Chapter 5: Bleeding and Gathering Pt. 2
31 BBY
The Gathering. An ancient Jedi tradition for when Younglings and Padawans earn their Kyber Crystals and make lightsabers. There are two versions of this. The most common version is when Younglings go to a Sacred Jedi Temple on Illum to find a kyber crystal there. The other one is when a Padawan and their Master go to a remote Jedi Temple to find their crystal.
Today was Melissa's turn for the Gathering. She had a choice, either of to Illum or a remote Temple. She decided to meditate on her options. She could see the Galaxy before her. The countless planets revolving around their stars.
Then she saw it, her Kyber Crystal. A small pink crystal on a wall with a similarly shaped hole next to it. She felt it resonate with her. She tried to expand her vision, but all she could see was the inside of a Jedi Temple. She focused harder, but she only saw twin suns and a whole lot of sand.
She opened her eyes in disbelief. It was Tatooine, she was going to Anakin's home planet. She went to tell Anakin where she is getting her crystal.
"That's great to hear. I would go with you but my crystals seem to be on Illum. Oh, if you see my mother tell her I'm doing fine."
"Sure," she replied.
Once she found her Master they packed their gear and took a T-6 shuttle to their destination, the dunes of Tatooine.
After a couple of hyperspace jumps, they finally made it to the spaceport in Mos Espa, which is the closest to the temple on the inhospitable planet. Master Met pulled out a holopad to show the map of the planet. Two beacons lit up on the planet's surface, one indicated them, while the other indicated the Jedi Temple.
It would take a full rotation to get to the temple. So, they grab their speeders and started the trek to the Temple. Eventually, the suns were setting, so they set up camp near Beggar's Canyon. When the sun rose they continued the trek. By later that morning they reached the Jedi Temple.
It was smaller than expected, a small single-story structure with some type of on the top. When they entered they saw three circles and two were connected while the middle one had the symbol of the Jedi Order. Facing the circles were tiles that look like raised spiral stairs.
"To open it we need to connect to the force to unlock it," proclaimed the Jedi Master.
So they kneeled in the circles and meditated. Suddenly the tiles started to sink, making a path under the building. They both got up and went down the stairs. Once at the bottom, there were four pillars in the middle of the room and an open door in the middle of the wall on the other side of the room. On the other side of the leftmost pillar was a skeleton of a Jedi Master.
"How did he die? I thought only Jedi could enter," Melissa asked. She was concerned that the Temple was compromised. It could range from Bounty Hunters and more Sith like Darth Maul.
"Fret not Melissa, this Master died of his own accord."
This confused Melissa greatly. Why would a Jedi Master just sit there and die? This lead to her next question, why were they here, to begin with. She was here to get her Kyber Crystal.
Then she finally connected the dots. This is a Padawan's Master and they were like her and Master Met.
"The Padawan failed to return," Master Met revealed. "Now it is your turn, Melissa. Go in and find your Kyber Crystal."
Melissa understood. Master Met was putting her life in her hands. She gathered her courage and entered the open door. Once on the other side, the door slowly lowered itself. She looked back one more time to see her Master smiling at her until she was out of view.
Inside was a dark and jagged cave. Some light sources were scattered on the walls. Until she reached a fork in the road, with three corridors. She decided to meditate on it outside the three doors.
She then heard a scream coming from the middle door. She bolted down the corridor until saw two people in a large room. One person was lying down as if they were unconscious. Upon further inspection, she saw it was a Padawan. The other person's face couldn't be seen due to the black robe they were wearing.
She rushed to help up the Padawan until she was close enough to see their face. On the ground was Anakin Skywalker. She forgot that only she and Master Met came to Tatooine and started to shake Anakin's body. She turned around to see the apposed assailant.
She froze for a second. She noticed the glowing amber eyes. But, what truly petrified her was another Anakin Skywalker. But, it couldn't be true Anakin would never fall to the Dark Side. She tried crawling back but she couldn't.
"Join me, Melissa. You and I can rule the galaxy together. We could lead your planet into the Galactic Standard." the Sith said as he reached his hand out.
Once on her feet, she started to run out of the large room. Forgetting the unconscious Anakin as she exited a door in the back.
She finally entered an even larger chamber. It looked somewhat familiar, but she heard boot steps behind her so she hid behind a nearby pillar. In a panic, she tried to remember her Master's lessons. She took a deep breath and tried to sense if he was close. But, there was nothing.
She exited from behind the pillar to see the Sith Anakin in front of her. But still nothing. Melissa reached into his chest. She had no fear and she had hope that Anakin would never fall.
The Sith Anakin started to fade away. She saw her closed palm where his heart was. She opened it to reveal a pink Kyber Crystal. As she admired it a chill in the air. Something was wrong. She rushed out of the Temple to see her Master kneeling where they parted ways.
Master Met opened her eyes to see Melissa with a panicked expression on her face. She bolted towards Melissa to find out want was wrong. Melissa handed the crystal to her Master. Once in Master Met's hands, she also felt the same chill Melissa felt. She looked at the crystal again and remembered Master Bryce's Padawan had a pink lightsaber.
Both ran out of the Temple and rode straight to Mos Espa. They didn't stop to rest. When they reached the T-6 shuttle Master Met called the Jedi Temple on Dantooine. But there was no response.
She started up the ship plugging in coordinates to Dantooine. After a quick jump in hyperspace, they landed in the nearest port to the Jedi Temple. They rushed towards the Temple reaching it in a third of a rotation instead of a half.
Melissa and Master Met then noticed two graves outside the Temple. The Jedi Master collapsed, her fear was proven right. Someone killed Master Bryce and Shashtee. She then looked at Melissa.
"Your Kyber Crystal had a twin. It was recently founded by a Padawan named Shashtee Dem. That chill you felt was a Sith bleeding the crystal with hatred and pain." Master Met explained.
After digging up the bodies to be burned on Coruscant. They notified the Jedi Council reporting the deaths of Master Bryce Void and Padawan Shashtee Dem.
They went back on their ship to return to Coruscant. When they landed Temple Guards took the bodies to hold a funeral. Master Obi-wan and Anakin consoled the two. Melissa didn't bring up what happened in the Temple on Tatooine. She just hoped Anakin would never fall to the Dark Side.
After a week passed. Melissa finally started her lightsaber's construction. Within that week Anakin also received his Kyber Crystal from Illum. It was a green Kyber Crystal. So, they decided to work on their lightsabers together.
Once done Anakin had a chrome lightsaber hilt with six black lines at the bottom. Melissa's lightsaber was also a chrome lightsaber hilt with a cone-like emitter and at the bottom was engraved "Plus Ultra", in the memorandum of her uncle All Might.
Once completed both of them ignited their lightsabers. Both blades glowed beautifully green and pink. They felt the raw power flowing through the hilt. It was heavier than they expected it to be.
"I will get your lightsaber back Shashtee. Once I get it back I will bring the Sith who did this to justice where they will answer for their crimes." Melissa whispered to herself and unignited the lightsaber.
She then looked at Anakin with his lightsaber still ignited.
"I will also make sure you don't fall Anakin," she whispered.
"Hey Anakin let's show our lightsabers to our Masters," Melissa suggested and they walked out of the room together to their Master's.
A/N:
Thanks for reading and be sure to leave a comment if you enjoyed it or have any critique.