DeathTalker: Chapter 8

Yoda and Mace Windu listened as a grainy hologram of Obi-Wan gave his report regarding Cameeo. The discovery of the clone army was disturbing to say the least. As they discussed this alarming development the door to the room opened and a Jedi Knight entered. "What is it, Mandor?" "Masters, Anakin Skywalker has been killed." "What?! When did this happen? Where?" "He was shot while getting onto a transport outside the Senate building after meeting with the Supreme Chancellor about 20 minutes ago. As of yet, there are no leads on who may be responsible." Yoda dismissed the Jedi, who bowed and left the room. "Talk about blind." Yoda sat frowning. After a time, Mace spoke up. "Well obviously, it must have been Palpatine!" "Yes, obvious it is. Too obvious. If Palpatine you were, assassinate someone just after meeting with them, you would not." "Then who?" "Afraid I am, to contemplate, for to the Council, it may lead." "What?! That’s ridiculous!" "Agree with you, I would, were normal the conditions. But from the archives, someone removed the information about Cameoo. And knew they did, the Council, that Skywalker, Deathtalker was." Mace glared at Yoda. Eventually, he got to his feet and headed towards the door. As he was leaving, he turned to Yoda and opened his mouth to speak. After a moment he frowned and left without saying anything. Anakin looked down at his dead body. At least the bus hadn’t been damaged. He glanced around curiously and waited. Some cops and the press arrived. Anakin drummed his fingers and waited. As he had suspected, Anakin was completely invisible to people. In fact, people and objects seemed to pass right through him. This briefly made him happy, since it would mean that he would peer in on Padme while she was taking a shower, but then he remembered he was dead. Bored, he wandered aimlessly from the site of his death. What to do? Anakin felt a strange sensation and stopped. The closest he could come to describing it would be a sort of gentle tug, but he could not determine which direction it wanted him to go. He looked around, but didn’t see anything that might be the cause. I wonder what Qui-Gon would say to all this? Probably, "If you had become a Jedi, this wouldn’t have happened!" At that moment Qui-Gon Gin appeared from nowhere. "If you had been a Jedi, this wouldn’t have happened!" "Thanks." "And let me tell you something else!" "I’d rather that you didn’t." "Well I’m going to tell you anyways!" "Oh joy." Anakin groaned and walked away. Mental note: don’t think about Qui-Gon. Anakin felt the weird, pulling sensation again; but this time it was stronger and lasted longer. The surrounding landscape seemed to fade for a second, but then reasserted itself. Strange. Anakin walked back to Qui-Gon, who was still blathering about something. "Hey, shut up for a second." "What?" "Any idea what that strange, sort of pulling like sensation is?" "What are you talking about?" "You know, every now and then things fade for a bit? Does it have something to do with passing onto the next stage? Moving on in the afterlife?" "I don’t know what you are talking about, but a true Jedi could have identified it." "Look: would you cut that out. I mean, what’s the point? We’re both dead now." Qui-Gon frowned. "Now what are you talking about? Whose dead?" "You are." "I most certainly am not!" "Yes you are, that weird guy in the black clothes killed you." "What? The Sith?" "Yeah, you know, black robe, black gloves, black shoes, red tattoos, horns sticking out of his head? Had a double-lightsabre?" At that moment, Darth Maul appeared. The moment he saw Qui-Gon, his lightsabre ignited. Qui-Gon’s flashed green in response. "Look guys, this is ridiculous!" The two ignored him as they circled each other. Darth Maul struck first, only to be parried by Qui-Gon, who returned the favor. Anakin signed and sat down on a nearby bench. Idly, he was surprised that he didn’t pass through. As the minutes passed, the fight continued. Anakin drummed his fingers on the bench and waited. After a bit, he could feel the strange, tugging sensation build again. With a shrug, this time he tried to go with it. The surrounding buildings faded away, to be replaced by dark, boiling clouds. The tugging feeling intensified, and Anakin felt that he was moving faster. He passed through several clouds, picking up speed, until, with an effect not unlike jumping to light speed, he flew off at what seemed to be a incredible velocity. After a few seconds, he arrived at what appeared to be a limitless, rocky plain. Slowly, figures appeared in the distance. Some were humanoid, while others definitely alien. As more and more of them appeared, Anakin became aware of a steadily growing sound. A kind of groaning, moaning sound. It seemed to have a kind of musical quality to it, but it was definitely not a happy sound. The shadowy figures were now crowding around him. Whichever way he looked, he saw more of them, and they were all looking his way. He did not sense any malevolence, but more of a yearning, pleading feeling. The moaning gained volume until is was a roar in his ears. As the volume increased, Anakin could almost make out some words… All at once, he understood. Previous Chapter, Table of Contents, Next Chapter