Thanks for all the reviews! I don't know about other authors, but I thrive on feedback. :DI first posted this on theforce.net, so if the chapter sizes are too small, please let me know and I can make them bigger. Each chapter is usually no shorter than 15 A4 pages, only a few are shorter than that. Let me know how you want me to post them. I'll just keep posting them in 4 page chunks. :)

Chapter 1 Part 3

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Vergere crowed in triumph - the girl was caught! After days of throwing the Force at Silver Liona, the girl had finally succumbed in utter weakness. She was trapped in the Force until Vergere set her free. And Keir Braeden? He would never leave her, that much Vergere knew. She had both children within her grasp now, her plans were coming together perfectly, just as she had foreseen.

Vergere glanced over her shoulder, to the Yuuzhan Vong standing behind her, waiting for her commands.

"The Gods favor us this day," she whispered softly. "Send the strike team down to the surface. But DO NOT harm the children."

The Yuuzhan Vong bowed gracefully and left her, barking commands even before the portal to the ships' central corridor had fully closed behind him.

Vergere's eyes glittered as the wall of blaze bugs lit up, showing her the rock where her greatest triumphs hid.

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There was nothing but the blinding light. Nothing but the burning power. Nothing but this FORCE flowing through her in a rushing torrent that set Silver's head reeling.
When she reached the bottom of the whirlpool, she found a quick flowing river that penetrated her tiny body easily.

She had resisted for a few moments, but the power had rebuked her gently, disembodied voices floating to her through the river.

Stretch out with your feelings
Let go
...strength flows from the Force

So Silver had obeyed the strange but soothing voices, relaxed her mind, her soul and her body. And the Force raced in her blood, calming her nerves and exciting her mind with possibilities.

She gingerly opened her eyes, and found herself floating in a calm sea of power, a sea of power that had others in it.

There was a small, green alien with the look of calm power in his eyes and a short, blonde, innocent looking boy, who carried the weight of worlds on his face and had eyes that were aged beyond his body. She also saw a tall, dark skinned man with dangerous features and no hair. There was a gentle man with long, brown-grey hair and a beard. He stood near a man with short, honey brown hair and a similar beard.

There were many, many, many more in this sea of power and peace. Silver recognized none of them, but all of them radiated a calm that was inhuman, it seemed. They were dressed in flowing robes that gave them all an air of regal control and power. They reminded her of the Old Jedi Ummi had told her about in her sweeping bedtime stories of the worlds beyond Ossus.

Her metallic eyes swirled in confusion, until the gentle man approached and reached out for her. She saw in him such tenderness that she was not afraid and without thinking, she floated to him in the sea of peace and clung to him. The gentle man enfolded her in his arms, whispering words that made no sense to her five year old mind. The man pulled back and looked into her eyes. She stared back at him and saw the depthless quality of his eyes. He smiled a little, and then laid a hand over her eyes. When he took them away, the sea of peace was gone, and he stood behind her, eyes closed, a strong hand on her shoulder.

Look he said to her.

Silver looked.

Space spun away from their feet, black and littered with sparkling points of light. Silver turned in awe at the vastness of it, her young mind not comprehending anything this large.

Look came the gentle command again.

Silver followed the path of the gentle man's finger and saw a flame, burning brighter than any other part of space. Silver could not make it out very well and absently pulled the gentle man along with her through space, floating closer to the flame.

The flame flickered and danced with diseased colors of green and yellow, burning stars and planets that came too close to its sickly beauty. The flame twisted into grotesque features of hideous faces, tattooed and warped into shapes that were unnatural and unnerving to her. Silver backed up until she hit the gentle man's legs, and then reached out to hug them, too frightened to look away from the flame of twisted beings.

The gentle man pointed again, in the direction of space that was the centre of the entire galaxy

Silver looked.

Two pieces of square fabric came floating on the winds of space towards the flame. The front piece of the fabric was colored a rich, brandy brown with threads of fiery red. A stubborn looking burgundy laced the fabric and it was rimmed with a sharp looking green. The fabric looked incomplete somehow, as if part of it had been ripped or cut away. The back piece of the fabric was black with a streak of shocking white and it had ragged holes in it as well. The gaps in the front piece of the fabric were filled as the back piece moved closer to it, and the holes in the back piece of the fabric were filled by the front piece. The pieces fit together, completing each other. The fabric reached the flame and began to circle it slowly, cutting parts of the flame with its green edge and white streak.

The gentle man pointed yet again, in the direction of space that no one knew.

Silver looked.

Another two pieces of square fabric came floating on the winds of space towards the flame. The front piece was covered with feathers so black that they blended into the darkness of space. Silver would not have seen it if the tips of the feathers were not colored a fierce violet that seemed to burn as flames of their own. The back piece was colored a deep, rich red and was made up of thick, curly hair. Curls of red reached around to the front piece of fabric, and seemed to be all that was keeping the feathers together in some places, but seemed to be almost encouraging feathers to fall off in others. The feathers were razor sharp and edged with blades that cut at the licking tongues of the fire. The curls of red were pulling the feathers closer to it, and lashed out at the flames as well, choking them as it circled the flames and squeezed.

The gentle man pointed one final time, in the direction of space that was the rim of it all.

Silver looked.

A third, single, piece of fabric came floating on the winds of space towards the flame. The front of it was mercurial silver that sluggishly swirled and flickered in the reflected light of the diseased flame. The back of it was covered in black scales that moved forward and enveloped the silver when a flame dared come close to it. The scales dripped venom onto the flames as the silver extended itself to smother the fire as best it could.

The pieces of fabric stopped and moved closer to the fire, until the edges of the cloths touched and they had formed a pyramid around the flame.

The heat of the fire began to burn the edges of the fabric.

And the cloths moved closer.

The flame intensified its heat.

And the cloths moved closer.

The flame focused on the places where the fabric touched, trying to burn away the links, succeeding in only melting the edges of the fabrics together.

And the cloths moved closer.

The flame became frantic, lashing out with all its strength.

And the cloths moved closer.

The flame was growing smaller, shrinking before the inexorable advance of the fabric.

And the cloths began to melt.

The flame grew exultant, believing the fabrics to be weakening, and renewed its attack.

And the cloths became one, blending into each other.

The flame was afraid.

And the cloth moved closer.

The gentle man put a hand on Silver's shoulder, and the fabric and the flame disappeared.

The sea of peace returned.

The gentle man backed away from silver as the small boy moved towards her. His aged blue eyes bored into hers as he spoke

You must never tell anyone that you can reach this place. Do you understand?

Silver shook her head

We are dead. You are alive. Your appearance here was thought to be impossible. It must stay that way. Do you understand?

She nodded, and opened her mouth, thinking she wanted to know about the vision of the flame

The meaning of the vision is something you will have to work out for yourself, mostly. The fabric you saw represent some people you will know later in your life. The flame is a war that will come to the galaxy soon. You and your friends must fight with all you have against this war. We cannot tell you anything else for now, but know that you can come back to this place if you ever need to. But you MUST NOT tell anyone else of it.

The gentle man came up to her and laid his hands on her eyes again, and Silver slept, no longer aware of the sea of peace, the river of power, the whirlpool of light. Awareness of anything but her self ceased, and Silver's mind rested as her body relaxed and her soul was eased.