**Chapter 815: Awakening on Dagobah**
**Scene 1: Jedi Temple, Coruscant – Anakin's Quarters**
Anakin Skywalker awoke with a pounding headache that felt like a proton torpedo detonating inside his skull. He groaned, rolling over in the simple Jedi bed. It had been one week since the divorce from Padmé had been finalized—quiet, efficient, and surprisingly painless on the legal side thanks to the new Jedi reforms. One week of single life in an Order that now openly allowed relationships. One week of realizing he knew almost nothing about women.
"R2, hey buddy… why are you still here?" Anakin muttered drowsily, sitting up. "I thought since we divorced you'd go back to Padmé."
The little astromech droid whistled and beeped from the corner, projecting a short holo-document. Anakin squinted at it. Apparently, R2-D2 had never been Padmé's personal property in the strictest sense. Under the new Naboo Royal Armed Forces protocols—accelerated by Dagon's militarization push across Core and Mid Rim worlds—R2 was officially listed as Skywalker property, assigned to the Republic military chain.
"Huh," Anakin said, rubbing his eyes. "So Dagon started militarizing Naboo and the Core worlds. This is one of the effects."
A firm knock sounded at the door. Before Anakin could respond, Obi-Wan Kenobi entered, wearing his usual calm expression laced with a hint of dry amusement.
"Well, this is a new low even for you," Obi-Wan said, surveying the messy quarters and Anakin's disheveled state.
"Yeah? Why didn't you ever tell me about this pain?" Anakin complained, swinging his legs off the bed. "You fell from getting your heart broken."
Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow. "And spare you the knowledge and experience that everyone else in the galaxy feels? Originally the old Jedi Order prevented such attachments, but now…"
"I can't stop thinking about her," Anakin admitted. "I tried to move on, but I got rejected. Three times."
"Three times in one week since the divorce?" Obi-Wan chuckled softly. "Welcome to one quarter of the galaxy's desperate pool, my friend."
Anakin sat up straighter. "What are you here for, Master?"
"Master Dagon requests your presence," Obi-Wan replied. "To continue your training."
Anakin raised an eyebrow. "What training? I'm already a Knight and a Master."
Obi-Wan smiled faintly. "There is always something new to learn—even for me. But Dagon said that while he may be the strongest Jedi with the highest midichlorian count on record at 86,000, you are still technically the Chosen One. It's time you started training that befits that destiny."
**Scene 2: Jedi Temple Hangar**
Anakin walked through the expanded Jedi Temple hangar, the familiar scent of fuel and ozone filling the air. Rows of advanced starfighters and shuttles gleamed under bright lights—X-wings, TIE variants, and custom craft.
"Uh, where's my fighter?" Anakin asked the clone captain overseeing the bay.
"Sir, your TIE Advanced has been reassigned to the *Resolute* squadron currently operating near Toydaria," the captain replied crisply. "Your new fighter is over there. Call sign: Black One."
Anakin turned and stopped. Parked in the designated slot was a sleek black-and-orange T-70 X-wing, its lines aggressive and modern. The astromech socket was already prepped, and R2-D2 rolled forward eagerly.
"Stranger than the TIE Advanced, but the helmet is the same," Anakin muttered, running a hand along the fuselage. He climbed in, settled into the cockpit, and ran a quick systems check. The fighter felt responsive, alive. "Alright, R2. Let's see what this thing can do."
"Location input: Dagobah," the navicomputer announced.
"Dagobah? In the Outer Rim?" Anakin frowned. "Why does Dagon want me there? Oh well… punch it, R2."
The T-70 X-wing lifted smoothly from the hangar deck and shot into Coruscant's sky. Moments later, it vanished into hyperspace.
**Scene 3: Dagobah – Swamp Landing Site**
The Lambda-class shuttle settled onto a relatively stable patch of ground in the misty swamps of Dagobah. Thick fog clung to the gnarled trees, and the air was heavy with humidity and the sounds of unseen creatures. Dagobah was a harsh, humid, swampy planet in the Sluis sector of the Outer Rim Territories. Despite its proximity to the Rimma Trade Route, it was reachable only by obscure hyperlanes. The surface was mostly shallow marshland interspersed with stifling forests and at least one deep cave. Vast mud fields stretched between pockets of open water. The planet teemed with life—bogwings, dragonsnakes, nudj, sleens, vine snakes, swamp slugs, adder moss, gnarltrees, and meat flowers. No advanced civilization existed here; only the reclusive, pre-industrial Hepsalum Tash called it home.
Dagon Marek stood alone at the edge of the clearing, his black Wrath Shield armor fully reformed after the stellar dive. The colorful accents the girls had painted on it had faded away during the extraction from the blue giant, leaving the armor a deep, ominous black once more. He carried his crossguard bleeding lightsaber, a blue lightsaber, two white dual-spinning lightsabers mounted on his arm guards, the Scepter of Ragnos, and Ragnos's Sith sword. The encounter in the heart of the star had fundamentally enhanced his connection to the Force, upgrading the armor's systems in ways even he was still discovering.
'There has been an awakening,' Dagon thought, staring into the swamp's depths.
The Demon Dragon Emperor's laughter echoed in his mind. *Darkness rises, and light to meet it.*
Dagon's thoughts turned darker. 'Soon the galaxy will be remade. The Sith and Confederacy will die, and I will reign supreme. The Senate will bow, and the Demon of the Shield will rule.'
'Soon Skywalker will come and fulfill his destiny. Then I find the location of the Mortis gods and take their precious dagger. Eliminate Abeloth. With those Celestials taken care of, no one will stop us.'
Both of Dagon's eyes bled slightly as the Mangekyou Sharingan activated and shifted into a new pattern—an eleven-pointed shuriken with a jagged five-bladed pinwheel around it, glowing red against a black sclera. The power surged through him, raw and uncontained.
A Lambda-class shuttle's engines whined in the distance as Anakin's X-wing emerged from the mist and landed nearby. Dagon turned slowly, the full weight of his presence settling over the swamp like a storm front.
The final pieces were moving into place. The war, the ancient threats, the corrupted heroes waiting beyond the Skynet portal—everything converged here, on this forgotten world.
Dagon's lips curved into a small, predatory smile beneath the mask.
"Welcome, Chosen One," he said quietly as Anakin approached. "It's time you learned what destiny truly costs."