"We should start back", Trilla urged as the wreckage began to grow dark around them. "As soon as Cere comes back".

"These are just ruins and debris", was Tapal, Cal's Master answering her quivering voice.

"These are old Trade Federation ships". Cal murmured, gazing out to the wreckage. He saw enough of these before the Clone Wars ended. The scorched parts of Separatist droid fighters and battle droids were floating in the void. "This may link us to the Outbound flight - or whatever is left of it".

"The Outbound Flight was far better armed and equipped than us", Trilla replied sharply. "And those Federation ships you say are the Lucrehulks. Whatever destroyed them, we could not withstand".

Cal could see the tightness around her mouth, the barely suppressed frustration in her eyes under the thick hood of her Jedi robes. But Under the wounded Force signature, Cal would sense something else in Cere's padawan. He could feel it, a nervous tension of fear that came perilous close to darkness, as the voyage in the abyss continued.

Cal shared her unease. He had been more than twenty years in the Order. The first time he had been sent outside of the Temple was the time of the Clone Wars. He shivered before the endless void and darkness of the space, Turbolaser volleys raging out of enemy ships. The first time he wielded a lightsaber on the field was on the Reconquest of the Rim. Fighting hordes of battle droids were easy, but slicing down vehemently resisting natives were the hardest things to do. He even failed to meditate after all the horrific battles he had to suffer.

The skirmish against the pirate ship on the Outer Rims weeks ago proved to be a nightmare. The mutiny broke out simultaneously as the pirates attacked. Dozens of men were engaged in the revolt, and nearly a hundred were killed in the skirmish. Cal and Tapal had to cut down the Rebels with their lightsabers, but only after the ships' shield generator and a few turbolaser batteries went down. Trilla later used the Force to extract information from one of the mutineers. One confessed they were conspiring with the pirates to pillage the ship, only to be killed by her seconds later. Many of the survivors and even Trilla was severely distressed. But Cal was a veteran of a hundred missions by now, and the endless dark void of space and the sweltering volleys of Turbolasers, the scream of lightsabers had no more terrors for him.

Until this day, something different. There was a razor to this darkness that made him shiver. Weeks they had been voyaging through this unknown space, farther and farther from the edges of the known Galaxy, Galactic West and Northwest and west again. Each day had been worse than the day that had come before it. Today was the worst of all. The ship's main engines had malfunctioned, and the primary communication system broke down. An unknown tide seemed to be smacking the hulls, making the void rustle like living fluids. All day, Cal felt as though something was watching them, something porcine and implacable and unpleasant. He could feel the existence of the darkness far deep than the abyss of space. Master Tapal had felt it too, and Trilla was shivering due to it. Cere, who left the ship yesterday for scouting, was nowhere to be found.

"I sense you are fearing, padawan Trilla. You must learn to let go of what you fear to lose if you are to rise above it". Cal looked to his tall Lasat Master. His eyes were dull, and his grey whiskers seemed as bleached white as ever. His voice was still strong with discipline, but it had a glimpse of faltering.

"Master, what if the Outbound flight went through the Galactic Barrier"? Cal asked. "Our Force powers are not enough to breach through it". It was indeed. The ships seemed to flick out of hyperspace, the navigation equipment only to read the same spot they started. Cal could feel extant of an immense Force, layered into a barrier surrounding everything, but none could breach it nor meld through it.

"We have to trust only in the Force, my Padawan". Tapal murmured. "But you should also beware of it. We must not follow the path of C'baoth. He believed the Jedi was born to dominate and control others. That they were divined leaders of the Galaxy. He believed in controlling everyone's mind, their every action to its deep core".

"But ...it's horrible, Master Tapal". Trilla interrupted.

"Horrible, it is indeed". The Master murmured. "But maybe it is good that he is not present in our Galaxy in these dark times".

"But Master ...did not Master Windu instructed us to bring him back if we are to locate him"?

"I doubt it is wise". Tapal just replied, gazing out of the viewport. Cal looked out of it too, to see the endless array of distant stars. The Stars looked all too beautiful, too peaceful far here. The other side of the space seemed to be full of nothingness, and it felt good to see the cluster of stars they came from.

Something moved between the Stars. A flicker, Cal thought, but soon it came at lightning speed. Then he knew it was flying towards them, too fast to be an asteroid. And it did not take long for Cal to see it was Cere's Eta interceptor they had been waiting for. Before Cal could say anything, Trilla was already rushing out of the chamber to the hanger.

The interceptor was torn and scorched, barely flying. Parts of the hyperspace ring was half destroyed as it was separated from the crashing vessel.

Trilla ran to clasp her Master, leaping out of the interceptor. Cere Junda served the Order as a Jedi seeker, but her duties became uncertain when Lord Vader illegalised the recruitment of the Order months ago. Many seekers defied the new legislation, as dozens of them were hunted down and captured by Imperial Inquisitors. Those who were killed on sight were said to be lucky. For those who had been arrested, some did not return forever, and some returned as another Inquisitor. Many blamed Cere for not sharing their fate, as well as her padawan. Maybe it was all that blame that inspired them to accompany this mission everyone considered to be ruinous.

Master Tapal, though orthodox, insured Cal not to blame them. Everyone had the right to be fear, and sometimes bravery did not equal wiseness, he said.

Cruyga, the Calamari Captain of this ship, hustled into the hanger with the maintenance team and a repair droid. Dozens of the crew scrambled to witness the sight, now almost all of the remainings in this ship.

"Are you okay, Master Jedi"? Cruyga asked with his hush Calamari voice. "How did the scouting go"?

"I was attacked and chased...by starfighters". Cere said. "It was the guidance of the Force I was able to escape".

"Was it pirates? Or was it the Empire? Or Rebels"? Cal asked.

"Neither", Cere rambled. "I have never seen fighters like that. They looked like claws ...far faster and manoeuvrable than anything I saw before. They were also equipped with hyperdrives. There were no carriers in range".

"Have you found any traces of the Outbound flight, Master Junda"? It was Tapal who asked.

"No", Cere declined. "But I believe I have found a breach on the ... Barrier. An area where the hyperspace travelling does not malfunction".

"How did you manage to find that area"? Trilla asked.

"My navigator malfunctioned. I was loitering in space ...It seemed as if the gap ...invited me. The Force guided me there ...I felt a great disturbance in the Force". Cere only murmured.

"We have felt it too. There is something ...wrong here".

"How did you know it was beyond the barrier"? Cal said.

"I can't tell, but I felt it. Through the Force". Cere replied.

"C'baoth thought the barrier is kind of a Force energy, and it can be dissolved through Force meld", Master Tapal said. "Maybe this disturbance in the Force might be associated ...with the gap on the barrier".

"What are we to do, Master"? Cal asked.

"Can you lead us there"? His Master replied, but to Cere.

"Yes", Cere answered. "There might be navigation records in my fighter".

"I understand the importance of this assignment, Master Jedi, but I do have to inform you that discontent is accumulating amongst the crew". Captain Cruyga interrupted.

Though no one pointed out, everyone present knew it was more than discontent. It was different from the mourns after the deaths by the battle, betrayals and mutiny. It was a glimpse of madness.

"We should have stopped over at Jedha and repaired the ship", the captain asserted. "It is still not too late, Master Jedi".

"Jedha is an Imperial occupied planet. We can't reveal our course to the Empire". Master Tapal said.

"The Empire might be already tracking us", Cere said. "I doubt the danger we are risking is worth it, Master Tapal".

"Maybe we should have accepted when Darth Vader offered us a Star Destroyer for this mission". Trilla griped.

Cal decided to remain silent. He had to suppress the urge to turn around and run to the safety of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. But that was not a feeling to share with your Master, especially one like Jaro Tapal.

"We should continue this expedition. We can't turn around", Master Tapal said. "It may seem impossible, but with persistence and the Force as our ally, we may overcome any obstacle. We will master any path".

The speech gave little strength. Cal could feel reluctance in everyone's expression. But nonetheless, everyone complied as some dispersed, and some followed Master Tapal to the bridge. Cal followed the latter.

"You need to get some rest, Padawan", His Master abruptly said to Cal, halting in front of the door leading to their bed-chamber. "You don't look well". Cal knew it was indeed. The edges of the eyes were blue and dark with bruises, and the lids were dark as rotten. The freckles were swollen on his pale face.

"I might be some help, Master", Cal murmured.

"The best help you can give is to restore your health". Master said. "I will alert you if something happens".

Cal hesitated, but today the fatigue claimed him. His fear guided the Force to help him stay awake, but today, the Force seem to lead him to rest, to relax. It was odd. It was a feeling he did not feel for long. In peace, before he could lean into his bed, he drifted into sleep.

—✥—

Cal woke up in a corridor, long and low, lacking windows or viewports. It was not the halls of a starship or any structures he knew of. The black tiles were glimmering greasy. Oddly, he did not feel this strange place unfamiliar.

He walked forward, the phantoms shivering through the murk, images in grey. 'Come to us...' a luring vocal was heard in a million voices. The corridor did not seem to meet an end, and Cal instinctively turned back. The distance he walked vanished, leading to an old, somehow carnivorous door right in front of him. It was an old-fashioned one that Cal had to use his hands to crack open. He could feel the unpleasant grease smearing his hands.

In the first chamber was the Stars. It was dark, and he could feel the darkness in the visions, like in the void they had been voyaging for a long time. But 'beautiful', Was the only thing Cal could think before the gaze of the cosmic sight. The chromosphere rumbled uncertain with flares. All of them were turning to supernovas, as the time of billions of years were mere seconds. The shimmering grey, the glowering red giant, faint twin white dwarves, the expiring amethyst, all the yellow, gold, green, blue flurried in a whirlwind, turning to a Supernova, stretching out its borders, the light gleaming to a dazzling blind. Each as bright as an entire Galaxy, welling up the fire within. He saw a black hole absorbing everything before its ergosphere slowly descended into pure darkness, expiring to a mass of Nebula, then into an abyss. Strange, he thought, he had never heard of a black hole die before... He never thought about it.

After all the light and heat of the dying stars exhaled to the void of space, only two remained. A glowing gold flecking green, shining rutilant, and a dull, cold and shadowy blue. It looked like a pair of odd eyes ...The orbs seemed to follow Cal with mute disdain.

He fled from the gaze, only to meet another mist of illusion. He saw a ball of corpses. Lifeless, the people in their splendid garments lay scattered across the stew of congealing blood, flesh and tattered cloth. Some had their face crushed and molten, some had their limbs lost, and all their flesh were rived. A severed hand grasped Cal's ankle. 'Butcher', the voices of thousands said. "Traitor", the sounds echoed. More hands clutched him. The voice of people screamed, and the sounds laughed. Cal struggled to reach out to the Force, but it was to no avail as he was pulled down into the lake of blood. A suffocating mire of red was spread in front of him. Cal floundered for a long time before his feet reached a lean surface, the velamen vailing out.

Beyond loomed a cavernous, dark hall, the largest he had ever seen. The Galaxy looked down from its walls. Upon the large throne sat a lady in rich robes, a lady with an ashen pale face and shimmering amber eyes. "Was it worth it", She recited to the man beneath her, the voice whispering and accusing as ever, "Was all the price worth it"? The Galaxy beyond the viewport inhaled Cal's sight as it transferred into a barren planet covered by thousands of Star Destroyers, with dozens of Super Star Destroyers, most of them he never saw before. Cal shivered at the sight of the massive instrument of death, ebony coloured, looming its deadly but elegant curves. Crimson tides of artificial Force Storms and wormholes were covering the orbit.

The vision showed a city ravaged in flames. Lethal green rain of turbolasers was raging down from orbit from thousands of Star Destroyers. Giant machines seemed to pragmatised out of Sith Legends and nightmares, hovering above the scorched earth. It devoured everything, corpses of metal, ruins of buildings, living and dead alike. Great fires burned in their belly …and everything it ate was transformed into new instruments of doom.

He saw the woman before, on the throne, lying on a sumptuous, engraved coffin, lifeless. The face was bleached pale, her eyes were shut still. She was in a pleated dress of fluorescent azure, the hands gently clasped together, a well-thumbed unflattering wooden trinket between it. White flowers adorned her outspread silk brown curves while tens of thousands of people in funeral black were following the procession, filling the air with sweetness and despair.

'Come to us...' a luring vocal was heard in a million voices.

"I don't" ... His voice was no more than a whisper, almost as faint as "I don't understand", he said, more loudly. 'It was too hard to speak here,' he thought.

"Why am I seeing these"? He had never seen premonitions before. And what could he change in seeing these horrible visions? He was just a mere Padawan, not gifted enough in the ways Force or his skills with his lightsaber than any of his peers, maybe even than Trilla.

But nonetheless, as if it was an answer, faster and faster the visions came, one after the other until it seemed as if the very Force had come alive.

He saw the endless rows of battledroids walking forward, his younger self squirming and screaming as the waves of blaster bolts flew over his positions. His Master was out of the trenches, deflecting the bolts of separatist droids. Shadows whirled and danced inside the glittering Jedi Temple on Coruscant, boneless and dreadful. Then the Temple was burning, and a dark man walked out, a sword of flames incinerating the younglings running out of the building.

The shadow turned to a creature, hazy and odd but impressive. It had a long, flowing beard and grey skin. Cal could not confirm if it was grey out of his visions or it was natural. The skin was inexplicably smooth, lacking any hares, pores, bruises or freckles. Despite all the majestic, collective posture, Cal could see darkness in him, a degree of inhumanness and ...madness. The dark he felt when he saw Darth Vader or Starkiller, but this was far more primal, as not as well refined as them. Cal tried to reach out for his lightsaber, only to realise it was not there. All these are only a mere phantom, he assured himself.

"Who are you"? Cal demanded. He meant to be defiant, but it was smothered by the hazy mists that followed.

"You are coming to me", the voices of thousands said. Though regal, the voice sounded somewhat mocking. "The path of the Force are leading you to your destiny".

"Who are you. Answer me"! Cal yelled out, this time using the Force to assure his words. His voice rang loud in the chambers. He stepped forward, inching forward in the mist and tides.

Suddenly the creature was right in front of him, the hand grasping his wrist. Cal shrieked at its coldness, the disjunction from the real world. Fingernails burrowed into Cal's flesh like a predator's claw grasping the prey, and the clutch left deep, blue bruises.

"It is soon you would find out", the creature said before it dissolved into shadows, shattered into a million pieces. A peal of voracious laughter full of derangement was heard as all the visions faded, covered by smoke and mists.

Cal shot up. He was not in his bed-sit quarters in this ship ...he was on the corridor. And there was smoke ...smoke and fire everywhere ...

The unbearable, poisonous smoke plagued his lungs, and he had to cough again and again. His throat was burning, corpses were scattered on the floor. A fighter resembling a claw of a terrible beast swirled through the darkness beyond the viewport, firing volleys of laser cannons. A lone turbolaser turret fired its last salvo before it was destroyed by a concussion missile. The fire outpoured the corridors, the pressure shattering the lights.

Everything was a blur, and every noise was muffled. All of this might be a part of an ominous illusion ...

"Padawan"! It was his Master's full and ringing voice that brought him back to reality. "Cal"!

"What is happening, Master"? Cal asked weakly. His voice was as weak as it was in dreams.

"We are being attacked", His Master blurted. "Can you stand up"?

"I think so, Master", Cal said, using all his left might and Force to sustain his trembling legs while Tapal added his tottering steps. "What about Cere and Trilla"?

"No trace of them", Tapal said, drawing his breath. "Listen, Padawan, we need to get off this ship. Quickly. Go to the hanger and take your fighter. Go back to Coruscant, report this incident to the Temple".

"What about you, Master"?

"I must gain time", Tapal's voice was trembling. "I will distract the enemies on board. You must go and inform our fate to the council".

"No, Master", Cal muttered but, Tapal denied it by shouting, "Go"! and "Go", he said, and "Go"! he assured again, roughly shoving Cal to the opposite.

Cal ran. Running through the corridors and running through the darkness. Everywhere was dead crews, scorched marks and flaming whirlwinds of smothering fire. It almost felt solid as the heat devoured everything in the path, including the tears streaming down the padawan's face. He reached out to the Force to slow the time around him to dodge the flares before crushing open the hanger door.

As soon as the hanger door opened, Cal felt his body lifted by a sudden flicker of the Force before he was crashed down to the ground. A scream escaped his lips. He desperately reached out for the Force to get his lightsaber back to his hand, but soon he felt pain, a burning pain, a flesh pain as if razors were digging into his skin. The pain severed his connection to the Force instantly, and it was only his own screams Cal could hear.

Cal screeched out loud as the terrible sparking flashes of Force lightning crawled up his body. He did not see the attacker as the purple-blue lights seemed to screen the creature in the shadows. When Cal tried to resist with the Force, the flames went to torment him, and the pain brought back visions of horror and nightmare. The limbs went numb, as well as his whole body, as Cal descended to a pit of shimmering darkness.