Prologue

"Ooh! Watch out for that one!"

"Yeah, and that one too!" Nicole Thallier emitted a guttural sound of irritation, causing her two companions, Kalian and Sam to stare at her in bemusement. "What? I hate how those Dark Jedi can use 'drain life' over and over again! It's not fair!"

Kalian was distracted for a minute by her friend's outburst, thus causing her KotOR character to die, along with her two companions, Canderous Ordo and Carth Onasi. The teenager reloaded her saved game and paused it, turning in her seat to face her twin friends. "Let's face it. I cannot get past Darth Bandon. At least, not on Korriban." She had fought the Sith Lord about twelve times, and by the last time, was rather frustrated with losing. Luckily, she had enough restraint not to hurl the laptop out the window.

"Well," Nicole began, "If you had just added the 'insanity' power like I said…"

"Yeah, yeah. You aren't so great either." Kalian retorted. "You remember the rancor…?"

"Well… I had issues back then." Muttered the younger, more outspoken of the twins.

Sam leaned forward towards Kalian, brushing a stray piece of golden hair out of her eyes. "She still does. You don't have to live with her."

Nicole narrowed her eyes at her sister. "Oh yeah?"

The twins began squabbling, and Kalian turned back to the computer, admiring her character's good looks. Totally unrealistic, but good-looking heroines are stereotypical. "I wish I had a figure like that! And hair too." Kalian said aloud. The twins stopped bickering and looked.

"Well," Nicole said matter-of-factly, "Don't we all? I mean, look at her: thin, muscular, nice hair… basically… sexy!"

"Never mind about that!" Sam said dreamily, a very rare tone of voice coming from her. "I wish I had a guy like that." She gestured to Carth's handsome figure on the screen. The others murmured in assent, although secretly, Kalian thought that she was more inclined towards the Mandalorian side.

Nicole, of course, not to be outdone, promptly added in her own wish. "I wish I had the kind of power those stupid Dark Jedi have!" the fiery twin paused and glanced around excitedly. "Wouldn't that be so cool? To be able to do that?"

Kalian laughed at her friend's fervor. "Don't be getting delusional about grandeur and power. It ain't gonna happen." She grimaced at the hard truth. "Heck, just to finish the little 'wishing circle' we started, I wish we could actually be there, you know?"

"That would be awesome!"

"I claim Carth as mine!" Sam announced suddenly.

"Um… excuse me? I beg to differ." Nicole said, rounding on her sister.

"Hey. I asked first."

Kalian pushed Nicole out of Sam's face. "It doesn't matter. It's not like it's actually going to happen!"

"Sucks, doesn't it?" Sam said, after a brief pause.

The three seventeen-year-olds sighed simultaneously and several things happened at once: The room went eerily silent, the laptop went pitch-black, and the sky outside went dark. The stillness was broken abruptly by Nicole swearing loudly and richly. Kalian threw her a warning look; cursing was not permissible in her home, particularly with her two younger brothers in the room next to hers.

"Sorry," the girl protested, "But knowing your luck, that was going to be the game where you defeated Bandon."

Kalian laughed. Sadly, Nicole was probably right. That was the way things had been going for her lately. Her parents decided they couldn't live with each other anymore, Kalian failed her trigonometry final, and her long-time boyfriend had dumped her the previous weekend. He had 'too much to deal with right now'. Right. That was why Kalian had invited her twin friends over, to take her mind off the stress. Her mom wasn't around, so she was free to be on the computer all day.

Sam broke into her reverie by gasping. Kalian whipped around. "Sam?" she asked, concerned. Sam's face was chalk white, and her hazel eyes, identical to her sister's were wider than Kalian had ever seen them.

"S-screen…" Sam stuttered. Sam was one to believe in the supernatural. She did not believe in coincidences, but in fate and luck. Kalian turned to her computer and saw why Sam was freaking out. The screen on the computer was darker than she had ever seen it before, but it was the two words in the center of the screen that had Sam transfixed.

'WISHES GRANTED'. The girls looked at each other silently, not daring to speak lest they break the incredible spell enchanting them. Sam gasped again, and Kalian and Nicole spun back to face the now-whirling streaks of light on the screen before them. The light seemed to stretch out of the screen and into Kalian's eyes.

"It… it must be a computer bug… or something!" Kalian gasped.

"Everything happens for a reason!" Sam murmured.

"Is it just me," Nicole began excitedly, "Or do you feel like you're being-"

-pulled backwards? Was Kalian's last thought before darkness consumed her vision and she landed painfully on something cold and hard, something most unlike the soft shag carpet covering the floor in her room.