Chapter 2: The New Path
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or Harry Potter, which will be used for the purpose of this story. It will however have my own characters and any abilities I make up on the fly in it will characters from the movies and books.
The very next month, as promised, a shuttle arrived to pick up Jack and several others who were also visited by Oss'hurnoss and Caltio, the Sith and Jedi that visited him. After saying his goodbyes to his mother and friends he boarded the shuttle, looking around at the few others that where already sitting in two small groups.
When they saw that Jack had stepped onto the inner room, two stood up from each group. From the group on the left that was closest to him was a young man with light blonde hair that tumbled down his back, he had brown eyes that looked sharp and soft at the same time. His posture was calm as he talked to Jack, "I'm assuming you are heading to Crossroads Academy as well?"
"Yes I am," Replied Jack, "I'm Jack Trade."
The man frowned at his answer, "I've never heard of the Trade family before, what part of the world are you from?"
"I'm from the northern farming fields, though Jack Trade isn't my real name, just a new one."
At that time the other person came up to them, "So you chose a new name huh? That's very...Sith like." The person who spoke was a female zarbrak, her skin a light creamy color. She had a small tuft of hair on her head, but other wise there was no hair at all. There was two medium sized horns protruding from her head, followed by a crown of smaller ones that encircled her entire head. Her eyes were a deep grey color, not quiet as sharp as the mans, but more scathing in appearance.
Jack narrowed his eyes at her response, "I did not want to be treated differently in case people knew who my heritage was, so I chose this name to go with for now." He didn't wait to get their names or for them to have a chance to respond, as he turned and went to sit on his own in the back of the shuttle. He settled in and soon fell asleep as he waited for the shuttle to reach its destination.
Some time later he was awoken when he felt a sudden jolt from the craft as it hit the atmosphere of a planet, looking around he found that he was alone in the shuttle, the end open to a deck. Getting out of the shuttle he looked around, finding that he was in a large star-ships hanger, surrounded by several shuttles like the one he had just gotten off of. There was around a hundred people surrounding him, races of different kinds as they talked excitedly among themselves as they waited for the ship to go to the space station that resided on the outsides of a bright blue and green planet, the ship so big that it skimmed the atmosphere as it approached the station.
Slowing down the ship reached the docking area next to the station where it hung in the vacuum of space, connecting to the station for refueling. Looking at the other people that swamped the docking platform move to the shuttles that were nearest them, he followed their example going back into the shuttle and sitting in his seat that he had used for the trip here. Several people looked in the cabin to see if others were sitting in there, but found only him, soon leaving to find another shuttle to take.
Soon there was a slight knock on the side of the shuttle that made him look up. In the doorway of the shuttle there was a female who looked nervous to be there, shiftily looking around as she looked around the shuttle and at him. She had short black hair that was the color of space, her eyes a bright shade of green that seemed to stare at and through him, while she seemed to him to be on alert.
"Is it alright if I sit in here with you?" She asked if a light voice that sounded like it floated its way towards him. Jack nodded and gestured to a seat across from him. As she took a seat she looked at him more closely.
Jack caught her look and raised an eyebrow, then said while grinning, "Take a holotape, it lasts longer."
The young woman flinched at being caught, "Sorry, you just seem different from everyone else here." She explained to Jack, "By the way my name is Melody Dangao, I'm from Correllia." Melody held out a hand which jack accepted and shook.
"Jack Trade. So what do you know about this academy that we are going to?" Jack asked Melody after they released their hands.
"Not much, just that it is a place to learn to control our powers in the force, and to decide if we are Jedi or Sith."
Jack thought for a moment, thinking through this new information, "But the Sith and Jedi aren't at war anymore, whats the point of deciding what side we belong to?"
"From what I understand, it isn't as much as 'What sides do we belong to' but more like 'What abilities do we possess'." She explained, after thinking for a while, "For example if you use your emotion to give yourself power than you would most likely belong as a Sith, but if you treasure serenity and try not to let your emotions control you than you would be a better Jedi, so each side possesses different skills."
"I think I understand. So where do you think you belong?" Jack asked Melody, "I mean have you thought much on it or what?"
"I think that I'm more Jedi than Sith, but right now it can go ether way. Sometimes I let my anger get a hold of me, other times I have pretty good control over my emotions." Melody explained, "What about you, where do you think you belong?" She said, redirecting his words back at him.
"I don't know, I never knew that I could use the force until just last month so I've never given it any thought." Jack said quietly, "What if I don't belong in ether?"
Melody thought for a moment before replying, "I don't know if that has ever happened."
They were silent for a moment before the topic moved to other things, such as their planets and their families, they also played different games that the shuttled had installed, mostly holochess. Jack found that he was rather good at it for never playing it before.
Around two hours later, the trip ended with them arriving at a large temple like area that looked mixed with some kind of building. Jack studied the lay out of the place, noting how the center area seemed to be a giant pyramid, while the outsides seemed to be more of a square shape that had towers rising from them, spiraling towards the sky.
"Magnificent isn't it? Truly a work of art and a testament for the wonders of the Force." Jack reacted instantly, being so distracted that he did not hear the man walk up behind him, and spun around to face him.
The man was a human with deep red hair and weathered skin, a tall tell sign that he was from somewhere that had a lot of sun, and that he worked outside. He was taller than both Melody and Jack, but a little skinnier than both except for him arms which were defined from what was clearly hard work in fields, something that Jack knew all about.
He held up his hands in a sure sign of surrender, "Whoa there, didn't mean to scare ya, just speaking my mind." The man said to Jack, who slowly lowered his guard.
"It's fine I just didn't realize you were there, and I know what you mean about this place, but it feels like it is more than just one center though, like it has two core, or rather two hearts."
Another voice spoke up behind them, "Well you're right about that, this academy was built using two different sources, the Force that you know, and the magic of those who helped make this possible. So the truth is that you are correct, it does have two hearts."
The person who spoke was a young woman with long blonde hair who seemed to be in her twenties. Her eyes were a light blue color that sparkled in the sunlight, and seemed to dance with glee, and her face was soft, reminding Jack of the woman in his mothers stories that she used to tell him when he was younger. The most striking thing about her was that she seemed to be filled to the brim with pure power, so much that it was even obvious to Jack who had never sensed the force or any thing else.
The three were stunned into silence by her words, and her appearance.
"Who are you?"
It was Melody who first spoke to the young woman, the woman only smiling in return and said, "You will know soon enough, now get going you don't have long until the Sorting starts."
With that she was gone, swept away by the ever growing crowd that was filling the path to the academy.
The three looked at each other before the young man spoke, "Well won't do us much good just standing here now will it? By the way I'm Bano Grin." Jack and Melody introduced themselves before they started following the rest of the students towards Crossroads Academy.
The insides of the academy were as awe inspiring, long red flags hung from the right side of the massive hall while blue flags of the same length filled the left side of the hall. The symbols that filled the center of the flags on the right side was a black trident head with a circle in between the points of the trident, while the left flags held a pair of wings that had a lightsaber and a star produced from it jutting up from the middle. Other than those the hall was as symmetrical as it could be. There were a multitude of doors to the left and right of the halls that lead off to somewhere in the academy.
In the next hall there was almost a thousand people sitting at two long tables that sat in the giant hall. The people on the left had long brown cloaks and sat close together in huddles and groups, while the people on the right had similar cloaks that were almost black in color, and sat in smaller groups, and not as close together as the others, though some were noticeably closer together than the people at the other table. In the front of the tables was another table, noticeably different than the ones that stood in the center of the hall. Around thirteen people sat at the table, six on the left and six on the right, however it was the person in the middle that drew Jacks attention the most.
In the very center of the table sat the young blonde woman that had spoken to them earlier.
Jack nudged Melody and Bano while pointing at the front table, when he looked back at them they were just as confused as he was why the woman was up there that had spoken to them, because she didn't seem to be much older than them.
Jack was about to comment that but was interrupted by the voice of the young woman as it rang through the hall as though it were a bell.
"Welcome to Crossroads Academy. I am your headmistress, Luna Lovegood. I may look young but I have had a lot more experience than anyone else here. I wanted to welcome the new comers, the newly found Jedi and Sith apprentices, you will find a home here, as well as a family. We stand by each other, though we are healthy rivals between the two groups I will demand that there be no killing. Any who break this rule will be put on trial for their crimes. If it has been proven it were self defense than we will be lenient and you will be accepted back into this academy. It doesn't matter who your families are you will not get away with anything because we have eyes and ears everywhere."
"What will happen now is that you will be Sorted in a way to either the Jedi Order, or the Sith Order. The Jedi Order relies on fighting the good fight, with honor and strength, you will learn to control your emotions, as well as side of the force that heals your allies, and protects them. The Sith Order fights with a will of fire, a wall of passion, they will do what ever is necessary to win, as well as to bolster their emotions, and learn to release them in battle, they will learn to harness the skills of electricity, of skills considered too dark for the Jedi, they will fuel their powers with the strength of emotion and fight to protect themselves and those they care about."
"You will step up to the platform and will be judged by your traits, your thoughts, and the symbol of the house you belong to will appear. Now when you hear your name, step forward."
After her speech which stunned many, except for those already sitting, she started calling names.
"James Kangi."
The first person went up to the platform sat down, closing his eyes. After a moment a symbol appeared over the platform that was an exact copy of the ones that lay on the left side of the hall. The people over there clapped as he walked over and sat down.
This continued for a while until someone caught Jacks eye, a woman named Jakei Gangtin with pitch black hair went up and instead of sitting like the previous people just stood there. Almost instantly the symbol for the ones on the right appeared, the group that belonged to it cheering and roaring in a brash explosion of emotion. She walked over and sat with them, but not before looking at Jack and catching his eye. She held pure hatred in her eyes.
Jack narrowed his eyes and wondered if he knew this woman. He didn't dwell on it for long, because he was snapped back to reality by the name that had just came up.
"Melody Dangao."
Melody cast a glance at Jack, who nodded at her, and moved to the platform. She knelt down on it in a strange position, as though she were kneeling before a lord, or a god. Above her head a symbol shined extremely brightly, brighter than any of the others before her, and just like that she was named a Jedi.
The group clapped hesitantly because they weren't sure what to think of the brightness of the symbol that covered the platform. Melody moved over to the table and took a seat, where she was surrounded by people asking her questions.
After a few more people were called, Jack was starting to zone out again while waiting for his name, when another name caught his attention.
"Bano Grin."
Bano walked up to the platform, obliviously nervous, sat down, and waited. After five minutes of waiting a color unlike any of the others appeared, instead of a dark red or even medium red, a bright red symbol appeared over his head, signifying his acceptance into the Order of the Sith. The people over there cheered the loudest yet and provided him a seat to sit which he gratefully accepted.
Now it was only a few people left. After they went the only person not to go was called.
"Jack Trade."
Jack walked up to the platform, noticing for the first time that it was a deep red color that had spots of white mixed in, it had a complex symbol on it that looked to be a mix of the Jedi and Sith symbols, like a winged trident that represented both the stars and the planets. Jack stared at it, thinking that he had seen a small glow, but than shrugging it off as nothing. Than there was a glow that flowed over the area around him, but however it was not blue or red. Instead it was a purple color. Looking up he found himself looking at the symbol he saw on the ground, projected above him.
No one moved, no one clapped and they all just stared at him as he stood beneath the symbol. Then the Headmistress spoke up and said in her soft tone.
"It seems like Mr. Trade doesn't belong in ether Order, rather a new one. One that has been named in prophecies, The Grey Order."
