"Now, you must sink."

Percy dived instead.

He willed himself to go forward into the darkness that was the depths of the sea, leaving behind the distant light of the city above. It was like sinking, just assisted by his will to flee the big fish monster. He was not going to be eaten by a sea creature, and if Mother said to sink, then he was going to make sure he went down as fast as possible.

"Sink, Percy. Still yourself."

Still himself?! The sea monster would likely eat him. He could swim on his own to the bottom; thank you very much, Mother.

"Think, Percy. If you can breathe under the water, you have a connection to the sea. The creatures will see that themselves too."

Food is food to creatures.

"You are making this more complicated than it has to be. It could have been simpler."

What does that even mean?

He turned his head back to look at the sea monster that only stared at him. Their gaze locked on each other, and Percy could only watch as its eyes tracked him. This thing could swallow him whole. Yet, it wasn't moving.

Maybe there was a connection somewhere…?

"Sink," Mother commanded.

Then he was plunging. Fast.

Something had attached to his backside and was pulling him down. The giant fish monster with yellow eyes then began to pursue him. As did more and more sea things. From small fish to turtle-like creatures.

The kingdom of the sea sank.

From the largest of creatures to the smallest, they followed Percy down into the darkness and away from the light, and Percy could not fight it. Whatever was grasping him reminded him of the Force from when Shaak Ti pulled him out of the water the first day. The touch just felt colder, darker. Perhaps it was the depth of the sea commanding him? Was the personification of the abyss claiming him? He didn't really know. This galaxy so far from his learning was pretty crazy, and that isn't even considering the stories and details from legends that he barely started to read about.

"You will be safe. The hand that guides you will see you delivered forward."

Always forward with her.

He could only let himself sink with the creatures of the sea following. His struggles to break from the cold grasp were useless. He just had to ride his way down. Maybe tying some weights to his feet could help out.

Light began to become nothing as the sea creatures, while present, began to fade from view, the depth of light untouching the very lengths that he was traveling. He entered darkness guided by nothing but forward. He totally wasn't bothered by being practically blinded.

He just had to remind himself why he was doing this. The god-voice in his head would take him back to his place in the universe and set things right. He just had to do a small favor for her: win a war. Her guiding wisdom was to forward and sink. If he meets another god who could send him home for less…

He needed to think of something else. Something other than gods.

The Sea. The sea did call to him, and that in itself had been there since the first moment he woke before Mother even spoke. Was that a byproduct of the voice in his head or his heritage? Was that traces of his Father's blood yearning to remind him of who he was? The harshest of surges, the riptide, the wave of Olympus….

He was to sink then rise.

But when does he stop sinking and begin to rise? Must he meet the seabed and mediate in the sands?

Why was it so urgent for him to be here, dragged under the depths surrounded by creatures of the sea?

"You must obtain the Heart."

The heart?

"An ancient crystal that only forms in the greatest of turmoil. The wielder can bring either salvation or domination. Perhaps one could do even both in one fell swoop."

And it is at the bottom?

"Yes."

How do you know?

"I have had time beyond your comprehension to study, to learn, to feel into the Force. I have learned much and thought of much. The path I have set you on is carefully constructed. Steps measured now must be taken. It is not an accident that you landed on Kamino. For you, this will be the most important planet in the galaxy."

I feel like I'm seeing only half the picture.

"You will never be able to grasp the fraction of it but know it is for the best. I would not see things left to ruin."

Give his blind trust. That is what she meant. It bothered him more than he wanted to admit it, but he would give it all the same. This was forward. She was his way home. Was he the fool for listening or the prophet for believing?

"You approach the bed."

He did indeed, and thankfully it wasn't dark.

Spews of bubbles and murky steam escaped chambers of glowing orange. As rugged cylindrical rock formations created fingers reaching up into the dark as various colored life formations hung like peeling skin. Skittish and small sea life danced in and out of the coral and rock, peeping at him but afraid all the same.

Percy felt his feet connect to the seabed as a cloud of muck puffed up, clouding his lower half. He looked above him. The yellow-eyed sea monster lingered above like a cloud in the sky, and the reflections of lava shined in its eyes. The glow of the lava reflected in the eyes of many fish and like creatures. They all surrounded him. It reminded him of the pictures he had seen of the senate meeting area. The spiral of representatives glancing down at the chancellor. Hundreds of fish stared at him now.

He was a royal heir in a galaxy far far away to a kingdom of the sea. That had to be why the creatures now lingered before him… They could sense his royalty. Is that what Shaak Ti saw in him as well? A visage of his royal bloodline? Who was he, and what power flowed in his veins to be recognized as such?

"Close your eyes, and let your instincts guide you." Mother interrupted his thoughts.

That's right. He was here to look for something. He glanced around, searching for something noticeable that felt different than the rest. He was after a heart. Maybe he was to sacrifice a fish or something?

"You must feel for it. Let your presence call out and hear the callback, Perseus."

Sounded like meditating…

"Because it is very much like meditating. Now get to it. The Jedi will be wanting to send a squadron to pull you free from the ocean, and you will need the Heart by then."

Right. He was on a timeline. He could do this. Just had to close his eyes...

He inhaled a deep breath of water, letting it flow through his very being. He let his mind relax, and he tried to extend his presence outwards.

He felt nothing.

He heard nothing.

Yet, he saw everything.

He could feel the very swaying of all the two hundred and eight sea creatures around him. He could feel their very hearts beating within them. He could feel the lava heating and displacing water as the bubbles and steam pushed, climbing to the surface. He could see how the seabed extended flat in every direction around him besides one spot, where it peaked just bigger than him and far higher than the rock formations that met his knees.

He strode to it, eyes still closed.

He could see it in his mind's eye…. It blinked at him like the signal lights on top of the city.

A glowing amber light…. No, not amber. It was lighter than that. It was closer to orange than red, but it crept on the recess of a brown no less.

He stepped closer to it, eyes still closed.

He could feel everything watching him as he watched everything back.

"Open your eyes."

He saw it in full. Two glowing bronzy-orange rectangles bound into one crystallized formation.

"Take the Heart. It will power your lightsaber and tell no one that you possess it."

He nodded as he reached out for it. He could totally understand why people would want this small crystal. It was hypnotic and alluring. His eyes refused to sway away from it. And, while it was in his grasp, he could feel it hum with warmth. He could almost hear it sing to him, or maybe that was his imagination.

"Now, rise."

In an instant, he kicked off from the volcanic ocean bed, a cloud of sediment scattering in his wake as he surged upwards. Every singular creature that had joined his descent now swam at his heels but one. He reached out to the gigantic yellow-eyed beast as it nuzzled into his hand.

Its scales were coarse and warm. It would take some force to break the beast's armor, but that wasn't what he wanted from it.

"Rise," He spoke to it.

Its pupils dilated, and he grasped the beast as the two surged upwards far too fast for any normal human, but he was beginning to understand. He wasn't normal. He wasn't just anyone. He was Heir to the Sea. The Sea was his home territory. Here he was safe, but atop, he was special too. The crystal or "heart" in his hand proved it. This crystallized power was manifested, and it called for him.

Salvation or damnation, Mother had said. That power was in his hands. He would inflict it on all those who opposed him and prevented him from going home. He would be a general here soon. He would damn his enemy and be the salve to the wounds of war they had inflicted.

This was Forward.

:P LINE BREAK d:

The never-ending storms had hit the Kaminoan city of Tipoca once more. The waves raged against the struts of the city that dived into the sea below, daring to break them. The rain, in its glory, decided to blind the world from seeing beyond a few hundred feet, but it was far enough for Percy and Shaak Ti to make eye contact with one another as he breached the waters on top of his massive new fish-beast.

She was drenched, and he knew she did not allow that easily. Did she stand out here waiting for him this whole time, though, or just as the sensors noticed his return? It didn't really matter as the fact remained that she was there waiting for him to surface. Although, she probably didn't expect to see him riding a beast, surrounded by many other less-sized ones.

All the same, he felt her intangible will grasp him and lift him from his mount. The sea creature bellowed a rumbling warble as he was lifted from its neck. He gave it a quick salute before watching it be consumed by a wave and disappear into the abyss of the sea.

"Are you well?" She asked him as his feet met the metallic platform.

"Never been better, Ti. You wouldn't believe the adventure I went on."

"You will be explaining in full; rest assured," she told him, shoulders taunt. "First, let's advance to drier areas."

"Of course," he followed her. The rain that pelted him, he noticed, seemed to cling to him and soak into his skin. "You know how we joked about me being a prince… Well, you weren't wrong. The sea is my Father's kingdom. It's my home."

Shaak Ti did not respond as she kept striding towards the sliding door and quickly entering. As he entered, he saw his partners in crimes, the very clones that helped him jump into the sea, standing at attention just inside the hall.

"You four can leave now. Your punishments will be assigned accordingly. Percy, head to your room. I will be there shortly enough," she sighed, letting her shoulders fall as she raised a hand to her forehead. She did not look at him for confirmation as she began to walk away from him.

"Yes, ma'am," he complied. It didn't take a genius to read the room. Shaak Ti wasn't pleased and needed a moment before handling things.

He advanced through the bleak white walls, the crystal heart still in his right hand as his left twirled his pen. His journey into the sea had been quick but eventful.

He remembered his Father.

He remembered that he was aquatic nobility.

He found a glow-y crystal of power.

All in a day's work.

As he entered his room, he began to pull his soaked shirt off… But that couldn't be… It was dry already? His whole outfit was down to the socks. A perk of being the Sea Prince? Did the water just soak into him? Was he really just part fish? Evolved land-shark?

He plopped down into his bed and waited as he mentally debated what fish would look the best as a human. Blob fishes were out… Would they just be a pile of bodily goo? How did he even know about blob fishes? No one told him anything about them, but he knew all the same about them.

Was he a fish codex too? Was that inherent in his genes?

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Thank the gods. A distraction from his thoughts.

"Come in," Percy called out, finally pulling his shirt down just as the door began to slide open. It seems he wasn't the only one dry. "Did you change robes?"

"I wasn't going to stay wet. You changed as well."

"Actually, I did not change. It dried out on its own."

"Already?" Shaak Ti asked, surprised.

"Yup."

"Intriguing. Perhaps, it has to do with your Father's kingdom being of the sea."

"So you were listening."

"I am always listening."

"Always?"

"Percy…"

"Sorry, we are being serious."

"Thank you. Now, tell me of your swim."

"Well, as you know, I've been wanting to jump in the waters. Right? So, I did it. Wait, we already know this. Obviously. So, I'll guess I should just go from where we last talked?"

"That will do."

"All right, so, big fish, right?" She nodded along. "Well, we kind of just sank to the bottom of the ocean, really. The fish was harmless. They, honestly, just felt curious about me. So they just followed me around. There was a bunch of fish, by the way. Two hundred and eight, to be exact."

"Percy…" She sighed.

"Oh! I remembered my Father. Well, a talk I had with him at one point. He was a king and intertwined with the sea. He looks like me, or well, I look like him… I wonder if he is looking for me."

Silence reared its ugly head as Percy mentally trailed off.

What was his Father doing right now?

Was he searching for him?

Could his planet and people even find him? It wouldn't matter if they did anyways. He is so far away from them anyways.

A hand ghosted his shoulder, "Percy," Shaak TI spoke softly.

It didn't matter. He had things to do here, and after that, Mother would send him home. How she would… Well, she was a goddess. They were all-powerful, right?

Her hand became heavy on his shoulder now as she repeated his name once again.

He brought his hand to her view and opened it for her to see, "I got this at the bottom of the sea."

Both of them went into a soft silence, staring at the glowing orange crystal.

"Your impatience awards you once more," she sighed before tailing off into a single laugh as she reached for the crystal.

"What is it exactly?" He watched her raise it into the light as she inspected it.

"The most essential part of a lightsaber. The power source of the blade. Usually, a padawan must take a journey to Illumn to discover their crystal, but you… you just jump into the water."

"Well, I have it now. Can I get a lightsaber too?"

"Yes, that is the next step."

"No more dummy blade anymore?"

"No more dummy blade."

"Finally! I promise I won't cut my arm off."

"I will not hold you to that."

"You have no faith in me, Ti."

"On the contrary. I have faith in you, but I also know that you will be confronting every foe you find, taking every fight. The odds stack against you after a while."

"So, I can't make a promise not to lose an arm, but can we make a bet at least?"

"A bet?"

"Yeah, by the time I end this war, if I have both my arms and hands, you owe me something or the rather."

"And, upon the day you lose one?"

"I owe you something."

"I don't think I have ever bet on someone not losing a limb before."

"Well, Ti, it seems like today is your lucky day."

"I guess it is," the two smiled at each other. "Now, this crystal. You found it on the sea floor?"

"Yeah, near some lava vents and stuff. Real glowy and all."

"It does not glow now. Perhaps, I should channel some of the Force through it…."

Almost immediately, her hand twitched as she held the crystal in her fingertips. A soft pulsing of orange-bronze light began to radiate.

"It is singing," She brought it closer to her eye, the glow highlighting her own alien orange skin. "This is no ordinary crystal. I believe It is another sign. Another reinforcement that you are The One."

"Ever seen something like it before? Or, you know, like in the Jedi Archives?"

"An orange crystal, yes. One that is like this. This blatant power. No. This is something unique," she placed the crystal back into his open hand and curled his fingers around it tight before meeting his eye. "This crystal is yours and yours alone. We shall build your blade by the month's end, and I believe you will likely be ready by the month thereafter."

"Is it bad I am eager and ready to fight?"

"The young are often eager to jump as high as they can," she spoke. "Yet, they always come down."

"What if I jump to someone, and they pull me up even higher?"

"Percy," she sighed. "It is supposed to be a teaching moment, not a dissection of diction and connotation."

"You act as if I know the difference between diction and connotation or even what that is in the first place."

"Do you wish to know?"

"Nah, sounds boring."

"As I thought. Now, tell me the rest of your adventure. I feel as if I have only the basics."

"Right, so there was this big fish. Then a bunch of other fish…."

:P LINE BREAK d:

"Percy!" Shaak Ti called out to him.

The winds and sea were calm as Percy and a battalion of clones loaded themselves onto a Republic Attack Cruiser. His attack cruiser. The white armored men marched in unison up the ramp that connected to the city.

He turned to the alien woman who called to him—a clone followed in her step.

"I suppose that is General Jackson, now," she smiled.

"For you, it's just Percy. Always."

"Formalities must be upheld in ceremony."

"Ceremony?"

"Yes," she said, stepping aside to reveal the clone in full. "May I present to you, your commander. He is the best of his class, specially trained and outfitted to assist you in any way," she motioned to him, prompting him to step forward. "Commander Wrath. This is General Jackson. Serve him faithfully, for he will end the war. I am sure you two will be a great match."

"Pleasure to meet you, Sir. I look forward to serving by your side."

"I like the orange pauldrons and belt cape," He offered the clone his hand, shaking it. "Say, Ti, do all of them have only to wear white and black?"

"No, many battalions carry different colors and markings. You can designate a scheme at your pleasure."

"Awesome, there is no way everyone is going to be bleak white 24/7."

"Yes, well, just be aware that other Jedi and Generals have their own identifying colors."

"What about everyone having orange to match the commander and my blade?"

"It will be at your discretion," She told him.

"Well, I'll let that be tomorrow's problem to solve. For now, I imagine it is about time to depart."

"Commander Wrath, prepare the Venerator for departure. I will have the Jackson up there shortly."

"Yes, Ma'am."

The two watched him leave. The orange-accented armored trooper issued commands to the mass of marching troops causing them to march faster.

"I left you armor in your quarters on your ship," she told him. "Worry not. It isn't robes."

"Did the council not approve of me having robes?"

She gave a snort of her nose, a quick laugh. "Most of them do not approve of what I have done with you. Yet, as we have both agreed, their opinion doesn't matter on this."

"As long as they don't drag me to their meetings or boring talks, I'll be fine."

"Instead, I will be stuck with them."

"Your sacrifice, Master Jedi."

"I must admit, I am not eager to see you depart despite all things."

"Worried you will miss me?"

"Yes. I have quite enjoyed having a padawan to teach."

"You'll miss more than just teaching me, though."

"Y-yes, I will," she admitted as he turned to look at her. She did not meet his gaze, still staring at the army marching into the spacecraft.

"Want a hug?"

She turned to him, crossing her arms, "Jedi do not hug."

He hugged her, his arms wrapping around her shorter frame as he pulled her close.

"First, I'm not a Jedi, so you are getting that hug. Second, I want a hug, so I am getting one." He felt her arms latch onto his back, more secure than ever before. He could feel her softly squeezing him. "I may not remember much or know who all in my family was. But I want you to know that you are family to me. I know, before you even say it. No attachments and all that nonsense, but if you believed that, you wouldn't be hugging me back."

"You are someone special, too, Percy," she responded into his arm. "If it weren't for the fact of you being The One, I would not want you to leave this planet. No matter how much you hate the white walls and how annoying your impulsiveness can be. It will be weird not having you here being so loud."

"I can always come to visit."

"You have a job to do first."

A blasting horn erupted behind them, coming from the cruiser.

"Yeah, seems like she's calling right now."

"Take care of yourself, Percy. Remember to meditate and focus on what I taught you to connect with the Force. You have the power to do so, and now you just need the mentality to enforce it."

"No promises, but I'll try."

"Do or do not. There is no try."

"Well, I will do my best to attempt to do."

"That will have to do. Now get going."

"Goodbye, Ti. Thank you for everything. For helping someone like me and giving me a purpose when I had nothing."

"You did much of that yourself. I only guided you along to a clear destination."

"I am forever thankful, all the same. Now, it seems I have a timetable to stick to."

"Oh, before you go, Percy. Everything in this city may appear white, but it really isn't."

"What?! What does that mean? It's clearly all white," he stated while backpedaling towards the ramp.

"An answer for the next time we meet. May the Force be with you."

"I'm holding you to that!" Percy called back before turning and jogging onto his cruiser. He stole one last glance and offered one last wave to Shaak Ti before turning his gaze forward.

He wasn't sure of the temperament of his new commander, but if a horn was blowing, they must be ready. Best not to leave them waiting.

As Percy entered the command bridge of the ship, naval officers to and from saluted him as he stepped forward to the grand windows where his commander waited.

"She's ready to depart, sir."

"Thank you, Wrath," Percy turned to look at all the officers who were staring back at him. "Gentlemen! All crew to their station. Fire up the engines," he turned back to the windows overlooking the city below. He could still see Shaak Ti in her brown robe, standing on a platform. "The Olympus goes forwards. We have a war to win."

AN: Thanks for the tremendous support you have been constantly providing for this story. It has led me to really want to focus on this story and keep providing content for you, the audience. As always, please leave a follow, favorite, or review if you so desire. I love seeing the heartwarming comments and insightful commentary in the reviews. If you wish to reach out to me beyond a review, my PMs and Discord DMs are always open. You can find me on the Emerald Library Discord Server. Just at me at any point, and I will get around to responding. That said, I am in a really busy period of college. Which is the reason for the delays in all my work. Hopefully, come the summer months, I can produce more than one update a story each month, but don't hold your breath.

Now let's talk about my story. Do you recognize the crystal? I likely won't talk of it much anymore in major moments of the story besides some small portions until later, but if you know, you know. As for why or how it is there, well, that will be revealed way later in a more climactic scene, so suspend your disbelief now on why a crystal so conveniently showed up here now. Mother has taken measured steps after all for her plan.

Next time I post for this story, we will be on Percy's first mission as we introduce the key players of the story. Any fans of Pantorans?

That's about it.

-Manke