V.3-C.61│Approaching I│

Defeating Onimi and the Yuuzhan Vong as a whole wasn't the end.

Not by a long shot, as there seemed to be some other mysterious force at play manipulating behind the scenes, and things had gotten so far away from what Anakin's memories of his previous life still held within.

Even with the aid of the Force to find out alternatives and take in all the information present, it was still hard to find what was happening. Especially since Anakin had chosen his path of freedom, in which his actions were not foreseen by the Force or manipulated by the Force.

He was his own being, and via his connection to those connected to him, either closely or distantly, the Force became a rather mediocre way to find the path to the future.

Not that it was still useless, or anything like that.

Systems capitulated into the Empyrean more and more. Soon enough, the entire galaxy would be under one banner.

That banner being the Empyrean, and there is amble evidence or motive for why this should be a thing. People simply flocked and escaped to the outer rims, away from the corruption as it slowly and methodically spread more and more.

From the culture, technology, and everything it currently provides, the people are at their safest from threats to their wellbeing.

Let alone taking into account the ability to live comfortably, more and more as the Empyrean becomes larger, more diversified and most of all, stability. Despite the past conflicts, the Empyrean was not unstable and instead provided a good grounds for making sure their civilians were not drawn into the conflicts.

With the Yuuzhan Vong finished, the Jedi subsumed by the Empyrean and the rest of the galaxy doing the very same, alongside the crumbling of Sidious and his empire he so wished to create, things were going in the right direction.

The only problem now is the new threat that was encroaching on them all. The Empyrean, those outside of the Empyrean, especially those outside as the darkness and corruption left behind by Palpatine spreads.

[]

The Force.

In all its glorious power, and its tempting calming light and warmth, it was dangerous.

The light side of the Force was concerned with the ideals of good, benevolence, and healing. Followers of the light side strove to live in harmony with the world around them, acting out of wisdom and logic rather than anger and hasty judgment.

In order to achieve harmony with the light side of the Force, its practitioners would often meditate to clear themselves of emotion, particularly negative emotions such as aggression, fear, anger, and hatred, since these were thought to lead to, or entice one to an acceptance of, the dark side of the Force.

It was rare, but not unheard of, for Darksiders such as the Sith to make use of Light Side powers.

The largest group of proponents and teachers of the light side was the Jedi Order, who strove to maintain peace and justice throughout the galaxy.

The values of the light side were encapsulated in the Jedi Code. The Jedi accepted the view of there being two sides to the Force: the dark side and the light side. A follower of the light side tried to live selflessly, in harmony with those around him, and in harmony with 'the will of the Force' itself.

Mutual trust, respect, and the ability to form alliances gave the Jedi their distinct advantage over the Sith.

In contrast, a follower of the dark side typically used the dark side of the Force out of selfish motives. As such, use of the dark side of the Force was mostly forbidden within the Jedi Order, though exceptions for certain particularly useful techniques were made.

The dark side was in most eras considered the domain of the Sith and other traditionally evil traditions, though there was at least one time when such considerations were dismissed by the Jedi Order.

Traditional Jedi were keen to keep the Force 'in balance.' They attempted to achieve this by destroying the Sith and denying the dark side, essentially 'keeping balance' by restoring the Force to its natural state, as they viewed the dark side as corrupt.

This involved the purging of negative emotions such as aggression, anger, and hatred, since they could easily bring on acceptance of the dark side. In contrast, positive emotions such as compassion and courage nurtured the light side of the Force.

The Jedi Code compared such feelings and provided insight into the ethical use of the Force.

Passion was considered dangerous, as it could lead to strong emotions that could unbalance the Jedi and lead them to the dark side. Love, curiously, was regarded by both the Jedi and Sith Orders in most eras as something to be avoided.

While the Jedi espoused compassion, a broad, all-encompassing, self-sacrificing love for all beings, love for another being, romance, a possessive love by nature, was shunned in the post-Ruusan Reformation era Jedi Order.

Possession of all types was shunned in the post-Ruusan order, the only exceptions being a Jedi's lightsaber and personal raiment. The Jedi viewed love as a danger best left untouched.

With a few minor exceptions, the original Jedi Order lasted largely unchanged in structure and philosophy for twenty-five thousand years, despite many detrimental conflicts with various Sith Empires and an attempted purge by the Sith Triumvirate.

That is until now, where the Jedi Order is demolished in a sense. Not destroyed, just absorbed into a better and greater overall being.

The dark side of the Force was considered by the Jedi to be the element aligned with selfishness, fear, hatred, aggression, and malice toward all living things.

Such emotions seemed to increase the strength and abilities of a user of the dark side, providing a path towards personal power and the destruction or control of all opposition.

It was generally accepted that use of the dark side of the Force was extremely addictive. Dark-side Jedi were known as Dark Jedi. But some light-side Jedi could use dark-side powers.

The earliest incarnations of the Sith Order were similar to the Jedi Order in structure. Many Sith of various ranks and abilities comprised the Order, which was often under the control of a single Dark Lord who wielded absolute authority.

Over the centuries, numerous Sith Empires utilizing this power structure rose to challenge the Republic for control over the galaxy. Though several Sith Empires brought the Republic to the brink of defeat, they were all plagued by infighting amongst the power-hungry Sith overlords who controlled them, and ultimately the Jedi and the Republic triumphed against all of them.

With the advent of the Sith Lord Darth Bane, however, the Order underwent a revolutionary overhaul. Bane considered the Force to be finite and thus ideally for exclusive use by the Dark Lord.

He eliminated the practice of having vast numbers of Sith at the same time, thereby aiming to concentrate the dark side of the Force into two individuals: a Sith Master and his or her apprentice. In addition, he hoped to eliminate the infighting that had plagued previous Sith Orders.

This reformed Order went on to achieve that the Sith Empires of old never could; the annihilation of the Jedi Order and the defeat of the Republic.

Of course, it would now be considered an epic failure, having to contend with Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One and his empire the Empyrean. After all, the annihilation of the Jedi Order was not brought to fruition and the defeat of the Republic was made redundant once Anakin had slain Sidious.

Or was it even before that? That the Sith Order would be no more once Anakin Skywalker was not just 'Anakin Skywalker' anymore and was instead a person born anew in a new word, with new possibilities and took charge for himself, reshaping the history of said galaxy.

The Potentium view of the Force, not to be confused with the Unifying Force, was strictly disapproved by the old Jedi Order.

While similar to the Unifying Force, which suggested that there was only one Force that did not take sides, the Potentium view stated that the Force and the galaxy in general were inherently good.

According to this belief, the so-called dark side was not made up of specific 'parts' or 'abilities' of the Force: as espoused by the Light Side, it existed inside the life form which used it, made from their emotions.

By that standard, and unlike the Light Side, all Potentium followers could perform any action and use the Force in any way they saw fit, as long as the intention behind it was good.

In contrast, the Old Jedi Order acknowledged the existence of Potentium, but made it clear that it was subverting of the Jedi teaching and a way to misguide people to the dark side, or a means to serve it.

The living planet Zonama Sekot supported the Potentium theory of the Force as well.

Rest the planets soul, now that it was influenced and brought under the control of the Yuuzhan Vong through an unknown force currently, it was definitely in line with Anakin's views, adopted by many others as well.

There are also many alternative views on the Force, including; Way of the Dark, The insidious Force, Aing-Tii beliefs, White Current, Sorcerers of Tund, Killiks and the Ones, Knights of Zakuul, and lastly The Paradox.

All having something to do with or connected to the Force. No matter how wrong, they are all right.

'The Force is a river from which many can drink, and the training of the Jedi is not the only cup which can catch it.'

[]

Ahsoka was racked with strange visions. Dreams or nightmares as she more and more concluded that things were not over. Not even close, and even in her happiness with Anakin, she was still fretting over the things that haunted the night so to speak.

That haunting and visions were of herself, and Anakin, within a black mass of nothingness.

It was deep, and horrifying, and she couldn't escape the feeling that there is more. Something more to what this meant, as if the Force was forewarning her, for the Force couldn't contact Anakin, for whatever reason that might be.

Then there were the other dreams, in which there was a woman. Not only was the woman seeing her, but she was seeing through the eyes of the woman.

She was antagonized by loneliness; she felt an absolute need to be loved and adored, and was nearly overcome when someone attacked her with the idea that she was hideous and despised.

She fed her craving for adulation by instilling in Force-sensitives a desire to be with her, and in turn catered to their every need and assumed the role as their mother.

This stemmed from her original fear of losing her family, who remained ageless while she became old and decrepit. In an attempt to hold on to the life she had, she drank and drank and drank, this she drank no more. She bathed and bathed and bathed until her skin grew raw, blessed be by the Force itself.

Corrupted her mind and twisted her love for her family into a craving for companionship.

When her family abandoned her on their planet, the very reason she committed her crimes in the first place, she was driven insane by loneliness and despair. She fed on fear and destruction in an attempt to gain more power, as her ultimate goal was to recreate her lost family.

Her true form was that of a humanoid and barely-female being with deeply-sunken black eye sockets and tiny silver eyes reminiscent of tiny stars at the bottom of a deep well.

She had a long cascade of straw-like, honey-blond hair that reached to the ground and a large, full-lipped mouth that stretched from ear-to-ear and contained needle-like teeth.

Her arms were stubby, protruding no more than ten centimeters from her shoulders, with hands that had long, writhing tentacles for fingers with suction cup tips. Her body was rigid and straight, and when she walked or ran, her legs rippled forward more than they swung.

In addition, her body was enshrouded in mist, giving her an ethereal aspect to her already frightening appearance.

Ahsoka was bothered, very bothered and she didn't know what to do or really who to go to other than Anakin. However, she didn't go to him for the very reason of being afraid and scared of that woman who seemed to want Anakin.

'Would I not be dragging him into a trap upon which this woman shall have him?' Ahsoka questioned herself, and her anxiety only built, to be crashed as her loved ones were there for her.

Now that she had reached this point, she wanted to know more and know more she would. 'With first things first being Coruscant.'