Xin stood behind the training room door listening to his master break down. He, just like Master Yoda, shed a tear in empathy for Jurai. The padawan took out a small datapad from the inside of his robe. "Zakuul โฆ" he murmured, typing the term into the pad. ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐. "No access?" He repeated, curious now. It was unusual for the jedi to restrict information on a planet, even ones in the Unknown Region.
"Now I want to know even more," Xin whispered, slipping off along a small corridor that led to the jedi library; making sure to dodge each of the temple occupants that could possibly discern his intentions. Once he was there, he checked to see if the coast was clearโit was not. "And why are we are sneaking around today, Master Xin?" Madame Jocasta Nu asked while continuously tapping him on the shoulder.
He froze. Jorai's student was only a padawan learner, but he and Jocasta were close, so she'd always affectionately call him by his potential. "I'm not โฆ" Xin refuted. Jocasta was having none of it. "I've known you since you were brought in here as but a boy, no bigger than my foot. You cannot lie to me kiddo," she said emphasising the fact.
Xin sighed. "I'm looking for information on a planet butโit's restricted." Nu smiled. "Better," she said, content with his truth. She continued, "This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with your upcoming mission to Zakuul would it?" Xin was shocked, but made it make sense. He should have known that a certain stoic purple saber would have informed their lead researcher on the details of the mission, and to restrict the datafiles for all non-essential Jedi until its completion.
"Noโฆ"
"Xin." She snapped in a calm tone, which if anything, felt more alarming to him. "Yes, it is," he replied, knowing exactly what was about to happen. "You know the protocol," she said. "I ๐๐ essential personnel," Xin argued back.
"But you're not of rank within that essential personnel structure. That responsibility is up to Master Jurai," Nu countered, placing both hands on his shoulders. "Besides, some would say the unknown is more exciting than the opposite." Xin raised a frustrated brow. '๐๐จ๐ง๐๐๐ฌ๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐๐จ๐๐ญ' Xin thought to himself. "Now go on with youโฆ" Nu finalised, pushing the tiny padawan out of the library.
Xin refused to be beaten, even if it was by the ultimate finder of hide and go seek. He waited until she took the hand of an even younger student and disappeared off amidst the bright blue-date-shelves before he re-entered the library. As soon as his foot stepped over the threshold, he heard an indistinct, whispered echo in his head. He turned around on full-alert in case Jocasta had used her ninja-eqsue skills to come up behind him again.
But no one was there. "Okโฆ" Xin said in bewilderment.
Then, everything around him turned dark; it was almost as though he found himself walking through the murkiest void. The library, in which he'd spent so much of his time in as a youngling began to fall all-around him, rumbling as it disappeared into the black. He was all aloneโฆ "Hello?" Xin shouted. His voice echoed through the darkness; its soundwaves illuminating the rippled, almost neon-blue path he was about to take, an echo of the future.
"Can anyone hear me?! Hello?!" He shouted once more. This time the path illuminated a bright orange, indicative of his growing frustration. The force seemed to flow in this space, and it was something of which Xin was highly aware. Then, from the depths of the darkness, a small, frightened voice reached out for him. "Hello?!" Echoed back the sound of a young, timid girl. "Helloโฆ? Who's there?!" Igniting his lightsaber, Xin turned, and turned, and turned, desperately trying to find whoever it was that was in here with him.
"I don't know where I am! I wasโฆ in the desert on Jakโ" the voice faded, and, in its place, a deep menacing laughter broke out. Xin cradled his ears defensively, and within a second, the floor that held him in that dark, cold, and menacingly lonesome place shattered beneath his feet; he fell. Xin let out cries for his master as his form picked up speed. Everything around him began to shift into visions of things he'd never witnessed before.
'Nomi, please don't I'm so weak,' echoed one voice.
'I couldn't stop myself,' another.
'Uliq, you betrayed me!' and another.
'My spirit will live forever! Foreverโฆ" and another.
'What about the other Jedi spread out across the galaxy?' another oneโฆ but this one held a familiarity about it. 'Once more the Sith WILL rule the galaxy,' another stated.
'Hold on to thisโฆ it'll bring you back to me no matter where you are.' The comforting voice of his masterโฆ
"Jurai!" He whispered as darkness disappeared and his form came back to the world. In his hand, a sword. Not the perfect blue of his own lightsaber but that of an old, steel sword. It was glowing. The symbols etched along the blade was in a language that, to others would be unrecognisable, but Xin could read it.
'In the darkness, only light can cut through and free itself. Whoever holds this sword is the light, but first the darkness must settle.'
