Ghost - A Star Wars Fanfic

Chapter 1

     With Yoda strapped to his back, Luke climbed up one of the many thick vines that grew in the swampy planet known as Dagobah. Panting heavily, he continued his course--climbing, flipping through the air, jumping over roots, and racing in and out of the heavy ground fog.

     "Run! Yes. A Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware of the dark side. Anger...fear...aggression. The dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan's apprentice." The Jedi Master shouted in his ear as he continued to run.

     Luke stopped abruptly, the mention of Obi-Wan's apprentice making his blood run cold. "Vader." He looked up at his small Jedi Master with wide blue eyes, "Is the dark side stronger?"

     "No." Yoda snapped quickly, "No...no. Quicker, easier, more seductive."

     "But how am I to know the good side from the bad?" Luke questioned, worry threatening to overcome him.

     "You will know. When you are calm, at peace. Passive. A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack." Yoda said wisely.

     "But tell me why I can't--"

     "No, no, there is no why." Yoda sighed at the boy's incessant questioning. "Nothing more will I teach you today. Clear your mind of questions."

     Artoo beeped in the distance as Luke let Yoda down to the ground. Breathing heavily, he took his jacket from a nearby tree branch and pulled it on.

     He turned suddenly to see a huge, dead, black tree, its base surrounded by a few feet of water. Giant, twisted roots rose from a dark and sinister cave that appeared on one side. Luke stared at the tree, trembling with a sudden fear jolting up his spine.

     "There's something not right here." He mumbled almost to himself.

     Yoda sat on a large root, poking his gimer stick into the dirt and watching Luke carefully.

     "I feel cold...death." Luke's voice shook violently with terror.

     "That place...strong it is with the dark side of the Force. A domain of evil it is. In you must go." Yoda said, hiding a small smile.

     "What's in there?" Luke asked, nervous and in shock that Yoda was telling him to enter a place of the dark side.

     "Only what you take with you." Yoda said cryptically.

     Luke looked warily between the tree and his Master. He started to strap on his weapon belt but was interrupted by Yoda.

     "Your weapons...you will not need them." Yoda said firmly.

     Luke gave the tree a long look, than shook his head in exasperation. No way was he going in to a dark and dangerous place without a way to protect himself. Yoda shrugged off Luke's nonchalance with a sigh, allowing the boy to do what he thought best for himself.

     With a tight swallow, Luke reached up to brush aside some hanging vines, and entered the hollow cave inside the tree. He moved tensely into the almost total darkness of the wet and slimy environment. The youth could barely make out the edge of the passage, so he quickly fumbled for his saber, using it as a makeshift light source.

     A lizard crawled up the side of the cave and a snake wrapped around the branches of a tree a few inches in front of his face. He drew a deep breath, then pushed deeper into the cave.

     The space widened around him, but he felt that rather than saw it. His saber casted the only light as he peered into the darkness. It was very quiet here...too quiet.