed taking up the mask and giving up your identity was the ultimate sign of devotion to the Jedi Code.

Joruus rubbed his thumb down the smooth edge of the mask, admiring the gold accents. He began to move the mask upwards towards his face.

"No fair!!! I'm the one who found it!" Xumi exclaimed quietly.

Joruus waved him off, planting the mask firmly on his face. After a few blinks, the HUD of the in-helmet scanner appeared. He saw everything outlined in detail, seeing the distance of objects as well as their identifications. He glanced at Xumi, who was looking at him bitterly with his arms crossed. The helmet identified Xumi as a teenage Nautolan. 'Impressive' Joruus thought to himself.

"Relax, you'll get it after I'm done."

Joruus turned around and surveyed the storage room, the mask's scanner indicating a strange rectangular seam in the wall behind some armor. Joruus shoved the gauntlets to the side and placed his hand on the outlined panel. After pressing on it firmly, it opened with a hiss, revealing the hidden compartment. He hesitated after getting an uneasy feeling, but shook it off and reached inside, grasping the contents. He turned around, hoisting the holobook in the air to show his friend. Xumi rushed over and snatched the mask off Joruus' face.

"Why would I care about a kriffing BOOK?" He exclaimed as he attempted to place the mask over his large eyes.

Joruus still felt something was slightly off, but he ignored his intuition and flipped the holobook.

No title.

No author.

This was highly unusual considering the Jedi Temple's emphasis on keeping records. Joruus opened it and flipped to a random page.

"Meditation beforehand is necessary in order to ready the mind. Some suffer from nausea or dizziness at first viewing. But primarily one must prepare for the effect of the dark side upon the mind, especially the young or weak. Nightmares and dark visions can result from just being in the presence of a Sith holocron, lasting years…"

He slammed it shut.

"What was that about?" Xumi asked as he jumped and turned around.

The uneasiness in Joruus was growing, and he felt a chill down his spine. He closed the compartment and stashed the holobook in his tunic pocket.

"Let's get out of here." Joruus said, briskly exiting the storage room with a shudder.