The snow brushed against his cheeks, the trees were silent. Nothing quite felt more peaceful than the sounds of his own footsteps in his worn-out boots that were the only ones that pressed the white blankets of the forest. His mind felt at ease with every inhale, overcoming each mind-bending obstacle at the following exhale. I can do this; his mind repeated as he wandered past the towering fir trees.

Further through the forest he went, with no souls to hear of, yet many different sights appeared as he walked. An opening I've never seen before. A crack in a tree I've not yet noticed. A new abrasion in the ground. The Knight of Ren was not alone.

As he saw more things he hadn't seen before he began to get jittery. He knew everything about this forest, he spent his time here mastering the darkness and blocking out the light from every element of his being in the only way he knew how – alone. More sights were emerging and then those indifferences became problems. The trees began to slam down around him; the openings in the ground grew larger, the abrasions became craters. He ran with his cloak in tow clenching his saber with every outbreath, dodging tumbling trees and flying over cracks in the surface. This world will crumble, he thought, until he then heard the whisper of another saber in the field. Battle.

Running and dodging and jumping high and low to save himself the Knight tried to vanish into the darkness but the sounds of the swaying lightsaber came closer and closer and then silence returned. The Knight paused. He still clasped his saber with his clammy hands, the cross guard appearing as a sentiment that it was still safe; with a sigh of relief he let his hand go free and wrapped his cloak around his shoulder to keep warm. Why didn't the world crumble?

He liked to think the dark side was represented in the trees and the snow represented the light side that he so desired to leave. His metaphorical conflict was found as his feet touched the snow with very swift strokes – although he wanted to be free of his pain he moved elegantly within the beauty of the forest. His mind was like a prism of hope focused on one goal: moving forward. The dark side had penetrated his mind for many years, but he felt he had much to learn.

Another foot into the snow, and another, he felt safe again until the ground below enveloped him. His screams couldn't be heard as he fell through the void with thousands of voices screaming at him.

"Ben!"

"You're a monster!"

"You'll never be as strong as Darth Vader!"

His fate was sealed and with his last screech for help he heard the trees and the world fall apart around him and the faint whispers of the mystery saber.

"You'll never be as strong," the voice repeated and repeated and repeated until the trees collapsed inwards and broke apart and fell into the never ending void and everything went black.

A jolt back to life. Kylo Ren lay in his bed. The sounds of the heartbeat monitor were all he could hear. No one was in the room.

"The same dream again," he muttered to himself, partially embracing his newly formed scar etched across his left cheek. Now he could only feel pain inside himself.

Ren had been bedbound for weeks. The only people that had supposedly come to see him were Hux, Phasma and other leaders he never caught the name of, with no mention of Snoke since discovering someone else has the power of the force. His wounds had healed just enough to render him free to leave weeks ago but he hadn't left in that time. His motivation was miniscule, but he didn't want to sleep again.

"So you left your cot Ren," Hux muttered as he flicked through Stormtrooper charts; Ren bit his lip in frustration. "We're building the new army already. Course I had reserves of troops further from Starkiller base but we need more to replace the thousands we lost."

"Looks like neither of us are in Snoke's good books," replied Ren finally.

"Supreme Leader has been dormant since the collapse of Starkiller base." Hux looked to the floor, "the Finalizer is our only home now until we reach Geonosis." Ren looked to the galaxy with not a planet in sight.

Hux seems confident for someone who lost most of his men and women that would have overthrown the Resistance, Ren paced the halls. He was conflicted, helmetless and confused. He wanted his helmet to hide the pain his face continued to emit but couldn't even think of where to craft a new one as armour was now in short supply. The First Order had to rebuild but he didn't even know where to begin.

"Sir," Captain Phasma's distinct voice had never left, "it's good that you are well enough to leave your quarters."

"Maybe leaving the room was all I needed to do," he replied with instant regret. What am I doing? I've never spoken to her apart from when giving orders, why am I showing emotion? "I require a new helmet."

"It will be done sir," she said almost robotically as she stomped away; she too required an upgrade on her chrome suit. Kylo Ren returned to his quarters with a new found hope.

There he lay once more, staring at the molten remains of Vader's helmet, wondering how long it will take to reach Geonosis, twiddling this thumbs and taking the time to care for himself. He showered, finally let go of his ragged robes that Rey had singed too much of, and replaced them with simple black garb – no leather gloves, no robes, no shroud. His hair had grown and he was in desperate need of a shave so he took to cleaning himself up, being ever so precise with every movement his razor made. They didn't have droids or tools to help them anymore, so the traditional razor had to do. As unkempt as it was Ren didn't want to touch his hair so he left it be; it was now reaching his shoulders. Then he looked out to the empty galaxy again knowing that a planet wouldn't reach his eyes for several days; he looked to the mask again.

"I don't feel the pull to the light anymore," Ren whispered to Vader, "but I have never felt such pain like this. Is it right to feel like a failure?" Ren knew no answer would come, his luck ran out when he turned to the dark side.

"Yes," a voice in Ren's head spoke. "It is okay to feel this pain, but you will overcome it as your path to the dark side continues." Ren sprung out of his bed wielding an invisible lightsaber poised ready to strike with nothing to attack, his heartbeat racing. Did my grandfather just speak to me? Shaken and lowering his guard he stormed out of his quarters and slamming it shut with the force as he left eager to seek Hux for a second time, who was still at the Bridge of the Finalizer.

"How long until we reach Geonosis? Why are we not doing a hyper jump?"

"Can't you see we're trying to survive here?"

"Vader spoke to me; we need to speak to Snoke immediately."

"I'm sure Snoke would love to hear your little fairytale about how Vader saved your life-"

"I want to be the Sith Lord I was born to be!" Ren snapped as his force powers took centre stage with a crush of a nearby chair. Hux looked longingly at Ren but not in the way that was deemed positive; his long stares at Ren were a constant reminder of before the near collapse of The First Order.

"Do we know if you're even worthy of such a test? Is Kylo Ren the savior we so need? Or do I need to find someone that can truly rule The First Order?" From that moment a hologram appeared on the cruiser's window behind them – Snoke.

"General," he said simply as Hux lowered his guard. Ren was silent and poised. "Darth Vader never perfected his talents in days, weeks, months, and look at him now. He is long gone." Hux lowered his head as Ren moved forward towards the hologram like he had just seen the beacon of hope that he so desperately needed. Ren suddenly picked up hope, he knew Snoke would come to his aid eventually and that he hadn't given up on the Knights of Ren but he didn't know when it would happen. Ren finally felt like he could truly be the one true lord of the Sith with Snoke by his side: Yes, guide me to the darkness, guide me to the path I was born to follow, guide me.

"The next part of your training, Kylo Ren, is about to begin."