Chapter 33 - Mortis

Author's Note: In which the Mortis arc begins. :D

~ Amina Gila

Anakin Skywalker

"Rex? Rex, do you read me?" I call. Where are they? I don't see the ships, though they should be here already. "We're at the rendezvous point awaiting your arrival. Where are you?"

"Sir, we're at the rendezvous point and there's no sign of you on our scanners." His voice crackles over the communicator.

"What?!" exclaims Aniya, looking like she's not certain whether to be amused or worried.

"Oh, come on. That's impossible!" I cry, "Something's wrong,"

"We're at the exact coordinates where the distress signal originated, but there's nothing here," Aniya informs the others from her place in the co-pilot seat.

"And Rex is at the exact same coordinates, and he's not here," I finish, both confused and frustrated. What in the galaxy is going on here?

"This is getting interested," muses Obi-Wan.

"Interesting to say the least!" exclaims Alema, who looks almost exasperated. "Seriously, how is this even possible?!"

"It's not possible," I supply.

"Unable to find you. Where are you, sir?" asks Rex. The hologram flickers, suddenly disappearing.

"Something's blocking the signal," Ahsoka worries. Just then, the power to the ship promptly shuts off. There is a strange ripple in the Force which I don't understand, either. Something is happening, or rather, is about to happen. Everything seems tense, and energy seems to be gathering around us and the ship unexplainably.

"Something is very wrong here," mutters Aniya as the two of us began flipping controls, trying in vain to get the power to the ship to come back on. Nothing happens.

"Not good," Obi-Wan murmurs.

"Everything's dead. Even the life support," Ahsoka realizes, checking some controls on the side of the ship.

That's when I make out a strange, glowing light in front of us, slowly splitting apart the darkness of space. "This is really strange," I mutter.

All at once, the power to the ship suddenly flashes to life again. "There. See? Nothing to be concerned about after all," I decide.

"You sure about that?" counters Alema, eyeing the strange light outside the window which is continuing to grow. The Force is flowing strangely around it, almost like it's drawing us and the ship towards it. It reminds me vaguely of a black hole, pulling in everything surrounding it.

"It's pulling us towards it," Aniya remarks worriedly.

"Everyone, strap yourselves in!" advises Obi-Wan. "Looks as though we're going for a ride." We're being drawn towards it faster and faster, the brilliant white light finally completely encompassing the ship.

The next thing I know, I'm blinking awake, and push myself up from the control panel. Glancing up, the ship is suddenly on the surface of a planet, though I know I never landed it. Nor did I see us approaching a planet. "I must have blacked out," I conclude at my lapse in memory. The next thing that filters in – it was actually the first, but only now do I register it – the Force feels... different. Too concentrated. It feels as though I am a vessel to the Force itself, only waiting to do as it tells me. It's like my battle mode, except I'm more... in control. And I feel it without even having to try.

"Then who landed the shuttle?" queries Obi-Wan from behind me.

"All I know is that it wasn't me," supplies Aniya, sitting up slowly and looking around in confusion.

"It wasn't me, either," Ahsoka agrees, equally confused.

"Or me," concurs Alema, "And what kind of place is this, anyway?"

"Some kind of organic mass," Ahsoka informs us, glancing at the scans beside her, "All of our readings indicate that it's bigger than an asteroid, but at least the atmosphere is breathable."

"Well, this is getting more unusual by the minute," Obi-Wan frowns, as he looks around the controls "I can't even lock down where in the galaxy we are, of if we are even in our own galaxy."

"I don't see how we could have gotten to another galaxy without teleporting," Aniya remarks.

"Which would be less weird than some of the other things have happened today," I suggest. Like our ship mysteriously landing while everyone fell asleep for no reason and being at the same coordinates as another ship but sensing and seeing nothing at all.

"So, now what?" Alema demands, voice tinged with worry. "Where even are we? And what is this place?"

"I guess we'll have to see," Aniya replies, standing up.

"By just going out there?!" protests the Twi'lek. "We don't even know what kind of planet this is!"

"And we won't find out either by hiding in the ship," I point out, "Let's get going."

"Well, the ship's systems seem fine, but for whatever reason, nothing's working," Ahsoka states, standing up and lowering the ramp to the shuttle, disappearing outside like the overly brave, reckless padawan she is. I follow a little more cautiously. The grass is a brilliant green and the sky a bright blue. The planet itself seems to radiate a sense of peace, though something tells me it doesn't always. And there are literally rocks suspended in mid-air, but given the strangeness of the entire circumstances, I'm not exactly surprised.

I scan the mountains, hills, and trees lining the horizon. "Hey!" Ahsoka exclaims suddenly, "I saw something. A reflection, up on the hill."

"I don't see anything," Obi-Wan objects, pulling out a pair of macrobinoculars to look around.

"I saw it too," Aniya murmurs, thoughtfully. "What kind of... strangeness is this, anyway?"

"Not from our galaxy?" I offer.

"Are you the One?" a woman's voice echoes, though I can't make out the source.

"What the... what? Did you hear that?!" I exclaim.

"I don't hear anything," Obi-Wan interjects again, continuing to look around. Alema shakes her head, and Ahsoka looks thoughtful. Seriously, shouldn't at least she have heard it? After all, Togrutas have a far enhanced sense of hearing compared to humans.

"Yes?" offers Aniya. "And I'm getting more and more confused by the moments. Is this place haunted?"

"Are you the One?" the voice asks again, and this time, I sense the blindingly light presence behind me, and turn around. A woman who's almost literally radiating light is standing there. She's dressed in white and gold, light green hair reaching down to her waist.

"Hello?" I ask cautiously, "Who are you?"

"I am Daughter," she responds, her voice echoing as if she were in an abandoned warehouse, not the middle of a field. "Are you the One?" Daughter? What kind of name is that?

"Excuse me?" Aniya exclaims incredulously.

"Uh... the One what?" I inquire slowly.

"I will take you to him," she continues, as if that explained everything. I'm getting more and more confused by the moment.

"Him, who?" demands Ahsoka, raising an eye marking.

"Did you bring us here?" Obi-Wan inquires, moving forwards.

"Only he can help you," she insists. What in the galaxy is she talking about?

"That answers nothing," Alema mutters under her breath.

"There is little time. Follow me. We must have shelter by nightfall," the towering being continues, turning and walking – practically floating – away.

"And we thought the planet was strange," I remark, tilting my head towards her, "How about this one?"

"Crazy?" offers Alema, and Aniya snorts.

"We'll be fine as long as we stay together," points out Obi-Wan.

"Or so we hope," mutters Alema as we slowly start walking after the 'Daughter'.

"Shush," advises Aniya, "We'll be fine. We just need to figure out what in the world is going on."

"How about what world it is?" pipes up Ahsoka.

The Daughter is moving towards the towering rock structure near the ship, and we hurry to catch up with her. Wherever she's going, it might help us answer some of the endless questions I have. We move across the winding slopes in silence. The sides are covered with bright green plants of all sorts. The path is narrow, but there's enough room for all of us. It's probably been an hour, maybe more, before Obi-Wan finally starts talking.

"Have you noticed the seasons seem to change with the time of day?"

I glance at the plants, now a darker shade of green, as if it were summer. "Yeah," I confirm.

"And there are no animals," adds Ahsoka.

"Maybe this planet is governed by different rules of science than the rest of the galaxy," Aniya suggests sarcastically. No question about that, considering there's literally hovering rocks here.

"Provided this even is our galaxy," mutters Alema.

"And you sense it?" Obi-Wan inquires, ignoring the girls' conversation.

"Mmhmm. Since we arrived. The Force is very strong," I reply.

"An intersection unlike anything I've ever felt before," Obi-Wan cautions, "Be wary."

"Isn't that what we're doing?" Aniya asks, ducking under a plant growing off the side of the cliff, "It's hard not to be wary in a strange planet like this."

I take another step closer to the Daughter to get her attention. "Excuse me... Who are you taking us to?"

"The Father, of course," she answers as though it were the most obvious question in the world.

"Of course?" echoes Ahsoka.

"Yes, I fail to see how that's obvious," Alema agrees crossly.

"And what exactly are you?" Obi-Wan inquires.

"We are the ones who guard the power," she replies, glancing over her shoulder though never slowing her pace, "We are the middle, the beginning, and the end."

"Glad she cleared that up for us," I mutter to the others.

"Tell me about it," mutters Aniya. "I'm getting more and more lost by the moment. Let's just hope we can actually find our way back to the ship by the end of the day."

"Do the days end here?" Alema pipes up.

"Good point," I agree. "I have to wonder."

As we turn another bend in the cliff, the plants slowly begin to fade from dark green to the dark red of fall. A ripple in the Force catches my attention, and I look up to see a rock detaching itself from the top of the wall. "Hey!" I shout. "Look out!" I shove the Daughter aside, diving out of the way myself just in time for the enormous rock to come hurtling down towards where I would have been a moment before.

By the time the rock has crashed to the ground far below, the Daughter is still on the ground. I step forwards, reaching out to see if she's alright, but she stands up and turns around. "It is forbidden for you to touch me."

... excuse me? "Sorry. I was just saving your life," I retort. She doesn't make an ounce of sense to me, but then again, nothing about this place does. How was I supposed to know there's apparently some... rules I have to follow on this strange planet? Not like I had time to research.

"That was my brother's work," she observes, eyeing the place the rock had fallen from. Her brother just tried to kill her? How nice of him. Good thing I don't have any siblings like that. "You are in great danger. Wait for me. Do not leave this place." With that, she turns and started heading off.

"Hey!" I shout, more than a little annoyed. "Wait!" She doesn't listen, only walks off, soon disappearing from sight around another turn in the cliff. I groan. Fine. We'll have to do this the hard way, then.

**w**

Aniya Skywalker

I spin around and break into a run, but not fast enough. The rock slams into me, throwing me sideways towards the cliff. "Master!" Alema yells, spinning around from where she's darted to safety. For a moment, I think I'm about to go over the edge, but I manage to catch on, digging my black-gloved fingers into the rocks edge. Obi-Wan is a few feet down from me. Alema runs to me and Ahsoka to Obi-Wan, both pulling us back up over the edge.

"Thanks," I pant, heart racing. I should have been more alert and reacted faster. I had sensed it coming, just hadn't been on quite as much a lookout as Anakin. And speaking of Anakin... the rock has taken out the path between us. We can't get to each other, not without a lot of risky clamoring over very dangerous ground.

I dial his frequency into my comm, not because I have to but just to let the others hear it, too. They also deserve the reassurance that he's alright. "Anakin, are you there?" I call, "Are you okay?"

His voice crackles back across the connection. "Yeah. But our friend here has run off! Go back to the ship and try sending another distress call. I'll follow her and find out how to get off this rock."

"And if this is a trap?" Obi-Wan steps forwards to ask.

"Then I'm not gonna wait around to find out," he retorts.

"Hey! You're not running off without me!" I protest.

"Anakin, stop! Wait for us to find you another way around and meet you," Obi-Wan exclaims, but the call is already disconnected. "... Anakin?"

"He cut it off long ago," I inform him cheerfully.

The padawans let out exasperated sighs precisely in unison.

"So reckless and impatient," sighs Obi-Wan.

I huff, glaring at him with annoyance that isn't entirely feigned. It's frustrating to see how he still thinks we only follow ourselves instead of the Force. I've tried to show him. I really have! "I suppose that applies to me too?"

"He'll find her," assures Ahsoka, stepping forwards.

"Yes," agrees Obi-Wan, pointedly ignoring me, "And what else?"

"We have to go after him!" I insist.

"We can't," Obi-Wan objects, "By the time we'll have gotten around to the other side, he'll already be long gone."

"We can't leave him!"

"Uh, he left first," points out Alema.

"He'll be fine. Don't worry," Ahsoka attempts to assure me, "We should do what he said first of all and maybe then reassess the situation." I don't like this at all, but she has a point. Besides, I'm not terribly keep on leaving the three of them alone by themselves to get back to the ship or dragging them along with me in a hopefully not fruitless attempt to find my runaway brother.

"Fine," I grumble reluctantly, moving to the front of the group. "Everyone's senses on top alert. We don't want another... nearly deadly rockslide." I stalk forwards across the rocks, hearing the other three following. I do not like the thought of leaving my twin alone here. Something tells me that there are many other deadly things on this planet, and I get the feeling there was a person behind that rockslide. Someone made it happen, and the person who did it is still out there. He might try to do something again, and this time, Anakin is alone.

The sky is steadily darkening as we make our way back towards the landing sight. "Storm's coming," I remark, looking up at the dark clouds slowly covering the sky. There's danger rippling through the Force, too. Everything here on this planet is so different from what I'm used to. Everything changed in the blink of an eye, perfectly in sync with the Force around it. And right now, I can feel an approaching Force-storm.

"The ship's gone!" the padawans cry in unison. I glance up, looking around the area where we left it. Sure enough, it's nowhere to be seen.

"Yes, I see that," Obi-Wan agrees warily.

"It was here, no question!" Ahsoka cries.

Darkness completely covers the area, shivers running down my spine. Something is wrong. I sense a dark presence, and perfectly in sync with that sense, all the plants start turning brown. "And look, everything's dying," I observe.

"This planet is crazy," Alema declares flatly, looking around. I couldn't agree more.

"Did you lose something?" the deep, mocking, sinister voice rings out from behind me. I spin around, as do the others, Ahsoka instantly whipping out her green lightsaber and aiming it towards the towering figure. My eyes widen as I take in his appearance. He is clothed almost entirely in black and has dark gray skin with the exception of the bright red stripes running across his face and down onto his clothes. Unlike the 'Daughter', he seems to draw all the light into him, both seen and unseen. Instead of the yellow eyes you'd normally see on such a black hole in the Force, deadly glowing red stares down at us. "You didn't do as you were asked." His voice echoes, the same as hers did.

"And what was that?" Obi-Wan asks before I can say something I'd regret.

"My sister said to wait," comes the casual yet warning response.

"Did she, now?" my older brother retorts. "Well, we were unfortunately separated. We'd like our ship back, if you don't mind." Oh, right. He's the one probably responsible for stealing our ship. I'm starting to get the feeling this being was also the one who tried to kill us earlier. The presence seems vaguely familiar, and I had started getting a faint impression of the same thing right before it happened.

"Not yet." He steps closer towards us, and I move to stand in front of the padawans, glaring at him. I won't let him get close to them. His gaze is right on me when he asks. "Is it true that he is the Chosen One?"

That's all it takes for me to whip out my lightsaber, blade aimed straight at the being's neck. Obi-Wan's and Alema's are out too, and Ahsoka is holding her golden blade as well now. "Don't you dare lay a hand on my brother!" I snarl. "I don't care who or what you are. If you touch him, I. Will. Kill. You."

The being outright laughs at my threat, making me growl angrily. I don't know who he thinks he is, but whatever it is, he could never defeat me. Or Anakin. He's nowhere near as strong as us.

"What do you know of such things?" Obi-Wan demands sharply.

"What is about to happen shall occur, whether you like it or not," the being replies simply, completely unfazed by my anger. With a flick of his wrist, all four lightsabers are extinguished in unison.

"You're a Sith!" I shout.

"Sith?" He laughs again, the sound dark and dangerous, though what he finds funny is beyond me, but it's tempting me to stab my lightsaber through him and be done with it. "Yes and no." His amusement disappears and his arms fall to his sides again. "The storms here are quite lethal. If you want to live, I suggest you find shelter." There is a sudden surge through the Force, and the being transforms into something larger. It's a bird like creature that stands before us, not a person. With a few flaps of its huge wings, it rises into the air and disappears amidst the rain starting to beat down around us. Thunder rumbles in the distance dangerously.

"What in the universe was that, Master?!" Alema practically shrieks, voicing the only thought on my mind.

"I've never heard of anything like it," Ahsoka adds.

"I have no idea!" I exclaim, turning to Obi-Wan for an explanation.

"I'm not quite sure," Obi-Wan admits, then glances around. "Quick! There's a cave over there. We've found shelter." He hurries towards it, and I follow with a little reluctance, casting a final glance over my shoulder. Anakin is still out there. I can only hope he'll be alright.

**w**

Anakin Skywalker

The rain beats down around me as I scramble over rocks, lighting crackling repeatedly down from the sky. I hardly know where I'm going anymore. I'm following the nudging from the Force, which, for once, I can feel without even trying. Everything is so... different here. The planet is stronger in the Force than anything I've ever experienced, and the Force-storms here seem to be just as strong.

I jump aside as a lightning bolt crashes down next to me, darting forwards. I hate lightning. No thanks to you, Dooku. The thunder is worse. The sound is keeping me on high alert, a constant reminder that I need to stay present and people – my men – could be dying and I need to help them, except they're not here. Thankfully.

I need to find shelter, and I need it soon. Looking up, I finally spot a towering building standing out against the darkened skyline. The Force hums, drawing me towards it. I need to go there. Whoever it is I'm looking for is going to be in there. Of that, I am certain.

Before long, I've made it to the long staircase and start ascending. It winds around the building until it reaches a platform. There's a large, open doorway, which I step through. A long hall leads into a much larger room. The place is huge, ridiculously so. A giant chair – more like a throne – is opposite the doorway. A towering figure with a long white beard, clothed in aqua, is seated in it. His eyes are closed, and I can feel the Force swirling around him, a strange mixture of both dark and light that flows in a way I've never felt anything before.

He doesn't move when I approach. I can't very well meditate like he is – I sense he is judging by how the Force is swirling around him – so instead I take a seat on the floor facing him. If I were to try, especially in a place like this, the Force would completely overwhelm me. As it is, it hardly feels like I'm here sometimes. It's all I can do to hold on and not let myself be carried away with the currents of the Force. I suppress a shudder at the thought.

"Welcome, my friend." The voice snaps me out of my thoughts, and I look up. The man studies me with piercing aqua eyes. He looks human, more so than the Daughter did, though he's even taller than she was. And he's obviously far older than her. I don't know this person, but on some level, it feels almost as though I do, and I don't like it. It's unsettling.

"What is it that you want from me?" I demand, on full alert.

"To learn the truth about who you really are," he answers cryptically. "One that maybe you have known all along." He rises gracefully, stepping towards me. "One you must believe in order to fulfill your destiny."

Destiny. Right, the Chosen One. That, again? Qui-Gon believed it, but I don't want to. I don't want to be some sort of supernatural, sub-human freak, thank you very much. I'd much prefer to pretend I don't know. It's so much easier that way, but now – now this person I've never seen before in my life is talking about it. And he brought me out here just for that... for my power? "Enough with the riddles, old man," I snap, anger rising. It's not directed at him, exactly, but it is at the same time. "Tell me what's going on here."

"As you can see, there is nowhere else to go," the man responds, walking towards me. "It is late. You will be my guest tonight." Hopefully, that means he's going to start answering some of my many questions in the morning. If he will, I guess I can live with that. Maybe the others will have found a way to get here by morning. And maybe we'll be able to... get off this planet.

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