V.3-C.68│The End III│

Now left alone, Anakin could distinctly feel something else. A new presence that had been with him before. A presence that was both familiar, a stranger and much more.

The Force manifested itself before him in the form of his mother, Shmi Skywalker. She was her younger self of course, the self that she was now. Eternally youthful, and would require something to happen for her to die.

Smiling, Force Shmi seemed to walk closer to Anakin.

"Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One. My Chosen One. Come before me you have again." Force Shmi spoke, her eyes glistening with stars.

"I can't say I wasn't expecting to see you once I saw Red and Blue, however, I am surprised that you wish to speak to me now. I thought there would be no more speaking between you and I." Anakin replied.

"Yes. You're correct. The Force is nothing my a great, grand energy field that is spread throughout the universe. It is not only restricted to this galaxy you inhabit, and your importance as the Chosen One here may very well be one of the possible, many created Chosen One's throughout space-time." Force Shmi answered, her expression gentle and calm.

"I speculated as such. If the Yuuzhan Vong live, and were once a part of the Force, and still technically are, that also means the Force is spread far and wide. More than the here and now." Anakin replied as the woman took a seat before him.

This mental space changing from the space like environment it once was into something else.

A simple and plain room, with which there was nothing but Force Shmi and Anakin facing each other, with Anakin taking a seat opposite her himself.

"It does help that you are both not meant to be from here and are, as well." Force Shmi added.

"There is that as well. Seeing this universe from an outsides perspective truly allowed me to do things the way I wanted. I just had to follow through." Anakin replied.

"I am glad you feel at home here. Your soul merging with the Chosen One was beyond my perspective. Beyond my purview, even knowing the powers and abilities those who are living have access to." Force Shmi responded.

"Is there a reason you are before me here and now? Is it something to do with Abeloth?" Anakin got straight to the point, no longer talking frivolities with the personification of the Force itself.

"... It is..." Force Shmi took on a complicated expression, making Anakin question much more what the Force is exactly.

Clearly he knows that this is not its true form. In fact, it didn't have a 'true form,' in the greatest sense of the words.

It was more like the Force is, what was, and what can be. Taking many shapes from the past, present and future.

"I am assuming that this is going to either be good news, or bad news." Anakin said as Force Shmi stood up, before coming closer.

"You are my child, just as much as your mother, Shmi, is your mother. I helped create you, for I needed a champion with which to set the balance straight. If the balance was not kept in place, disorder would seep back into the galaxy... the universe." Force Shmi had now come close enough that she was face to face with Anakin.

The two would only be considered a few dozen centimeters apart.

"I am sensing a but... This but probably being that my presence, as much as it was to bring order, also helped awaken Abeloth from her slumber." Anakin finished for the personification of the Force.

"Yes. I could not account for you reincarnation and merging, and as such, disorder managed to break free through another way. A much more dangerous and destructive way, in which if life is no more, I too shall be no more." Force Shmi seemed to sigh, as if expressing emotions that it should not be capable of.

"A greater and grand consciousness, I am not. Nor sentient, nor sapient I am not. Guidance I can provide. Power I can provide, manipulation of events, circumstances and timelines I can gently guide. However, I cannot directly interfere with anything, otherwise upsetting everything and destroying what this universe is. As a result, destroying myself in the process." It continued.

"Then why are you here, and now of all times? Am I not going to set things straight?" Anakin questioned the almighty Force, being able to question it, as if it were a person.

His senses and abilities advanced enough to understand the Force as such, like none other before.

"You could say I am afraid. Afraid for myself, as selfish as you would have it and others. But also afraid for all those that are living as well, again, as it may be something that coincides with my existence. If life ends, so too do I. In a way, you are free and those under you are free from my grasp." Force Shmi answered.

"That freedom does have a price, just as everything in life does. The freedom you wish to give, and have received, is very deep in cost. I cannot help you avoid what is to come. I have placed the blocks, set the stones in the right angles. Everything shall come down to you." It added.

Continuing, Force Shmi says. "Know this. It is you who shall save everyone, freeing them and giving them even greater choice than they had before. Something I did not intend. The future is clouded even for myself, with only one outcome I can see. To avoid this, is impossible. That is the cost, my sight being of no use, and my manipulations being unable to prevent this from happening."

"Again, everything now rests on your shoulders." It finished.

"That wasn't a lot to go off of." Anakin replied, his face not showing or displaying any emotion at all. However, the Force itself knew that he was probably coming to his own conclusions right about now.

"Go now. Return to the realm of those below, and return from whence you came. Return, stay, leave, believe, all depends on you and your choices. Just know that the supermassive black hole is your last hope, and greatest threat to your life." The embodiment of the Force started to fade away, leaving Anakin to ponder what this could all mean.

Opening his eyes, it was now time to leave this planet, and go after the being that the three of them are here for. "Let's go."

"Wait! What did you see?" Ahsoka asked him, grabbing ahold of his arm.

"I saw... us being victorious. Don't worry about it. We shall stop this chaos, and then live our lives peacefully." Anakin replied, as Eve seemed to show some concern as well.

"Ok!" Ahsoka replied back, her own determination settling in.

Eve as well, nodded her head before the three of them would get onboard their modified ship, travelling towards the planet they need to go towards.

[]

Byss was a planet in the Deep Core, near the center of the galaxy, discovered no earlier than 25 years ago. A local day lasted 31 standard hours, and a local year lasted 207 local days. It was the endpoint of the Byss Run.

Byss itself was somewhat of a myth, seeming to be the perfect place to live. Its eerie blue-green glow, caused by its sun, also added to the strangeness of the world. Despite this outward appearance, however, Emperor Palpatine's dark-side energies were everywhere, corrupting not only the inhabitants, but the planet itself.

Byss was the secret throne world of Palpatine and the location of his towering Imperial Citadel. He also kept his secret supply of clone bodies there.

However, the Emperor dead, this place overtaken by the Yuuzhan Vong, it was no longer the dark side energies of Sidious lingering here. No, everything had been deformed, reshaped into things that were not in the emperors image.

The Yuuzhan Vong as well, having destroyed a lot of the planet and rebuilt it as quickly as they could to fit themselves, was also no more. Abeloth had done a number on all things living here.

Byss was a mythic paradise world enshrouded in the dark side of the Force, located within the isolated and nearly inaccessible Deep Galactic Core.

It was situated at the end of the Byss Run, a heavily guarded artificial hyperlane kept open by hundreds of non-mass S-thread boosters, connecting the planet to the Core Worlds.

The planet was otherwise nearly impossible to reach safely through hyperspace, due to the high density of stars in the Deep Core and the constantly shifting patterns of the region's natural hyperlanes.

Byss was the fifth planet of the Beshqek system and orbited the star Beshqek; it was one of two habitable planets in the system, the other being Relus. The planet was orbited by five small moons, which had little influence on its tides.

Bathed in a blue-green sunlight, Byss was originally a lush and fertile world. A natural conduit of Force power, it invigorated force users in a flood of Force energy.

Byss was corrupted by dark energies after Emperor Palpatine made the world his personal retreat and began leeching Force energy from the immigrants he lured there. Over time, the planet was transformed into one of the most powerful nexuses of dark-side energy in the galaxy.

Mostly unknown of now, but Byss would've been renowned throughout planets under the control of the Galactic Empire as a legendary world of serene, paradisaical natural beauty.

The planet was dotted with chains of lakes and rivers where microscopic lifeforms dwelled, as well as wind-smoothed plateaus and canyons. Its isolation from much of the galaxy allowed for its natural islands and pre–Expansionist Era ruins to remain untouched for thousands of years.

After its corruption, the planet's soil lost much of its natural quality and produced little more than ferns and lichens.

No intelligent species ever evolved on Byss, and what wildlife there existed was largely nocturnal and harmless. Byss was also devoid of any rare elements or heavy metals.

The planet's calm, balmy climate and mild seasons, ranging from clear to rainy, were primarily caused by its minuscule axial tilt and stable geologic foundation. Violent phenomena, such as storms and volcanism, were extremely rare.

This led to the creation of a myth, fabricated by the Empire, concerning a beautiful and mystic siren world hidden from the galaxy at large, where blissful contentment awaited any who chose to apply for immigration to the planet.

At least it would of been as such, not until all of the other chaos came around and destroyed that 'beautiful' and 'serene' atmosphere.

Despite all of this however, Abeloth had done more to this planet than even the Yuuzhan Vong that had landed here did. Destruction was not the most prevalent thing on the Yuuzhan Vong's mind, but their successor, Abeloth, saw fit to destroying and making this place become nothing more than a shell of its former self.

Even the very same tower that Anakin had confronted the Supreme Overlord was no more, taken down to the ground. Eve, Anakin and Ahsoka had landed atop a ruined building, scouting for a bit before deciding where next they must go.

Knowing Abeloth, Eve seemed to think she would only have the grandest of places for herself to exist in. Not only the grandest of places, but a place with which she could feed into her obsession's of recreating her family.

In ways, Abeloth and the original Anakin would have been very alike in this aspect. Fearing loss.

Even now, Anakin also fears loss as well, especially in others, which is particularly why he decided to go the path of becoming immortal. No matter if this lead him further down towards his eventually eclipsing of power, forcing him to repress such energies he was creating.

"My Mother will be at her strongest here. I can feel it." Eve said as they went towards the downed tower meant for Sidious, reformed for the Supreme Overlord, and then destroyed, its ruins a place for Abeloth to lord over her subjects.

Draining their lifeforce, their Force energies and much more.

"Well, if you can feel it, we can we." Ahsoka answered Eve as they continued deeper and deeper.

The deeper they got, the more this unsettling feeling of being watched was settling in. They knew that Abeloth was waiting now for their arrival, and awaiting with very heated interest.

So much so she allowed no one, her mutated creatures to attack them as they approached. Within Anakin's suit, he made such to hide away the Mortis Dagger.

Come into an opening, the tower, red as it was before was split open. The three of them walked into the ruins, noticing the form of Abeloth, spiritual in nature. "Welcome! Welcome! I am sorry I couldn't accommodate you all with a true form. I am afraid it remains incomplete, temporarily." Abeloth spoke, her dark tendrils easy to see.

"My has my daughter grown, bringing herself a husband of her own. How precious, as it is the Chosen One." Abeloth continued. "These Yuuzhan Vong creatures are not the best bodies for me, as none of them are even Force-sensitive. The one that was, unfortunately killed himself. He was such a loyal servant too... a pity really."

"You are going to die, mother." Eve stated as her glow seemed to increase.

"Maybe, maybe not. But you coming here is exactly what I wanted. The Chosen One is whom I am after. My Daughter and her playmate there shall be imprisoned for a bit." Abeloth manipulated everything as such, immediately having thrown Eve and Ahsoka down into a hole, no doubt designed by her.

Narrowing his eyes, Anakin asked Abeloth what she wanted. "What is it you want from me?" He worried not for Eve and Ahsoka's safety. He knew the two would be fine, and find their way back up to him and Abeloth.

"I want you, of course." Her shadowy form, becoming more and more tangible by the minute said.

There was something to be said about her beauty. Not the purity feeling one would get from Eve, and more like a seductress. A succubus.

"What about me do you want?" He asked again.

"To rule. With you by my side. How does that sound? We shall go forth, conquer, kill, cause chaos. Isn't that what you wanted? You awoke me. How charming you are. I want to have your children, do you not want that? To start a family? Is that not a part of your grandest of desires?"

Shaking his head, Anakin said how thing. "Be gone thot."