None know the true origins of the Circus Carnivora or even who named it. The circus emerges from the ether, spreading chaos and discord before dissipating into nothingness once more. Those with the misfortune to be nearby will ardently believe it has always been there until it finally departs once more, fading into the night.

The Carnivora itself consists of a vast multitude of stalls constructed of splintered timber surrounding a single vast tent of arterial red and puss-yellow tattered fabric. Occupying an area of just short of one hundred hundred metres about the tent, the stalls and attractions form a winding maze; each offering everything from seemingly innocuous apple bobbing stalls to instruments of torture. The air within the circus is dominated by a cloying humidity, and filled with the discordant music, the scrape of rusted blades, laughter, and the buzzing of unnumbered insects. A sickly scent of freshly turned earth and rotting fruit accompanies this cacophony, though its origin is unclear.

While absent of true life, the circus is far from abandoned. Shade-men prowl its surroundings - Golems of half formed strips of clothing, bone, and flesh animated by the Dark Side, move in a jerky mimicry of life. Such entities are passive at first, rarely approaching any newcomer directly. Yet those who wander deeper into the Carnivora will find the shade-men blocking paths, herding them toward the main tent.

The interior of the main tent is structured like a vast amphitheater, sixty metres in length and ninety metres high, with rows of raised benches surrounding a single central platform. Spotlights dart across the area, as if following an unseen act, while the laughter of a crowd and cheering emanates from within the empty tent. Yet these same lights bring to life flickering moments of unseen horrors. Hulking shapes of inhuman beings glowering from the stands, illuminating moments of slaughter from the circus’ past. What these entities might be no one can say, for few have remained long enough to ever uncover the truth.

The reek of rot had been amassing within the tent for years. Finding a source would be difficult when the tents themselves seemed to bleed pus into the air. It permeated, though was far from the worst place Uji had ever been forced to walk through. Even the accompaniment of off-beat out of tune music that seemed to be following after him wasn’t the worst music he’d heard.

It was too early to determine if the abrupt disruption that just occurred was an issue or not.

Uji looked up at the humanoid hole in the tent after the blur of the woman had fallen by. Despite the sudden gust of fresh air, it did little against the overall stench. Alas.

He slowly tilted his gaze down to Zuza standing beside him. She was significantly shorter than him. At least she noticed his presence on the way down, evidently, from the way she turned to face him.

“Whoops.” She broke into a smile, the shared shock clearing from her eyes in a breath. “Hey, I’m Zuza, nice to meet ya!”

“...Uji.” A shadow moved through a tent flap across the space. Far below them, flickering spot lights lit the holocron in the center of the ring. The target.

“Nice. Uhm-” Zuza turned away from him, taking a few steps along the row. “What are you doin’ here?”

“I’ve got a job to do.” And time was quickly running out. Uji walked down the steps, watching the shapes moving. Nothing had appeared in the wings, just implications of problems that would raise the hairs of the inattentive’s arms.

Zuza watched him descend, stepping up onto a bench and following. “Need any help?”

“Not today.”

“Well-”

“And what are you doing here?” Uji asked, not bothering to look back. Straight ahead had bigger problems, his hand taking his lightsaber delicately into his hand. Zuza’s was visible on her hip, and he focused on her through the Force. She was fast. That would be ample.

“Oh, I was about to leave actually. Just checkin’ the place out but I saw some big karker walk in here, not you no offense, and reckoned I could take it.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah some big ugly crusty lookin’- Oh y’know just like that one actually.”

Several seconds too late, but at least she noticed it. The hulking mass of a creature was navigating over the benches across the tent. Though it’s eyes had become hanging tendrils, dried and lingering out of what were once eye sockets, the direction was undeniable.

“I think it heard you.” He commented lightly as his lightsaber ignited, alighting the floor and his robes in frosty white.

“Whoops again.” Zuza’s cyan blade followed suit, the humming in the air aggravating the beast. It grasped a bench from beside it, joints cracking and dislocating as the 10 foot slab of plasteel was lofted high, then hurled it at the two humans.

Zuza moved without thinking, diving for cover, almost grabbing Uji’s collar before realizing he was standing still on purpose. The hesitation forced her to duck behind him just as, with a single upward slice of his saber, he split the bench in half. Glowing molten plasteel sailed past them, the weight of the benches tearing deep tracks through the seating around them.

A chorus of boos and shouts erupted from the empty seats all around the arena, as though the invisible crowd itself was displeased that the only two living beings hadn’t been crushed. As the hulking brute began to lumber toward them, shadowed forms started to appear—slipping from the alcoves beneath the seating. The spotlights jerked back and forth across the interior of the tent, the only constant illumination coming from their two lightsabers.

As Uji stepped forward toward the arena floor, he heard a surprising giggle from his newly acquired companion. Zuza slipped around him, moving far faster than his deliberate pace. She swung twice, her lightsaber slicing through the shades that appeared around them. Where her blade struck, the creatures screamed and melted back into the darkness—but for each she cut down, more began to gather.

Where Zuza moved like a chaotic acrobat, jumping, twisting, and diving to avoid the ethereal hands reaching for her, Uji walked like the calm center of a storm. His blade, held in a duelist’s grip, snapped around him with preternatural precision, cutting down any limb or body that reached from behind or the sides.

Almost unconsciously, the two became connected through a tether in the Force. Zuza found herself moving as though guided by an unseen hand, ducking, striking, and shifting exactly when needed. She began to revel in the freedom of it, as if she were center stage in some grand performance. Her acrobatic movements stirred the air, and the presence within the tent grew furious.

When they reached the sand-covered floor of the pit, the monstrous beast was nearly on top of them. Uji stopped for only a moment, his free hand clenching at his side as though he were wrestling with something unseen. Bright violet light encased his hand.

Zuza reached the sands first. The stench of flesh and congealed blood wafting from the enormous beast nearly made her gag. She ducked low, rolling across the sand to avoid the swipe of the creature’s claws.

She came to her feet just as the arena exploded with brilliance. Arcing tendrils of lightning erupted from Uji’s off-hand, striking the creature. The smell of burning flesh filled the air as the beast roared and turned away from Zuza to face this new threat. The lights above shifted in unison, shining so brightly on the Counselor that they disrupted his concentration and forced him to shield his eyes.

Zuza was behind the monstrosity now its back to her, a perfect opening. But her eyes were drawn to the center of the arena, where a single spotlight still shone upon the floating Holocron.

Zuza reasoned a few different ways for her decision in her head as she turned away from the beast.

Phausis was twirled in her hand, striking into the beast’s legs. It roared, lurching forward as Zuza dashed for the holocron.

Uji leapt out of the swipe, the Force guiding him where his eyes could not. In the new position, he got a moment without the spotlight’s no longer blinding him and locked onto the reaching hand of Zuza.

Her fingers wrapped around the holocron and Uji saw a smile cross her face before the lights went out.

For a moment the two were blinded, before the light of their lightsabers came back into view. They were paltry glows, but enough for Zuza to spot the glistening teeth of the monster behind Uji.

Uji moved a second before she did, sensing her concern as quickly as it rose through their connection. The teeth sliced through his robes, drawing blood that smeared across his bicep and seeped into the sleeve.

He backed up, facing the beast down. What little of it was visible.

“We need outta here!” Zuza yelled from behind, running forward and using what little was visible under Uji’s lightsaber to slice at its chest.

“Oh really?” Uji snarked back, “I hadn’t noticed.”

He swept the blade up, the beast rearing back so the blade sliced its lower jaw in half, the two pieces hanging like an open gate before the rotted flesh let it loose. As it roared, in some form of shock or perhaps even pain in its desolate nervous system, Uji stepped back.

Zuza stepped in front of him, dashing in and out of the thing’s range. She struck with Phausis, unable to get close enough for a fatal blow but cutting, slicing and

It gave the Fist long enough to look around, identifying Zuza’s entrance into the tent and the same flap the monstrosity had used to enter the room. Limited options. Even with the duos’ combined strength, the growing fury in the shadows was becoming suffocating with nothing to hold them back.

The creature lurched forward, and as it entered the light of the holocron, its form began to unravel. Flesh twisted and curled, expanding outward and sweeping toward Zuza as if to engulf her entirely. The two fought in retreat, striking and flowing around one another—tethered through the Force so that their movements moved in near-perfect sync.

The shadows at the edges of the room surged with malevolent energy, flickering around their blades as the presence pressed in, trying to smother their light. Step by step, their retreat slowed, the weight of the entity’s will dragging at their every movement.

Even working in unison, the pressure began to wear on them. Uji started to slow, the wound along his arm hampering his movements as old battle pains flared in his leg and back. He gritted his teeth, doing everything he could to keep pace with the younger woman. Zuza, for her part, moved like a dervish, striking wildly at the encroaching darkness. The entity had lost its form entirely now, becoming a storm of shadow that pressed around them, cutting off their escape in a final attempt to consume them.

Uji’s leg nearly buckled. He drew in a deep breath to steady himself, and then he saw it: the shadows were being drawn toward the holocron. A lure... a trap.

“The holocron, toss it here!” Uji shouted.

Zuza didn’t hesitate. She threw the small object toward him even as she turned to cut down a lunging tendril. The holocron reached the peak of its arc, shadows stretching for it like grasping hands. Uji surged forward in a duelist’s lunge, his saber flashing upward to split the glowing artifact in two.

Brilliance erupted across the arena, blinding them both. Uji dropped to one knee, bracing on his hands as pain surged through his leg. Zuza stood over him, her blade raised defensively as the light washed over them.

When the brilliance faded, the two blinked against the sudden quiet. The soft brush of grass moved beneath them. A gentle breeze touched their faces. The tent was gone, the circus was gone, and the foul presence of the carnival’s entity could no longer be felt.

Uji forced himself to his feet as Zuza deactivated her saber and clipped it to her belt.

“Was... any of that even real?” she asked, glancing around with exasperation.

“Some of it was,” Uji said quietly, focusing on his bleeding arm. The Force shimmered faintly around his hand as he began to knit the torn flesh closed.

“So... what now?” Zuza asked, one brow raised.

“I’ll call a transport,” Uji replied after a moment. “Do you need one?”

The question carried the weight of an unspoken thanks.