NEW BEGINNING - Book I

Chapter 14

The Temple of Eedit

Petro examined the temple from the outside. In the dark it looked quite big and scary. Clone armours and clankers scattered the ground from the battle against Savage Oppress. Of course Petro had heard of it. Everyone in the temple was talking about it back then.
He knew that it was impossible that Savage was there because the temple had been abandoned by the Separatists. Still, he tensed up and threated cautiously.

The young padawan was confused. The force told him to go here but now he received warning signals as well.

What's going on here?

He considered returning to the camp for a second. Maybe he wasn't ready yet. After all this could turn out to be a trap.
Petro wished that his master was there with him right now. It took all his courage not to beg for help through their bond. Just for once he wanted to stand his man, prove that he was worthy of being the Chosen One's padawan. When he reached for his lightsaber he recognized that his hands were trembling.

Pull yourself together, Petro. This is your chance.

The padawan took a deep breath and entered the temple. He activated his saber for some light and held it up above his head in every direction. The temple wasn't any different from most of the other jedi temple. Petro's gaze fell upon the wall beside him. There was a moving shadow in the shape of the cloaked man from his dreams.
He tried his best to steady his voice but wasn't able to suppress the trembling.

'What-what do you want from me? Did you bring me here? And if so, for what reason?'

But the shadow didn't reply. It simply moved forward, deeper into the temple. Petro followed it cautiously, well aware that something or someone could be waiting for him. After all, he'd already been to a temple. Not a Jedi temple but a Sith temple. Back on Almas he had been strangely drawn to it. It felt like...like home. This had been worrying his Jedi supervisors. Petro pushed these memories away for now and concentrated on his surroundings again.

After a while the shadow suddenly became three-dimensional and faced the padawan. Petro was taken by surprise and flinched. He held his lightsaber protectively in front of him.

'You won't need your lightsaber in here.'

Petro's blade vanished and everything around him went dark.
He tried his best not to panic.

'Tell me what you want from me!' he demanded in what he tought was an authoritarian voice.

'You know exactly what I want from you. And in the end I will get what I want. I always do.'

'I won't give in. Never.'

'Just as stubborn as your master, aren't you?'

Petro didn't see the shadow anymore but he felt it moving around him.

'I'm going to introduce you to my powers. Don't try fighting me boy. It wouldn't make any difference.'

Petro felt sick. What would he do to him? The shadow began glowing. The cloaked man force-pushed him against a stone wall. The padawan groaned in pain. He tried to move but was held back by the shadow.
It approached the young Corellian and placed its black hand on the boy's chest. Petro expected it to go through his body but as soon as the hand touched him it felt like a real, flesh hand, only that it sent sparks of ice through him. From where it touched the padawan Petro turned black, his eyes turned to the ones of a Sith.
The cloaked figure looked at the boy's chest. Instead of his clothes and skin you could only see Petro's skeleton. It was glowing like the man himself. The shadow slowly tore his ribs aside which made the young padawan scream in pain.

'Stop! Pl-please!'

It was pure torture. Never had he endured something like this. The man's hand closed around the padawan's red, pumping heart. This way he was able to see Petro. His every dream, ambition, wish, emotion. He could see it all now. And most importantly: He saw Petro's past and therefore the perfect soil for the seeds of the dark side. With his other hand he sent black fog into the boy's heart which turned as well.

'It's done. You're my apprentice.'

The shadow laughed and released the padawan.
Petro sunk down onto the floor and passed out immediately.

'Petro!' Anakin kneeled beside his padawan and tried waking him up.
Katooni kneeled on the other side of her friend.
Slowly Petro opened his eyes and groaned.

'Ahh!'

He cluched his hand on his chest. Stabbing pain went through his heart. His master looked concerned.

'Are you alright? What happened to you? Why did you go to temple on your own after I specifically told you not to?!'

'I-I was sent here. By the force.'

Petro decided not to tell his master about what the cloaked figure had done to him. He was suddenly afraid of what had been placed into his heart. Could it be that those were the seeds of the dark side?
'I went into the temple and...passed out. That's all. Nothing to worry about.'
Katooni looked sceptical.

'Really? You didn't have some kind of encounter with something or someone?'

She stressed the word someone and searched for the truth in his eyes.

'No. I honestly don't know why the force brought me here. I just feel different.'

At least this was true. He felt different. Not in a bad way. Just...different. Something had changed. Petro worried that it could have something to do with the dark side. He kept those worries from his master and his friend. Anakin wasn't really convinced by Petro's description of his little trip either. He just hoped that his padawan would tell him the truth when he was ready to talk about it.

'What's wrong with your chest?' Anakin asked concerned.

'Nothing. Just a shore muscle I guess.'

Anakin offered a hand and Petro gladly took it.
Oh force, his chest was killing him! He clenched his hands and pressed his teeth together. He was strong, he could endure this. He naively thought the pain would pass but it never did completely.
From this day on he changed. Not that anybody would have noticed it. It was a rather slow process. The dark slashed itself a way through the light, consumed it bit by bit.

Palpatine was quite pleased with himself. He thought introducing the boy to the dark side would be more challenging. But as soon as he had learned that Petro already had some kind of connection to it it was clear that he'd have an easy game. The new plan could turn out to be more successful than he'd expected. It was even better than the old one. Everything would be exactly as he wanted it to be in the end...

So I kinda need to defend myself for the temple thing. I had the idea long before the the release of the scene of Ezra and Palpatine in Star Wars Rebels. I started this thing in 2015? And the main plot was already in my head back then. Then I thought it sucked when I saw it on Rebels but u know I don't care the second book will get a better ending!