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Chapter Five:

Ghosts of the Past

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The heat had finally taken its toll on Mara Jade.

She was pushing herself now beyond her limits, her muscles moving thanks only to the power of the Force that flowed through her. Without it, she would have collapsed hours ago. The mountain that had loomed so large before her had proved quite hard to scale. With every step she took, she came closer to the sky and the molten heat of the twin suns. She had stripped away all of her desert garb, down to her pants and undershirt. Sweat clung to her, dragging her hair down from her scalp and plastering it against her sticky flesh. She hated the loss of moisture, knowing that would soon all be baked away and she would be left dehydrated and unclothed in the middle of the desert.

Her mouth felt like it was full of sand, so dry and hot as it was. The mountain that stretched upwards beneath her feet blurred in her eyes. Sometimes she feared it would disappear suddenly beneath her feet, dropping her down into the desert.

At last she collapsed upon the first stretch of clear land that she found. A small plateau stretched out on the side of the mountain and Mara found a dark overhang of rock to duck beneath. She collapsed against the wall, blessing its relative coolness in the sweltering heat. She leaned heavily against the rock and was quite surprised when it fell away from her. It swung open silently on hinges that she had not even noticed.

Sitting up in surprise, Mara realized that her small alcove was really a hidden entrance into the heart of the mountain. The door must have been quite old, she could see the marks of ancient runes that had once been etched upon it. They had faded away beneath the erosion of the sand but their forms still seemed to glow upon the surface within the Force.

With a chill, Mara recognized those markings. They were ancient Sith runes, belonging to a culture and a religion that had all but been eliminated a thousand years ago. She knew them only from her education as the Emperor's Hand. Palpatine had seen it fit to teach her to recognize the runes and stay away from them. It was Vader who had taught Mara to read the language of the runes and recognize the power that lay hidden within them. He had done this without the Emperor's knowledge though it was a knowledge that had never truly served Mara until this moment.

With a flash, her vision resounded in her mind. The temple of glass on that long ago world Sith stood here, beneath the sand that had crusted over it and turned it back into the ground. In that moment, Mara knew that this is where Luke had been led. Only now she wondered which side of the Force had led them here, the light or the dark?

Mara ran her fingers over the runes and the whole door seemed to glow suddenly. It was smooth beneath her palm, not rough like the stone she had thought she was leaning against. She saw now, as the stone crumbled away from the exterior, that the door was made entirely of glass. The runes had been etched into the surface and now they glowed beneath her touch, as if coming alive after a deep sleep.

Mara's heart sank in her chest and she knew with a dreadful certainty that Luke was inside this temple somewhere. As much as she reviled the idea of entering an ancient temple of the Sith, Mara knew that she had to go in and get him. Else he might never leave alive. Who could say what traps the Sith of ancient times had laid here to ensnare any Jedi who stumbled across the site?

Yet her heart knew no other option than to step through the ancient doorway and into the temple. The door of glass swung shut behind her with a resounding thud that seemed to shake the walls around her. The light faded from the door and soon it had seamlessly faded back into the stone exterior, invisible to the naked eye. When the last crack of light had faded, Mara was left alone in the darkness.

She moved forward automatically, feeling her way along the walls, trusting in the Force to guide her forward. Every step forward seemed to draw her ever upwards, into the dark heart of the temple. It was beginning to beat stronger, with every step that Mara took. An ancient power was awakening and responding to their presence.

The feel of stone beneath her fingertips gave way to a smoother substance. Where her fingers trailed along the slick surface, Mara could feel a reverberation of warmth from the wall. The resonance had been odd to her before, an echo in the force, a shifting of the tide. This was familiar to her, like a brush across her senses when Luke reached out to touch her.

"Luke," she whispered his name softly and it echoed down the long hall, her voice changing and shifting to sound like a chorus. Mara began to run down the long corridor, calling out for her partner. "Luke! Where are you?" Her voice echoed back to her, its call wild and desperate. "Where are you?" It spoke back to her, asking her the question in return. Mara found that she did not know the answer.

She gripped her lightsaber, finger hovering over the switch that would provide her with some weak light. At that moment the walls flickered around her, as if reacting to her thoughts. It slowly began to seep into the corridor, the burning glow of fire seemed to emanate from the walls of glass.

Mara stepped closer to the wall and could see herself reflected there, her reflection was wreathed in flame. The light danced wildly in the corridor, the shadows touched everything. She was pale and tired but her hair danced around her like flame, green eyes burned with purpose. She watched her reflection reach out to touch the glass, the flames danced within the glass itself but no heat came from it.

Mara leaned her forehead against the glass and reached out into the Force. The levels of the temple seemed to resound above her, stretching up forever from the depths of the sand to touch the sky far above her. The entire temple was made of glass, it glowed with the power of the Force that had shaped it into being. Mara could feel it in the in her mind as if it were alive. She felt as though she could reach into it, discover what memories it held and what secrets had been kept.

"Luke," she whispered his name as she drew away from the glass. She would not let the temptations of the temple draw her in. She couldn't. She had to find Luke. Her feet began to run and Mara followed. She had to keep going.

The flames seemed to pulse all around her, flickering higher until she seemed to run through a hall of fire. The fire did not touch her, enclosed within the glass as it was. At last she saw the end of the tunnel and beyond, a darkness too great and terrible to imagine.

The light seemed to follow her into the room as she walked headlong into darkness. All at once it blazed up around her, revealing what had lain hidden beneath the sands for so long.

In the center of the room a great crystal jutted up from the glass. It reached up to touch the glass ceiling far above. Mara approached it cautiously as the Force thrummed around her. A strange light was flickering in it's depths, not the warm glow of the firelight but the cool blue light of the Force.

Mara leaned closer, reaching out one hand to hover above the crystal. It seemed to be calling her name, a soft whisper that resounded through her mind. Mara... the voice of the Force sounded like Luke. She laid her palm upon the crystal and the light bloomed all around her. It flared through her mind and all at once, the visions swept her away.

One name resounded in her mind as she fell from the darkness into light. Not her own name that had been called so softly. It was the name she had yet to take on.

Skywalker.

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Skywalker.

The light enveloped Luke, embracing him. It had been waiting for him, he could feel it in his bones that this was where he was meant to be. The Force rushed through him in a torrent of energy, a wellspring of life hidden deep beneath the ground. Luke could feel it, calling out to him. It was like a great pool, buried beneath the earth and it was mirrored in the empty sky above him. In the depths of its waters, he could see his own name rising. Skywalker. The pool became the sky and his name was a cloud gathering on the horizon.

The history of time stretched out beyond him, lives glittering like the endless stars of the galaxy. Some burned brighter than the others within the Force, like whirlpools in the sea of the Force that pulled the energy to them in waves. He could see all the way back to the beginning, the birth of this temple and time itself.

It came to him in a great rush of energy, filling him until he thought his skin would break open and allow the luminous light within to pour forth. An ancient prophecy resounded in his mind, the voice ancient yet familiar. Through the Force he felt a familiar flicker of life emerge in his consciousness. Then he recognized it, the one who spoke the prophecy within his mind was Mara.

"In the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior. He shall be known as the Son of the Suns. He will shatter the ancient Order and bring both darkness and light to the Force. Only he shall be able to achieve balance between Light and Dark. Of his blood shall be born the last of the ancient line. He will bring about a new era of the Force by uniting the ancient ways and powerful knowledge. Those that have been Chosen by the Force will be the ones to change it forever."

Her voice, so beloved to him, spoke these ancient words within the Force. The knowledge seeped into his mind, like sand into water until it had all been absorbed. It filled him until he couldn't take it anymore. A broken cry spilled from his lips as he wrenched himself away from the book.

Luke stumbled back away from the pedestal, away from the book of light that spoke of his coming in ancient runes. His head pounded as his mind whirled beneath the visions that swirled in his head. Desperately he tried to slow them, calm his mind as he had become so accustomed to doing. It was to no avail, he fell backwards, stumbling over his own feet. A pair of strong arms caught him before he could hit the floor. Opening his eyes, Luke Skywalker found himself looking up into the face of his father.

Anakin knelt, cradling his son in his arms as he had never had a chance to do in life. Luke felt comfort in that embrace, and the deep love of his father that had washed over him in those final moments aboard the Death Star. The memory of that love had never left him and now once more, he could feel his father's strong presence in the Force.

"Father," Luke gasped for breath as he grasped Anakin's hand. It was solid and warm to the touch and it eased his mind slightly.

"Luke," his voice was deep and youthful, as was his appearance. This was the Anakin whom Luke had glimpsed in his dreams.

"I had hoped that the curse of visions would never haunt you, my son," there was a deep sorrow in his words that Luke could feel physically. The younger Skywalker struggled to sit upright, but he kept his hand clasped over that of his father.

"Are they true visions?" Luke whispered, the assault of images on his mind had faded beneath the touch of Anakin's hand but they remained fresh in his memory. He scrubbed one hand over his face wearily and fixed his gaze on his father's blue eyes. They were identical to his own, he had always known that but never really seen it until now. The eyes of a Skywalker.

The blue blazed at him now with a fierce light as Anakin looked down on his son. "My visions of the future were always true. It was my constantly trying to change them that is actually what caused them to occur," he sighed, a soft breath of wind in the Force.

"What you saw though, they were visions of the past. They are important to remember however, because they are of the utmost importance to your future." The light seemed to glow brighter out of the corner of Luke's eye. Anakin brightened with it, strengthened by its power.

"Did you know?" Luke asked, "Did you know the prophecy?"

Anakin's face darkened and he looked away, "The prophecy was the very thing I was always trying to prove to the Jedi. They were the ones that told me I had been chosen but even they had lost the origins of the prophecy. I never knew the history of it because they could not tell me." A sad smile crossed his father's face.

"The Hero without Fear is what they used to call me. Yet we always fear what we do not understand. There was so much that I didn't understand, Luke." He seemed to grow much younger as Luke watched. The age faded from him until he stood younger than his own son. Waves of gold crowned his face and the scar that slanted over one eye seemed to enhance the brightness of his eyes. This was the man he had been before the darkness had taken over.

"You proved it to me," Luke sat up straight and faced his father. "You fulfilled the prophecy in the end. You were the Chosen One." Son of the suns... the words echoed in his mind. Mara's voice whispering ancient riddles rattled his mind.

Anakin smiled gently at him, "Yes, I was. I know now everything that I never knew in life. Not until I had returned to the Light and become one with the Force did I know. Obi-Wan showed me this place and what lay hidden here." Anakin's eyes swept over the land beyond the glass walls and then downwards, as if gazing into the depths of the temple.

"Obi-Wan knew?" Luke was not surprised but this was one hint he would have liked to have had. "He never told me."

"There were many things that Obi-Wan knew and never told you," Anakin's eyes twinkled slightly, without a hint of malice as he smiled. "Obi-Wan always sought to protect you as he felt he had failed to protect me," there was a slight sigh at the the end of this statement. Anakin spoke of Obi-Wan as he would speak of a brother or a father. The relationship constantly shifted but the love was always there.

Luke couldn't help the words that rose to his lips then, "Yes Obi-Wan has always protected me. Yet he could have told me some things, like about my sister," Leia, the lack of her presence in the Force ached like an open wound. Yet there was another wound that had never healed. Luke swallowed hard and spoke the name lingering in his heart. "Or about my mother. He knew Padmé."

Anakin stopped in his tracks, his back turned to Luke. He stood before the light beyond the window, a dark blue silhouette of a man. Hands clasped behind his back, head down. He had stood the same way in Luke's vision, when his mother had approached him.

"Padmé..." It was a whisper filled with such emotion that Luke was sure if Anakin had said it any louder it would have overwhelmed him. The love that filled Anakin seemed to glow brighter than the sunlight and he was no longer a silhouette but the one casting the shadows. Luke walked to his father's side and placed one hand against the clear glass. He waited in silence for the ghost to speak.

"Padmé was my heart, Luke. She and I had a bond that had nothing to do with the Force. Yet I let myself fall into darkness and all the while I told myself that I was doing it for her. I wanted to protect her, she was pregnant with my child and all I saw was death." His voice cracked on the last word and Anakin's face fell. Luke felt the old wound of his mother's absence like a hole in his own heart.

"You loved her," Luke whispered.

Anakin closed his eyes, "I still do, Luke. I would have done anything for her, even give away my own soul. Which is exactly what I did in the end. I failed on so many levels, Luke. Yet all of my destruction has finally come to its inevitable rebuilding. At least you have had the chance to start anew." Anakin turned his face to the window again and gazed out into the open sand.

"You have to understand that no matter what comes to you in life, you are still human. It is your job to restore the Jedi Order and it is your destiny to bring about a new era of the Force. What brought you to this temple is the part of the prophecy that you were born to fulfill, Luke. You have read it, you may have even seen it, but I assure you that you cannot begin to understand it or try to change it.

Luke faced his father and did not flinch beneath his words. His blue eyes blazed just as fiercely as his father as they gazed at one another. At last, Luke spoke; "What must I do?"

Anakin smiled as he looked at his son, "That's simple. You have to wake up."

Luke blinked in confusion and suddenly his father's image flickered before him. "Father!" He reached out for him.

"Luke!" It was not Anakin's voice calling out to him, it was another. Beloved and familiar and so close while so far away.

"Skywalker, wake up!"

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