It was a perfect night on Coruscant. Well, as perfect as a Coruscant night could get. There was still pollution, noise, traffic, and the press of bodies. However, the overall mood was greatly improved. It usually was on the eve of the New Year.

To someone who was not Force-Sensitive, the night could not get any better. However, I could feel something stirring in the ebb and flow of the Force. As a Jedi, I had been trained to feel subtle changes in its currents. My former master had once said I could feel these changes stronger than most. Why this was, he could not say. But my strong affinity had hastened my training and ensured my passage through the Trials at an unheard-of age.

Bringing my mind back to the present, I followed the disturbance in the Force as if it were a homing beacon, guiding my steps deeper into what I called "Coruscant's Party District" - an apt name, considering the many restaurants, bars, and nightclubs in the area.

Sidling through the crowds, I worked my way around a busy nightclub to the back, where I found myself alone except for two shady-looking non-humans. They fled at the sight of me, apparently fearing that my Jedi-self would turn them in for the obvious spice-deal going down. I shook my head, but kept my senses alert. The Force did not bring me here to arrest one of Coruscant's many drug-dealers and his victim.

I could feel another presence nearby, over by the dumpster. I nearly ignited my lightsaber, but upon reaching out with the Force, I could see that the hidden being posed no threat. The presence soon took visual shape as a man came out from the shadows. He was an older man, powerful in the Force, but most certainly untrained.

As I probed deeper with the Force to discover more about him, I suddenly doubled up in pain, as if someone had struck me hard in the stomach. The man seemed to do the same, but I could not see him well from my position on the ground. I tried to reach out with the Force again, only to feel a gaping maw of darkness, cold, and void. Somehow, someone was preventing me from using the Force!

I had secretly done my own study on the Dark Side, taking years to slowly accumulate my knowledge. Though it was not extensive, that knowledge just might save me now if the unknown entity was only blocking the Light Side. I reached out to the Dark Side and found the same void, but that void was somewhat reduced. I yelled and pushed against it with all my might. It did not vanish, but I did seem to tear a hole in it, so to speak. I could stand up straight. I could breathe. I walked over to the man, feeling all the while as if I were wading through muck.

The Force-dampening feeling suddenly disappeared, leaving me exhausted. The unknown man began to stumble toward me, finally collapsing into my arms. I felt his life force leave him. In his back was a bounty hunter's dart. There was nothing I could do for him. I looked around, but could not see the murderer.

Something glowing fell from the dead man's hands. It was a pyramid-shaped object, reminiscent of the holocrons of the ancient Sith and Jedi. Why was it glowing? I reached down to pick it up, but jerked back moments later.

When I had touched it, I had a sudden vision. I saw a remarkably large man working in a mine. That man went on to fight in the final war against the Sith, opposing the Jedi. I saw his training on the Sith Academy on Korriban, his ascension to rank of Sith Lord, his quest to find the long-lost ancient Sith. The vision changed again, and I saw his destruction of the other Sith Lords on Ruusan and his creation of the New Sith - Sith that the Jedi of today knew not. He had trained an apprentice in his ways, and she had bested him in mortal combat for the title of Sith Lord. At that point, the vision abruptly ended in a brilliant flash of light.

I realized I was shaking from head to toe. My mind whirled, attempting to process what I had just seen. As it did so, a smoky, hooded figure appeared before me, seemingly out of nowhere. It raised its head and spoke to me.

"I am Darth Bane," it said, "Dark Lord of the Sith. You have stumbled upon my holocron. But nothing happens by chance. You are destined to become the next Sith apprentice."

The apparition's glowing eyes frightened me, but I spoke with no tremor in my voice.

"I am a Jedi. I have no place among the Sith."

"I know your current path," Darth Bane replied. "You are dissatisfied with your life as it is and long for a greater purpose - greater power. The current Sith Lord, Darth Cognus, can set you on the path you seek."

"Is she the woman I saw defeat you in my vision?"

"No. Darth Cognus vanquished the woman who overcame me. Thus is the Sith Order always strengthened. You have the power inside you to one day defeat Darth Cognus, once her training of you is complete."

"How would I even find this Darth Cognus?" I asked. "I don't know where to look."

"Use your feelings, young Jedi. They will serve you well."

The apparition flickered, but had one more thing to say:

"You will never have the life you seek if you stay with the Jedi, but the choice is yours."

With that, Darth Bane vanished and the holocron's luminescence faded.