53 V.1-C.53│Caves of Ilum II│

'There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force.' The Jedi code.

'Peace is a lie, there is only Passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.' The Sith code.

Both codes fundamentally flawed in their own ways with them not complete, both lacking in certain areas will be put to the test.

[]

Anakin was walking through the catacombs drawing nearer to the location he was destined to go towards, of course that destination was in more than one direction. He felt it.

He felt the Force call out to him from all corners of the cave, signaling to him that every single crystal here would accept him.

What he was looking for however was the call that resounded and yelled the loudest for his attention because that would be the one with the best potential, raw potential that is. He was looking for more than that though.

So he had to go deeper because if raw strength was what he was looking for alone he would have taken many crystals and tried to experiment by combining multiple into a new singular overpowered crystal.

As he was traversing the underground he started to hear things.

Not unlike the voices heard back on Coruscant when going towards the shrine underneath, the Sith temple of all things.

Here in the crystal caves to get his own lightsaber crystal strange happenings were taking place.

'There is no emotion, there is peace.' A vague figure on the right appeared next to him as he travelled.

'Peace is a lie, there is only passion.' Another figure on his left also appeared before him.

'There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.' The one on the right started to become much more clear, cloaked in a blue illuminous hue.

'Through passion, I gain strength.' The one on the left also became more clear taking on a red hue.

It was him, he was both of the figures, while one was blue the other was red both representing either side of the Force. Their alignments clear to him that they both represent the light and the dark.

Other versions of him, his future as either the Sith Vader or the Jedi Anakin, both with their own differences, but it was clear it was him.

Blue Anakin continues. 'There is no passion, there is serenity.'

Red Vader continues. 'Through strength, I gain power.'

The echoes throughout the cave called out to him, the crystals and the Force were telling him to choose. To choose his fate, his side.

His alignment.

Anakin was not prone to getting these sorts of things, but it had happened on occasion because of who he is, or what he could have been but this was becoming more frequent.

His search for a proper balance between the sides was kind of driving him mad.

'There is no chaos, there is harmony.' Blue Anakin says as he continues.

'Through power, I gain victory.' Red Anakin continues.

'There is no death, there is the Force.' Blue Anakin finishes.

Red Anakin also finishes. 'Through victory my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.'

"Why are you two reciting the lines from the codes." Anakin finally decides to address the issue at hand.

'We are here as representations.' Blue Anakin says.

'Representations of you, who you are and what you could be.' Red Anakin states. 'You know why you are here, and why we have appeared to you.'

"I have an idea, so are you two here to antagonize me? Help me in some way... Or to convince me that one side is better than the other?"

'Everything.' Both Red and Blue said simultaneously.

'You have created life, and in response the Force had taken that life away by making sure they die slowly.' Blue said.

'That is the way of the Sith, to be masters of their own destiny. To be the master of the Force itself, is that what you are. Are you me?' Red said.

"I think I will just ignore you two for now."

'You cannot, we are you. You must not ignore oneself.' Blue said.

'To know oneself, is to know your weaknesses. Your strengths and with it you can evolve, become better than you are, truly you are passionate in the search for perfection.' Red said.

The crystals still continuously resonates, calling out to Anakin while he is being pestered.

'You have been torn, conflicted but serenity is within you. You have peace.' Blue said.

Red continued. 'But you are still torn between the fight. The fight that will determine the fate of the galaxy, and I say stuff them. Who are they to need you? How weak. The weak shall be purged.'

Blue then said. 'Compassion is the Jedi way, you have followed this so well.'

"I am my own person, neither of the two of you will convince me that one side is better than the other." Anakin argued.

'We are in your head, we can see. Your defenses and ability to hide your mind from any and everyone will not stop us from seeing what you think.' Red said.

'Dominant are your thoughts of greed and lust, a result of the ritual you had done years ago. Misguided perhaps you were.' Blue says.

"I disagree."

'How will you achieve balance then, when your being is much more aligned with the dark side?' Blue questions.

"You have a point, and I do not have a solution right now... In the future one will present itself to me and if one does not, then I shall make one."

'YES! Master of yourself, your destiny, your freedom from everything. The dark side is powerful within you.' Red lures. 'It is just sad and angering you know nothing of the dark despite your intrigue, you have not truly delved into the powers granted by this alignment.'

"I have no time and right now I am focused on soaking up everything that has to do with the Jedi, after this I would leave to pursue the dark side and its vast powers."

'I advise you against this decision.' Blue says.

"Content in my decision, I am."

'Content? Are you not ambitious by nature. Your greed and possessiveness will lead you down-' Blue advises.

"Yes, yes. I know, the dark side. Can you calm down blue me, you are distracting me from finding my crystal."

[]

Anakin continued deeper and deeper getting closer to the planets core, step by step. Crystals dont form just because they can, they form in a combination of the planets natural elements together with the strong connection to the Force.

'Usually there are meanings to the way ones own Force energy interreacts with their chosen crystal, or is it the wand chooses the wizard?'

'I mean, is it the crystal that chooses the Force-sensitive.'

Truly there are many sources that could be used to create a lightsaber, with many kinds giving unique or special traits to the saber.

Not knowing how long he had been underground, Anakin brings up his interface Hud connected to his mind though the Nanosuit.

'Seems to still be within the time-frame to get the crystal.' Anakin thinks to himself.

Quite literally Anakin had decided to start calling his temporary companions, Red and Blue not really caring for their complaints. They are him after all, so why wouldn't they try to joke around.

The both had been what some would call the angel on the right and the devil on the left, linking back to the idea of the light and dark being synonymous with dualities.

Light and dark, left and right, up and down, black and white, red and blue, yin and yang.

George Lucas had originally gotten the concept for the Force from this concept, the concept of yin and yang, the Jedi were glorified space monks capable of using magic. Or had it been Lucas had a in-depth look into what could happen in an alternative reality of the universe he currently reside in.

It could be he was wrong all along, because he had even said the Jedi were the good guys but they were and are obviously flawed.

One extreme does not mean you have achieved balance and in fact the Force, light and dark are apart of that balance.

'The concept of the dark cannot exist without the light, the light cannot exist with the dark.' It goes both ways.

Subsisting off of each other, that is the way it works.

Anakin's thoughts start to travel to other things as he continues his long trek. 'Now that I have two hearts... Does that make me a Timelord?'

Thoughts like this as you could see, he was using to help him pass the time. He also used some of his extra thought processors to look into how Tatooine was developing, and the business that was still thriving which lead to him thoroughly looking through everything.

'What if I created some type of virtual reality? It could be used to test out the development of my ability to merge flesh and machine, but also be the start of how I could create that matrix I have been working on.'

Coming to a halt, Anakin feels something from deep within, while his two specters watch on from behind him.

'He has finally found it has he?' Blue questions out loud.

'It was about time, with the upgrades he has done to his fleshy self, I would have hoped he would be faster.' Red said.

Anakin now in a trance moves over to a specific crystal but it is on top of the caves roof, stuck in between some rocks shining out and giving off a luminescent glow but it was different from the rest.

Within the Force, its power was more potent, its potential called out to Anakin none alike the rest as he stared at it.

Starting to float off of the ground, he ascends.

Grasping the crystal he starts to come back down after his little venture to the top of the deep undergrounds roof.

Within his hand he feels his connection grow, with the Force and with the crystal himself telling him that his decision was correct. 'Right, I think it might be time to get out of here.'

Again before he could leave, he felt another pull but this time much deeper and it did not feel like a crystal. it was of the Force and seemed to be of the light. Pure and bright was the message sent through the Force.

Deciding to be cautious because even a pure light could be much more dangerous than a corrupting dark he connects with the Force to ask a question. 'Tell me, what is down there and how is it dangerous.'

'You should go deeper.' Blue suddenly speaks up instead of a reply through the Force.

Red continues after Blue. 'What is down there could help fix the problem with your body.'

"Really?"

'It would balance the active and passive dark side energies further increasing the balance within your body.' Red said.

'It is the opposite of what had happened to you on Dathomir, the ritual you participated in does have a light side equivalent.' Blue continued.

"That would be nice and all, so you are telling me that I wont have to reverse engineer the ritual the Nightsisters did on me? That one is down here?"

'Yes.' Both said in unison.

"How could I trust that?"

'We are you, are we not?' Both again said in unison.

"Fine, but if something bad happens, I am blaming you."

'You would be blaming yourself...' Blue says in exasperation.

Anakin decides to trust their words and starts to head further down into the catacombs and as the deeper he gets the more he finds the temperature starts to rise. He was not uncomfortable at all considering his Nanosuits functions but that doesn't mean he is unaware of the change.

He comes across a lake. A luminous lake with alot of crystals shining from underneath deep into the water.

This underground lake seems to be boiling and Anakin can tell that he had travelled quite far down for the temperature to rise so much. 'Who knew that this place could go so deep.'

'Enter the water.' Blue appeared next to him, while there is a distinct lack of Red.

"Where's Red?"

'I will be your guide for the following steps. It may take a while so those above may get worried at your absence but I will try to be as quick as possible.' Blue then continued. 'Enter the lake.'

Anakin gets in with little knowledge of what is to happen next. 'Enter meditation, you will need to do so to truly see who you are, what you represent and find the truth about balance within the Force.'

Entering the lake, Anakin starts to head towards the middle feeling the light side energies hit and begin to imbue his body. Thankfully the middle is the only part that is shallow enough to allow him a proper seated posture.

'Patience is all you need, the Force will guide you next.' The blue specter leaves him as it dissipates into nothingness.

Now all alone with nothing but the Force, he starts his meditation.

Words echo around him, amalgamating into a conglomeration of dissonant whispers speaking directly into his mind.

Anakin now understands what is happening, his body, mind and soul is about to experience a transformation not unlike what had happened with the dark side magick ritual. This time it would be to balance the alignment within himself.

And to possibly give him his new code. A code for himself.

Fortunately he does not pass out but time passes by with him being none the wiser by its passage, not even his Nanosuit helping him here.

Anakin starts to recite the code younglings use to pass their trials. 'Emotion, yet peace. Ignorance, yet knowledge. Passion, yet serenity. Chaos, yet harmony. Death, yet the Force.'

Formulating his own, he begins to chant within which stirs something across the galaxy, notifying everyone whom is Force-sensitive of the event.

'Flowing through all, there is balance.'

'There is no peace without a passion to create.'

'There is no passion without peace to guide.'

'Knowledge fades without the strength to act.'

'Power blinds without the serenity to see.'

'There is freedom in life.'

'There is purpose in death.'

'The Force is all things and I am the Force.'