It is told, that Jedi must walk the path, of the light, and Sith go down to the path of the dark... but not all of them abides this dogma.
They stand between light and dark, suffering the pull of both sides, and they borrow strength from the struggle.
They say, they walk the path of the shadow...
The forest was unusally quiet. The ragged warrior, who walked amongst the dead treetrunks and dried up bushes, never felt something like this before. The dark side was so strong here, it prevented life from continuing naturally. Part of this once great forest died a slow painful death, and the residents of this planet did not take it lying down. They were not strong enough to banish the dark presence, but intended to end it, one way, or another. This is why he came here.
After the rebels delivered the killing blow to the Empire on Jakku, the people of the galaxy actually thought, that things will be different, and the few decades of peace only deepened their misbelief. In this galaxy, peace is an illusion, a lie. To remind everyone of this law of nature, the First order rose, and once again, plunged the universe into bloodshed.
By the time this warrior was born, the second galactic civil war against the First Order already ended in their demise. As a child, he was raised on stories of great evil and absolute good, godly beings called jedi, who exercised their power in the name of the light, and devilish creatures called sith, who reveled in violence and caused chaos just for the feeling of it. These stories held some truth, but real life wasn't this simple, and he was no longer a child. Even the scars he bore were old.
A cold gust of wind stroke his body, tearing off some dead leafs from the nearby trees. His target was really close, closer then he thought before. But now, he could feel everything. The presence was not unlike his: a creature of the Force, steeped in great power, a relic of an age forever passed.
After the great war, following the fall of the First Order, people were fast to forget the Jedi. The Sith. The Force... the goverments, the isms, the constructs that stood for thousands of years, but never did anyone any good. The enitre universe fell apart, planets, star systems started use to their own social forms, creating laws and bounderies. The galaxy became a wild and unforgiving place, and only a few souls carry any memory of the past. This warrior, called simply Vale was one of them, and he knew that the owner of this dark presence is not any different in this regard.
Yes, Vale remembered the old times. Remembered the jedi temple, were he was trained in the ways of the Force, remembered his master, his peers. A simpler, brighter life... then he remembered the flames, that burned down the temple, burned down the entire universe. The war was horrific, and he understood why the people choose to purge the Force and it's users from their collective memory. Nineteen years have passed, but the horrors he saw and commited still hunted Vale.
After it all, he wandered the universe, helped causes if he saw them fit, saved many beings, but did not hesitated to strike down the ones he deemed deserving of destruction. He soon grew tired of this, and choose became a hunter, with a very special kind of prey. He hunted his own kind for money, relics of the past, who became agressors, or got mad with power. It became a well paying job, and hundreds of rogue Force users roamed the galaxy, broken by the events of the war. Some of them chose to share their suffering with every person they came across, and only someone like them could fight them.
But this one was different: Vale felt like it was a kindred spirit, somene who is forever stuck between the light and dark, but a little different, knowingly steeping itself in the darkness to a point of no return. He will show no mercy, for this creature likely will not have any for him.
The sky darkened unnaturally, so Vale knew he arrived. He grabbed the rusted hilt off his belt, previously covered by his coat. A dark cave was gaping in the stone wall before him, he stared into the darkness, but did not stepped into it. Only a fool would do that, it was the creatures territory in there. He gripped the hilt firmly, and pressed the bloodcovered button on the side of it. Only for a second, but the darkness lit up with the blue light of the plasmablade appearing in his hand.
"You should've not come here, whoever you are" sounded the answer to his challenge. It was a deep, growly voice, devoid of any emotion. "I destroyed countless jedi, you will share their fate."
"I'm no jedi" Vale replied, lifing up the blade, to illuminate his suroundings. The bones, rags and a few defunct lightsabers scattered around him seemed to verify the threat. "I'm just a wandering swordsman, but I do came to kill you. Your darkness poisoned the forest, and the townsfolk liked it the way it was before. They'll pay handsomely to have you removed."
"Fool... throwing your life away for money... you don't even know who you facing. I'm not just some jedi, who strayed from the path, and not some sith, gone mad with power. I am power, not just someone wielding it."
"Then show yourself, and let us fight!" Vale yelled into the darkness. "If you are so powerful, you're surely not afraid to face me!"
A blood red blade lit up in the darkness, as an answer to the obvious taunt. Vale changed his stance to face the enemy, but a moment later, he almost fled the battle altogether: near the blade, two other beams buned into the air, telling him the identity of the opponent. He froze stiff with memories, but quickly regained his cool.
There's not way it's him, he told himself. He is only a legend, like the Solos or the Skywalkers, a tale told to freigthen little children, a simple story to keep weak minden younglings off the path of darkness. This is what Vale tried to believe, but he quickly realised that he is lying to himself. There is a truth to every legend, and it is entirely possible to build a crossguarded lightsaber, or find one. The brutal warrior who uesd it during the second civil war wasn't the only one who could wield it.
His freightened state passed as fast as it came - he learnt to overcome fear, to shift it into strength, and this is what he tried to do now. As he clenched his fist on the lightsaber hilt, Vale felt that the method is working.
"You are right to fear me" said the dark figure partially lit by the red saber. "You cannot even grasp the extent of my power."
"You're maybe right. But my vision far extends yours" Vale replied with horce voice. He was not used to this much talking, in the past few years he barely spoke. "A soul drenched in darkness is not strong... but rather weak."
The owner of the dark presence finally stepped forward, revealing itself: he was tall, wearing black, tattered garbs, and a very old helmet, which must've seen a lot of battle: it was so damaged, that it showed greyish hair flowing out of the cracks, and eyes without emotions, or life in them. This man was old, old enough to be...
"You shall experience my strength first hand, intruder. You'll regret coming here" said the dark figure, closing the conversation by lunging forward, Vale could barely block the mighty horizontal slash he unleashed, as the air violently boiled around their crossed blades. The dark man did not lied to him: he was strong, or at least had deceptively strong arms. The force behind that blade was considerable.
Vale pushed it back, then tried to strike towards the attacker's legs, but the blue energyblade was blocked, and stoke aside, opening Vale up for a possibly lethal slash. He pulled back in the last possible second, but the tip of the red saber burned through the front of his jacket, slashing it open. He felt the intense heat of the blade, while backing away, trying to readjust himself, by holding his sword up in a defensive position.
"And I'm supposed to be the weak one" said the dark man, mocking him. "I would hate to be the thing that this fact makes you."
"I'm just a wandering warrior, fighting a living legend" replied Vale, while he switched his stance to a one more comfortable with offense. "But your blade just grazed me, Kylo Ren. I would say I'm doing pretty good so far" he said with a grin. He always used this act to cover up his fear, or uncertainty, hiding those from his enemies.
"That old name means nothing to me anymore" the man said, his voice was as confident as ever. "Back then I was only a pawn... now I'm darkness, nothing less."
"This is why you're weak" Vale concluded, as he jumped forward, closing the distance between them. The blades collided once again, showering the cold, dry soil with sparks, litting up the darkness for only a few seconds.
Vale had a good opportunity to look Kylo in the eyes, expecting to see the red coloration in his iris, that was so common with the Forceusers who fell for the darkness. He was rather surprised to find normal looking eyeballs, looking back at him.
Kylo stepped back, twirled his sword, then thrusted it towards Vale, who countered the move by striking the tip blade, throwing the opponent off balance. He stepped forward, ready to finish the fight by slashing off Rens head, but the sudden bolt of pain that ripped into his left side kept him from delivering the finishing blow.
He forgotten the crossguard, but remembered it instantly, as one the little blades stabed him between his ribs. Kylo could've even killed him with this move, but decided not to: he only extended his arm, and Vale was sent flying, slamming into the rock wall behind him.
"I will not give you a fast death. No... you will suffer. I will make you learn what it means for a simple vagabond to go up against a Sith Lord, and after that... than, you can die."
"We are not unlike each other, you and I. But only you chose to weaken yourself" Vale replied, as he slowly stood up. "I thought you are a shadow like me. But you choose to only tend to the darker side of yourself. You are crippled" he expained, as he began to heal his wounds with the Force. The technique will not save him, but can sustain him long enough to have a chance in this fight.
"A shadow is darkness itself" Kylo replied. "The light side is weak, but the dark side grants you strength beyond measure. You are the one who is weak. You have knowledge of both sides, so you can never be a master of either."
"A shadow is darkness, cast by the light. Both is needed to concive it, to know it, to understand it. But the Force is not bipolar. There is now dark or light side in it, only in ourselfs. The Force is power, and power corrupts the weak" said Vale, as he activated his lightsaber again.
"You began to amuse me" Ren replied. "Balance is your point then? Why you want to force something to a state where it cannot be naturally?"
"It can be, an it is. But we, the users of it are weak, and easily corrupted. We can only understand the force fully, if we center ourselfs. Jedi and Sith were never able to... and they are both dead. Only the shadow remains..."
Kylo eruped in laughter, his voice was so cynical, so derisive, that Vale could imagine him sneering under his mask.
"This is your dream then? To bulid some kind of Grey Jedi Order, stronger, different? It's been done before! Time and time again, but it always falls. All of them does."
He moved so sudden that Vale could only evade the red blade, as it teared into the ground where he stood before. He blocked the next strike, then managed to attack back successfully, severing the tattered cloth around Rens left leg. As far as he could tell, the blade burned into the man's flesh too.
This was confirmed few moments later, as Kylo became enraged, and started a more brutal offensive then before. Vale blocked his strikes the best he could, but was slashed by the red blade more than once. This stamina began to fail him, at this rate, he'll lose.
Kylo moved like a well oiled machine, and had something no other warriors posessed amongst the ones Vale faced before: he had a very well defined, and fully realised form. He followed a pattern of six hits, then closing form, before attacking again. Vale thought this knowledge would help him, but he could not capitalise on the weakness in the string. The enemy forced him to go to a complete state of defense, and did not let up. He had a similar fight before, so knew what to do. It was a gamble, but he had no other choice, if he wanted to get out of this alive.
He moved to the right, faking an old evasion technique, and his oppoment seemed to take the bait: Kylo immediatly stroke towards the opening on his left shoulder, and Vale let it happen. As the blade slowly sunk into his flash, causing indescribable pain, he moved back, grabbed Kylos sword hand with his left, then blindly stabbing upwards with his lightsaber. The agony from his would almost left him deaf to the heavy hissing behind the back fo his enemy. Rens sword deactivated, and fell to the ground, hitting the dust alongside his owners knees.
Vale also began to fall, but quickly recovered his footing. His wound was nothing compared to the one he caused: the blue energyblade of his sword pierced through Rens stomach, burning quite a few organs along the way. It was a serious injury... but with some help of the Force, not can heal... if he tends to it immediately.
Vale looked down to this legend, this monster, this hero of some, as the man waited for death on his knees. As he saw this, he felt it again: the same feeling he had when he arrived.
"Come with me, Kylo Ren" he said after a few brief moments of silence. "I came to clear the dark presence, but I can do that without killing you. Come, and I will heal you."
"Mercy? Aren't you said that you are no Jedi? That you are a shadow?" Kylo whispered, his voice weakened by every passing second.
"A shadow is made out of darkness, but cannot exist without light. If you come with me, we can work together... we can fix this broken universe" Vale even surprised himself when he said this: he came here to kill, to vanquish the dark presence,nothing else. But now after he actually bested the enemy, he felt something he thought to be long gone... a need, to do something greater. To strive towards a cause, something to live and die for. And he needed others like him. This old warrior, this relic of a past destroyed, could be his first companion.
"I spent my whole life, purging the light from myself, to be a perfect wielder of the dark side. I resisted it's call, destroyed my previous life, burned every bridge" said Kylo weakly, interrupting Vale's string of thought. "I didn't do all that for letting it overtake me now. Finish what you started, shadow. Do, what you came here to do."
Ren closed his eyes, and let his arms fall to his side. Vale just looked at him, while reluctantly raising his saber to strike. As the grey hairlocks hovered in the wind, and the breaths became shorter and short, he finally understood. He was too late, but he came here for a reason, other than the job given by the owners of this forest. He just did not knew it yet when he arrived.
He gripped the sword's hilt firmly, than stroke down the opponent in one swift move. As the body hit the ground, and ashes from the wound flew through the air, Vale deactivated his sword, only to grab Ren's with the Force. The hilt felt different in his hand, and was heavier then he anticipated. He knew he'll keep it... or even use it as his own. This wasn't just a weapon anymore. It was a symbol of a newfound resolve.
Vale activated the saber, and as he bathed in the red light of it, he took one last look at the now lifeless body of the legend he slew, but felt nothing but remorse. Yes, things will be different from now on. Now he has a cause... from this day he won't just wander around aimlessly, murdering other users of the Force for money. He will save them, open their eyes to the truth. The Force has no sides, or faces... the Force is power, to shape this universe, and their own destiny.
He will show them the merits of the light, and the depths of the dark, then teach them how to balance them, and use them to uplift themselfs and others. They will not become an agent of evil, nor a paragon of virtue, but defenders who always act axccording to the will of the Force.
Such is the Way of the Shadow.
The End