Chapter 3
When the sun beaten over the second following day, the familiar feeling of consciousness consumed him. The first thing he spotted from his makeshift camp were the fishes swimming in the ocean. Yesterday, when Anakin awoke, the Force persisted for himself to make himself a home-for he was going to be here for awhile.
The sun's rays glinted off of the dark blue waves, unhindered by the now cloudless sky above. He laid his head back on the soft grass and leaves used for a pillow. The waving orange, red, and gold leaves over section were starting to fall. He allowed them to fall around him.
Anakin pushed himself upright. During the last week he built up his strength initially from the fruits and evolved into fishing for the animals offshore. He quickly filled his stomach, and when connected with rest he was close to his normal self. At least physically.
Inside, there was a large hole. Each night thoughts of Padmé, Obi-Wan, and the Jedi came to him. It was a understatement to say that Anakin fell into a depression. Both his wife and father figure abandoned him. He'd depended on them to be there always, would sacrifice anything for him to achieve happiness, but they'd turned their backs on him. Outside of eating, Anakin had little drive. The basic need to survive was the only motivation.
He grunted and rose up. Resting to his mattress of dried seagrass laid his fishing net-a long branch with vines. Anakin gripped it and went along to go to the beach.
A deep chill collided, raising goosebumps from his skin. He shed his robes in favor of using them for a blanket, which he was glad was helpful, but it made life very difficult for Anakin each morning. The past several days, a wind rolled off the waves and entered the Autumn air. In the moment, Anakin chose to move his camp south to warmer weather.
Anakin removed his boots and rolled up his pantlegs. The brisk water took his breath away. He grit his teeth and halted when the icy waves went up to his knees. It was there he managed to locate a reliable source of sealife.
Combining fish took no name. He was cautious not to take more than he required for his three standard meals. Anakin discovered that cooking them with fruits and using salt boiled out of the seawater actually tasted rather delightful.
The Force was quiet right now, but Anakin was sure it would be back soon.
He started to move back towards his camp when a flash in the sand gripped his attention. The sand was wet, baked by the water. The flash of light was unique and unlike the typical glow of the sun; it was instead silver.
Curious, he moved to the direction of the flash and gripped it, latching his hand around it, staring at it intensely.
It was a Republic credit.
Anakin brushed off the sand concealing the finer details of the currency. It was obviously the currency of the Republic, however, he did not comprehend the structure on its face - where the Senate Building should have been located. In its place was a towering palace of pillars, arches, and a grand facade encountering Anakin. It looked... ancient, like the days of the Old Republic if Anakin was being frank.
The rest of his day was accommodating actually. He searched the beach for shells, long blades of grass, sticks, and fruits. Utilizing his items, Anakin manifested another basket for his things and set it aside. For the rest of the day he created menial objects. Whenever he left to go south he would have to track a way to build a pack to carry them.
The sun set behind the horizon and Anakin resided on the home, somewhat never wanting to leave. He looked at the darkening sky above. The wind persisted to sweep across the ocean and inland, soothing his bones. He stoked the fire beside him. As the hot flames traveled around the aged logs, he closed his eyes, hoping sleep would bring refreshment.
That night Anakin dreamt not about the days or years before but of the world he was currently on. Its landscape seemed no different than it did in his time, however, a ship began to enter the atmosphere, its light flickering off of the ground, the engines meeting his ears.
The dream sequence continued in time. Anakin found himself in the sand watching a woman walk up. She was young but her face seemed withered. Her brown hair was frazzled, her soft blue eyes exhausted and solemn. What caught his interest most of all was the remarkable Jedi robes she wore and the lightsaber laying on her hip.
She halted when the ocean waves covered up against her toes. Her hand went further inside her pocket, withdrew the same Republic credit Anakin now had, and she buried it into the sand.
Her voice, solemn and somber, stated, "let it be the last time I share connection to the Republic."
Anakin observed her return to the forest, walking in a straight line. She disappeared in the trees, ever anticipating to be found again.
Anakin awoke with a start. The stars shined above him, dotting the black sky. Clouds rolled past, their wispy, thin bodies trailing past the planet's singular moon. He watched them for a moment while he thought about what he'd seen in his vision.
It was a dream, but it felt so realistic. He could spot the Jedi obvious as day. The sea's mist cooled his skin as it had previous in the day when he was conscious. Moreover, he heard her voice when she spoke to herself. If anything, Anakin called it a memory.
He reached for the credit, waving it up to the moonlight. It gave no signs of speciality. Outside .
The revelation hit him with a jolt. It was a memory, not a dream. In times of peril, it was not uncommon for a Jedi - a Force sensitive - to pass upon a memory to an object. Anakin had heard stories from the Jedi tutors about such a skill, but he never encountered it. In fact, he was the first he knew to encounter it. The Jedi must have been through a great amount of turmoil and have immerse power to be able to leave the memory.
Anakin looked to the area where the Jedi walked down in his dream. Where did she go? He briefly mused if she went into the woods to die, but it was unlikely. It did not seem like the type of action a Jedi would take. On the other hand, living out the rest of her days among the alien planet felt...right.
He felt a strong tug in the destination. It might have been his own interest in her fate or curiosity about what lay beyond his small, isolated section of beach. Maybe it was the Force itself compelling him to get off of his mattress and go into the immediate wilderness. Whatever it was, Anakin ascended and followed the path set by the woman.
Starlight poured through the clouds and illuminated the land. Shadows of leaves, branches, and low lying fruits spotted the ground. Grass and brush reached Anakin's legs as he walked past them. The path she had taken was concealed long ago, leaving Anakin to move based on instinct and his conscience.
He was uncertain how long it was before he detected anything unusual. If he concentrated, he picked up on the animals in the area, but those were typical. What he sensed laying just beyond the treeline and his line-of-sight was far more than basic wildlife.
Anakin pushed through the brush, shoulder-length branches, and climbed over rocks to find a cavern.
Without sunlight the mouth buried in the front of the rock formation was nearly impossible to see. The dark stone around it camouflaged it with its surroundings. Trees grew in front of it, further hiding it from curious eyes.
The entrance of the cavern was as smooth as glass. Anakin's fingers traveled across the surface, disbelieving the unnatural feel. Nature was unable to create such perfect formations. Common man struggled to make surfaces like stone so beautiful, but a Jedi was far from a common man.
Anakin ventured further in. Blinded by the lack of ambient light, he closed his eyes and drank in the power surrounding him. He followed its beckoning, using it as his source for echolocation.
Like waves emanating outwards from a stone, the Force rippled up the walls. The closer Anakin got to the epicenter, the stronger the waves became. There was no denying what he felt; there was something in the cave wanting to be found.
Hundreds of mushrooms growing at the base of the walls glowed dimly. Their bioluminescence lit the immediate surroundings. Elegant neon blues and greens shined upon the glassy cavern, further driving home the unnatural nature. The peaceful ambient light soothed Anakin's troubled heart and soul, making him forget what haunted his mind for the last week.
The cavern opened up into an enormous chamber, evidenced by the mushrooms circling around the massive structure. At the peak of the cave moonlight and starlight crashed in through a large opening. From his position at the entrance of the chamber Anakin could make out the constellations overhead and the wispy clouds.
He followed the beam of moonlight down to the cavern floor. When he noticed what it shined upon he was stunned. It was as though he had entered a dream or a time long past. He stepped slowly forward to analyze.
Resting on the ground was a reverse swept-wing starfighter of the Old Republic. In spite of its damaged, rusted, and battered skeleton, Anakin immediately identified it. He had seen images in the Temple archives, but none remained. They were symbols of a bygone era where the Jedi and Republic did not always see eye-to-eye.
He ran his hand on what remained of the ship's wing. His fingers brushed against the insignia of the Jedi. Anakin paled slightly at the memory of what happened, yet he pressed forward, exploring the chamber and its treasures.
The sun started to rise over the horizon, bringing with it sunshine that cleansed the cave of darkness. Anakin had only begun to finish studying the starfighter's interior. Inside were relics of the bygone era: credits; degraded maps; a projector that sparked but did not turn on - minor adjustments would fix it easily; and tools. The rest of the items were beyond repair, however, Anakin scavenged what he could out of the ship's body.
He wiped the sweat off of his forehead and leaned against one of the few pieces of starship remaining. He made a pile of his salvage and wondered foremost about the projector. Thinking about what message it contained excited him.
Exploring the chamber and the rooms branching off of its centerpoint would take days-domething Anakin had plenty of time to do. After a brief rest and journey to gather the stockpile of food from the beach, he decided to enter the room to the left.
It was entrapped and no larger than a dormitory at the Temple. Again, its walls were glassy. Several objects lined the walls, all of which were fashioned out of local resources: remnants of a bed and mattress; a dresser made of polished stone; and a stone bowl.
What gripped Anakin's attention was the silver and gold lightsaber hilt next to a set of tattered Jedi robes.
He called the lightsaber over to him. It was an ancient design, made known by its ornate decorations and uses of expensive precious metal. He lit the weapon, its blue blade humming perfectly. It was elegant and swift, not the powerful and heavy style he was used to. The weapon was of a older motel, Anakin could decipher that much, but he couldn't account for how old it truly was.
Anakin jostled the robes next. Underneath them relaxed the familiar blue and gold square of a Jedi Holocron. Bemusement burnt brightly in Anakin. He felt as though he came across a vast amount of riches and began to open the Holocron.
The Holocron levitated in front of him. A blue-gray Hologram sparkled out, then emerged like a transmission. Anakin comprehended her as the same woman from his dream, except this time she was much older.
"Hello," she greeted in the same exhausted voice, "if you have opened this Holocron, then you are a wielder of the Force. I'll confess, I don't believe anyone will encounter across this Holocron, not all this way into the unknown regions, but I chose to manfauctur this message anyway, especially with my life fading, my name is Meetra Surik."
The name rung a bell. Meetra Surik was widely respected by the Jedi Order.
"Some call me 'the Exile'. What you've come across are what I've gathered from my life. There are thousands of Holocrons in here that contain invaluable knowledge. There are books, weapons, and artifacts from many residents and beings. I wished to create my own school in teaching Force adepts of all ages to instruct people, but that time has passed.
I ask whoever finds this Holocron to look through my archives and treasures. Learn from me and others who came before. Discover the truth behind the Force and the realities of the Sith and the Jedi. This war has been going on for too long, far too long, leading to lost of control on both sides. Hopefully, it will be finished by the time you discover this, but I doubt it..."
Meetra Surik stared down solemnly. "I cannot say more. My life has come to an end. Please, do as I ask. Learn and envelop. It won't be possible overnight, but through time. It's only then that you can end this suffering once and for all."
She paused and looked up, determination flickering.
"May the Force be with you."