Disclaimer: We ( draksisreborn and zazabelle) own nothing but our OCs. Star Wars belongs to Lucasfilm and Disney. It's finally here! We took a long time on this one, mostly because school decided to slam both of us simultaneously. Hopefully now that we have this important story chapter down the next ones will come quicker. Anyways, please review and enjoy this latest installment.

Rating: T

Cenden's stomach twisted in knots.

His eyes locked on the crackling green glow held in the hands of a masked ghost.

His hand reached slowly towards one of the back folds hanging across his belt to the smooth and broken cylinder of his own lightsaber.

'This has to be one of the temple's tricks. This can't be real.'

"Who are you?" Cenden's voice rang across the ruins.

The ghost tilted its head, as if considering the question, but it did not answer. He watched its steady breathing in the light of the saber growing quicker.

The smaller figure sprinted forward.

His lightsaber ignited.

PSHOOM.

The sabers clashed and locked into place. Their light radiating in sparks. Green and yellow, both damaged with time and charred from battle. Cenden's once double-bladed saber staff long reduced to nothing more than a broken half.

The two held their positions for a moment longer, the soulless slits of the mask staring coldly at the Jedi behind the blade.

Over the noise of the sabers, it spoke.

"Finally!" It shouted, suddenly ducked right as Cenden stabbed out to hit the air.

From the corner of his eye as he turned he watched as the figure tumbled across the space. He reached out to the Force, the environment suddenly rushing into him. He felt the Force moving through and and around the figure as well as he sensed their next move.

They swung their saber as they spun off the ground.

He stepped back.

They turned and jabbed at his body, he took another step back and blocked the next attack, pushing the saber out of the way, his fist swung forward and collided with the figure's mask, sending them flying.

They rolled with the impact and swung once more before retreating several steps back.

It tilted its head once again, lowering its face as it adjusted its mask.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this." It explained solemnly.

Its head suddenly shot up.

Fear filled Cenden.

The Force built up around them both, exploding like a cannon from within Cenden.

The temple guard gasped as they went flying. Their lightsaber fell from their hand as they zoomed rapidly into the wall nearest them. He watched in fear as the impact looked like it was cushioned by nothing at all before they fell to the ground. They lay there for a moment before rising slowly to their feet, the mask falling from the figure's face.

"What…?" Cenden whispered as the figure came into view.

It wasn't a ghost. It wasn't an illusion.

It was a girl. A girl no older than 13 years old stood in front of him.

Her huge slanted eyes and messy dark brown hair seemed the only thing completely human about her. Spiny ridged plates crested across her yellow-tan face, and her skin littered with freckles shifting about in all colors of the spectrum.

She looked as shocked and confused as he felt.

"The Force…" She spoke hesitantly, "I can feel it moving inside you… It's corrupted. How could you use it like that!?"

Cenden stood in shocked silence for a moment.

"I… Who… Who are you? Why are you here?" Cenden asked the girl.

"I should be asking you the same questions." Her face contorted into sadness for a moment, "You didn't know I was here, did you?"

"No. Was I supposed to?" Cenden asked.

"Why haven't you been listening? They told you to come here for a reason… Why haven't you been listening?"

"I'm sorry. I don't understand. Who are you? Why are you in this old temple?" Cenden now desperately sputtered as his confusion only continued to build.

Her freckles grew bright red. She opened her mouth for a moment to speak before closing it again her face deepening into anger. She shuffled from foot to foot, her breathing growing heavy with rage.

"My name is Vis Alacritas! And this is MY TEMPLE. You need to leave."

A shot rang out.

Vis dodged the blaster bolt before she sprinted towards her fallen saber.

Cenden turned to see Soron. His gun smoking as he supported himself against the wall, his face still seeming to spin with confusion.

He aimed his gun again.

"VAIT DON'T SHOOT!" Cenden shouted just as he turned to see the girl now holding her saber.

She twisted the hilt just as another shot rang out.

A blast of white light exploded from the saber.

"AAGGHH!" Cenden and Soron yelled as they shielded their faces, light searing the backs of their eyes.

Cenden and Soron opened their eyes after a moment, their vision swimming in dark clouds and bright flashes.

Before long, the world around them cleared.

The girl was gone.

Soron's eyes locked onto Cenden's. Clarity seeming to reappear in his mind.

"Who was that?" The captain asked slowly.

"I don't know. She seemed to think I should've known who she was." Cenden responded just as slowly as he tried to understand what had just happened.

A voice spoke, echoing about the temple's caverns.

"Well I assumed you would considering the circumstances."

The two jumped a little. Looking about in startled wonder, the voice seemed to come from every direction.

"What circumstances?" Soron finally asked back.

They heard a shaky breath sound around them before she spoke again.

"Considering the circumstances… the circumstances that, I've been here for almost seven years with my guide and the only other people I've ever seen were temple robbers."

The captain and the Jedi looked over at each other and nodded. Moving back to back, their eyes shifting about, waiting for another sound.

"Why are you guys doing that?" The voice sniffed, was it crying?

"It's a defensive maneuver. You did just attack me a second ago." Cenden responded.

"Hey, I was practicing that for weeks! My guide totally had it perfectly planned out. But of the last three paths the whole thing could've taken, I did not expect you to try and use them against me. That was not nice."

"Who is your guide? Why did they want you to attack us?" Soron asked.

"The Jedi should know that least half of the answers to that."

Soron looked back at Cenden, the Jedi suddenly coming to a realization.

"Are… You're talking about the Force, right?" He asked as he began connecting with the living things around him.

Soron at his back. Moss and vines along the walls. Birds. Rodents.

He suddenly he felt a something like a hand reach out to touch him. He could see in his mind a smiling face, an excitement radiating from it that he hadn't experienced since he was very small.

"Hi." The connection linked as her voice danced about the room.

Even Soron felt it as he and Cenden turned to look at a large crack opening into the temple's wall. Several just like it ran along the walls and ceiling of the building, but in this one, they could feel it; the girl was sat waiting in their.

It was incredible. As they walked towards the wall, Cenden could almost feel all the ties, the connections this girl had herself linked to. Down to even words on her tongue, steps she needed to take, paths available to her… What did they all lead to?

They approached the wall, a few outcroppings must have provided the child the means to scamper up the wall and into the nook. Cenden grabbed hold of one of the wall stones and began to hoist himself up to the crack in the wall. Reaching the space, he positioned his feet onto one of the larger stone and kept a secure grasp on the corner of the nook's opening before peering inside.

Sitting in the shadows was the girl in the same over sized trench coat and mismatched armor he had seen her in a few moments before, but somehow now, she looked like a completely different person. She looked much smaller and younger than the ghost of a temple guard he had been attacked by. This was just a child.

"Hi." Cenden spoke.

"Hello again." The girl smiled a bit under her saddened eyes, "Sorry I attacked you. The Force told me it was the best route to take."

"Was it right?"

"I'm sure of it."

"Who are you?" Cenden asked again.

"My name's Vis Alacritus. I knew you were coming to my home, but… What happened to you? You feel so icky inside. I imagined the Jedi feeling… different." Vis said, her face slowly beginning to lighten up as curiosity and a tinge of fear took over her face.

"Well the Jedi are long dead." Cenden replied.

"Look you need to start putting on a new personality if you are going to get what you came here for. Believe it or not, that corruption inside of you is contagious." Vis explained. Cenden actually felt the Force build up around her, like it was protecting her… from him.

From down below Soron spoke, "You know why we're here?"

Vis' eyes opened wide, Cenden could feel a twitch in the Force around her as she began to crawl forward towards the entrance of the crack.

Cenden began to back up and climb down the wall as her face popped out of the crack like an animal from its den.

"No way! You're the captain! You shot at me!" She said, suddenly elated as a smile locked on her face the entire time. "The Jedi and the captain. You totally called it my guide. I can't believe this is happening!"

Cenden jumped down to the ground and gave a look to the captain. Soron gave the same shrug back. She seemed so sad just a moment before, and a moment before that she was a silent fighting force.

"So you know who we are AND why we came here?" Soron asked in amazement.

"Weeellllll I mean, sort of. I could tell you, but first I kinda gotta make sure you guys are actually who I thought you are, 'cause I'm on the fence about the Jedi at the moment. So why are you here?" Vis squinted suspiciously, a smile still aimed on her lips.

Cenden sighed. Could she really sense the Force inside him as she was describing? Was it really that bad?

"My name is Cenden Sondron and this is Soron Mekusa. We came here looking for answers." Cenden responded up to the child.

"Three things." Vis spoke, "One, did you guys notice that your last name sounds a lot like his first name? Two, the answers you are looking for are here. Third, before you find the answers, are you sure you've asked the right questions?"

The two took in the questions, reviewing each of them in their minds.

Soron stepped forward, "I'm sure there's always more questions to ask. Such as, why does this place have the answers? We've been to other temples, why is this one different?"

"Maybe it's just that the Force is happy here?"

"Definitely an interesting theory." Cenden muttered sarcastically under his breath.

Cenden didn't know what to think or say. The Force here kept pushing at his mind, it kept telling him to speak or to remain quiet, but deep down, he still felt the urge to resist all the offerings of the Force. He had come so far in the past couple of weeks, rekindling a sort of mutual respect between him and the mystical energy, and now for him to come here in search of genuine answers only for this child to attack him and then call him diseased was not the welcoming he would've expected from the Force. No, actually he expected any kind of welcoming from the Force to have more bloodshed and death.

Cenden shook himself from his thoughts when he noticed the kid staring at him wide eyed.

"Cenden, I think I'm suppose to help and I want to help. Please don't feel so sad. The Force has told me a lot about you guys… I've felt how you have felt. And it's terrifying. I think you guys came here to find purpose, and the Force wants to help. You can trust me if I can trust you, so can I trust you to listen?"

Cenden and Soron felt a calm pass over them, steady and rippling like the pools of water flowing about the interior of the ruin temple. They became aware of the birds flitting about through the sunlight and the vines crawling lazily along the wall.

"I trust you." Soron spoke.

He looked at Cenden. Cenden rolled his eyes.

"I will do my best." Cenden answered.

Vis' smile stretched from ear to ear. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and muttered something to herself before she began her climb down the wall.

Soron and Cenden gasped as they watched her climb down the wall. As she climbed, veins of light began to be seen glowing in the crack and crumbles of the temple walls. Blue and green laced in with hints of yellow sparkling in the sunlight. She jumped the rest of the way down and light exploded from under her feet, stretching across the floors and even into pools of water and the ceilings.

The girl named Vis stood in front of them now, her freckles reflecting the shifting hues. She extended her hand to the captain and the Jedi.

"Welcome to me and the Force's home."

"Nice to meet you." Soron smiled back, reaching forward to shake the girl's hand.

Cenden didn't say a word, just smiled politely and shook her hand.

"And so a new chapter begins." Vis sighed before laughing a little.

"I guess so." Soron smiled back.

"I've been practicing that line forever! I can't believe I finally got to use it! It's been so long since I've met another person! Let alone multiple people!"

"Ya zhat's great and everything, but do you happen to know where the rest of our crew is?" Cenden asked.

Vis gasped.

"Whoops... almost forgot about them."