Star Wars
"The Prophesy"
Eight hundred years before Episode One
Jedi Padawan Yoda clutched his diminutive lightsaber firmly in his green hand as he flung the strand of dark brown hair away from his eyes. The rain didn't bother him, it reminded him of his homeworld, it was his Master that bothered him, the mission didn't help sooth his frayed nerves either.
"Relax. You are emanating fear. He will be able to sense us coming." Master Tubin Rae softly reminded him. Yoda had only been assigned to the Ithorian Jedi Master for two weeks and the little green padawan was certain he was crazy. First of all, he hadn't built a lightsaber. Tubin Rae had appealed to the Jedi Council for special allowances. They had reluctantly agreed to his request. Yoda recognized that he would have to protect his unarmed Master if trouble threatened them.
"Bad feeling I have."
"I do sense a disturbance in the force, but it is not malevolent. Sith are not hiding in every shadow my very young apprentice." Yoda wasn't so certain. One month ago a very powerful Jedi Master had left the Temple and disappeared for no reason, Tubin Rae and Yoda had tracked him to this planet, to this cave.
Tubin Rae entered first with his apprentice following. The cave appeared tight and irregularly shaped. They saw a light at the far end.
"Turn off your lightsaber. Use the force to follow me down." Yoda reluctantly obeyed.
They walked steadily into the light. It was a large cavern, empty for the most part. In a far corner was a small makeshift laboratory.
"There he is." Tubin Rae rushed forward to the figure laying prostate on the ground.
Now is the time when a dozen Sith Lords jump out of the shadows, Yoda thought.
Tubin Rae inspected the body of Jedi Master Occrum. The Cerenian Council Member did not register their approach.
"He is in a force trance. Stay with him, make sure he keeps breathing." Tubin went to inspect the laboratory for clues.
Yoda found a pulse by feeling the neck. For an inert body the heartbeat was racing at four hundred beats a minute. He didn't know what was normal for a Cerenian but he figured four hundred probably wasn't right.
"He was injecting Metachlorients straight into his blood stream." Tubin Rae said out loud.
"Metachlorients?" Yoda whispered to himself, the parasitic life forms that lived in their cells let them hear the will of the force, the mystical energy field that enveloped all living things. Why would someone do that?
Suddenly a force knocked Yoda off his feet, it was not a physical attack but a force push, from Jedi Master Occrum, who now sat bolt upright. Yoda fumbled at his lightsaber but Tubin Rae warned against it.
"Put that thing away. He isn't even aware of us."
Suddenly a torrent of suffering, pain and anguish appeared on the Council Members face as his shrieking filled the chamber.
"Massacre. Senate turned against us. Temple destroyed. The Sith have returned. We will lose the force. Only the Chosen One can save us, he who is born of the force."
Both Master and apprentice saw the force tearing the man apart. Tubin Rae grabbed Yoda and tucked him underneath an arm as he ran towards the cave entrance. They both felt the force rip apart the universe behind them as they tumbled out of the cave and into the rain.
"This will be a very interesting report to the Jedi Council." Tubin said as they recovered their breath. He still saw a confused look on his apprentice's face. "Jedi Master Occrum has been dead for days, that was the force keeping his body alive long enough for us to reach him, and for the force to deliver the message. His Metachlorients must have convinced him to sacrifice his life so that they could deliver this message of warning.
"Sure are we that he was not simply insane?" Yoda asked.
"I'm sure. Massacre, senate turned against us, temple destroyed, the sith have returned, we will lose the force, only the Chosen One can save us, he who is born of the force." Tubin repeated the prophecy aloud and recorded it in his memory, Yoda did the same. "You were right about one thing though, according to this message, the Sith are hiding in the shadows."