So, I liked the first couple of chapters I wrote, but I reworked the third one slightly and scrapped four and five in favour of doing this. The space station was just sort of blah. Anyway, I think this will be better. Enjoy!

"Is this death?"

Ethnos slowly opened his eyes. He felt weightless. Everything seemed to echo around him. His vision adjusted and he observed his surroundings. He was in a misty swamp. Several flying creatures darted past him, seemingly taking no notice of him. Then he looked down to discover that he was floating in midair and that his entire form seemed to have a bright yellow glow. Ethnos immediately panicked, swinging his head from side to side. What was happening?!

"Hmm? What disturbs the Force?"

Ethnos immediatelt froze and felt as though a heavy weight had just been dropped on him. He would know that voice anywhere.

"Master Yoda?! Where are you?! I need help!"

He turned and saw the grand master of the Jedi order sitting on a log, not to far from him.

"Who are you , hmm? Familiar, you seem to me."

"Master, is it really you? I don't know what happened to me! I remember a wave, feeling cold, then I woke up here!"

"Strange, but answer my question, you did not."

"I'm Ethnos. I've was a padawan for about a week before the clones gunned down my master and my friend's master. They took my friend captive! What happened?!"

Yoda looked very sad.

"Hmm. The Force, strong with you it is. Not the living Force, however. Still there it is, but only faintly."

"Master, I don't understand. What are you saying."

"You're body, in hibernation it appears to be. Frozen, perhaps."

Ethnos felt his heart plummet as he realized what had happened.

"The coolant. That new coolant they were mining. The canisters blew and I got frozen inside. I'm as good as dead."

Yoda shook his head disapprovingly.

"The code, remember it, yes? There is no death, there is the Force."

Ethnos rolled his eyes.

"Like the code will get me out of this."

Yoda bowed his head.

"Help you, I cannot. Exiled I am, and without a ship."

Ethan threw his hands in the air.

"Great! Well what am I supposed to do like this!?"

Yoda closed his eyes.

"Trust in the force, you must. A path I sense, you must walk. But caution, you must have. A path for you alone, it is."

Ethnos nodded and closed his eyes.

"Okay. Now, how do I move around like this."

Yoda smiled a little at his question.

"Listen to the Force. Guide you, it will."

Ethnos nodded again and closed his eyes, reaching out to the force. He could sense something, pulling him. He needed to follow it.

Almost immediately, he floated forward and seemingly vanished from thin air. Yoda's face fell. The padawan had a long, hard road ahead of him. One that could break him in two.

Ethnos continued following the pull of the Force. Looking around, it looked like he was floating through space, if not for occasional splashes of colour that disappated quickly. Soon however, he reached what appeared to be a large grassy plain. He could see spires of rock rising out of the ground and what appeared to be a massive cluster of dark stone off in the distance that appeared to have been rended by a volcanic eruption.

"Where am I?"

"You are where all Force sensitive come when they reach a connection to the force only found in passing. It is remarkable that you are here at all. The living Force still burns in you, my apprentice. I'm sorry of the fate you endured on Orto Plutonia"

Ethnos froze and felt tears forming in his eyes. He knew that voice.

"Master?"

He turned and saw that Evor Se was indeed standing behind him, looking as alive as he had before Maul got to him. He smiled sadly.

"Do not mistake me for being alive. I am not. As I just said, this is where all Force sensitive come when they pass from the galaxy. This is the cosmic Force. It is an infinite place. Many other Force users already wander these plains. The more ancient ones reside in the dark gorge, away from those who have come before."

Ethnos looked off in the direction that Evor Se was pointing in. He could feel the Force pulling him there.

"Do you feel it?"

Evor Se looked at him curiously.

"Feel what?"

"The pull. The Force is pulling me to the gorge."

Evor Se shook his head.

"No, I do not. Perhaps that is why you found your way here. One who is still connected to the living Force should not be able to come here. Perhaps it is no accident that you were frozen. perhaps the Force brought you to the absolute brink of death so as to allow you entry here."

Ethnos turned and started running through the tall grass towards the gorge. It actually took much less time than he thought it would. Evor Se did say that this place was infinite. If this place really was composed of the cosmic Force, perhaps it made travel from one place to another much faster.

He reached the gorge quickly and looked at the entrance. It was indeed forboding, as if the Force was warning him to stay away. Still, he could feel the pull of the Force much stronger here. He was close.

He walked in, his hands instinctively reaching for his lightsabers, only to find them missing from his person. It made sense, but it still made him feel much more concerned for his wellbeing, as poor as it was at the moment.

"Who are you?"

He turned to see a man with long brown and a beard to match, wearing a jedi robe.

"My name is Ethnos, Jedi padawan. The Force has guided me here. For what purpose, I do not know."

The man walked over to a nearby boulder and sat down.

"The Force would only guide one of the living to this place for one purpose. To learn. My name is Qui Gon Jinn."

Ethnos felt his back straighten.

"You taught Master Obi Wan Kenobi and fought Darth Maul!"

Qui Gon smiled a little.

"I have kept an eye on my former apprentice ever since my death. But enough about me. How does one with a continued connection to the living Force come to be in this gorge?"

Ethnos took his own seat.

"I was trying to escape a mining facility where they were extracting some sort of new coolant for starships. The coolant ruptured and froze me, forcing my body into a state of hibernation."

Qui Gon stroked his beard thoughtfully.

"So, you are standing on the line between life and death. As I said before, the Force would only bring a living soul here to learn from those who came before. Both the light and dark."

Ethnos suddenly felt apprehensive.

"The dark side? Suddenly I'm not so sure about this."

Qui Gon sighed.

"Understandable. Here, there is no light or dark side of the Force. So, one cannot learn one without the other."

Qui Gon stood up and motioned for Ethnos to follow.

"The one's who will guide you on your first steps are deep within the gorge. I can guide you a portion of the way, but you must take the first step once we reach the entrance to the domain."

Ethnos stood up and began to follow.

"Whose domain?"

"The domain of the ancient Bendu."

Qui Gon explained as they walked the the Bendu were Force sensitive monks who trained in both the light and dark side of the Force. They were among the only one's to do so, other than the legendary Jedi/Sith Revan, who mastered both the dark side and the light in preparation for the return of the Sith. The travel, much like the travel to the gorge was much faster than it would have been in the real world. Soon, they reached a place where the Gorge deepened dramatically and widened out. Qui Gon stopped.

"I cannot accompany you further. The rest is up to you."

Ethnos nodded and turned to face the deepened gorge. He took a deep breath and began to climb down. The light from above became sparcer and sparcer as he climbed down through the black rock. Soon, there were only small pinpricks of light to help him find his way.

Soon, he felt his feet reach solid ground. Or rather it felt like solid ground. He could barely see with the small amount of light filtering through from above him. He reached out with the force, only to find gaps in his vision. He could only see brief pockets in front of him. It was rather frightening. He had always been able to rely on the Force to navigate the world around him, even when his other senses told him otherwise. To not be able to use it like any of his other senses made him feel vulnerable in a way that he had never felt before.

began to walk cautiously. His eyes were adapting to the absence of light ever so slowly. He could at least make out the ground beneath him. He tried reaching out with the Force and found it to be a little more clear, but it was still very difficult, if not impossible to sense things outside of the small pockets he could sense.

He looked out into the darkness and vaguely made out a shape moving through the darkness.

"Hey, hold up! Can you help me? I'm looking for someone!"

The figure paused and turned to Ethnos as he jogged over to him.

"I would say that you have indeed found someone. Perhaps though, you are looking for someone else?"

"The Force brought me here to learn the ways of the dark and the light. I was told that to do so, I would need to find the Bendu and that they reside in this part of the gorge."

"Hmm, could you not simply find them with your connection to the Force?"

Ethnos shook his head.

"I've been trying. I can only see in small scattered islands. Everything else in between is either like looking through a nebula or appears to not exist at all."

The figure shook their head.

"You connection to the Force is imbalanced. You must stop thinking of the Force as light and dark and begin to see it as it is. As simply the Force."

Ethnos pondered what the stranger had just said before coming to a realization.

"You are a Bendu."

The stranger nodded.

"Indeed so. Though I am afraid I, nor any other Bendu am able to help you. You must learn this yourself."

Ethnos looked shocked.

"But why? I thought that Bendu practiced a balance between the light and dark side?"

The Bendu shook his head.

"Not in the way that many persieve. Perhaps I should have phrased it better. We cannot teach you the powers of the light or dark side, but we can give you the knowledge to learn them from others. The Force brought you here for a destiny that has not been claimed by any since the Ashla and Bogan first clashed."

Ethnos tilted his head a little.

"I don't understand."

The Bendu motioned for Ethnos to sit before sitting themselves.

"The Sith wield the the Bogan and have discovered many powers from it. So too have the Jedi from the Ashla. The Bendu practice a harmony between both. Your destiny lies in a convergence of all three. One who forges great power from the living and Cosmic force."

Ethnos shook his head.

"One step at a time. Is there anything you can teach me?"

The Bendu smiled under their hood.

"I believe that I have already told you what you must do first. The first step. You must learn to see the Force in it's entirety, not just the light."

Ethnos nodded.

"How do I do so?"

The Bendu smiled a little.

"I don't know. How do you?"

Ethnos shook his head.

"I don't know. Can you at least point me in a direction?"

The Bendu folded their hands over their lap.

"Once there was a man who lived in a forest. He would spend his days searching for food and repairing his home. However, when night fell, he would close all his doors and windows and wait for day to come so he could go outside and search for food and repair his home again. One day, he ventured to far from his home and became lost. The night came and the man became afraid. He tried to find his way home, but he could not find it. The man's fear began to consume him and he shut his eyes to escape the night. Then he heard a whisper in his ear.

"Why do you shut your eyes?"

"Because it is night and I am afraid."

"Why are you afraid?"

"Because I cannot see at night. I cannot see danger that may prey upon me."

"You can see. You just have never tried."

The man was confused.

"Open your eyes, and see the night."

The man opened his eyes and saw the night in front of him. As he looked, it became clearer. He turned to see jungle cat, standing behind him. Yet, he felt no fear.

"Why are you not afraid?"

"Because I can see, so there is nothing to fear."

The cat returned to the forest and the man found his home. From that day on, he was never afraid of the dark again."

Ethnos pondered the story that the Bendu had told him. It was fairly obvious what the lesson in the story was. Once you could see something, you wouldn't be afraid of it. But what did it mean by see?

The Bendu seemed amused by Ethnos' inner struggle to understand what the story meant by seeing.

To Ethnos, the night was obviously the dark side of the Force. He was the man in the story, and the Bendu was the jungle cat. So, what was he supposed to see. See the dark side of the Force.

The Bendu posed a question.

"Perhaps this will help. What makes light and dark so different?"

Ethnos was bewildered by such a simple question until he actually stopped to think about it. The weren't. Not when you really considered it outside of the Jedi perspective. Both were aspects of the Force that one controlled.

Ethnos reached into the Force again, to find that his vision was more clear, but not there yet.

"I sense that you have come to the answer. I have nothing more to teach. Continue onward. Your next lesson awaits."

This is also part of the master plan. READ IT!