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Anakin Skywalker is on the path to become one of the greatest figures on the galactic scene. If you want to read an original story of greatness, you can check my story, Arrival : Ruptures. Comments, likes and reviews are appreciated. Here are the links for : AO3, Spacebattles, Royal Road and Webnovel.
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28 BBY
Tatooine
Sanctum Sanctorum
Anakin stabbed the sword forward, meeting his teacher's shield, and ducked as Strange's sword went over his head. They were using blunted versions to avoid any harm, but even they would have hurt.
He saw the kick and rolled back, jumping to his feet, going for a horizontal slash. Strange blocked it, aiming for Anakin's wrist. He pushed the sword aside with the shield, bringing his own down. His apprentice stumbled with the sudden loss of leverage, and victory for the master seemed imminent.
A force, invisible to the naked eye, slammed into his chest, throwing him back.
"Good, you are getting the hang of it."
He created two platforms, using them to jump in a zigzag pattern before landing a kick on Anakin's shield. His knees buckled, but he refused to go down, swinging his sword upwards. Strange created another platform, jumping over the sword. His heel came down on Anakin, who barely moved back fast enough to see the sole of the boot slide down right in front of his nose.
His sword and shield turned to blunt knives, and he launched them. Strange opened a portal, sending them back to Anakin. The Force already warned the boy, and he redirected the knives, flowing around him like a river and curving around the portal, going for his teacher.
Strange dismissed the portal, a long staff appearing in his hand. He struck the knives hard enough to break them into golden glitter. Anakin abandoned his shield, holding only his sword. He met the attack, blocking the staff with the side of his sword, letting it slide forward. He got into Strange's guard, using the shorter reach of his weapon for rapid attacks.
Strange moved left, ducked, moved right, and dismissed his staff. He weaved through Anakin's quick slashes. He caught the boy's hand, twisting it back, forcing him to drop the sword, and kicked him away. Anakin twisted his body, facing him.
More knives came flying from all sides.
He shimmered, the reality around him breaking like glass shards only stuck together through magic. He trapped the knives in the Mirror Dimension and launched them back. Anakin, surprised, took several to the chest, falling on his knee with a groan.
"Let's have a change of scenery," he said, smiling. Anakin waited for a new attack, but instead, the fabric of space before him broke into twisting shards.
His whole world broke apart.
The ceiling became the floor, and the floor turned into the walls. Pathways that went in every direction appeared through the shifting cave. There were steps that went into the new ceiling, ones that his teacher used.
And appeared right behind him, bringing his staff down.
He rolled forward, falling through a pathway and finding himself flinging out of the right wall.
"Welcome to the Mirror Dimension, kid." Strange smiled, pressing forward. Anakin leaped to his feet, creating shields. His master jumped down, coming out of the same path on the right, a half-circle in his hand. Anakin scrambled to dodge, trying to make sense of the broken dimension around him.
Strange flipped midair as if gravity had suddenly reversed, falling up the path. Anakin rolled forward, dodging the attack, though it was close that he felt the staff touch his hair.
His master wasn't done and waved his hands. The pathways twisted again, multiplying without an end. He stood in a maze, right in the middle of it on a platform, surrounded by shifting, twisting doors.
Strange let himself fall down.
He appeared over Anakin first, an axe kick blocked by shields, though it sent the boy down. He couldn't predict where the next attack would come from, not when it seemed so random. There was no choice left but to trust the Force.
He closed his eyes, not seeing but feeling.
The first kick hit his shoulder as he was too slow to react. The second one clipped his chin, and a staff strike to the back of his knee brought him down again. He blocked the next attack as the Force sent him a warning before it came.
From then on, it was a hit and miss, with him succeeding at blocking the attacks most of the time, though offense was another matter. This deep in focus, there was no place for the knives, and his teacher was too mobile. Any attack would leave him open.
But he couldn't stay still like this forever.
If he could let the Force flow through him in active combat with this intensity, there would be a chance. So far, he had no chance through their countless days of training. Just as he drew energy from different dimensions, he drew on the Force, empowering his senses. Usually it all fell apart at this point.
Today was different.
As if a new world opened for him, as an eye he had never known was closed, a hand that was asleep until now came to life. It was slow, though hazy. Nonetheless, it gave him a clue where the next attack would come from.
Strange struck Anakin's back with his staff. He twisted at the last second, causing it to miss, and launched knives at him. He had already fallen through the ground, and they went through another door.
Rather than stop, Anakin launched more knives, trying to send as many through the doors as possible. He could turn his master's trap back on him.
Seeing the knives, he abandoned his next attack to block them, giving Anakin time to add more into the fray. It was slow, but nothing short of destroying the knives could stop his apprentice. Realizing it was a futile fight, he went through signs with his hands, pushing.
A sphere expanded from him, sending all the knives and his apprentice flying away. He turned around and caught the boy by the back of his robe.
"Damn it," Anakin grumbled, realizing he had lost again. His face settled into a scowl, teeth barred. Strange rolled his eyes and brought them out of the Mirror Dimension, depositing his apprentice on the ground.
"Don't be disheartened. Considering just how suddenly and wildly the battlefield changed, you adapted extremely quickly." It was genuine, not an attempt to make the boy feel better. Not that Anakin needed it, seeing as it was the truth.
He looked down, fists clenching. "But…"
Strange raised an eyebrow, kneeling to look his apprentice in the eyes. "But what? I began to learn the mystic arts before you were even born. I am one of the best, as my teacher said. You have more potential than me; you simply need time and patience to bring it out."
"If you would let me…" he began but was stopped by his teacher.
"Anakin, patience."
"You know what, it will be our next lesson with you." He just had the perfect idea to instill some patience in his pupil.
After they ate dinner and had a good night's rest, of course.
—
Strange held a page in his hand, gently folding it.
"This is the spell for the Crimson Band of Cyttorak. It is a powerful binding spell, one that I used to effect many times," he explained, hands blurring. A rodent appeared in his hand, brown and barely the size of his palm, and the page flew, tying itself around its neck.
"If you can catch the rodent, it is yours. However, no using the Force or the Mystic Arts. I don't want you knocking something over."
Anakin leaped at the rodent without waiting. Strange dropped the animal, and it jumped away, moving so fast the only thing he caught was the ground. He scrambled after it, unwilling to give up yet.
Strange watched it, smiling. Anakin would figure out how to break the Darkhold's curse on him first before he would catch that kangaroo rat.
—
Whenever he thought he had the rodent, it changed directions mid-air, and he missed every single time. Each failed attempt earned him a bruise. The damn thing was a menace, as if it were purposefully mocking him. Still, he didn't stop, chasing after it through the Sanctum, thinking he could tire the animal out.
After four hours, he found himself heaving for breath while the rodent disappeared to who knows where. He leaned on the wall, sliding down, taking deep breaths to calm his breathing. If only he could have used the mystic arts or the Force; he could have caught it.
He considered cheating, but his master would know.
—
"Ani, are you alright?" Shmi asked, wiping the sweat from her son's face. He looked tired, something that did not easily happen these days. She knew he was chasing something but had thought he would have succeeded by now.
"Just tired," he mumbled, sipping his soup.
"What were you chasing?"
Strange's eyes lit up, even more so when Anakin scowled. "A rodent. If he can catch it without the Mystic Arts of the Force, he can learn a powerful spell used for binding enemies."
"It's impossible to catch that thing. I tried everything, even stealth, but it did not work," he said. Trying to sneak up on that thing was simply not possible.
"Anakin, that is a kangaroo rat. It can jump up to forty-five times its body length and can hear extremely well."
"Then how am I supposed to catch it?"
"It wouldn't be a lesson if I gave you all the answers, would it?"
Shmi looked at her son, her gaze softening, and then turned to her dinner. Strange was a good teacher. Anakin had learned many things she could not teach him. If he believed this was another valuable lesson, she would keep silent.
Anakin finished his food, trudging out of the room.
He had to change his approach.
—
He decided to lay down traps. Ones that would not harm anyone else but still somehow caught that rat. He even took time off from his training, spending the time in the library and the workshop. The Sanctum itself had spells to protect it from rodents and such. What it did not have was ordinary traps.
There weren't any books on the matter as well, at least not the ones he could use.
Which left everything to him. He first started on a small droid, modeled after a Nexu, to catch the rat. It proved to be lacking since the high-end parts for an agile enough droid were either too expensive or only available off-world.
Once the Nexu droid ran out of charge after a failed chase, he had to scrap the idea. He could only start with his next idea as soon as he fixed the damage the droid caused.
He built stationary traps, placing them around the area the rodent was most frequently seen. Each one came up empty with the bait gone.
He threw them all to the trash, gnashing his teeth like two metal doors grinding each other to dust.
Many traps and chases later, he finally gave up. He wanted to prove he could retrieve the spell page with his own methods. That he wasn't impatient. It had proven to be impossible. Since giving up wasn't an option, he had to learn the lesson.
Which started with learning the fundamentals of stealth. Thankfully, the library provided guidance on it. Nothing about spells, but apparently, the Masters of the Mystic Arts had to be discrete and stealthy in most of their tasks out in the world. It was to prevent exposure and keep their order hidden.
The techniques were about controlling the body, camouflaging, hiding in plain sight, and more. They all had one crucial requirement.
Patience.
He was quick to put the lessons into practice, sneaking around his mother and his teacher. The breathing techniques were something he was familiar with, giving him an easier time. Camouflage was difficult. It required too much preparation, but he wasn't willing to give up. If he could make droids, he could make something to camouflage himself with.
He also discovered an old encyclopedia on animals. His master didn't tell him anything about the rat other than what he had. Not entirely unreasonable, he was directed to seek the book left in storage.
Anakin learned about his enemy, its habits, capabilities, and, of course, its diet.
—
It smelled something sweet. Rushing out of its burrow, it listened, hearing no danger. The ground lost its hold on it, and the smell got more intense. It saw the seeds, resting in grass, and approached, still listening for danger.
—
Anakin lay in the hallway, buried beneath leaves he had taken from the garden, one hand out with seeds resting on his palm. The tarp the leaves were glued to made it hot, but he didn't care. Ignoring the discomfort was important to keep his cover.
His breaths were so slow he felt drowsy. Each passing minute made him more restless and more numb.
He didn't move a single hair.
Hours passed.
Either the rat was asleep, which it did not seem to ever do, or it had enough food to stay in its burrow. Still, he waited, making himself a part of the floor, staying awake. The tight, burning feeling inside his chest made him want to snap, to go and pull that rat out of its burrow by force.
He was as still as a statue.
Eventually, he heard the tiny taps of the rat as it jumped. His heart threatened to quicken in excitement. He kept his breathing even and slow against all odds. The rat took one seed, and then another, then another.
He waited until it jumped on his palm to reach for the final seed.
His numbing fingers closed around the rat in an instant, finally catching the rodent after two weeks. He jumped to his feet. His vision darkened and he felt weak. However, he did not let the squirming creature leave.
He raised his other hand to his head, stabilizing himself by leaning on the wall. Now that he noticed it, he felt hungry, thirsty, and tired.
He took the page from the rat's back, considering what to do with the animal. He didn't want to let it go after all the effort he had spent to catch it. He also had no desire to let it run away.
Thankfully, it disappeared from his hand, breaking into golden sparks.
He unfolded the page, saw the instructions on it, and smiled. So worth it.
—
Strange felt the conjured kangaroo rat finally disappear. It was created to be an exact clone of the real deal. Thankfully, since it was such a small animal, it was easy to pull off.
His apprentice had hopefully learned something from this. He had watched the boy's preparations, his camouflage cloak, the careful selection of seeds, and every other little detail that had brought him victory.
Learning the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak wouldn't present Anakin too many difficulties. It would make their next bout all the more challenging and educational.
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Notes: I don't want to drag the training arc too much. We will probably start next week with a time skip and Anakin's crusade against slavery if there are no changes. I'll let you guys know if anything comes up.
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In the next chapter:
"Where might you be going at this hour?"
Anakin froze at the sound, seeing his teacher inside the artifact room, reading a book in lamplight. He was always asleep at this time, which meant he was caught.
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