Chronicle III "Prison of Shadows" Part One

Written by Scott D. McGraw

This is the third chronicle in the life of Zentar Corellius, and one where his world and reality gets turned upside down...


Enjoy...






A few days had passed by without incident or notice following Zentar Corellius’s return to Drall, and during that time the forty year old bounty hunter’s mood had been in something of a funk. He’d kept finding himself replaying his last encounter with the woman called Chameleon over and over in his mind and for some reason really felt bothered by it. Corellius had gone to Grenidine, a small back water planet after having received a tip from Serina Jenri, that had concerned one Thoosius Pinch.

Pinch had been a small-time, but successful crime boss with operations near Nal Hutta, deep in Hutt Space, before he’d been killed by the cold yet stunningly beautiful bounty hunter right before his eyes. It wasn’t that killing necessarily bothered him, or that he didn’t think that the obese crime lord hadn’t deserved his fate. Certainly he had, as he’d bloodied his hands many times with the innocent in pursuit of building his little alliances within the galactic underworld.

None of that had bothered Corellius. What had was the sheer, cold and casual way the alluring woman had taken his life, and for no other reason than to maintain her reputation as a fierce and deadly huntress. Pinch had been utterly defenseless and even terrified as he’d begged for his life.

She didn’t have to kill him like that. Corellius closed his eyes, feeling the heavy thoughts weigh his mind down. Reluctantly, he picked up the commlink laying next to him and activated it. A moment later Jenri’s voice came through the small and tinny sounding speaker.

“Jenri.”, she answered casually.

The bounty hunter sighed and paused for a moment.

“Hello?”, she questioned.

He almost switched the commlink off, but then decided against it. “Corellius here.”

There was a slight pause. “Anything wrong?”

“No, not really.”, he grumbled. “Well, there was something I wanted to talk to you about, but I’m not sure it’s really a good idea, anymore.”

The woman on the other end closed a file she’d been reading and looked at her own commlink. “Indecision? Not like you, Corellius. Just say what you need to.”

“All right. Look, if its not much trouble, I’d like to know what the NRI has on a female bounty hunter named ‘Chameleon’.”

“Ah, her.” Jenri’s tone became subdued. “I’m not really permitted to share that sort of info since she’s not bounty, but...I think I can understand why you’d want to know. I’d read your report on what happened in Tarla the other day.” She paused, as if thinking. “All right, since it’s not exactly classified material I’ll see what I can do for you. Give me a few hours and I’ll transmit her file to you. You going to be there on Drall?”

“No, my business is done here.”, he replied. “I’ll be in my ship from here on out. I never like to stay in the same place for more than a few days. I can come to Centerpoint if you want.”

She shook her head to herself. “Not necessary. I wouldn’t have time to meet with you today anyway. I’ve got a lot of things I’m working on. Give me a little time and I’ll get back to you.”

“All right.”, he replied. “Thanks, Jenri. I owe you one.”

True to her word, Serina Jenri transmitted the private intelligence file on Chameleon to Corellius’s old Lambda class shuttle, the very same one he’d fled Endor with two decades ago, and read to himself slowly as the data filled his monochrome computer screen.

Kyoko Katsuragi, A.K.A. “Chameleon”. Human. Age: twenty-four. Planet of origin:
unknown. The bounty hunter read carefully as he made mental notes of anything relevant that might give him insight to her character.

Occupation: freelance bounty hunter primarily operating on the middle to outer rim portions of the galaxy. Political or other relevant ties: unknown.

Corellius kept reading and found some profound things of interest, such as how she’d been “recruited” at the tender age of ten by the Imperials and trained by the Noghri in the ways of the assassin. Back then, the Empire had still been licking its wounds and fighting with everything it had to overthrow the fledgling New Republic, and as such had resorted to all kinds of unorthodox measures.

She'd been a child assassin, trained by a ruthless alien species renowned for their covert skills and then integrated back into some key area of New Republic life to be called upon later. Train enough of these kinds of sleeper cell assassins through brainwashing and expert training and the potential threat to the innermost workings of New Republic government were sobering at the very least.

Somehow, with this particular child, the normal brainwashing and mental conditioning had failed at some point and once free of the Imperials was able to reject her captors will and escape to New Republic space and start her life over, what was left of it, and under her own direction. In efforts to create a perfect assassin the Imperial Remnant had destroyed a little girl’s life and forever scarred her destiny.

All this, amazingly enough, she had disclosed to the New Republic years ago and all of her own free will for reasons no one knew. Because of that, they were able to root out as many as five other cases and diffuse them before anything bad had happened. But still, it was unknown just how many other children were preyed upon to serve the dying Empire’s wishes to regain galactic power.

Corellius found it saddening as he tried to imagine what it had to have been like for her but found that he could not. The mental damage within her had to be profound to say the least. Suddenly, he could understand her obvious apathy for those about her, as well as her disconnection to normal human values. She was more like a machine than anything human.

A sociopath? The bounty hunter suddenly thought. Was it possible to create one? If they were able to strip her of her the core things that we as humans need in order to respect life, then... Corellius let the dark thought hang. While he was no expert in the area of the human mind, he felt like the Force had just given him a brief glimpse into the truth of the matter. For if it were indeed true that her mind and spirit had been diminished in some way, then perhaps that would explain his inability to sense and feel her in the Force the way he could anyone else.

She was no Force user, he was certain. There was something more going on than a simple brushing aside of his mental probing. Her mind seemed to operate on a different level than other sentience and seemed more like a droid in that respect.

The bounty hunter slowly shut off the monitor and sat back, closing his eyes. His life had been quite different, and yet they both shared the same profession. She was a dangerous enigma to him, and one best left alone if at all possible. But as it happened to prove out once all ready, the galaxy was a much smaller place than people believed. He’d run into her twice in nearly as many months, and in places light years apart.

Not too unusual, considering our chosen professions, I suppose.

His mind drifted back to the time when he’d first met her when pursuing a renegade Jedi named Fromm on the planet Dantooine. When he'd finally caught up to him he'd found him with what had appeared to be a defenseless woman. It turned out that the poor and frail looking villager had been none other than Chameleon all along. Having been true to her chosen code name, she’d taken on the appearance of something sure to have elicited the inner nature of a Jedi, even one as twisted and insane as Golen Fromm had been.

Having successfully fooled Fromm into thinking she was a non-factor, she'd been able to manipulate him quite expertly, like the way she had with Pinch. Corellius hadn’t figured it all out in time, but the fact that her mind had been so unusually closed to him had tipped him off to something not quite right about the situation. Still, his surprise at Fromm’s sudden death from a blaster shot to the back had been evident on his face.

A blaster shot from the cold and cunning woman with beautiful almond shaped eyes.

Corellius sighed as he could now feel a strong headache coming on and exhaled sharply. “I need some rest and time to think."

He then called Inspector Jenri once more and thanked her for the info as well as told her he’d be out of contact for a while. She didn’t question him too much and told him that she hoped to hear from him soon. With that done, Zentar Corellius tried to think just where it was he should go to get some solitude. A mental image of a place he’d once been to in another life time then suddenly came to mind. A place he’d made a mental note to return to if he ever had the chance; and that place was Endor.

He’d not seen the forest moon since the time of Imperial occupation twenty years ago, and remembered thinking the large trees and green foliage had seemed serene and peaceful to him. It would be a good spot to get away from much of the galaxy’s corruption and stretch his legs. Without a further thought, he made the proper hyperspace calculations and jumped to lightspeed.


Several hours later, Corellius found himself staring out the shuttle’s cockpit window and felt an odd sense of nostalgia running through him. He’d come out of hyperspace at the exact place that he’d made the jump into it when fleeing from the Rebel fleet all those years ago. He now found himself looking at the very place where the second Death Star had once hung menacingly above the lush forest moon and could almost picture it there once more.

The fate of the galaxy had been decided back then, and for a brief moment Zentar Corellius wondered just how his life might have turned out if the Rebel Alliance had failed to destroy the shield generator and ultimately had been wiped out by the Emperor’s forces.

No doubt things would have been way different. In all likelihood, he’d still be serving in the Imperial Navy and possibly even have made the rank of admiral by now. But even so, the Emperor and Vader would still have died. Events happening outside of the Emperor’s chambers wouldn’t have changed that fact. With both of them gone, it was hard to envision just who would have succeeded as the new leader of the Galactic Empire.

Corellius then laughed a bit as he pictured the hundreds of squabbling moffs and military leaders vying for power as they attempted to take advantage of the disarray. There were no shortage of self-important politicians and ambitious military strategists waiting in the shadows for such an opportunity. Even today, he was certain little had changed for the Imperials in that respect as they all fought for power in the diminished Empire, now roughly one quarter of its former size.

Pulling his mind back to the present, he began to scan the moon below for organized life forms such as the Ewok populations as well as other sentience and tried to avoid them as much as possible. He soon found an area where there did not appear to be anyone who might cause him trouble for miles and miles and set course.

He quickly broke through the atmosphere and cloud line and was greeted by a vast canopy of lush greenery far below that struck him as being just as beautiful and serene as he’d remembered it. Only this time, he was not there as an occupier, but as a visitor. He carefully scanned the area below as his ship streaked across the blue sky, looking for a good place to land.

Corellius soon found a small patch of solid ground with few trees that would safely
accommodate the old Lamda class shuttle and began his descent. As he slowly dropped to the ground directly beneath him, the two large side wings began to re-align themselves in the upward position necessary for a grounding. A moment later, he gently landed on the soft grass and powered down the engines.

Never one to necessarily just blindly trust just the equipment at his disposal, he reached out into the Force and probed the life forces around him but found nothing other than just animal life for miles and miles in every direction, as he’d suspected.

Perfect. He smiled to himself.

A few minutes later, the front ramp of the ship was down and Corellius was sitting upon one of his own speeder bikes, just like the one he’d borrowed from Redel, the dead rodian thug employed by the late Thoosius Pinch. The bounty hunter had kept the shuttle’s original compliment of equipment over years, and was filled with the very things needed for the Endorian environment. Having enjoyed the brief ride on Grenidine and feeling suddenly ambitious, he opened it up full throttle and headed for the thick forest all about him at a wild speed.

For anyone else, such a thing would’ve been suicide, with all the huge trees randomly growing all about him thickly, but not for him. Not for Zentar Corellius, whose ally was the Force. In fact, the black clad bounty hunter kept his eyes closed the whole time and let instinct alone guide him. He suddenly felt exhilarated and alive as fatigue began to flee his body and his mind forgot about things like bounty hunting, the NRI and Chameleon, even if just for a few moments.

Why the hell haven’t I done this before now? He thought to himself as he whipped past the huge trees.

For more than three hours he rode all about the Endorian forest and allowed himself to really let go and enjoy himself, but then finally began to think about things once more. He then noticed the sun had begun to set and nightfall was coming fast.

“Damn. I should have set down on a part of the world where it was earlier in the day.”, he muttered under his breath. Corellius slowly turned the speeder bike around and was about to head back to his shuttle when he suddenly felt something in the Force stir and catch his attention.

Something dark.

The black uniformed bounty hunter shut off the bike and slowly rested on the handle bars as he tried to hone in on what it was that he had felt. An instant later he felt it again, though it was faint and many miles from him in the opposite direction of his shuttle.

Could it be?” He suddenly became both excited and nervous when he considered that Ralian had now come for him as promised. He quickly calmed himself and continued to concentrate. No. Not him. Something else...

Corellius now found himself staring in the direction of the dark presence somewhere deeper in the darkening woods about him and debated as to his course of action. Without thinking, he found his left hand moving down to his hip and felt his lightsaber firmly attached to his belt. I didn’t come here for trouble... but still, I wonder who or what is causing that.

With a sigh, he powered the speeder bike back up and slowly began to move towards the dark presence. Even though he could certainly navigate just as quickly in the darkness as in the light, he chose not to divide his attention in that manner and instead conceded to caution and moved carefully. Just under an hour later, he found himself staring at a large hill with what looked to be some old ruin or fortress crumbling upon it.

Somewhere deeper within, he felt the presence call to him.

Ewoks sure as hell didn’t build this. He observed as he stared at the old building several yards up an overgrown path.

Cautiously, he shut down the speeder bike and dismounted as he looked around for signs of life. He felt nothing other than his own presence in the Force, and even observed that there was no animal life anywhere nearby. Apparently he was alone.

Or so he hoped.

He then slowly began to walk up the pathway and noted the air to be growing quite cold about him as a gentle breeze began. With a sigh, he moved forward and after several steps came upon an iron door rusting off its hinges that would allow him entry into the old abandoned fortress. He tried opening it but found that it hadn’t been used for so long that it had been completely rusted shut.

With a thin smile, he pulled free his lightsaber and set to work. The bright purple blade filled the entryway with an eerie glow and for some reason it's hum seemed unusually loud to him.

Just my mind playing games with my senses. He admonished himself. Without further thought, he carved away at the seams and hinges of the door and a few moments later was greeted with a loud crashing sound as it gave way and fell back into the ruin.

When nothing greeted him or appeared he shut down his blade, replaced it on his belt and slowly entered with a bright hand light that he also carried. He passed the beam back and forth noting nothing of obvious interest within. The place was pretty barren, with rusted walls and a debris filled floor.

I wonder who built this and when. He thought as he observed the large room before him with another door opposite the one he’d just come through. It was from that direction that the dark source seemed to be coming from, so he began to move forward.

Unlike the first door, the one he now faced opened easily, albeit loudly as it grated on the hinges and filled the whole place with a terrible noise. Just beyond the doorway, a long hall ran back with several doors to the sides. Corellius ignored them however as he walked the long dark hallway toward his objective. He soon found that the hall ended at a stairwell and began to move upward. Once he reached the next level, he saw that the floor plan was similar to the one below him, only it wasn’t directly above it but continued to move farther away into the ruin. His eyes scanned the area carefully and felt the dark force just a few yards away and coming from within one of the closed side rooms.

The bounty hunter approached it with caution and now held his lightsaber once again as he pushed the door open. However, he saw nothing unusual within the room and noted it to be barracks of some kind, probably once made to house whatever forces that had used to occupy the place. Perhaps Endor had once been a home to more advanced life than the Ewoks and at one time had armies and kingdoms of some kind. It sure seemed that way to Corellius as he examined the rotted bunk beds to the sides of the room along with a small table, some broken chairs and few lockers in the back.

It was from one of those that he felt that dark presence.

Now more curious than anything, the bounty hunter stepped into the room and cautiously made his way towards the back and faced the thin metal door of the locker. He carefully opened it and looked inside with his light.

He saw nothing unusual except a few old moth eaten rags still hanging there along with some ruined blankets folded on a shelf. Corellius then slowly pulled the top blanket away and sitting upon the one just below it was a small crystal clear cube that appeared to be made of glass or some other similar material. It wasn’t very big, maybe two and a half inches tall at the most.

However, despite its unimpressive and non-threatening appearance, it radiated with the Darkside of the Force intensely.

“What the hell are you?”, the bounty hunter questioned.

The cube just sat there in silence as it likely had been for many years and did nothing threatening, causing Corellius to relax a bit and think harder.

Maybe you’re a record keeping device of sorts, like that Holocron thing back on Yavin 4. He considered. If that’s the case, then Skywalker would probably be very interested in you.

He then had another thought. Seeing as how this cube, whatever it was, had been here for years, certainly before the Imperials had come, then Emperor Palpatine had to have sensed its presence here as well. If he could, then there was no question in his mind that the other had to have known about it. If that was so, why hadn’t the Emperor come for it?

Now more curious about it than ever, he reached for it with the intention of taking it back to Luke Skywalker for his assessment, but as soon as his fingers touched the cool smooth sides of it, he felt something strange happening to him. It was as if his very life force were being pulled from his body and soon began to lose his sense of balance and equilibrium.

He suddenly felt his body falling backwards while at the same time feeling like he was being pulled forward and into the cube itself as the square sides of it began to grow larger. A moment later his mind spun out of control and briefly lost consciousness. When things cleared, he sat up and looked around trying to get his bearings and found that he was no longer in the barracks of a long abandoned fortress, but somewhere else entirely.

“What the hell? Where am I?”, he questioned loudly as he came to his feet and looked about the dark and dense forest about him. Even though he could see these things about him, he knew that he was somehow no longer on Endor. The trees here were thin and gnarly with a look of decay about them, nothing at all like the thick trunked ones that had stretched far into the Endorian sky.

He then noticed that a thick fog roiled at his feet and came as high as his knees and filled the woods. Again, he felt the Darkside of the Force pull at his mind, but no longer from the small cube which was now nowhere in sight, but instead from everywhere all around him.

He was still trying to sort out his thoughts when suddenly he felt a presence behind him and spun about while reaching for his lightsaber. In sudden shock, he looked down at his left hip and saw nothing, not even his belt. In fact, he was no longer even wearing his usual jumpsuit and light armor, but instead had on some basic non-descript robes of black.

“What the-”

“Welcome stranger.”, a raspy voice cut through the stale air. “It has been ages since we’ve last had a new arrival.”

Corellius eyed the other suddenly, noting it to be a very old woman in ragged robes as black as his own. She had a deathly pale look to her old skin and her hair was gray and thin beneath the cowl of her hood.

“Who are you?”, he began. “Where am I? What is this place?”

The other smiled thinly and her shoulders bobbed in amusement. “So many questions. But it is to be expected. Fine, I will tell you, young Jedi.”

“I’m no Jedi.” the other stated boldly.

“Really?”, she raised an eyebrow in mild surprise. “So you are Sith then? It makes no
difference, you know.”

Corellius shook his head slowly, suddenly feeling like something was going terribly wrong. “No. I am neither.”

The other looked him up and down once. “And yet the Force is your ally. Or rather was, I should say.”

“What do you mean?”

The old woman straightened herself up a bit. “I mean that it is because of that fact that you have been brought here.”

“Who has?”, he questioned eagerly. “Who has brought me here?”

“The Anachronox, of course.”, she stated matter-of-factly. When she saw the look of confusion upon his face, she clarified herself. “The small cube you made contact with. It has brought you here.”

“For what reason? And just where is here, anyway?”

The old woman eyed him sharply. “You have brought yourself here by touching that which you should have not. And here is were you will you will spend eternity, forever a slave to Prince Krey.” She then snickered. “That is unless you can overcome him and free yourself, which I highly doubt.”

Corellius was getting impatient and angry. “And just who the hell is this ‘Prince Krey’, anyway? Some Sith perhaps?”

“Oh yes, he was once Sith!”, she confirmed. “But here such things don’t matter. I was once a Jedi Master myself and had hoped my knowledge of the Force would help me in my time or need, but it had not. Here, such histories and philosophies are meaningless. Only your own mind and intuition will decide how you will continue to exist.”

The irritated bounty hunter shook his head, not really digesting the strange woman’s words. “Look, whatever. Where are my clothes and gear? Have you taken them from me?”

The other now laughed openly and shook her head. “You still don’t get it, young one! Your clothing and gear, as you put it, are exactly wherever you have left them. They adorn your body still!”

Corellius looked upon himself and saw only the robe, bringing another fit of laughter from her.

“No, no, no!”, she cackled. “I said they are upon your body! What you see here before you is not of flesh and blood, but of spirit. Of the Force!”

A dark realization began to creep up within him as he considered her words. “Are you saying that I’m not really here, but still in that fortress back on Endor?”

“Fortress? Endor?”, she echoed. “Oh, I don’t know those places, but if that is where you were when you made contact with the Anachronox, then yes, that is where your flesh still lies. But as for where you are, make no mistake, you are here, young one.”

“Within the Anachronox?”, he guessed darkly.

“Within the Anachronox.”, she confirmed. “It is our eternal prison.”

“How is this possible?”

“Humph. I know not. Just that it is.”

Corellius looked at her closely and slowly nodded. “Tell me your name, Master Jedi.”

The old woman sighed and hesitated briefly. “I was once called Alaria, Jedi Master from Naboo, and had once sat upon the Jedi Council at Coruscant. But that was more than five hundred years ago, young one. Here, my name or my past life have no meaning. Now I am only one who is hunted and despised, as you will soon be.”

“By this Prince Krey?”

She nodded. “He has risen to the top and been able to subdue the rest of us trapped here and now rules over us all. It is said that when he has destroyed all others here within he will find release back into the world from which we all came. With your unexpected arrival there is now one more obstacle to his freedom and will certainly come for you, and very quickly I would imagine.”

Corellius rubbed at his chin. “This is all so very weird. I’m here, but my body lies somewhere else. So, am I dead yet?”

Alaria looked unsure. “Of that I’m not certain. If you were physically fine and in no immediate danger from the environment you were in before falling to the Anachronox, then your body will live for a time. While you are here, however, time also moves forward in physical world. And so, things like starvation and predators are now your flesh’s worst enemies, as it now lies exposed to whatever happens upon it.”

The bounty hunter’s mind raced as he thought. “I remember the ruin being devoid of all life, as though driven away by the dark force of the cube. I don’t think any animal will find me, not for a time anyway. Hunger and thirst would seem the biggest challenge on that front. So it seems I must find a way out of here fairly quickly if I am to return and live.”

The old woman sighed and looked downward. “As I said before, you are now a prisoner here and are not going anywhere. If more than a thousand fully trained Jedi and Sith alike could not defeat the Anachronox’s power, I fear your chances are not even worth discussing.” She paused and then looked at him sadly. “I am truly sorry, young one.”

Corellius, far convinced of anything just yet, clenched his fists. “I’m not interested the odds right now. Just tell me plainly, is there a way to escape this prison of shadows?”

Alaria smiled. “I envy you your enthusiasm and determination for life, something that has long left me. Very well, for your sake, I will entertain you with the simple truth of the matter as it was once explained to me when I had first been brought here.”

The bounty hunter folded his arms and locked eyes with her. “Go on then.”

“Very well.”, she began. “As for what reason the Anachronox was created or by whose hand it was made by I have no knowledge of, so don’t bother asking. All I know is that it was a trap laid out before those who have formed a symbiotic relationship with the Midichlorians that once flowed through our blood and gave us our ability to use the Force.”

“Somehow, this odd device has the ability to tear from the physical and bind the spiritual within its small confines. Not only our own spirits, but those of the Midichlorians themselves as well.”

“The Midi-what’s?” Corellius turned the strange word over in his mind, having no idea of what she was talking about.

The old woman shook her head. “The Midiclorians are what give the Jedi or Sith their power through a symbiosis with the host body. Not all possess them on sufficient levels to make use of the Force, whereas others rich in their number can become quite powerful if they spend time in developing their union. But put this matter aside for now. As I have said, they too, have been transferred here by the Anachronox’s power.”

The bounty hunter interjected once more. “So you’re saying the Force is here as well?”

Alaria nodded. “Yes, but on a much, much smaller scale. We are no longer in a galaxy where their number fills space and worlds, but are now limited to the number here alone, brought in with the individuals who’ve been forced here. Because of this limited number, something odd and unnatural has happened.”

“Something unnatural?”

“Power attracts power, young one.”, she commented. “As the spirits of those here confront each other and fight, the Midichlorians will bind themselves to the more powerful of the two, leaving one stronger, and the other weaker.”

“So it’s survival of the fittest?”, Corellius asked.

“Something like that, young one.”, she confirmed. “Right now, you have brought with you fresh new Midichlorians which Prince Krey will certainly wish to add to his own and thus bring him one step closer to freedom, or so he believes.”

“How will defeating me and becoming stronger within this shadowy place grant him the ability to leave?”

Alaria shook her head. “I only know what the legends say. Legends that have been passed on over the ages. It is said that once one reaches a certain level of power, they will become one with the Force and be able to transcend the boundaries that keep them here.”

“Has anyone actually done this?”

“In the five centuries that I have been here, no.”, she stated flatly. “Prince Krey has been in power for all that time. But I have heard from others that there once was another before him who was able to. Whether or not this is truly so, I cannot confirm one way or the other. I fear the number of us now is not as great as it used to be, and that I am among the eldest of those left. As I have said, it has been quite some time since we’ve had a new arrival here so things have sort of reached a certain equilibrium and have remained balanced as such.”

Corellius tried to grasp everything she was saying but still found that he had a million questions. “So what happens to those who have been completely overcome and no longer have their Midi-whatevers?”

Alaria nodded grimly. “They exist as mindless apparitions for a time but then eventually fade from this world into nothingness from what I’ve seen.”

“Quite a pitiful fate.”, the other remarked. “One I have no intention of sharing. You seem to be quite oriented, if not strange. I take it you still have a few Midi-whatever’s hanging about you.”

The old woman grumbled. “You have quite the sharp wit, don’t you? But your words are true enough. I still have the ability to use the Force, though on a level far, far inferior to that which I once held. It is only a matter of time before he comes for me again and finishes me off. It seems that Prince Krey has learned that the Midichlorians, if given time, will procreate, and thus give birth to new ones. So by pacing himself he is able to harvest them a bit at a time and slowly add to his own power. But eventually, even they die out on their own and leave their host to perish if called upon too much.”

“I see.”

“I don’t think you do, young one, but it matters little. There is nothing you can do to change your fate. When he comes for you, you will see this. He has within him the combined power of over a thousand Jedi and Sith alike. He will have your fresh Midichlorians soon enough and leave you a shell of what you once were.”

“Like hell.”, the other swore. “Look old woman, I have no intention of lying down without a fight. So tell me, what can I do to challenge this guy? What can I do here, for now, that is?”

Alaria stared at him for several long moments and then nodded. “All right. I’ll help you to understand as best as I can, as futile as it is to know. Call upon the Force now and visualize your lightsaber. You did carry one, didn’t you?”

Corellius nodded. “I did.”

“Good. It is the symbol of strength that flows within you and will serve as the focal point of your power. Concentrate now upon its image and call it forth. If you are able to do that then you will be prepared to meet the prince head on with what power you have.”

With some skepticism, the bounty hunter closed his eyes and pictured his long silver weapon with its brilliant purple blade piercing the darkness and began to concentrate with all his strength. After several moments of nothing happening, he relaxed his mind and opened his eyes.

Alaria stared at him with a look of disappointment. “If you cannot even do this, then you truly have no hope, young one.” Feeling a bit of compassion, she became the Jedi Master she once was and placed an old hand on his shoulder. “My child, free your mind from your doubts and the Force will serve you as it always has, for the time being at least. Do not give in to your fears or your indecision. Will it and it will be so.”

Corellius stared back at her, then slowly nodded. “You’re right. Just then you reminded me of someone who would say things just like that. I’ll try again.”

“No!”, she slapped his shoulder. “Do or do not. There is no ‘try’.”

The other chuckled. “Right you are, old woman.”

He then became serious and took a moment to get his mind in proper perspective. He felt himself slip into a clear mindset and not bothering to close his eyes this time called the image of his lighted blade forth in his mind. A moment later, the hilt of his lightsaber materialized between them and hung in the air. He held out his hand and relaxed his thoughts. The moment he did so, the long metal hilt fell into his open hand.

“You see!”, the old Jedi beamed. “You have succeeded!”

Corellius turned the cool handle over in his hand and it felt normal to him in every way. With a sudden flick of his finger he hit the activation button and ignited its bright purple blade, bathing them both in its violet glow.

He gave her a determined look. “Now tell me, Master Jedi Alaria of Naboo, where do I find this Prince Krey?”

The other smiled. “Don’t worry, young one. He will find you...”

“Zentar Corellius.”, he supplied his name to her for the first time.

“He will find you, Zentar Corellius.”, she emphasized in slow but firm tones. “He will find you.”



From somewhere else deep within the shadowy world of the Anachronox, a lone figure wrapped in long dark robes lifted his head and looked out from the open window of his quiet tower and could not believe what he was now sensing. Somewhere out there, among the mists and shadows, another had suddenly come without warning.

Someone powerful with the Force.

How long has it been? He wondered to himself. A hundred, perhaps two hundred years?

A feral look of excitement and pleasure spread across the lips of Prince Krey, and without a moment's hesitation jumped from the tower window, landed several hundred feet below on the foggy ground and ran with all his strength towards the new source of power that waited for him to devour.



“So what exactly is this place, anyway?”, the robed bounty hunter walked around a bit in the foggy woods while looking at all the misshapen and dead looking trees. “It seems like something out of a dream or a story.”

“A nightmare, you mean.”, came Alaria’s haunted reply. “For centuries I have been forced to exist here, cut off from the reality I once knew, and forever I will remain. As will you.”

“Don’t count on it.” Corellius replied absently as he suddenly could feel something dark far out in the mists making their way toward them at a steady speed.

“He comes.”, the shadowy Jedi Master stated. “Our time grows short, I’m afraid.”

The other cast a calm glance her way. “Tell me more about him.”

Alaria’s eyes looked somewhere past him. “As I have already said, he was once a Sith Lord and already in the place of power he is now when I had first been brought here. This I have heard from others trapped here when I too cared to ask such questions. Personally, I had not heard of him before my entrapment, so he must have been here for quite a long time. Perhaps even centuries longer than I. However, I cannot be certain.”

Corellius looked at her more closely and could see a profound weariness within her nearly colorless eyes, but said nothing as she continued her story.

“I wish I could tell you more, young one, but there is simply nothing to offer. Those before me, and those still who hide even now, too weak to fight anymore, have all given in to the futility of it all.”

“So there are others here besides us and him, then?”

“Oh yes, indeed.”, she confirmed. “But most are nothing more that mindless shadows now. Only a few of us have any sensibilities left. We have now been made the sources of power that sustain him. Before, when there were hundreds of us, or even perhaps thousands, he had showed no restraint and ravaged us to the point of extinction. It was only when after a time that no one else had been brought here that he began to show signs of using restraint, as though realizing his ‘food supply’ truly limited.”

“And here I am, a fresh piece of meat.”, Corellius grumbled. “Wonderful.”

“An interesting metaphor, young one. But yes, you are correct.”

“You called the cube thing the ‘Anachronox’. How do you know this?”, he changed the topic.

“From Prince Krey.” Alaria smiled thinly. “He had once enlightened me with such things when I’d first crossed lightsabers with him so long ago. Back then, I had been so much younger and beautiful. Not the wraith-like creature you see before you now.”

“You’ve aged here?” Corellius had assumed that she’d been an old master when brought here and now looked at her curiously.

“Aged?”, she echoed. “I think ravaged perhaps a better description. Years and years of being broken down by Krey have done this to me, each time leaving me with fewer and fewer Midichlorians to bond with. As I grow weaker and weaker in the Force, my appearance also decays. I am no longer even able to summon my lightsaber’s image and fight back. You too will find all this a reality when the time comes.”

Corellius was considering more things to question her on when she took a small step back and lifted her head. The bounty hunter looked to where she had focused her eyes and waited in silence as a lone figure slowly took form through the wispy smoke-like fog.

“Prince Krey.”, Alaria confirmed quietly.

Zentar Corellius still held his conjured lightsaber in his left hand and stared at the slowly approaching man dressed in dark black and gray robes. To his surprise, his facial features reflected none of the decay Alaria’s had or even Ralian’s for that matter. In truth, the man before them appeared fairly young, perhaps in his low to mid thirties and wore his sand colored hair in a short well groomed style. He even had a regal air about him, as though her were a diplomat or senator from any of the more prestigious core worlds.

“Zentar Corellius.”, the bounty hunter offered without flare.

The other nodded slightly. “Prince Krey, formerly of Regaldia.”

Though the two appeared calm, Alaria could feel the tension between them growing with each passing second and slowly began to back away from them.

“It has been a long time since I’ve met someone new here. Tell me my friend, how is that you came to be here?”, the man asked with calm interest.

Corellius shrugged his shoulders. “Not much to tell. I happened to be taking a long overdue break from my responsibilities and stumbled upon the ‘Anachronox’ as Alaria here put it, quite by accident. I could feel the Darkside of the Force coming from it and thought it might have been some kind of record keeping device. I reached for it and then found myself here.”

Krey smiled thinly. “I see. Most unfortunate for you.”

“I’m curious, though.” Corellius stated plainly. “Who made the damn thing and why?”

“A reasonable question.” Krey answered. “I simply have no idea either, beyond a few things I’m happy to share with you.”

“And those are?”

“Prior to my own being brought here, I was once a powerful Sith Lord, trained well in the Darkside, and well on to becoming a strong ruler of my people, when one day a man came to my father’s castle and offered tribute, as was not uncommon. While smiling nervously and prostrating himself, he then produced the very thing that has entrapped us both here and called it by name, stating it a gift from his family.”

Corellius watched the other intently as his smile slowly disappeared.

“Like a fool, I hadn’t considered the possibility that this could somehow be a trap and took the Anachronox from him.”, he continued. “The next thing I could remember was waking up here just as you have, in this pseudo-world of shadow and smoke.”

“So just how long have you been here?”

The other man’s smile returned. “Far, far too long, my new friend.”

“Friend?”, Corellius inclined his head.

“Indeed.” Krey nodded. “Friends come to those in need. You have come to me and offer your strength. I gift I deeply appreciate.”

The bounty hunter wasn’t surprised or put off by the delusional speeches often given by those he’d faced. Today’s was no different.

“Sorry to disappoint you, Krey. But we both know what’s going to happen here.” Corellius stated as he ignited the deep purple blade of his lightsaber.

“So eager and full of energy. I’m pleased.”, the prince commented as he ignited his own blade of red. To the bounty hunter’s surprise, the other’s lightsaber produced quite a different kind of blade which seemed to be made up of millions of little dancing flames.

“Unusual effect.” Corellius observed.

Prince Krey’s smile widened. “Something I’m sure that could not be reproduced in the real world. But we are far from that which we once knew and are not bound by the laws outside of the Anachronox. Had you more time, you too may have learned to develop such diverse skills as I have.”

Right then Corellius realized that his fight with Krey might not be as straight forward as any other he’d experienced. If the normal laws of the universe did not apply within the Anachronox, then the possibilities were completely unknown. “You seem to have me at a disadvantage then. But no matter. I’ve never been one to cry over imbalances, so whatever happens, just make it interesting.”

Krey lowered his blade slightly. “Your attitude and wit are refreshing. It seems the Jedi are not quite as serious and bland these days.”

“I’m no Jedi.”

“Ah, then that explains some things then. You have quite a different air about you.”

Corellius raised his blade and took a defensive stance. “Look, let’s cut the talking and get to it. I’m on vacation and want to get back to my speeder bike.”

“Humph. As you wish. But you will find that you will be spending your eternity here from here on out.”

“Wait.", the bounty hunter held up a hand suddenly. "One more question after all."

“Certainly.”

“So what makes you think you can escape the confines of the Anachronox by defeating all those around you? Other than granting you rulership, what benefit is there?”

Prince Krey lowered his own blade slightly. “Simply put, I have no idea whether my logic is sound or not, but there is little else for me to do or try. By becoming stronger within, I hope to one day overpower the Anachronox and return to my world.”

“Return to what?” Corellius asked. “You’ve got no body to return to. Can you even exist outside of the Anachronox if you were to be freed from it?”

The other shook his head. “I’m uncertain. But for more than a millennium I have wandered aimlessly within this prison and I have long since tired of it. Perhaps with your strength added to my own I will succeed. Perhaps not. Regardless, it is the path I must walk.”

“Well, I guess I can understand that, but I have to tell you, I don’t plan on falling to you.”, the bounty hunter responded as he spun his blade once.

Krey smiled darkly. “Then fight me with all your strength, Zentar Corellius. Hold nothing back.”

The tall bounty hunter nodded as he let his mind fall into the Force and be guided by it’s power. With a sudden motion he attacked, bringing his blade crashing into the other’s, and together they began their strange battle within the confines of the Anachronox.

Almost immediately, Corellius could feel just how different the duel was going compared to any other he’d ever had. Nothing seemed quite as it should have and felt dangerously unbalanced. At first, the lightsaber’s blades seemed to collide and strike each other normally, but every now and then it seemed to him as though his own passed right through the dancing flames of the other’s as if it weren’t really there.

What the hell is going on?

Prince Krey seemed to feel the other’s confusion and broadened his smile. Suddenly, the man’s blade burst into a million fragments and surrounded the bounty hunter as though a swarm of angry fireflies.

Corellius fought back sudden panic as he whirled around in confusion and struck out wildly at them all. Every so often he could see the form of Krey smiling at him through their masses. He then felt a voice echo sharply in his head...

What you fight is not of the world you once knew! Here, it is the battle of the mind! It is a battle of the Force in it’s most elemental state!

The voice was that of Alaria, somewhere he could not see.

Suddenly he heard Krey’s voice as well...

The old woman speaks true, Zentar Corellius! Here, we are not bound by the laws that once governed our lives. Here, the only power we have is what we embrace and make our own. But what will you do with this new knowledge?

In a flash, the swarm of flames disappeared, leaving the bounty hunter kneeling with his blade poised above his head defensively. He looked up and saw the other several feet away, completely motionless with his lightsaber as it once was. Slowly he rose and faced him.

“You’ve got me at a big disadvantage.” Corellius stated plainly once more.

Krey nodded. “Of course. Such is your misfortune. This is why I will allow you and the old woman to share your thoughts together. With her instruction, you may yet be able to give me an even better and more satisfying battle.”

“This place is crazy.”

“Indeed.”, the other laughed darkly. “Come to my tower when you feel that you have learned all that you can from her. There I will await you and whatever challenge you can issue.”

“How will I find it?”

“Is not the Force with you?”, Krey raised an eyebrow.

Corellius inhaled slowly. “I’m not so sure anymore...”

Krey’s smile widened once more and then suddenly he faded into the dark mists as though nothing more than a shadow.

With a heavy feeling of despair in the air, the bounty hunter shut down his lightsaber and stared out into the darkness, feeling an icy shiver run down his spine. There were many things he had become certain of in life over the years through his experiences. He’d learned to trust his gut instincts, go with his feelings and believe the small voice that was within him.

That voice was now telling him that he was going to die.



To be continued.

* * * * *

Please let me know what you think and be looking out for the conclusion in the next chronicle coming soon.