Chapter 15: Chapter 15: The Council of Force Ghosts
Luke Skywalker was wondering if he was imagining things. The last thing he remembered was falling asleep beside his beloved sister once night fell on the world, they had found themselves stranded in, a smile of satisfaction on his lips. But then, he found himself standing amidst an expanse that defied comprehension, an endless vista where pathways stretched into infinity, suspended in a void that sparkled with star-like motes of light and what seemed like bright constellations.
The last vestiges of sleep clung to his consciousness, but they were fading fast as he took in the surreal landscape that surrounded him. This was no place he had ever read about or seen in his training. And no Force vision he had ever witnessed had looked anything close to something like this.
Confusion mingled with awe as the Jedi observed his surroundings. It was as if he had stumbled upon the heartbeat of the galaxy, a place where the threads of time and space wove together in a delicate dance. The pathways, illuminated by the soft glow of the lights, seemed ancient, carved from the cosmos itself, hanging in the void as if by magic.
"Why am I here?" Luke thought to himself. "And how had I come to this ethereal place? Could it have something to do with the Force Nexus below the Jedi Temple of the island?"
He muttered speculation after speculation to himself as he looked around, but concrete answers eluded him. And yet...deep within, the Force pulsed with a recognition he could not deny. This was a vergence of power, a crossroads of destinies that he felt drawn to.
Luke stepped forward, his movements slow and deliberate as he navigated the pathways that lay before him, each step resonating with the essence of the Cosmic Force. The air was charged with a presence that was at once comforting and awe-inspiring, as if the very core of the Force had coalesced into the air he breathed and the ground he walked upon.
Soon, he noticed a couple of luminous forms in the distance, tinged in blue and green and he quickened his pace, barely able to hear voices coming from there. And what he saw, made his gaze widened.
In the midst of the strange, cosmic expanse, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Master Yoda stood, their forms aglow with an ethereal light. Their conversation, carried on the whispers of the Force, was a beacon to Luke as he approached.
He rushed towards them, calling out, "Master Kenobi! Master Yoda! It's so good to see you! I tried to contact you yesterday, but it was as if there was some sort of..." Luke trailed off, taking notice of the fact that they had not even turned to look in his direction.
"Sense them, I cannot, Obi-Wan. Troubled by this, I am. Never before, such a disturbance, have I encountered," Yoda confessed, his voice a mixture of concern and perplexity.
Luke's heart sank. "...interference with my senses when I tried to reach out beyond the planet's atmosphere," He finished in dawning realization. "And it seems like it's still there. What in the galaxy is going on?!"
Obi-Wan's expression was grave, but he nodded in agreement, not giving any indication that the Jedi Master had heard him. "Nor I, Master Yoda. It's as if they've vanished from the galaxy itself. Yet, we know they live. The Force tells us that much. But where? And why are they hidden from us?"
Luke sighed. Despite being so close, the divide was insurmountable. Yet...the Jedi Knight was starting to think he understood what was happening. He was not truly there. He was still on Syrax, sleeping beside his future wife. This was a dream—a vision granted by the Force yet one rooted in the present instead. It was a rare glimpse into the now, rather than the future, yet frustratingly out of reach.
Obi-Wan broke the silence between the two Force Ghosts, his voice tinged with a worry that mirrored Luke's own.
"The hope for a new Jedi Order rests on Luke and Leia. Their guidance, their leadership...it's essential. Yet, if we cannot find them, if they cannot return..."
Yoda's gaze was distant, as if peering through the veils of time and space around that ethereal place. "Alive, they are, yes. But hidden where, and by what means? A puzzle, this is. A test, perhaps, by the Force itself."
"It's a little more complicated than just a test from the Force, my Masters." A new voice spoke into the void that Luke did not recognize. "But thank you for coming."
He looked around and watched as a new being emerged from one of the strangely shaped doorways that lay around the area. He was also surrounded by a blue glow around his features. And soon, Luke gasped.
"Father?!" Luke said, his eyes wide.
He hadn't seen his father's apparition since the Rebel Alliance's celebration after the Battle of Endor, but Anakin Skywalker's unburnt appearance had been seared into his memory. "Father, can you hear me? I am right here!"
Luke kept calling out his name for a few seconds, but soon it became clear that even he could not listen to the sound of his voice. He winced, disappointed and concerned at the implications. And also worried that, despite the fact that they were the ones who had died, it was Luke who seemed to be a ghost blind to their senses.
Without any of the spirits acknowledging his presence, Obi-Wan and Yoda turned to him, their expressions a mix of hope and apprehension.
"Anakin," Obi-Wan began, his voice echoing in the ethereal space, "your new position allows you to traverse the breadth of the Force, gaining insights beyond even our reach. Can you sense Luke and Leia? Can you find where in the galaxy they have been veiled?"
Luke frowned in confusion. "A new position? After becoming one with the Force? What is he talking about?" He wondered in silence.
His father's visage was serene as he stared at Obi-wan, yet it carried the weight of knowledge, and Luke got the distinct impression that it was heavy on his shoulders on that day. "I have learned that the shroud that conceals them is not of this era. It is a remnant of the ancient Celestials, the guardians of the galaxy's balance before even the Old Republic was dreamt into being."
Luke raised an eyebrow at that, perking up with interest at the mention of the legendary architects.
"The Celestials..." Yoda murmured, his eyes narrowing in thought. "Powerful they were, shaping the galaxy, creating and containing, they did."
"Yes, Master Yoda," Anakin continued, his gaze distant as he looked into the cosmic void around them, like if he were seeing through answers coded in light that were travelling through space-time. "Their legacies are the chains of hyperspace anomalies that bisect the galaxy, remnants of their efforts to contain threats of world-devouring scale."
Luke felt a chill as Anakin went on to speak of ancient powers and entities—the Rakatan Infinite Empire of old, a planet killer known as the World Razer, a malevolent creature named Mnggal-Mnggal that could apparently divide its consciousness to possess and raise millions of corpses at a time to overrun planets like sadistic parasite, and of a so-called Bringer of Chaos he named Abeloth.
Luke inhaled sharply as he listened. The only name from that list he recognized was the first one. And even then, it was only from an offhanded mention from Master Belaerys when she was explaining that the method to travel off-world that she was going to teach them was first inspired by innovations that the Valyrian Jedi Order had made after purifying some Rakatan technology, if he recalled correctly. Aside from that, he knew next to nothing about them. To have them mentioned in such a destructive and dark company by the former Sith Lord once known as Darth Vader, however, did not exactly sound like a ringing endorsement...especially while his father wore such a grave expression.
"The Celestials acted to halt the expansion of the Rakatans, to slow down the the rampage of the World Razer, to contain Mnggal-Mnggal's necromantic taint, and to imprison Abeloth within the Maw Cluster," Anakin explained. "Their measures were not just barriers that severely complicate hyperspace travel in the Unknown Regions and in the Deep Core but also served as a dam to hold back dark tidings that had threatened to engulf most of the galaxy tens of thousands of years ago." Anakin elucidated, his voice carrying a somber tone.
Obi-Wan nodded, his expression grave. "And now, you stand guard over these legacies, Anakin, per the last will of the Father of Mortis. As the Guardian of the World Between Worlds, do you wield the power to bypass these ancient barriers? To find our lost ones?"
Luke blinked at that as his father fell silent. "The World Between Worlds," He mused as he glaced around. "So that's what this strange place is called. And my father's ghost has become its guardian, whatever that exactly means. Good to know, I guess..."
He trailed off, frowning as a memory from his time back in Dagobah resurfaced. "Didn't Yoda tell me a story about my father and Obi-wan going to a strange place called Mortis during the Clone Wars?" The Jedi muttered. "Yes, that's right, and I remember thinking that it was such a tall tale that Yoda had to be using it as a made-up parable during my training to get me to consider the importance of letting go and to beware of unintended consequences—back when he was trying to convince me that going to Cloud City to help Han and Leia might do more harm than good."
He bit his lower lip in contemplation, the lack of pain reinforcing the notion that he was glimpsing the conversation his father was having with his old masters while asleep. And he wondered what becoming the heir to the "Father of Mortis" meant for Anakin Skywalker's ghost, frustrated that he had paid little heed or attention to that story from Yoda on that day due to his impatience to repair his X-wing and leave Dagobah.
His father sighed, the blue glow around his face tinging with conflicted emotions. "To use such power would be to risk unraveling the very fabric the Celestials weaved to protect the galaxy. The barriers serve not just to obstruct but to preserve. To breach them, even for Luke and Leia, could easily invite chaos anew."
Luke stared at that, past the Force Ghosts and into the starlight dotting the so-called World Between Worlds and frowned at the mass of conflicted feelings that was now knotting at the pit of his gut at the revelation that his father could not risk using his powers to find them more quickly.
But before he could let his thoughts latch on them too deeply, Obi-Wan's voice broke through the heavy silence that had fallen. "I witnessed the power of the Ones on Mortis, the physical incarnations of the Force's aspects. Their mastery was peerless, but their balance was even more delicate. If Abeloth's prison is weakening, it is a sign of disturbance the likes of which we have not seen in our own lifetimes."
Yoda, small in stature but immense in age and experience, nodded gravely, and this made Luke swallow on reflex at the implications. "And feel it as well, I do. A shift in the Force, massive and full of light and hope, yes, but also unexpected and disruptive, it was. Millennia, it has been since such a disturbance was felt."
The Jedi Knights's eyes widened as he started to see a connection in their words. "That overflowing shift in the Light Side of the Force that I felt after professing my love to Leia...where we felt the warm embrace of the will of the Force, as if comforting us that everything would be alright in the end...could they be talking about that?"
Anakin's gaze was distant, reflective, and once again, not focused on him. "The Force is in flux, more than we've seen in ages. The actions of Luke and Leia, their journey on that hidden planet—it's a pebble that has started an avalanche in the cosmic scales. I am not sure what exactly happened, but I believe a decision was made in the fires of conviction...a previously unlikely decision among the possible futures available that will bring with it a domino effect of changes across the galaxy."
Luke eyes widened, starting to understand the magnitude of the situation. And now he couldn't help but wonder...if the decision to marry Leia and eventually start a family with his sister really have such an impact upon the galaxy? It sounded absurd...didn't it?
Uncertainty flashed through his mind as Obi-Wan turned to Anakin, a furrow of concern marking his brow. "Then, the risk of Abeloth's escape is real? The balance we've fought so hard to maintain could be undone?"
Anakin's affirmation was a stern nod, as if awaiting a coming storm. "Yes. Her prison, created by the Celestials, weakens with each abrupt turn of the Force across it's natural flow. It doesn't matter if this sudden shift is more tethered to the Light Side of the Force this time around, for it shall still strain the very fabric the Celestials weaved. After all, even good things and changes that ultimately have a positive impact for the world around us in the long term can have very disruptive consequences in the short term."
Yoda's ears twitched, his voice tinged with worry. "True, this is. In reforms, much good can there can, but not without a dose of chaos. And the Bringer of Chaos, Abeloth was deemed. Great care, we must take, or ease her escape despite our best intentions, we may."
Obi-Wan leaned closer, his spectral form casting no shadow. "We must be vigilant, then. Guide them subtly should they be found, but we cannot interfere in ways that might hasten what we seek to prevent."
Anakin's jaw clenched, his stance frustrated, but his eyes resigned. "It is our duty to watch, to guide when we can, and to trust in the Force. Luke and Leia must navigate their own paths, bolstered by our teachings and their own strength."
Luke blinked rapidly, feeling their faces blurring as the ethereal surrounding where fading away from his line of sight. That was when he realized that he must be stirring from his sleep at that very moment. But while, he learned enough from this vision to realize that he could not rely on the direct assistance of his mentors anymore, he still found a strange comfort in their words.
The weight of destiny pressed upon him, yes, but within it lay a thread of hope. His future was now intertwined with Leia's for better or worse. And after yesterday, he did not want it to be any other way.
Yet, as this so-called World Between Worlds was covered in a bright light, Luke had to admit to himself that he was not feeling too disappointed by the fact they would not be able to find him too soon. For even with all the challenges ahead, he suspected that his future wife and him would come to miss their time together in their own little world when they got older and, get nostalgic at the moments of freedom from their duties and expectations.
The Jedi sighed at that notion and surrendered himself to the bright light.