The gathering

Ilum was a cold planet, for as far as the eye could see, there was only a desert of crystal-like structures and snow. The ten younglings together with Bultar and Yaddle left the ship and walked through the stretched and slippery path that led to what seemed to be simply the "walls" of a mountain.

One of the younglings, a young female Twi'lek was the first to speak.

"Where are going now? Left, or right?"

Padawan Bultar however smiled and shook her head. "In order to continue, we must unite together and use the Force to reveal the path. With me younglings!" She extended her hand towards the ice peaks of the mountain and started channeling the force towards it.

The younglings followed her words and did the same thing, the mountain suddenly trembled as each of the nearest ice peaks began to lower as the force gathered around it. A snow cloud covered their surroundings for a moment, and when it was gone it revealed a rather interesting stone door, with a very ancient design.

"Let's go, it's almost time to begin the rite."

The inside part of the temple, unlike its entrance, was magnificent. Statues of cloaked individuals stood there as if watching the entrance, with their backs to what seemed to once be a library of sorts, at least that was what its shape made Tanden believe.

Master Yaddle sat down in the middle of the temple, with a smile on her face. "The force acts through the Jedi, and this power brings with it a heavy responsibility. To protect the others we need our lightsabers, and we must build them on our own. However, how can we build a lightsaber without a crystal? Today, you will collect your crystals."

"Wow, that's amazing!"

"Hehe, I'm so excited!"

Seeing the younglings' excitement, Master Yaddle looked upwards and extended her hands. There a hole on the wall opened letting rays of sunlight enter the temple and shine on the surface of a big transparent crystal that was held by some sort of machine. The machine spun for a moment and concentrated the reflected light on a big frozen door.

"To become a Jedi you need to enter the crystal cave, trust in yourself, your companions, and in the force, only then you shall succeed."

With one last warning from Bultar Swan, about the door who would soon be frozen again, and how no one would be able to take them out for at least a rotation cycle, they went off to search their crystal.

At some point they ended up at a crossroad, Tanden looked at the place for a moment and sighed, it wasn't like they could make any decision based on logic or knowledge, they just had to pick a direction and go.

"I think we should stay together..." Ahsoka spoke to the others, she didn't seem to be that confident today, may she didn't like cold places.

"I agree, it would be dangerous if something happened here." An Iktotchi boy spoke.

Believing everyone had agreed they set off in one direction, while Tanden merely looked at them leaving without speaking a single word. For him, as a Mandalorian, this was a matter of honor, he couldn't rely on others' help to achieve his goals.

After making sure that they were far enough, he turned to one of the entrances and after some time choose one randomly.

It was only ten minutes later that they noticed the absence of someone in the group.

"Hey, did anyone saw that Mandalorian boy? Where did he go?"

"What?" Ahsoka turned to look back and was surprised seeing he truly wasn't there. "Sigh... forget it, he can take care of himself, don't underestimate him and his stubbornness."

Hearing her words, the other younglings shrugged and kept going forward.

...

As he walked Tanden would sometimes turn to look at his back, he felt as if something was wrong, but he couldn't quite explain why... From time to time he would hear whispers coming from the shadows, and silhouettes of something.

He gulped and kept walking but this time with a clenched fist and prepared to attack anyone who tried to approach.

Soon, twenty minutes had passed and he still didn't manage to find his crystal, the whisperings got louder, and it now felt like someone was speaking to him, they called him coward, a weakling who wasn't capable even of saving his own mother or honoring his origins.

They mocked him saying that without armor he couldn't call himself a Mandalorian, they said that the Jedi was merely a part of him, while he should have been Mandalore itself.

At some point, he arrived in a dead-end, where there was a dark hole so profound that he couldn't even see where it ended.

There on the other side, where he couldn't reach, two ghostly figures appeared, they were the gangsters of the Black Sun that he had killed!

"What!? How? I killed you!"

They smiled at him and started laughing, suddenly from behind one of them, surged the figure of his mother, they were holding her while pointing a gun to her head.

"STOP! DON'T YOU DARE DO THIS!"

The one who had escaped his blaster shots laughed hysterically. "Hahahaha! You are pathetic, even with all this power you can't do anything, we know the truth, we know the fear inside you, there is no hope for you!"

As he laughed with a monster-like smile filled with sharp teeth, the man held his mother by her neck making her gasp for air.

"NO! RELEASE HER NOW!"

"HAHAHAHAHA!" The man's laughed got bigger and bigger as the flesh of his mouth toured apart and he threw his mother in the hole, making her fall towards the dark!

"NOOOO!" He looked eyes wide at the scene, his heart beating faster and faster as the figure of the man's disappeared. But the cries for help of his mother still reached him, it came from the unknown that was the dark.

He wanted to save her but he couldn't move, the lingering fear in his heart prevented him from moving, he didn't know what lied underneath that vast expansion of darkness!

The scene of his mother being pushed towards the hole kept repeating itself, at some point, there were even duplicates of her being thrown there, that maniacal laugh accompanied it all the time, it made him feel anger, fear, it was driving him crazy.

"AGHHHHHHH!" He shouted with clenched teeth, with his resolve steeled, he closed his eyes and give himself to the force, he let it guide him and threw himself in the hole, he was still afraid, but he knew that the force wouldn't abandon him, he would face his fears and conquer them!

In this fall the force was like a guide, as even with his eyes closed, he could still see somehow, that powerful darkness grew more and more clear, to the point that he couldn't even call it darkness anymore, it was like falling towards the sun!

When he was just a few meters away from hitting the ground, he suddenly opened his eyes and with a single spin managed to regain his balance and use the force push to counter his descent with mastery!

He panted for a moment, his head had become dizzy for some reason. As he recovered himself he was surprised by a weird feeling of warmth reaching towards him, it eased his dizziness, practically ending it...

Turning around he found what seemed to be a stair made out of grey stone that led upwards, he gulped and decided to follow the path.

As he walked the dim-lit place became increasingly brighter, there was something at the end of the stairs that shone with a faint deep crimson color, at end of the stair he found some sort of room, pieces of droids were spread around the ground, there was a door that led somewhere, the skeleton of a human wearing a weird robe with two pendants on its neck, one red and the other blue, and a pedestal that held a floating deep crimson-colored crystal that shone with some sort of inner light.

The moment he laid eyes on the crystal, he suddenly felt some sort of connection with it, and something else as well, he could hear a faint almost unrecognizable sound, he blinked his eyes and approached it, the closer he got, the higher was the sound, but it never went to the point of being annoying or uncomfortable, the more he heard it, the more it felt like someone singing something.

He touched the crystal and it shined even more, that music emanating from the crystal seemed to wash over him and cleanse him from any negative emotion, it calmed his mind and heart.

"What are you?" He asked, but no one replied, all that he could hear was the beautiful sound coming from it. Feeling how he could easily channel the force through it though, he knew it could be used as a lightsaber crystal.

Sighing he took the crystal and decided to leave this place, for as much as he wanted to stay and explore this room and its secrets, he had a faint feeling telling him to go, but even so, he still gave that skeleton another look, and something made him open his eyes wide, there was someone else there!

He couldn't see their faces because it was covered by dark cloaks, cloaks that were identical to that of the statues on the entrance of the temple, and even more surprising is how one of them was like a beacon of light, while the other was like a beacon of darkness.

The two looked at him for a moment and disappeared as if they had merged with the air. Shaking his head, he decided to ignore this for the moment and leave.

As he walked through the place, using the force to guide him, it didn't take long for him to find the door from where they originally came from, however, it was already closed, seeing this he frowned and thought for a moment, he tried using the force to break through it, but... It didn't work as he wanted, he wasn't as strong as he would like.

He frowned and after a few seconds a new idea came to his mind, it was still difficult, but if he succeeded... Closing his eyes, he touched the surface of the ice, through the force he could feel something different about it, some sort of vibration, everything in the galaxy vibrated in their own way, and he started using the force, to make it so that his body was in the same vibration frequency, suddenly it didn't felt more like there was something in front of him, his hand went through the close door, then his arm, then the rest of his body, seeing everyone waiting for him there he sighed in relief.

"Finally you came, we were almost going back to the ship to eat some lunch." Ahsoka laughed slightly.

"How much time did you guys had to wait?"

"Only ten minutes." Bultar was the one answer.

Master Yaddle smiled and turned to look at each of the younglings. "Today, each of you learned a valuable lesson, never forget them. Now, take your crystals, and let's go back to the temple."