Chapter 1

The Light, The Dark: The Force is believed to be comprised of two sides by many. At least, that's what I believed when I first traveled to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. I was just a young, foolish kid wanting to become a Jedi. You could imagine my excitement when I discovered I was Force Sensitive. I remembered the day as if I was a child again.

I was with my friend, Arrotesdus. Actually, at that point, he was my adopted brother. We were in an open field on Dantooine. Green was seen everywhere and the grass was taller than us. The air was light, gently swaying the blades of the grass. We liked to play hide and seek because we could never find each other. We were so small compared to the grass. It was easy to lose your way when you were Arrotesdus and I's size. My parents always warned us to not venture too far off because cliffs were nearby. Arrotesdus didn't care though.

"Come on, Protenuus!" Arrotesdus yelled somewhere in the field.

"Where are you?" I searched everywhere for the voice, but I couldn't find him.

"Just follow my voice." The voice started to grow louder and louder. The air felt much more open though. The grass was starting to disappear too. As the grass disappeared altogether, I almost ran into Arrotesdus.

"Woah careful. You almost pushed me over." Arrotesdus laughed, pushing back away from the cliff.

I gasped, "Mom will kill us if she finds us here."

Arrotesdus laughed at that remark. I looked over to see his warm, blue skin. He was Pantoran of course. Whenever someone heard we were brothers, they knew instantly we were adopted because I was a human. That never bothered us though. We might as well been biological brothers.

"You got to live a little, man. Just look at the view." Arrotesdus motioned his arm to the cliff. I couldn't help but agree with him. The cliff was dangerous but beautiful. There was so much space between the two sides that not even a Jedi jumping at his full strength could reach the other side. The bottom was even farther apart from the top than the two sides were separate.

In fact, the cliff was so huge that I couldn't even see the bottom. My curiosity made me want to find the bottom. I leaned over as far as I could, almost to the point of falling over. If I could just get close enough, maybe I could see the bottom. There already seemed to be some light reflecting off the bottom.

I exclaimed, "I think I see the bottom."

"Sure you do. I don't think there even is a bottom."

My brother merely laughed at my excitement. He was wrong though. The bottom was there, a rough, dry set of land. It even seemed to be moving, or some animal was moving.

"Arrotesdus, there's something moving down there!"

"No, there isn't. You can't even see the bottom."

He was really beginning to bother me. "Why don't you look and you'll see." I looked over at him.

Arrotesdus was inching closer and closer to the grass, which wasn't far. The cliff was only big enough for two people to stand. If either us moved slightly off, we would both fall. I could tell he was getting nervous about being this close to the cliff. "I thought you said I need to live a little." I sneaked a grin on the corner of my mouth.

My brother sighed, "I just wanted to get you to see it. I didn't think you'd fall in love with it." His feet were starting to disappear in the grass. It was surprising: his fear was encouraging me more to get closer to the edge. With my increased courage, I leaned over to see the drop. The drop was beyond steep. I couldn't stand on the any part of the drop if I wanted to. It was as if the edge was a small piece of rock glued to the side.

"How can this edge even hold us?" My body, excluding my leg of course, was completely over the edge.

Arrotesdus nervously stepped towards me. "Careful, you're not a Jedi. You can't miraculously save yourself from falling."

I responded, "Maybe one day. We still have time to find out if we're Force Sensitive." Arrotesdus responded the usual by laughing.

"Funny. We should've known after we were born. Not even your parents think we're Force Sensitive. Face it. Our dream of becoming Jedi is just a dream."

Arrotesdus came over and shook me while he said that last line. I wouldn't believe him though. The only thing in life that mattered to me was being a Jedi. To be able to live by the Will of the Force and keep peace in this galaxy.

"We can be the ultimate good, Arrotesdus. I'm never gonna give up on that dream."

"You're such a child."

I scoffed at that comment. We were technically kids, about five years old. It was just about the age when kids traveled to the Jedi Temple to start their training. Usually, kids discovered if they were Force Sensitive by now. Often, babies would lift various objects in mid air without even touching, confirming they are Force Sensitive. The Jedi would know somehow and come to take us to the Jedi Temple. First, we had to discover our sensitivity. If we were going to discover if we were Force Sensitive, the day would be today.

I glanced over at the bottom of the cliff. I felt like I belonged there: I couldn't use the Force and my chance of living my dream was really close to an end. My future was dark, like the bottom of the cliff. A movement down at the bottom of the cliff shocked me out of my trance. The thing causing the movement had a different texture than the ground. It seemed softer and more like a deliberate pattern.

"Did you see that?" I turned my head over to Arrotesdus. He had joined me on the edge of the cliff, probably in a trance like me.

"Yeah, what was that?" He and I both glanced over. Arrotesdus was leaning completely over the edge, using me for support. All of a sudden, a huge whoosh of air hit us in the face. Wings and a blur of a body flew above us into the sky. Arrotesdus lost his grip on me and started to fall towards the bottom.

"Arrotesdus!" My body went into autodrive. He was too far away to grab, but, nonetheless, I reached out for him. What happened next will always stay in my memory.

A feeling passed through my entire body. It was light but heavy at the same time. The feeling was comforting. I was so captured by it that I almost ignored Arrotesdus. Arrotesdus was hovering in midair. He couldn't be hovering, that is impossible. Arrotesdus stared at me in shock, which I didn't understand. "I can't believe it." He stuttered. Just then, I realized my hand was still out.

"This can't-this can't be."

My mouth was moving all on its own. I started to move my hand around and Arrotesdus' body followed the movement perfectly. I moved my hand back and placed Arrotesdus on the ground.

I had just used the Force. I was and am Force Sensitive. We both stood there motionless, processing what happened. I swallowed hard and slowly. Arrotesdus sat there with a deep complexion. He was still bothered from almost falling to his death. My eyes caught Arrotesdus, and we both smiled.

Just like that, I came out of the past. I was back in my small room in the Jedi Temple. I was a young man, but I was still clean shaven. If my face hadn't developed, someone could mistake me for my younger self. I opened my eyes to end my meditation session. Meditation time was over, and it was time to train with my master, Obsarius.

Training was more important now than ever. The Sith, ancient enemies of the Jedi, had returned. In a swift, unprecedented attack, the Sith Empire destroyed Coruscant and a majority of the Jedi Temple. I had just arrived at the Temple a couple days before with Arrotesdus, who had discovered he was Force Sensitive a couple days after me.

Arrotesdus and I couldn't wait to go the Jedi Temple to train. The Sith's attack made us realize our dream of becoming a Jedi would happen sooner. We didn't realize, however, what war really meant. The Force would lose its balance. Peace would just be a false reality.

Arrotesdus and I didn't care about that. We just wanted to be Jedi. At first, we were happy, completely oblivious to the conflict just outside our new home. I would always ask Arrotesdus about being a Jedi. He would always respond in his quiet, bothered self by shrugging and smiling.

"Yeah, it's great." Arrotesdus would say.

Eventually, however, our happiness disappeared. The Jedi Masters only cared about ending this war. They started to meditate less and, as a result, pay less attention to the Force. We weren't training to become Jedi Masters; we were training to become soldiers.

I tightened my fist at that last thought. I got up and walked to the training room. As the door opened, Obsarius, my master, smiled and walked over.

"Good morning, my young Padawan. Are you ready for today's training?"

I responded with a question that's been bugging me, "Yes, master. I have a question first."

"Of course. Ask away."

"Do you think this war is severing our connection to the Force?"

Obsarius frowned at the question. He took a while to answer. When he finally did, his response was the usual one. "The Jedi Council has affirmed to us that the Sith are evil. If we are to have peace, which is the ultimate goal of the Jedi, we must defeat the Sith Empire. This war is just. The Force does have a Dark Side, but it must never be used."

I shifted a little. "If we are to truly follow the Force, we should look at all its parts."

Obsarius stepped closer. "Just because there is more than one part doesn't mean it deserves the same attention. The Light side is the true part of the Force." Not wanting to start an argument, I agreed with him, "Yes, Master."

Obsarius always followed the Jedi Council's orders. I didn't know much of Obsarius before he came to the Temple. The only fact known to me was he didn't have much as a child. When he came to the Temple, Obsarius found a home and followed the Masters as if they were his parents. I guessed he answered my questions in the same way for that reason.

I walked over to the center of the room. The room was open, no seats or anything. I ignited my lightsaber, filling the room with green highlights. As the lightsaber brightened the room, the lights already light darkened. An image of a soldier appeared. He was wearing the usual Sith military uniform: blue shirt and pants designed for battle; a white, square backpack containing essentials; and a standard blaster rifle with a sword attached at the end. He charged straight at me. I sidestepped as he ran past me. The figure turned around and swiped at me. I swung my lightsaber across the sword, cutting it in half. Swinging my lightsaber at the soldier's chest, he fell to the ground.

Behind me, two more figures, one holding a riot blade, which could block a lightsaber attack, charged at me. One, while running, shot several fires at me. Swing left, Block low, Block middle. Each shot flew off in the distance. As the last shot flew off my blade, the riot soldier jousted his blade. I spun my body to avoid the blade. Swing down. The soldier's leg hung on its knee. Still fighting, he spun around on one leg and swung the blade towards my shoulder. My lightsaber caught the blade in the middle, filling the room with a green, yellow blend of color. As my focus was on the riot soldier, the other soldier behind me shot two more fires. I pushed my lightsaber off the riot soldier and ducked. The two fires both knocked the riot soldier to the floor. I turned around and rose towards the final soldier. I ran at him, blocking every hopeless shot he fired at me. Reaching him, I stabbed my lightsaber into his chest.

The rest of the training session continued for one standard hour. Rounds and rounds of soldiers continued to attack me, but I remained untouched by the end of the session. Obsarius filled the room with laughter.

"Wonderful job, my apprentice. You should be ready in no time for the trials."

He was talking about the trials for becoming a Jedi knight, of course. To become a Jedi, several steps had to be met. First, one travels to the Jedi as a youngling. At that stage, we had just been introduced to the Force. As we grow at the Temple, the next stage is a Padawan. A Padawan serves under a Jedi Knight, learning more about the Force. A Jedi Knight assists the Padawan in growing in the Light Side, and the Padawan teaches the Jedi Knight. To become a Jedi Knight, one has to take the trials. The trials aren't spoken of to the Younglings or the Padawans. Younglings and Padawans aren't to know what happens in the trials, so as to prevent any kind of cheating.

The final and most coveted stage is a Jedi Master. Jedi Masters are the leaders of the Jedi Order and the most powerful in the Light Side. The most strongest and wisest of the Masters serve on the Council. The Council dictates how the Jedi act in certain situations. They search through the Force for answers, according to Jedi teachings. Obsarius was still a Jedi Knight, and I was his Padawan.

"Your skills are some of the best I have seen in years. The only skills I saw that matched were your friend's. It's a shame he isn't here today." My thoughts raced back to Arrotesdus.

As you already know, we were both happy entering into the Jedi Order. As time passed, Arrotesdus started to lose his once active self. He was becoming more and more distant. I could never understand why. Whenever I tried to talk about the Jedi Order, he grew restless.

"They're not as good as you think. They don't follow the Force." Arrotesdus said to me. I dismissed what he was saying as ridiculous. I always saw the Jedi as the true wielders of the Force.

One day, Arrotesdus told me something unbelievable. "I'm leaving the Jedi Order." He walked up to me out of nowhere. Without saying another word, he walked away. I wanted to think he was just joking or I dreamed it all. The same night, he wasn't in his room or anywhere in the Jedi Temple.

I went to see the Master of the Jedi Council, Master Sectillo. "Master, where is Arrotesdus?" Sectillo would stare at the ground.

"He has chosen a different path."

Sectillo has bothered me ever since that day. He didn't know Arrotesdus like I did. He didn't grow up with him. Arrotesdus' path was to become a Jedi. For whatever reason he left, it was a life changing one. One day, I would find the truth.

I agreed with Obsarius and left the room. As I walked back to my room after the training session, I saw Sectillo walking towards me. He was slowly, leaning on his cane as he shifted his feet. Sectillo was a very small man, barely taller than my knees. He had a green body and point ears, but no one knew his species. There was no recording in the databanks of a small, green species.

"Good morning, Protenuus." Sectillo smiled as he saw me.

My thoughts about Arrotesdus caused me to ask, "Master, can I talk to you about Arrotesdus?"

Sectillo looked at me. He said, "Perhaps tomorrow. That way we can have more time to talk about it." I agreed and Sectillo walked away.

Thinking about what to say tomorrow, I entered my room. It was already dark outside but not too late. I sat down in my meditation position. I always found myself thinking about the past in my meditation. Meditation was the most effective way to connect to the Force. The Force kept me calm. It was a mysterious substance, almost like another living thing. I always felt it was with me, whether in a darker or lighter form. When I felt angry, I could feel a darkness fill me. When I was calm, a light filled me. Tonight, a darker substance was shadowing me. I closed my eyes and went back into my meditation, thinking about Arrotesdus in the Jedi Order.