The Lan transport slowly descended to the rocky surface of the planet beneath. Korriban was all desert, orange rock and golden sky, rendered monotone from the dust in the air. Lan Wangji had to set up a force field to keep the sand from his airways.
“We're almost at the ruins of Dreshdae,” Lan Qiren said. “Any contact?”
“No.” The message had stated that the Wen had been found at the Valley of the Dark Lords, which was on the other side of the hills. Lan Wangji held on to the handrail and rested his other hand on his lightsaber. Soon.
They went over the rocky rise. The Valley of the Dark Lords opened up before them.
“Is that a terentatek?” one of the Lan Jedi asked.
“The Dark Side,” Lan Qiren said in a hushed whisper.
Lan Wangji felt it as well. The Force was usually a thing of harmony, the beating pulse and calming breaths of the Universe, the thing they were all born of and what they all returned to with death. On Gusu and in the Cloud Recesses, it was especially harmonious. Visiting Jedi had been known to sink into days-long meditation effortlessly. Here on Korriban, it echoed with the cold screams of the long-dead Sith race and all the Dark Jedi and Sith Lords who had been buried within the rocks. This went beyond even that.
The pilot brought them closer. What Lan Wangji had thought was a sandstorm was instead Jedi of the Wen sect, Sun-white lightsabers out, trying to defend themselves against the terentatek attacking them as the ground split apart into magma beneath them. To the side stood a single black-robed figure.
“He destroys the graves of the dead,” Lan Wangji observed.
“The graves of the Sith deserve not our respect, but are nonetheless best left alone,” Lan Qiren said. He extended his lightsaber, blue as the Gusu sky, and leaned out. Lan Wangji did likewise.
They'd received communications from someone in their alliance. Lan Wangji searched the ground with his eyes and sought out people who might not belong in the throng of Wen, but didn't see anyone. Save the Sith Lord, all lightsabers visible on the ground were the Wenish white. Any of their allies must be either elsewhere or dead.
“What signature did the signal have?” Lan Qiren asked.
One of the Lan techs looked it up on his pad. “The message seems to have been sent from a homemade antenna array made out of discarded junk. The sender repeated the coordinates thrice and even then we had to discuss which of the two possible planets it might be. The signature was sent only once.”
“Does what we have match any of the main clans' signatures?”
“The Jiang sect.”
Purple, then. Not the golden yellow lightsabers of the Jin sect, which might get mistaken for the Wenish white in Korriban's dusty atmosphere, or the bronze of the Nie, but a contrasting purple.
Lan Qiren frowned. “That should be visible.”
“They might be hiding,” Lan Wangji said. The Jiang sect's members would fight to the last, but their homeworld of Yunmeng had been sacked by the Wen, and they were all cunning enough that if a Sith Lord came to fight the Wen on their behalf, they'd slip away into the night to be the oriole behind the mantis stalking the cicada. The Lan transport should bring them out.
“Or dead,” Lan Qiren said darkly.
Lan Wangji shut his lips. Jiang Wanyin and Jiang Yanli were alive and accounted for, but Wei Wuxian was still missing. Of the Jiang sect's members, he was the one most likely to use himself as a lure for the Wen sect, and perfectly capable of using a Sith Lord to set a trap. He was also the person Lan Wangji most hoped to see.
The terentatek finished mauling the final member of the Wen contingent just as the Lan transport came into range. The Sith Lord must've seen them. Lan Qiren held up his hand to stop them from jumping out.
They watched as the Sith Lord sent the terentatek back out to the caves. He waved at them as someone might to a long-lost friend, and gestured at the ground around him.
“Should we land?” Lan Wangji asked. A sinking feeling was gathering in his stomach.
“If we don't, we'll never get to the bottom of this,” Lan Qiren said. “Land somewhere safe, not too close to him. Be ready to get out at a moment's notice.”
Their pilot brought them down gently just off from where the Sith Lord had gestured. Lan Wangji and his uncle stepped off while the rest of the Lan Jedi stayed on.
The Sith Lord walked towards them, relaxed as if finally meeting allies in a hostile galaxy. He pushed off his hood, and-
“Wei Wuxian,” Lan Wangji whispered.
“Teacher Lan, Second Young Master Lan, hello. How is Jiang Cheng? Is he all right?” Wei Wuxian asked, agitated.
“You- What would your parents think?!” Lan Qiren shouted. “Your mother was a righteous Jedi Master and your father a dedicated Archivist, and you have spit on all their legacy! Did you not listen to a word I taught you? If you once start down the dark path, it will consume you.”
Wei Wuxian's face twisted. “Do you think I had a choice? Do you think I enjoyed sinking into the darkness the Wen threw me into with no way to claw my way out? I would like to see you emerge from the tomb of Ludo Kressh unscathed.”
“Wei Wuxian-”
“While here, I went through immeasurable torment, stumbling through the tombs of the Sith. Did you know that the booby traps against looters and various other manifestations of the dark side rearm themselves over time? Darth Revan might have solved the riddles and stripped the tombs of their defenses, but the tombs have healed over time.” Wei Wuxian swallowed. “Doubts. Hallucinations. But also power beyond compare, all within my reach, if only I were to surrender to it.”
“You have given yourself over to revenge. The Dark Side is a wound upon the Force. You may believe you can control it, but you are its servant in its quest to consume and destroy everything in its path.”
“Did you not say, Balance in all things? Does that not apply also to the dark side and the light?” Wei Wuxian laughed, a hollow sound. “So tell me: How is Jiang Cheng?”
“Come to Gusu with us,” Lan Wangji interjected. All eyes turned to him.
“Just why would I want to come to Gusu?” Wei Wuxian asked, suddenly sounding immensely tired.
“After Sect Leader Jiang has completed his mission, he will come to Gusu with his team to regroup,” Lan Wangji replied.
Wei Wuxian stared at him. “Very well,” he assented. “I will go to Gusu with you.”
Lan Wangji's heart beat faster and warmth spread within him despite the cold chill emanating from Wei Wuxian. His uncle stared at him with warning in his eyes. “It is not too late to repent,” Lan Wangji said.
Wei Wuxian scoffed. Lan Wangji didn't care, though – the Force was strong and peaceful at the Cloud Recesses. And he believed in Wei Wuxian's kind heart.