December, 3987 ABY
That was the day I watched my family burn alive, forced to witness it.
They made sure I saw everything.
The screams of my mother and father echoed through me like a curse I could never lift.
That was the day my world crumbled.
I can still see the fire burning beneath the night sky of Tatooine, the heat flickering against the stars.
The sand pressed against my face as I fell to my knees, tears tracing silent paths down my cheeks, one by one.
I could have saved them, after all, I was only six.
But the Inquisitor, Alexander held me back, tightening his grip just enough to make sure I saw it all.
Every moment. Every scream.
He wanted it burned into me, every last moment.
And it was.
I still remember their last words, spoken just before the Emperor's inquisitor raised his staff:
"Lorenzo... one day, you will have to make a choice."
"A choice?" I asked, confused, my voice trembling, unaware of what was coming.
"Yes, Lorenzo," my mother whispered. "A choice between life and death.
I can't hold your hand forever. But when that day comes... look to the sky. I will be there, watching you."
"I know you will make us proud."
I was left alone in the branded wastelands of Tatooine, scavenging to live.
Before, a freighter crew called the Manchins found me.
We traveled from system to system, taking odd jobs, smuggling, escort runs, sometimes pulling the desperate from war zones.
By the time I was thirteen, I had seen nearly every planet in the galaxy: Coruscant, Hoth, Endor.
But there was one I had never seen.
One that whispered my name across the stars.
Dathomir.
By the time I was twenty-two, I had forgotten the sound of my parents' voices.
Forgotten the warmth that parents give.
Forgotten how they spoke.
And that's when the visions began.
They always came the same way, sudden and cold, like a voice pressed against my skull.
I saw a figure on Dathomir. Someone I had never met.
But somehow... I knew them.
We were in the middle of an escort mission, flying near the outer edge of Dathomir's system, when I finally told the crew about my visions.
Their colour drained from their faces.
The air shifted. Heavy.
Like I killed someone.
"Dathomir is a dead planet," one of them muttered.
"No one goes there. No one lives there. What connection do you have with that place?"
I stood there, frozen.
Speechless.
I couldn't move.
Because deep down… I knew the answer.
And it terrified me.
"Look, son," my captain said, placing a hand on my shoulder.
His eyes were filled with a strange mix of warmth and sorrow.
"If you truly want to go to Dathomir... then go."
"I'm no role model for a kid like you," he said, forcing a half-smile.
"But when you need help... remember us. In here."
He gently tapped his chest.
"In your heart."
Then he led me to the escape pod.
"Ever used one of these before?" he asked, His voice laced with concern.
I shrugged. "Maybe once or twice," I said in a cocky tone, trying to mask the fear building inside me.
He gave me a look, half amused, half worried
"Alright then. Good luck, son."
And with that… the pod door sealed.
I was flung into space.
It was peaceful.
Quiet.
Just me and the stars.
I watched the Manchins drift away, their ship vanishing into hyperspace, leaving me behind.
Alone.
And then I saw it.
The red, cracked surface of Dathomir came into view as the grainy shadows of its dying suns stretched across the escape pod.
bleeding against the glass, revealing the world beneath, dark, alive, and waiting.
Dathomir.
The pod tore through the blood-red sky like a meteor.
I gripped the edges of my seat as fire licked the viewport, Dathomir pulling me in like a dying god.
Then, impact.
The crash sent sand and ash in every direction, rattling the pod like a tin can.
When the dust settled, I stepped out into a world unlike anything I'd ever seen.
The air was thick with smoke and whispers.
The sky bled red above jagged mountains.
Trees twisted unnaturally.
The ground pulsed beneath my feet like a living animal.
It was quiet, but not silent.
Something was always listening.