Star Wars: The Fallen Brother

Chapter 1 - Premonitions

He rose from his bed now, his navy-blue robes hanging loosely from him, walking to the cupboard underneath the holocron display and opening it to remove one of several Jedi robes folded and styled exactly the same. Sifo looked at the wardrobe of clothes, as he always did. Chuckling to himself at the one style of clothing the Jedi wore; the only variant to the outfit was a poncho. Unfolding the robes, he got himself ready.

The halls of the temple seemed busier nowadays. As the Republic expanded tenfold in the past century, the reach of the Jedi, too had grown and now there were dozens more younglings being brought in every year. On every floor, small groups of children and new padawans trailing their masters flooded the halls and the aisles bridging the east side of the temple to the west. Sifo nodded politely as he passed Jedi in the corridors. As he reached the aisle on his level, the temple opened up into a massive space. The centre of the Jedi temple was completely open from the southern and northern entrances. The western and eastern wings of the temple is where all the rooms, classrooms and chambers in the temple were. The aisles were large columned bridges that connected the upper western and eastern floors to each other.

Sifo walked across the aisle on his level, somewhat in a trance; thoughts lingering on his vision. His eyes looked down and through the carpeted bridge and into the dim smoke that blocked what he had seen in the night. As he reached the end, he entered a turbo lift at the edge of the aisle and ascended up the temple. As the lift reached the two hundredth level and passed up the central spire, a thin window strip lined the elevator. Giving Sifo a small view of the city around him as the turbo lift ascended another eighty levels to the council meditation chambers.

The lift door slid aside to reveal a circular room with six doors leading to different meditation rooms. Some were small singular rooms, and the two directly ahead were group meditation room, where Master Yoda often met other Jedi for consultation. He turned to the right and entered one of the single chambers; passing through the automated sliding door and removing his dark brown robe to reveal a dark brown tunic connected at the chest by several buttons and held tightly by his utility belt. The tunic ran from his neck, with high collars that ended at his chin, all the way down to below the belt and just above the thigh. Even darker brown trousers covered his legs and descended until they were strapped tightly in black boots. Hanging his cloak on the hook next to the door, he removed his lightsaber and placed it on the table holder the other side of the door.

The council wasn't to meet for an hour yet, but he wanted to see whether meditation would reveal any answers to the questions of his visions. Although very doubtful that it would. He crossed to the large cushion sitting two feet off the ground and having a three-foot diameter, he sat comfortably on the soft material and crossed his legs, breathing deeply and falling into a deep meditation.

As he closed his eyes, a warmth rushed over him, throwing him from the Jedi Temple and into outer space. He saw stars stretch and converge into the blue-white clouds of hyperspace. Passing through him as he travelled the galaxy. He heard voices as his mind travelled. Faded and muffled, but distinguishable. He heard the cackling laughter of evil, followed by the mutterings of two. The screams of hundreds followed the voices, whichever direction they took. The screams drowned now by the screeches of passing ships; fighter ships. Their laser cannons firing and explosions following suit. Sifo-Dyas saw none of this, just heard. The screaming returned, with the cackling louder than before. Then even hyperspace was dulled. The blue-white clouds dimmed and transformed into black smoke that engulfed his vision. Now he saw.

Within the smoke the dimmed light of explosions erupting around him. The red and blue thin streaks of laser fire passing this way and that through the smoke. He was still passing through it – a tunnel of smoke. He saw white armour-clad soldiers sprinting away from him in the distance of the smoke, thin metal droids meeting them as they all open fire and fell to the ground. Planets and ships burned above them, and in front of them all, were the thick unmistakable blades of lightsabers. Lighting the edge of the smoke surrounding him. Green, blue and yellow. They lit the fog surrounding him like a barrier, a shield protecting him from the death and torment that lay beyond. A deep rumble passed over him...in the distance passed the many lightsabers, he saw battles of hundreds of worlds – countless; then one he knew. One he recognised from his dream: Coruscant. All these battles, all this death leading to this one battle, this one event and then...the lightsabers went out. One by one the lights faded away, slowly at first then faster and faster. Green, blue and yellow light faded around him and the sole purple light in the distance too went out until only a few remained. The warmth he had felt now passed and a breeze of cold flew through him. Goosebumps covered his skin and his blood seemed to freeze. There was no sound, no vision through the smoke all he heard was a deep mechanical breath. A breath that sent a spike of fear straight through him...and then...it was gone.