Shadows of our Past

XXXII

Anakin's POV

I woke up with a start and a gasp. I looked around and at first, I thought I was in Ilum but I couldn't be. I stood up and looked around, this place looked like the Ilum caves. The ground was black with crystals lighting up the ground but it was just flat land, no walls and straight above was the starry sky. In the distance, I could see a large black and blue ice tower that went high into the sky and then just seemed to disappear. 

I hesitantly walked forward and looked around, there didn't seem to be anything here. This couldn't be death, could it? It was so empty and dark. I looked down at my two lightsabers on my belt, it was strange that I had my lightsabers in the afterlife since I'm pretty sure nothing can kill you because you're already dead so why would I need my lightsabers? But, even though that part was confusing I was glad I had them in case something jumped out at me. 

I continued to walk around not really sure of where I was going or what this place was exactly. 

"You seem a little lost," 

I spun around igniting my dark blue blade and Kol's lightsaber in a defensive position. My lightsaber was positioned in front of me while I held Kol's lightsaber back in an attack position, but I didn't think there was danger. Qui-Gon Jinn stood in front of me, he wasn't a force ghost or an illusion, he was really there right in front of me, but that didn't stop me from being on guard just in case it wasn't him.

Qui-Gon had stepped back slightly with his hands open to show he meant no harm and that he had no weapon.

"You can stab me if it would make you feel better, but it wouldn't do anything," he commented.

"Is this real?" I asked tightening my grip on my lightsabers.

"I'm afraid so." 

I reached out with the force and didn't sense any danger within Qui-Gon or anything around us for that matter. I straightened up and turned my lightsabers off and placed them on my belt and Qui-Gon smiled at me.

"You've come a long way my Padawan, Obi-wan has trained you well," he complimented.

"I guess you were right, about the whole Chosen One stuff," I replied, "In the end,"

"The future can take many turns as you may know and it still can for you. But I believe this is the best path you could've chosen," 

I followed him as we began to walk through this weird place. It was much like Ilum that for some reason I was convinced it was, the crystals lit up and shone brightly as I passed like they did on Ilum but I tried to ignore that fact.

"Those visions about Vader, they would've happened if I joined the dark side wouldn't they?" I asked.

"Yes. They came close to happening I must say but it is nothing to be ashamed of," he replied, "Everyone has light and dark within them, but the Jedi chose to ignore the fact that there cannot be light without the dark. All the Jedi sensed the dark side within you when you were young, I did as well but I believed that with training you could overcome the darkness. That is why I wanted to teach you, I wanted to show you the balance between the light and dark so the dark side wouldn't become a temptation. I didn't teach Obi-wan that because he barely had any dark side within him so that's why he never taught you about balance, but I'm sure you've figured it out on your own by now,"

I nodded and we continued to walk in silence for a while until he placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I've watched over you and Obi-wan ever since I died and I'm beyond proud of you both. You've both come a long way from where you began and you've both taught each other more than I could've taught either of you," he sighed, "I proud to have you both to carry on my legacy,"