Where it Begins
Two years after
The young girl looked up from her hiding spot. So far no one was in sight, though it would be strange if she actually did see someone out here. This planet was suppose to be deserted, or at least most of it. And those areas that are actually populated, have to be weary of wild creatures and bandits.
This planet is evil, and everyone knows it, heck, even the people who live next to you cannot be trusted. Yet people chose to live in colonies to benefit from each other, and it was mainly to ensure they would not be attacked by bandits or wild creatures. Her hand gripped tightly on the rifle, with its rust biting into her bare hands. But she paid it no mind.
Soon, the night would come, and she could go back. Unless the night shift doesn't come again. She really despised them for not being punctual. Her ears perked at the sound of engines far off. She looked up once more, scanning the horizon. Her eyes fell on something off in the distance. She pulled her view-finder, and zoomed in. What she saw did not please her one bit.
"What is it?"
A boy about two years her junior inched her way.
"Raiders.... Sound the alarm."
The boy nodded, and grabbed his rifle, running off to the siren. He slammed his fist on the largest button, which caused an extremely loud noise to go off. A beep from her belt caught her attention. She unclipped her communicator and activated it.
'"What is the status?"'
The voice on the other end asked.
"Raiders, in-bound North West. Looks to be.... fifty of them."
'"Alright."'
She placed her communicator back on her belt, and mounted her rifle on the sill of the broken window. This was normally how things worked in colonies. They only work together when such crisis arises, but the next day they would hardly look at each other in the eye.
A pathetic existence. People only came here to colonise not too long ago. Her parents weren't from this planet, but she was born here, and because of her birth, her parents decided to settle on this forsaken rock. Most of the other people are like that too, staying only because they had children born here.
Maybe that was why they hated this place, because it would bind them here. But living here was no different from anywhere else, really. Life still went on, and basic communistic infrastructures were built. Her colony resides in an unused space port station, evidence that once people tried to make this place a habitual planet, though obviously they failed.
Now they reside within, making use of whatever they can find. A total of two hundred people reside in the colony, and rarely do they get people from other colonies over to trade, after all, nobody trusts anybody else here. At times, she felt angry at her parents, who were clearly unhappy about staying here, and yet smiled at her, acting kind towards her, as though they were happy. Why should they be? This place is no better than staying in some garbage dump.
Why couldn't they leave? She didn't like it here either, but her parents would not say. And so she would curse the planet silently. And her own life. She adjusted her scope on her rifle, taking a good look at the raiders that were approaching. She had killed many raiders and wild creatures before.
And she would never forget a single one of their faces. She knew that she was different from others here. To them, these were scum, and meant to be killed. To her, they were each living, and breathing. Each face whom she had killed through her rifle were in her head, strong as the day she saw them.
She wasn't meant to be on this planet of evil. But she was. She took her first target. A well-built person dressed in rags, and on a swoop-bike. He wouldn't get too far. Her finger on the trigger, ready to pull. Forever would his face be in her mind. Her finger squeezed the trigger.
Sensing a great disturbance, she looked up. Something was happening. She scanned the valley carefully. No, it wasn't in the valley. Somewhere else, not too far away. People... were dying. It wasn't natural. Screams, cries. She gave the stones on the ground one last look, before she stood up, pulling her robes closer to her.
Someone... was crying. She raised her hand to her ship, and a swoop bike flew out from the ramp, stopping before her. She swung her legs over, mounting the bike, while pulling up her scarf over her mouth, her hood over her head, and making sure her robes would not be caught. She then gunned the engines.
She shook her head as she tried to recover. Pushing the debris off her, she scanned her surroundings. The other boy lay lifeless at the other end of the watch tower. No point in checking for vitals, his lower torso was missing. She tried to remember what had happened. She remembered aiming and taking the shot at the raider.
And soon the entire colony opened fire at their invaders. It seemed like normal, the raiders were falling and dying. But... an ambush. The raiders on the swoop bikes were only a decoy. The real force came from the sky. They had low orbital gunships.
She placed a hand to her head, trying to stop the insides from ringing about too much. When she looked at her hand, she saw blood on her gloves. But it wasn't serious. She used her rifle to push herself up. It was surprising how this tower wasn't completely destroyed when that photon missile came streaking from one of the gunships. And more amazing that she managed to survive.
She looked out of the tower, and saw that the entire station was on fire. The people were still fighting against the raiders deep inside. She shouldn't waste time waiting. Slinging her rifle over her shoulder, she gathered whatever ammunition she could salvage, and climbed up the sill of the broken window, where a rope dangled freely.
She grabbed the robe, and slid down the watch tower. Landing on dirt, she took a moment for her legs to get use to the pain from impact. She then headed inside the compound. She ran as fast as her injured legs could carry her, avoiding most major battle scenes. But the bodies were hard to ignore and avoid.
They were everywhere. Raiders, and colonists. She needed to find her parents. To make sure they are still safe. She ducked into a small space, avoiding detection of a group of raiders who ran past. When it was safe, she came out, and continued on. She stopped at a corner, and slowly looked over. Raiders. She looked down, and saw the metal grate of a vent.
She pulled it off, and crawled inside. She carefully made her way through the vents, till she reached a certain metal grate. Pushing the grate out, she crawled out, and get back to her feet. Raiders had already gotten this far inside the compound. But she shouldn't give up. She ran through the hallway, till she reached the corner. Her family's room should be just-
"NOOO!!!"
A blood curling scream made her stop. She peeked over the corner, and to her horror, she saw raiders, in her home. Her father was on the floor, blood pooling from his body. Her mother was held back by two other raiders. The raider who stood over her father's corpse licked the long blade that was in his hand, before turning to her mother.
Her mother screamed as loud as she could, but then she was silenced. Slashed at the throat. Blood sprayed all over. She felt frozen to the spot. Her parents. Dead. Killed before her own eyes. A jolt went through her. Her mind blanked, then snapped.
"No... no... NOOOO!!!!"
She felt a giant explosion and a great ripple in the Force. She had to hurry. She pressed hard on the engines, swerving and turning to avoid the rocks and such. Her bike went through a narrow canyon, and out into a wide open dirt field. At the far end, she could see a building of some sort, engulfed in flames. No, it wasn't any ordinary flame. She turned the bike, and headed towards there.
The closer she got, the more uneasiness she felt. Death, sorrow, anguish. It was strong, and amplified by the planet's natural dark force. Soon, the picture was clear for her. The burning building loomed ahead of her, with the cries and screams from inside echoing in her head. She jumped off her swoop bike, and pulled out her lightsaber. She ran inside, braving the heat.
What she saw made her mind freeze. Bodies, everywhere. A bloody battle had gone on within this complex. She shook the images from her mind, concentrating on what was causing the disturbance in the Force. She ran through more corridors filled with corpses, till she reached a door. The controls for the door were burned through, so she focused the force into her free hand, and threw it at the door.
The door blew out, and she went through, only to jump back as a flaming human ran out. She avoided colliding with the burning person, and watched as the poor soul fell to the ground, never to get up. She felt his life disappear, and his pain in his last moments. It was something she would never get used to. But she pressed on.
Turning more corners, she finally reached what seemed to be a giant wall of Force. Normally, such pressure would render anyone Force sensitive immobile, and since she was somewhat very sensitive, it would kill her. But she was ready. She focused the Force around her, forming a protective sphere around her. She then continued on. It wasn't long through the thick Force that she finally came across the cause.
A young girl, maybe twelve or thirteen, with dark blood red hair, standing above the corpses of some unidentified people. Flames were blasting out around her, and the very air itself was so thin no normal person could breathe, if they had survived the flames. The girl turned to face her, revealing her tears of blood that stained her cheeks.
No doubt, this girl is the cause. She tried to approach the girl, but the girl screamed, sending a force so powerful that she had no choice but to defend herself. But she was caught mostly unprepared, and so was sent flying through the complex walls, till she ended up back outside. She flipped through the air, and landed back on the dirt, though she still had to skid to a stop.
That force power was strong, and wild. Though she could deflect it easily, something was interrupting her thoughts. That girl was sad, angry, confused, and in pain. She looked up, and saw the girl step out of the complex, flames still surrounding her. Flames made from the Force. She had never heard of it, but if electricity was possible, why not flames?
The girl slowly stepped menacingly forward. A jet of flames shot out towards her, but she focused and repelled the flames back. She didn't really want to do this, but in order to stop this girl, she needed to do something. She threw her saber at the girl, but the flames made the saber veer off course.
Still, she controlled the saber's flight, and it sliced through a part of the complex. Fumes of white smoke came out from the damaged pipe, and by using the force, she bent the pipe to face the girl. The gas shot at the girl, forcing the flames to die down. She recalled her saber, while rushing at the girl. The girl glared at her, and blades of wind shot at her.
She skilfully deflected them with her saber, before raising a free hand to the girl. Thousands of bolts of electricity shot out from her finger tips, shocking the girl, but she stopped the bolts before it killed the girl. She forced the girl down onto the floor, and used the hilt of her saber to knock the girl out. The moment the girl was unconscious, the entire pressure was lifted, and she fell onto floor, exhausted.
"...phew... That... was a work-out...."
She slowly stirred, feeling a great pain searing through her chest. Her muscles felt contracted, and paralyzed. It was hard to move, and hard enough to open her eyes. She forced her eyes open, and found herself staring into the night sky.
"Oh, you're awake."
She turned and saw a figure sitting by a light source. The hooded figure seemed to be eating out of a box. She could sense a strange calm and easiness from this person, yet to be dressed in black robes, made the person suspicious.
"I'm not your enemy, so don't worry."
The figure burped, and heaved a sigh.
"Phew... that last meat was hard to go down.... damn that Dreln, purposely making my food like this...."
She was somewhat mesmerized by the figure. An endless calm. Then a memory shot through her mind. Her parents, dead, killed. Flames incinerating everything.
"AAAHH!!!"
She tried to sit up, but her muscles felt torn, and she screamed even louder than before. The figure placed a hand on her forehead, and easily pushed her back down on the floor.
"Don't move about so much. Your muscles still haven't managed to relax after that ordeal."
The figure now stared into her eyes. She could not help but think of the beautiful eyes that the person had. But it wasn't just that. This person, this woman, was beautiful. Young, and radiant. She was like an angel. The woman noticed her stares, and smiled warmly.
"Don't worry, you're safe with me."
"... My... parents..."
The woman closed her eyes, slowly shaking her head.
"Everyone else was burnt. You're the only survivor."
".... I know..."
She closed her eyes, having the memories wash through her mind. She felt like her life had ended. Nothing was the same now. She wanted to scream, wanted to die- She suddenly felt the woman place her gentle hand over her forehead, as though comforting her.
"Your life hasn't ended. You are still alive."
She knew she was meant to be surprised, how this person was able to read her thoughts, and yet she wasn't. That calmness, that radiance. Truely like an angel.
"My life was over the moment i was born... maybe i wasn't alive to begin with."
"... Do you hate yourself so much?"
"I have done nothing but brought misfortune to my family. If i wasn't born, my parents would have moved back to Tatooine."
"So, you're from Tatooine?"
"No, i was born here, on this wretched planet. This place of evil."
The woman seemed to be remembering something sad in her life, as evident by her pained expression.
"Evil, huh... Certainly, it is a place of sadness, pain, suffering, greed, pride, anguish, despair. At one point, i was thinking that it would be better off gone."
"...."
"But life doesn't work that way. There can never be good, without evil, like how light must exist with darkness."
The woman slowly explained. She understood what the woman was saying, but somehow it was hard to take in.
"You need not understand it all at once. And i pray that you need not understand it at all.... Though there are many important lessons in life to be learnt, it is painful to actually go through them, and you could end up regretting for the rest of your life."
The woman stared silently at the light source at this make shift camp. She struggled to sit up, though her aching muscles were screaming against that decision.
"Hey! You aren't ready to-"
"It is better to keep moving, than choosing not to move."
The woman looked a little surprised by that choice of words.
".... Certainly."
She looked at the lady for awhile, before looking back at the burnt, and broken complex. The fires were already long out. There were some small mounds around the base of the complex, which she guessed were graves.
"Did you... do that?"
"... I couldn't bury all of the bodies, only those that were still in one piece. Most others were either so burnt that they turned into ashes, or in too many pieces. I'm not sure if your parents...."
"It's alright... Thank you."
She struggled to her feet, and the woman helped her up. She slowly carried herself to the mounds, and knelt before the nearest one. The woman stood behind, watching her closely.
"You pray for a body, even if you do not know of it. You certainly posses a kind heart."
"If only... It could be a raider buried here, but i wouldn't know. And i don't really care. I can never forget their faces. They lived their lives, just like how i lived mine... I hate them for what they did, but at the same i feel pain in knowing that their lives have ended."
"And because of that, you have a heart willing to embrace all."
".... You're a Jedi, aren't you."
She quietly said. The woman did not say a word for a full minute. Though she knew the woman was smiling.
"Yes."
She had heard of those mythical warriors. Powerful, and guardians of peace, upholders of justice. Yet she knew it wasn't all fairy tales and bliss. This woman had the eyes of sorrow, pain and despair.
"Have you... ever regretted things you've done?"
"All the time. But it is better to look forward than to stop to look back."
"Have you.... done things that were against your own morals and ideals?"
"... Everyone would have to. Choices made in reality are never easy. Jedi are not knights in shining armour, nor do we represent the true justice that everyone seeks. Everyone would be different, and we simply represent a justice set forth by others. Whether we truly believe in it or not, is another matter. But we have set aside our own selves to serve others, to protect those we cherish, and to perhaps give a better future for others to prevent their sufferings."
She turned and looked at the Jedi, who simply smiled back.
".... Do you think i could follow you? I wish to get off this place, to see the different worlds."
"And Tatooine?"
"Perhaps... one day, when i have forgiven myself, and have finally overcome my own weakness."
The Jedi smiled, offering a hand. She took it, and the Jedi hauled her to her feet.
"Good. Then continue to work towards that goal, and when you have passed that goal, the only thing left to hold you back would be yourself. Surpassing yourself would be your final obstacle. Come on, there is some place i need to stop by before we leave."
She was helped onto the Jedi's swoop bike, and after the Jedi had kept her things and put them on the back of the bike, they headed off. She tightened her hold of the Jedi's waist as the Jedi sped on. The Jedi seemed to drive very well, and have a strange love for high speeds, even in dangerous territory.
Soon, they reached a large valley, and she felt strange within the valley, as though something dark and evil lurked here. With many strange architectural buildings around. Her grip on the Jedi's robe tightened, and she did not want to get off the bike.
"It's alright... the evil that rests here would forever sleep. Restless ghosts of the past cannot harm those who do not wish to be harmed."
With that, she came off the bike, and followed the Jedi to a small corner, where medium size stones were placed in a semi-circle. She couldn't really count them all, but she knew that they represented graves, and that many people had died to have so many grave markers. The Jedi walked into the middle of the formation, and knelt down.
"Do you know of a battle that once took place in this valley?"
She shook her head.
"Once, a great battle between the Jedi and their fated enemy, the Sith, battled here. Many died that day, and they all fought for their own goals. These graves mark both Jedi, and Sith who fell that day."
"So many?"
"Yes... Only a small number survived. From this battle, a Sith Lord rose to power, and controlled the fate of the galaxy. It took awhile, but the Sith was eventually destroyed."
".... Were you the one who marked these?"
"Yes... maybe i was simply trying to redeem myself in my own manner. Or maybe i simply needed some closure on my own guilt..."
The Jedi got up, and pulled back her hood, revealing her near white hair that flowed freely down past her shoulders. Turning to her, she really thought the Jedi looked like an angel, with her warm and radiant smile.
"I sense within you a strength that could help you, or destroy you. And i can help you reach to it. But whether you take that first step, is up to you."
"You would... train me to be a Jedi?"
"If that is what you want. Strength is a double edged sword. You could help others like yourself, you could help yourself, but it could also cause pain."
".... Then i would accept the risks. Anything to help me get through my own past."
The Jedi smiled, offering her hand.
"We are similar, you and i.... My name is Jaden. Jaden Korr."
"I'm Kaite Windrider."
"Kaite Windrider.... welcome to the Jedi Order."