Part 15 (2/2)

Another year went by. Or maybe it was only a second. Luke inhaled slowly, picturing a big yellow 5 5 in his mind, focusing on nothing but that image. in his mind, focusing on nothing but that image.

”You are rising higher,” said the aged voice of Seek Ryontarr. The horn-headed Gotal was floating in front of Luke-or perhaps it was above him-speaking to him in the soft voice of a meditation coach, guiding him to a higher consciousness. ”You are barely connected to your body. You feel contact only at your heels now, now your shoulders, now the back of your skull.”

And it was true. Luke only felt attached in those places. Everywhere else, he was floating free, at one with the Force.

”Six ...,” the Givin rasped. the Givin rasped.

Luke changed the image in his mind to a big yellow 6 6. He began to let his breath out, feeling himself himself growing lighter and more ...apart. Each time he exhaled, it seemed to take longer, and this time it felt as though a week pa.s.sed while he was emptying his lungs.

”There is no life” the Givin said. the Givin said. ”There is only the Force.” ”There is only the Force.”

Luke repeated the phrase. He felt his shoulders lift free of his body, leaving him attached at only the heels and the head.

”You are almost free now,” Ryontarr told him. ”When Feryl says seven seven, the last bonds will dissolve. You will no longer be attached to your body. You will rise from the shadows into the pure radiance of the Force.”

Ryontarr paused, as though waiting for Luke to change his mind. And perhaps he would have, had there been another way to learn what had happened to Jacen here-to look into his nephew's heart, as the Mind Walkers had promised, and see why they believed Jacen could not have gone dark.

The skull-faced Givin, Feryl, rasped, ”Seven.” ”Seven.”

Luke felt his body fall away, and then he was floating in a cloud of violet radiance, staring up into the purple glow at the heart of the chamber and tingling with cool pleasure. He raised his real hand and saw that it looked the same as it always had, then raised the artificial one and saw only a shadow in its place. He tried to touch it. His fingers vanished into the darkness, just as they would into any shadow.

”You cannot touch what is not real. Your cybernetic hand is just illusion, as much a shadow as flesh and bone.” Ryontarr reached out to tap Luke's chest. ”That ”That is real.” is real.”

”What, exactly, is real?” Luke asked. ”My spirit?”

”Your Force presence. It's your true self, a swirl in the living Force that animates your physical body.” Ryontarr tapped Luke's chest again. ”This ”This is what truly exists.” He pointed over Luke's shoulder. ”It gives form to is what truly exists.” He pointed over Luke's shoulder. ”It gives form to that.” that.”

”That being my body,” Luke clarified. being my body,” Luke clarified.

When Ryontarr dipped his tall horns in the affirmative, Luke slowly spun around and saw his body floating among a dozen others. Although it did not appear nearly as haggard and hollow-cheeked as some of those around it, the eyes were sunken, and his face looked dry and pale. To his surprise, his vac suit appeared to be mere shadow, as did all the clothes he saw. Even the walls of the meditation chamber-what little he could glimpse of them through the ma.s.s of floating Mind Walkers-appeared to be nothing but shadow.

”Our bodies appear more substantial than the inanimate material,” Luke observed. ”Is that because our bodies are imbued with the living Force?”

Ryontarr shook his head. ”We Mind Walkers come from a great many traditions: the Disciples of Ragnos, the Fallana.s.si, the Jensaarai Jensaarai, the Potentium Heretics, the Reborn, the Far Seekers, the Inner Seers, and ten dozen more. We have all all brought our own understandings of the Force-that the Force is a rainbow, that it has a dark side and light side; that it has the three aspects or four, that it has two sides brought our own understandings of the Force-that the Force is a rainbow, that it has a dark side and light side; that it has the three aspects or four, that it has two sides and and two aspects ...” two aspects ...”

Ryontarr let the sentence trail off, his voice having risen to such a level of disgust that Luke thought he might actually shout. Instead the Gotal sighed and shook his head.

”It's nonsense, all of it,” he continued. ”There is one one Force, Force, the the Force ...and many ways to see it.” Force ...and many ways to see it.”

Luke looked back to his body. ”Then my body is more substantial than my clothes because ...?”

”It's not.” not.” Ryontarr pointed at it. ”Touch it.” Ryontarr pointed at it. ”Touch it.”

Luke obeyed-or tried to. When he pressed his hand to the body's face, it simply sank through the cheek. The body's eyes widened in momentary alarm, but immediately grew vacant and gla.s.sy again.

”You haven't abandoned abandoned your shadow body yet,” Ryontarr said. ”There's still a tiny part of you inside, because you aren't ready to give it up entirely.” your shadow body yet,” Ryontarr said. ”There's still a tiny part of you inside, because you aren't ready to give it up entirely.”

”And that part is giving it form,” Luke surmised. He did not accept everything Ryontarr claimed, but he was here to learn why Jacen had fallen to the dark side-not argue Force theory. He pulled his hand out of his body's face, then frowned at its sunken eyes and dry skin. ”Will that vestige of me also keep my body hydrated and fed?”

”In the sense you mean ...yes,” Ryontarr said, holding Luke's gaze a little too steadily. ”The Force will sustain your body for as long you remain attached to it.”

Luke c.o.c.ked a brow and glanced around the chamber. ”There are a lot of starving bodies in here.”

”What can I say? Many of us have lost our attachment to the shadow world.” Ryontarr looked to Luke's body. ”You have just arrived, and your attachment is still strong.”

”So, my body is safe.”

It was the Givin, Feryl, who answered. ”If you are afraid, you can always return to your body just by seeing yourself inside.” He drifted around in front of Luke, his deep-set eyes gleaming orange in the depths of his skull-like face. ”It is only leaving leaving that is hard.” that is hard.”

It did not escape Luke that Feryl had not actually said said that his body would be safe, and he felt fairly certain that Ryontarr had been trying a little that his body would be safe, and he felt fairly certain that Ryontarr had been trying a little too too hard to appear truthful when he had claimed the Force would sustain his body. hard to appear truthful when he had claimed the Force would sustain his body.

”If you don't believe me, just try,” Feryl urged. ”What do you have to lose?”

”Nothing at all,” agreed Ryontarr. ”Now that we've shown you how, you can return beyond shadows anytime you wish.”

”But you won't be here to guide me,” Luke surmised. ”I'll have to retrace Jacen's steps without your help.”

Ryontarr shook his head. ”You have only to call us before you start.”

”We'll be here waiting.” Feryl turned and began to rise into the ball of purple light. ”Think on it all you like, Master Skywalker.”

”There is no hurry,” Ryontarr agreed, following. ”Time is an illusion.”

Luke frowned and glanced down at his body's sunken eyes. He could sense that the Mind Walkers weren't telling him the whole truth, but it didn't feel as though they wished him harm. And they were clearly willing to let him be certain of his body's safety before proceeding. But time did did still matter to Valin and all the other young Jedi who were losing their minds, and if he could discover whether Jacen's visit here had something to do with their delusions, the sooner he did so the better. Too, there were those mysterious alarms flas.h.i.+ng and blaring in the control room. When still matter to Valin and all the other young Jedi who were losing their minds, and if he could discover whether Jacen's visit here had something to do with their delusions, the sooner he did so the better. Too, there were those mysterious alarms flas.h.i.+ng and blaring in the control room. When any any alarm went active, he could not help feeling that time mattered very much. alarm went active, he could not help feeling that time mattered very much.

”Wait.” Luke used the Force to pull his vac suit's water tube free of its mounting clip so he could position the suck-nozzle between his body's lips, then went to join the Mind Walkers. ”Where are we heading?”

Ryontarr pivoted around, half facing him, then pointed toward the purple radiance crackling in the center of the chamber. ”We are going into the light, Master Skywalker.”

Luke smiled. ”Into the light?” he repeated. ”That has an ominous ring to it.”

”Not at all,” Ryontarr said, also stopping to wait. ”You have already already gone into the light-just as you are still inside your body, about to begin the releasing meditation.” gone into the light-just as you are still inside your body, about to begin the releasing meditation.”

”All is permanent,” Feryl added. ”All things that will will happen have happen have already already happened. All things that have happened. All things that have already already happened are happened are about about to happen.” to happen.”

”Time pa.s.ses inside us us, Master Skywalker,” explained Ryontarr. ”It is only our our finite nature that pa.r.s.es the galaxy into seconds and eons.” finite nature that pa.r.s.es the galaxy into seconds and eons.”

”So I've heard,” Luke said, recognizing some of the philosophical underpinnings of the a.s.sertion. There was a definite Aing-Tii influence, with a bit of the Potentium unity doctrine and perhaps even a hint of Heresiarchian determinism thrown in. He found himself wondering just how the Mind Walkers had melded together so many different Force traditions. ”A finite mind cannot comprehend the infinite galaxy.”

”You will.” will.” Feryl motioned Luke after him, then started toward the purple glow again. ”Come into the light with us.” Feryl motioned Luke after him, then started toward the purple glow again. ”Come into the light with us.”

As Luke followed the pair toward the crackling radiance above, he began to understand the origins of the term Mind Walking Mind Walking. Every time he started to swing a foot forward, he simply found himself a pace ahead of where he had been the moment before, as though he were teleporting ahead one step at a time. Eventually, he realized that he merely had to think think about moving to discover that he had already done it. about moving to discover that he had already done it.

The trio was still three meters away from the purple glow when a tentacle of light crackled down to touch Luke's chest. His entire presence immediately turned as purple as the ball of light itself, and he was filled with a bone-s.h.i.+vering joy a thousand times more intense than anything he had ever before experienced. He felt as though he had become the Force and the Force had become him, and he was flooded with a calming bliss that seemed as deep as s.p.a.ce. Pain, fear, anguish-even the memory memory of such suffering-vanished. He knew only the pure, eternal joy of existence, a song as vast and ageless as the universe itself. of such suffering-vanished. He knew only the pure, eternal joy of existence, a song as vast and ageless as the universe itself.

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