Star Wars: A New Era.Part 1: Memory Games

Chapter 2: The Memory Riddle

Over the next couple of weeks, Ben grew familiar with the temple as he relearned some of the secrets that were needed to explore areas of the temple that he had access to. One thing that frustrated him though was the fact that no new memories were being triggered despite all of his efforts. He had a feeling that the next key was in the arena where the tournament for padawan trials were held. The problem was that no one was given access to that area except for cleaning purposes. Ben also was not granted access to the arena. There wasn't even another group of younglings ready to face the tournament.

Defeated with his attempts, Ben retired to his room only to find Dan waiting for him to come back. Dan was looking out of the only window of the room, which had his left side facing the door in which Ben stood. Dan didn't move but he knew that Ben was standing there.

"Sit down, Ben, we have much to discuss." Dan said as he turned to face Ben. Ben plopped himself on his bed and Dan sat in a nearby chair. "First things first, I have heard that you have tried to get into the padawan arena. We have made it clear to you that unless you have cleaning for that room or a tournament is going on, no one is allowed in the arena. Secondly, we have been selected to serve as protectors to a politician of an unknown status. We will head there tomorrow unless you need more time to recover."

"I can go." Ben replied. "I only fear triggering a memory in the middle of something where I need consciousness."

"I do too, young one." Dan agreed. "The third thing is from this point forward, by the New Jedi Code, you must call me master." He waited for Ben to nod before he continued. "Lastly, this just came in today."

Dan handed Ben a small box. Ben took it and opened the box. He pulled out a necklace with the Jedi crest on one side and his name on the back. No memory was triggered due to it not being a key item in a major event in his life, but it was something that he could recognize but just barely.

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After a short wave of disappointment, Dan got up and left the room leaving Ben alone. Ben put the necklace on and left the room. He went to Kai's room to see what he was doing. When Ben got there, he saw Kai packing a few things into a small pack. After a few moments, Kai noticed Ben at the door and saw the sadening look of shock on Ben's face.

"I'm sorry Ben. We were only allowed a week to help with your memory. The four of us are going off-world to rejoin our masters." Kai tried to explain. "Aden and Corr are going with their masters to investigate a rumored rancor stampede. Gido is going with his master to negotiate a treaty for the construction of a new Jedi temple since we are beginning to grow out of this one and I..." He trailed off.

"You what?" Ben asked.

"I have to hunt down Kasiri with my master." Kai finished. "Something happened just before the tournament that caused her alignment in the force to shift. Someone or something taught her an illegal lightsaber form. The variant of form seven, Juyo."

With that last word, Ben started to hear voices in his head. At first it was so powerfully loud that he fell to the ground clutching his ears. After a few moments he realized that several people were talking at once and their sentences became shorter and shorter until one word from each person formed a riddle. I had flesh, then I had steel. I killed your kind and collected your weapons. I died at the hand of one of your predecessors. What race am I? The voices died down as he stood up. Kai, concerned, examined Ben's face and decided that he was okay.

"What happened?" Kai asked.

"It wasn't a memory, it was more like a riddle." He tried to explain. " I heard lots of voices that had said different things to me. From each was a word that made up the riddle."