Star Wars: The Jedi Chronicles:Enter The Shadows (Books 1-4)

Chapter Eight: The Message

The next morning, the Jedi and Sith pull out and continue the galactic conquest. The teenage Jedi fly back to the Rebellion. Cody and Bree are taken to the sick bay. Michael, Nathan Hall, and Dudley walk into the room where Willie, Andrew, Paul, and Joel started the pie fight.

Shain is standing over a holo-projector. He has all sorts of ships surrounding Coruscant, from one-man fighters to war ships. He has two other separate maps, one of the outside of the temple with a huge army and a inside map of the temple.

Dudley: Someone’s been busy.

Shain: I didn’t get any sleep last night! I’m trying to figure out how we are going to do this as a whole.

Nathan H.: I suggest you take the tanks and put the bulk of them in the center and have fewer on the edges.

Michael: Run about a row of three tanks and as the tanks on the front go down, more come up from behind.

Shain: Sounds good. Do they even have tanks?

Dudley: We could ask Aria. She went there, didn’t she?

Nathan H.: She did what?!

Shain: Long story and she didn’t remember any of it…

The boys work on their plan all day. Everyone but Shain has stopped to eat. It’s about one o’clock at night.

Nathan H.: Dude, it’s late; I need to get to bed.

Dudley: Same here, bro.

Shain: But we haven’t finished yet!

Michael: We have three weeks to get this done. There’s plenty of time.

The three walk out of the room.

Shain: No, there’s not…

Entirely focused on his task, Shain doesn’t stop to eat until unless he is made to. He only allows himself about a half an hour of sleep before getting back to the holographs. He works though the night, assigning everyone a spot in four different places.

It’s about five-thirty in the morning as Sarah runs by. She backs up and takes her ear buds out of her ears. She sees Shain, whose hair is a wreck. There are dark circles under his eyes. He is barely holding himself up.

She continues her run back toward the room quarters. She wakes up Willie, Eve, and Aria and explains what she just saw to them. The four go down to the conference room.

Willie: (yawning) Dude, you need to go to bed so Sarah isn’t waking me up telling me you’re killing yourself.

Shain: Willie, I can’t sleep. When I try, it’s all I can think of and it keeps me awake. I’m worried to death about everyone.

Sarah: Shain, are you thinking of the consequences of your actions? You can’t stay up like this anymore - you’re killing yourself and if you’re dead tired for the fight, then you won’t be any good to us against Censes.

Shain: If there's one thing I know, it's that it's always best NOT to think about the consequences before doing something stupid.

Willie: You’re doin’ something stupid all right, B-rad.

Eve: Shain, this isn’t healthy; you need sleep, and you need to start eating before you disappear! You're thin enough as it is!

Shain: Wouldn’t that be lovely.

The four look at each other.

Eve: That would be horrible!

Willie: Who would I mess with? (grins)

Shain: I can't give up. I still got a job to do for this galaxy.

Aria: We’re not asking you to give up. Look, I’m as worried as you are, and I’ve been pouring over maps and charts and training until my arms are ready to fall off. But if you faint from exhaustion during the battle, what help is all this prep work going to be?

Shain: There’s no--

Sarah walks up to him and stretches out her arm. She uses calm mind on him. Shain's mussles relax and starts to fall asleep. Willie catches him as he passes out.

Eve: Hopefully that will keep him out of it for a while.

Willie: Hopefully I can go back to sleep!

Aria: Quit whining. It’s a healthy time to get up.

Willie ignores her and carries Shain to his room and goes back to bed. The girls go down to the mess hall, which is starting to get busy with soldiers. The mess hall isn’t filled with its usual laughter. Everyone knows what is coming.

Eve: Shain is driving himself crazy over this whole war-thing.

Sarah: Doesn’t he normally just go in and do the job anyway? Why is he even doing this?

Aria: Could be the nightmares, could be the way I looked after my little fight with Censes, or it’s the fact that Censes messed with “his family”.

Eve: Could be all three…

Aria: He didn’t want me on the team that goes to face Censes… But I’m beginning to wonder if Shain should be going to face him, either.

Scene Change: Shain starts to have a nightmare. He is standing in the middle of a battlefield on Coruscant. Buildings are on fire and the smell of death is in the air. Blaster fire is whizzing by his head. He looks around and the side he standing on is losing.

He reaches for his blue and green lightsabers and charges into the fight. He runs straight into the thick of the battle, sabers blazing with his two favorite forms: windmill and figure-eight. The more he swings the more tired he gets.

He isn’t gaining any ground - in fact, he is being pushed back by the enemy, which is difficult for him to see. Suddenly, he gets pushed from behind. He flies though the air and tumbles a few times. He looks up and in front of him stands... himself. But something is different about him…

He looks darker; he has more muscle, and black hair that hangs down in his eyes. A slight smile plays over his lips, which practically screams, “you pathetic moron”. He wears two lightsabers that clip to his legs.

Shain scoops up his lightsabers and turns them back on and charges with his sabers in a reverse grip. The Dark Shain just stands there as Shain charges him. Shain pulls his right saber around his body and down.

Dark Shain leans a little as the blade passes by. Shain takes his left arm and jerks it back down the other direction. Dark Shain shifts to the left. Shain jerks his saber back to his left side. Dark Shain steps backwards. Shain steps in and crosses his arms slicing at his upper body.

Dark Shain drops to his hands and kicks up in between his two sabers and kicks Shain in the stomach. Shain doubles over. Dark Shain flips up on one hand and kicks him in the face. Shain flies into the air and lands on his back. His nose is bleeding.

Shain gets up slowly without his sabers in his hands and throws two punches, then a leg sweep with his right leg and a left-footed kick. Dark Shain blocks the punches, ducks and catches his leg. Dark Shain grins, knowing that it’s Shain’s bad knee.

Shain’s eyes widen as he raises his arm and jerks his arm down onto his knee. Shain screams bloody murder and then Dark Shain spins around and kicks Shain dead center of his chest, breaking six ribs.

Shain flies back and ands hard on the ground. Shain looks out over the battle field. His men are dying, some even surrendering. Blood is trickling out of Shain’s nose and mouth onto the concrete.

Shain: God… please. Help me, I can’t do this…

Suddenly, a blazing bright wind comes out of nowhere and takes out a large group of his enemies. Slowly, the light forms shapes, then solid objects - people, about fifty of them. Each one emitts their own light. The females have large white and gold wings.

Each has a flaming steel blade -some have two of them. Dark Shain’s eyes start to panic, darting every which way as he watches himself die. It becomes clear that each thing in the army was something of Shain’s that he didn’t want anyone to see or an evil he had done.

One of the males comes up to Dark Shain and runs his blade though Shain’s dark side. Both Shains screams out in pain as the dark one dies and fades away to nothing. The Angel walks up to Shain, who is curled up in a ball trying not to move.

Shain: Who are you?

Malachi:: I am Malachi. I come with a message.

Shain coughs up blood.

Malachi: The dark version of yourself represents yourself and Censes at the same time. If you can’t beat yourself, how can you expect to beat Censes? The truth is you can’t do anything yourself. You must rely on Christ, the one you accepted as your Savior years ago. “Colossians 2:17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.” When you awaken, you will not remember what I have told you till you need it most. Our time is up. (smiling) May Christ be with you.

Shain: No... wait!!

Everything fades to black. A few hours later, Shain wakes up. He walks out of his room to find Willie and Cody guarding his door.

Cody: Good morning, screamy head!

Shain: Don’t you mean sleepy head?

Cody: Nope.

Willie: You spent the last three days screaming your head off like you were in excruciating pain.

Cody: Yeah, man; you were coughin’ and screaming and yellin’ like you were getting your butt whipped.

Shain: I was?

Cody: Yeah, man.

Willie: What where you dreaming about?

Shain: I can’t remember... Well, it’s good to have you back, Cody.

Shain’s stomach growls.

Cody: I think, um, you should go get something to eat.

Shain: Good idea.

While Shain was out, Michael, Dudley, Nathan H., Jordin, and Cody finished Shain’s plan. The only thing that is needed is to assign everyone a place to fight. As soon as he gets his strength back, Shain puts everyone in elite training with Zacar, learning how to use their non-Force powers.

Two days before the fight, the strange Jedi disappears. Also in the time Shain constructed a new cyan back hand lightsaber that matches his other back hand lightsaber.