It began with silence.
Not absence, but anticipation.
Adam stepped away from the final node, and the world seemed to pause. The sky didn't change. The wind didn't howl. But something shifted.
Then the pulse came.
Not of energy—but of presence.
The Force responded like a vast ocean stirred by a single drop.
The system's interface shimmered at his side:
[SYSTEM UPDATE: FORCE SIGNATURE ELEVATED][CLASSIFICATION: PLANETARY FORCE NEXUS – MINOR PRIMORDIAL TYPE][NOTICE: BROADCAST EVENT – FORCE PULSE DISPERSED THROUGHOUT GALACTIC SPHERE][SIGNATURE ANONYMOUS – NO TRACEABLE POINT OF ORIGIN]
And across the stars, echoes began to ripple.
Coruscant – Jedi Temple, High Council Chamber
Master Yoda sat unmoving, his eyes half-closed.
The chamber was still, filled only with the soft hum of the city outside and the quiet tension building between the Masters.
Ki-Adi-Mundi tilted his head. "A shift in the Force…"
"Felt it as well," Plo Koon murmured, gloved fingers curling against the stone armrest. "Not darkness. Not light. But something immense."
Mace Windu glanced at Yoda. "It felt old. Not violent, but... vast. Like a current redirected."
Yoda opened his eyes slowly. "Sleep has ended. Something awakens—deep, quiet… forgotten."
A pause.
"And hidden," he added, his tone darkening.
Coruscant – Senate Tower, Private Office of Senator Palpatine
The moment it hit, Palpatine stood still, a glass of Corellian red frozen in his hand. His eyes narrowed.
Not fear. Not confusion.
Irritation.
He reached out through the Force—not broadly, but like a dagger into shadow. And what he found… was nothing.
No source. No direction. But the size of the wave was undeniable.
"It was not meant to happen yet," he whispered.
He turned toward the view of the sprawling city-planet, mind racing. If this was a new variable—one that could pull attention away from his carefully woven web—it had to be addressed. Quietly. Carefully.
And if necessary… removed.
Corellia – Temple of the Corellian Jedi
The Grand Hall trembled for a moment, and dozens of Jedi within paused in silent meditation.
Master Thrann rose slowly, her green robes fluttering faintly.
"Our tenets do not speak of this," one Knight said, pale with awe. "But I felt it. Like the planet itself… called out."
Thrann nodded. "Not our planet. But a living one. Awakened."
Dathomir – Nightsister Sanctuary
The pulse reached Dathomir like a song played on buried bone.
Inside a cave thick with incense and shadowlight, a cluster of robed sisters paused mid-incantation. One of them, ancient and blind, reached toward the wall, where the blood-painted symbols began to pulse.
"It lives again," she crooned, smiling. "One of the forgotten ones breathes."
"What is it?" a younger witch asked, wide-eyed.
"Not of our world. But born before it."
Serenno – Count Dooku's Estate
In a darkened chamber lined with ancient tomes and glimmering stars beyond the balcony, Dooku stood alone.
He had felt the pulse.
It was not a call. Not a warning. It was a statement.
Something had changed in the galaxy. And yet no one would know from where.
He lifted a glass of vintage Serenno wine and studied its surface as if the reflection might offer insight. There was calm in the power he had felt. Clarity, even. And it tempted him.
Was it a new player?
A rival?
Or something ancient, returning?
A part of him—long cleaved from the Order—whispered to follow it.
Another warned to ignore it.
But the idea lingered. And Dooku did not forget ideas easily.
Elysiar – Relay Spire
Mara stood in absolute stillness, her eyes closed, hands clenched tight at her sides.
The Force raged around her. Not violently. Not darkly. But like a storm carried on purpose.
She had grown up in silence. In manipulation. Her connection to the Force twisted by control and expectation.
But now?
Now it flowed around her like water—deep, unknowable, unending.
Her breath shuddered as the pulse settled. Her thoughts, usually sharp and coiled, were scattered. Not by fear. But by awe.
She didn't understand it.
And that made it worse.
Adam – Central Garden Overlook
He didn't feel the Force the way Mara did.
But he felt the world.
Beneath his feet, the city hummed—not with systems or lights, but with resonance. The nodes weren't just connected.
They were singing.
And the planet—his planet—had become something more.
He turned as Mara finally approached, her steps slow, deliberate.
"You okay?" he asked softly.
She looked up, her expression unreadable.
"It's awake," she whispered.
And he understood.
They hadn't just built a city.
They had awakened a world.