DARTH MAUL VS. SUPERMAN
EPISODE V
Darth Maul's robe, lithe with the dark call of the Sith, swirled around his body, speaking softly in slight, definitive overtones. A secret joy graced the creature's disposition as he stood his ground, his eyes peering at the burning remnants of his flagship, the Sith Interceptor; his former starship now served as an impromptu tombstone for the fabled Last Son of Krypton. The Dark Jedi, his head crowned with the traditional horns of the Darthomirian species, focused his glowing, red-yellow pupils on the burning pyre. The Sith Lord had destroyed the once invulnerable Man of Steel, sacrificing his only means of escape; Maul overcharged the ion engines of his Sith starship before activating its light speed capabilities, ramming the Interceptor into the Kryptonian. Now, alone, but victorious, Darth Maul watched this guttersnipe world succumb to his dark side ambition; the planet core groaned like a dying animal, the Sith Interceptor impaling, then devastating the fragile ecology of the planet.
The arid, cracked skin of the planet's surface shivered, as if cowering in terror, but the Sith Lord's posture remained unfazed. The end of the planet meant little to him, the end of his own life in trade for the Kryptonian's defeat, a necessary sacrifice.
The Darthomirian's eyes looked towards the heavens before drifting to his weapon of choice; Darth Maul's duel bladed lightsaber. The Sith pondered his triumph, which was by far the creature's greatest achievement. Destroying the Kryptonian, whose power rivaled that of the most legendary of the Jedi Knights, was an impossible feat, yet Darth Maul succeeded where no creature in the universe could. Yet, the Darthomirian sensed a lost opportunity; the Kryptonian was an imbecile, wasting his talents, giving way to an unfulfilled destiny. Maul knew the unfairness of fate and its countless injustices well; the Sith Lord understood the Force was a harsh mentor, sometimes kind to imbeciles, gifting such fools with untold and unlimited capabilities, yet sparing them the harsh discipline required of a Dark Lord.
Maul destroyed simpletons, and those that lived only did so because the crimson skinned Sith allowed them to. These fools, ignorant of the Force, and hence of true power, fed and slept and perpetuated their pointless existence underneath stars the Sith controlled. Only he truly understood the mysteries of the Force reveling in the power of the sacred art as it roared through his nerves and rippled through his musculature.
However, with a tinge of remorse, the Sith knew his last moments of life would be filled with regret; there was nothing alive worthy of meeting the heated, crimson glow of his lightsaber. The most dangerous prey in this universe had been bested by a mere Darthomirian slave child, raised in acidic rage. Maul almost sighed acknowledging the lack of ceremony upon the death of the Kryptonian. There was none present to mark the moment a Dark Lord of the Sith killed a God.
The planet shook once more, with one notable difference. Darth Maul felt himself being dragged into a fissure in the ground. Through sheer tactical discipline, the Darthomirian utilized his command of the dark side to propel himself through the ash riddled air, landing haphazardly onto the broken landscape.
The Sith's face was a riddled expression of incredulity and incomprehension. Precognition was never the strongest of Maul's Force powers, but it appeared as if the planet itself had caught hold of his right ankle in an effort to pull him into the bowels of the underworld.
Maul pulled himself free, watching his right foot, now devoid of footwear, glistening with a crimson sheen. His Darthomirian blood poured from jagged cuts around the bottom half of his leg, painting a blood pallet onto his skin. Red on red. Years had passed since the Dark Lord had seen his own blood, and within the recesses of his Sith knowledge, he understood there was nothing natural in the universe, and whatever entity took a hold of him with such willfulness was alien to this world, possessing an adroit and nimble nature curious to this planet.
Maul glanced at the crater, seeing an object hurled into the air, watching it land with a hollow crash meters from his prone figure. The Sith used the Force to pull the object closer to him.
Maul almost smiled as he held the object. It was the Sith's boot. No, a planet cannot seize a Sith with such alacrity, tearing it off a Dark Jedi's body. However, the Sith knew there was something else on this planet that possessed this level of might and power.
"The Kryptonian lives," Darth Maul said.
The Man of Steel rose slowly, rising through the smoke and flames spewing from the arena of dust and sod underneath him. The regal features of the Kryptonian were nearly ruined by the devastating attack by the Sith Lord. Bruised and beaten, his face was scarred. The desolate terra firma of this wasteland of a world, created solely as a celestial amphitheater, revealed dark dramatics within the two alien beings and the inner realm of their mutual conflict. More so in the Man of Steel, a being not familiar with defeat, nor pure, blind rage.
"I've returned something of yours," the Kryptonian said as his body floated above the sinkhole's cinders. "There is something I wish to impart to you in return."
The air crackled with charged energy as Darth Maul ignited the dual blades of his lightsaber, hearing the familiar hum of energy as he pivoted and twirled the double bladed weapon.
"You impress me, Kryptonian..."
But the Sith didn't finish his sentence. The Man of Steel's eyes glowered, flushed with an intense rage as heavy bolts of heat emerged from his pupils, focused on his Sith adversary.
Maul deflected the wide berth of the Kryptonian's heat blasts before the sheer force of his anger forced the Sith to backpedal. Maul leapt through the air, somersaulting against the pull of gravity, as the Man of Steel's deadly, burning gaze trailed the creature as he scurried for safety.
The Sith's discipline allowed him to summon the darkest recesses of the Force that coursed within him. Maul used a Force propelled speed burst, allowing the Darthomirian to find a temporary sanctuary behind one of the larger shards of metal and circuitry of the Sith's destroyed starship.
"You are learning, Kryptonian. The dark lesson has not destroyed your body, and your mind will only grow stronger from the effort."
The Sith reached out with his command of the Force. Nothing. The Man of Steel had vanished from his ethereal senses. The Dark Lord held his hand out to the world collapsing around him, searching for his prey, his heart racing with the knowledge that the grand game of life and death was abound once more. Killing the Kryptonian a second time, a third, a million times would never quench that hunter/prey thirst, that infinite rage that guided his hands and made his mind and body a single engine of destruction.
Maul retracted the glowing blades on his lightsaber, flipping the studs on the hilt of his glowing blade, choosing stealth as his primary weapon. The ashen sky above was dark, flooded with stained mist, turning every flaming piece of wreckage into a brilliant, luminous beacon.
Darth Maul slithered from hiding, moving quickly, hidden among the debris. The Sith concentrated, controlling his breathing, slowing down his heartbeat, taking gingerly steps through the ruins of the planet. He searched for his enemy, slowly extending his senses through the swirling winds of the dying planet, searching for his enemy, finding a thrill in the chase once more.
The Sith understood that this Superman understood the death of a planet. The fool was one of the last of his species; his father was an overstated optimist of a doomed, glutton bound species. Most of the "civilized" world was slow and weak, sickened by the thought of combat, of victory, of survival. Maul would end this lineage of cowardly Kryptonians and bring the universe into order. Krypton was no more, its last surviving descendant should meet a similar fate.
"Jor-El places his whelp into a starship and blasts him amongst the stars, never imparting the true lessons a man must know in his lifetime" Maul said aloud, goading his adversary, aware of his exceptional hearing. "A true man knows his enemies must not merely be beaten, but obliterated. There must be no mercy. For every planet resides in the darkness of space, in the endless void of vacuum and deathly silence. Man of Steel, know that destruction is the great prison where all the weak, feeble, and foolish are sentenced to. Your mother and father understood this. You will understand this lesson just as well, you fool!"
Vapor escaped from a crack in the ground, venting droplets of viscous, molten liquid, white with intensity. The Darthomirian was aware of each droplet of the lifeblood of this celestial body; he concentrated, pushing with his mind, using the Force to repulse the burning drops of hellstorm away from his body.
This Kryptonian was not a tactician, barely a warrior. He was a man-child gifted with inordinate powers, but not with the rationale or strength to control them. Where Maul was strongest, this Superman was weakest, never able to decimate his foe, never able to channel his anger to a sharp tip, like the burning end of a lightsaber, ever ready to pierce and impale.
"There is the myth of a creature laden with malevolence on my world," came the Kryptonian's voice. The imbecile had learned proper combat disposition, Maul thought. The timbre of the Kryptonian's voice was low, barely above a whisper, the location of the speaker drowned in a mire of physical sensations that weighed densely upon Maul's Force abilities.
Darth Maul sensed eyes watching him, turning his head in one direction, then another, seeking the Kryptonian, extending his inner senses but finding nothing save the ever-present debris of the apocalyptic atmosphere.
"Where are you, young fool?" Maul said, the raspy, low inflection of his voice controlled, disciplined.
The Man of Steel continued. "A being of nefarious nature, unlimited in thirst, his damnable attributes focused on self-serving need. He is a selfish coward." Darth Maul spun in haste. The Kryptonian's voice seemed somehow closer, yet Maul realized the Superman was not in view. Then, there was a glancing moment, and through the haze of this rock's unceremonious end came a hint of intuition; Darth Maul's Force powers, so acute, converging on ideals of clockwork perfection came apart all too quickly.
The Dark Jedi had a moment to retain a tighter grip, and ignited his dual bladed lightsaber just as the Man of Steel's hands grabbed his ankles. Darth Maul was instantly dragged through the gravelly crust of the devastated planet, disappearing into the darkness of the ground below. The Sith Lord desperately swatted at the rocky soil, breaking up the solid terrain surrounding him, keeping the sod from filling his mouth and caking his throat.
The two men burst through the soil, landing in a subterranean cave. Maul caught a glimmer of the unrivaled rage in the Kryptonian's eyes, and with a fleet, twirl of his wrists, caught the Man of Steel's hands with his lightsaber, burning the Kryptonian's fingertips, loosening his grasp just enough to free himself, tumbling to the bottom of the cavernous fissure below.
Maul righted himself from an inverted position landing heavily on his cracked foot with such force that he nearly tore the muscle from the bone. The Darthomirian tumbled down the uneven ground, finally stopping his fall by embedding his lightsaber into the rock beneath him. With his Jedi blade providing purchase, Maul was moments away from plummeting into a gully of white lava; the heat, even at this distance, nearly searing the Dark Jedi's eyes shut.
Darth Maul hollered as he summoned the dark Force within him, propelling himself into a series of acrobatic maneuvers just as the Kryptonian's heat vision blasted the bedrock beneath the Sith.
Maul held his right hand out, violently utilizing the Force as he shoved the Kryptonian's head backwards. Superman staggered for a moment, before Maul screamed, unleashing Force lightning, scorching the Man of Steel's unbreakable skin. The Last Son of Krypton braced his arms in front of him, deflecting the burnished blasts, rooting out the ceiling of the cavern above him.
Rocks collapsed on top of the Man of Steel as the dark side lightning precipitated a cave-in, nearly burying the Sith Lord underneath a mountain of debris. Darth Maul had nary a moment to leap away from the collapsing hollow, using his dual bladed weapon as a piton, climbing faster, chased by the heat beneath him as the fires below were stoked to hunger, craving his flesh, cooking the soles of his feet. Yet the Sith moved faster, ascending through the cavern, the Force within the Darthomirian grew stronger, leaping with a channeled energy that threatened to tear through his skin.
The Sith reached the surface of the planet, penetrating the crust with a circular slash of his weapon before hurling himself laterally. A geyser of slag erupted underneath him, bursting out of the underground cavity, chasing the Sith with a torrent of liquid magma.
Barely escaping the onslaught, the Sith Lord gasped choked breaths in the superheated air that blanketed him. The Dark Lord felt oddly at peace as he faced the horizon, watching the alien planet wither and die. Darth Maul peered at his own ruined Jedi robes, his gloves singed and burnt, half of his cloak torn from his body revealing his tattooed, crimson body, charred and scalded, the black insignia of his own Sith heritage blurred into the inky, dead epidermal surface of his body. Even with a planet on the brink of destruction, even with death surrounding the Sith, the assassin, now merely a husk of a man, still lived. He was victorious once more.
Or was he?
"That myth I spoke of earlier, was of such a blackened soul," Superman said from somewhere behind the Sith, "that his visage was carried as an example of the worst of humanity."
Darth Maul turned to face his Kryptonian adversary. Superman's bloodied face brought joy to the Sith; bringing this idiotic, naive beast to his knees was pure glee, the chance to kill him again, ecstasy.
"The worst of your species?" Maul replied, snarling at the adopted Earthling. "You beg for acceptance by these humans. You are akin to a loyal pet, always under the thumb of your master."
"And your way is better?" the Man of Steel questioned. "Killing, subjugating, taking, and for what? Power?"
The Sith Lord eyes stared deeply at the Kryptonian.
"There will come a moment when a savior is utterly alone, when the power he wields becomes a threat to the insignificant souls that comprise a world. It is at your weakest, when you are old, powerless, then you will know death by the hand of your adopted brethren, Kryptonian," Darth Maul replied matter-of-factly. "Search your own muddle thoughts, your own clouded emotions, and face the inevitable truth. All creatures of this universe live only to subjugate others."
The Man of Steel searched his own soul, hearing low voices that spoke to him incessantly since his days as a youth in Kansas. A lifetime ago, a young Clark Kent was forced to hide his abilities, never able to strike down those that did not truly deserve mercy. The Man of Steel slowly came to a stark realization; that the planet Earth only called upon its adopted savior during humanity's moments of desperation. Kal-El, Superman, was as much prisoner to his extraordinary powers as he was the purveyor of them.
The Sith felt the Kryptonian's doubt, his inner confusion. The Dark Jedi struck with another weapon.
"You know this to be true, Kal-El. No creature respects a pet. It is you, Man of Steel, who should rule that insignificant blue planet. That world, and dozens more. Humanity quarrels ceaselessly, every breath their leaders speak is riddled with lies and deceit. Every moment you bow to their impotent rule instead of ruling them, you are enabling them to become...me."
Kal-El thought of the murder of his father in another galaxy, on another world, in another time. Memories of General Zod, the power hungry zealot who murdered his father and nearly destroyed Kal-El himself came into focus. Zod was a genetic automation, a creation designed for a singular task; the survival of Krypton. The Man of Steel's crimson foe was not so different, his argument against humanity never more clear; the Dark Jedi's call for domination was not easily removed from the Man of Steel's psyche.
Never had the Man of Steel felt so alone, debating quietly within his own conscience whether this Sith being's cold logic captured a dark kernel of truth. Back on Earth, the governments of the world saw the Man of Steel as a threat to their safety, though Clark knew that the destruction of the planet would more likely come from humanity than the plight of a single Kryptonian. So much of the devastation that reduced Metropolis to rumble during Zod's attempted invasion was put at the feet of Kal-El. Wasn't he the 'alien' that challenged Zod? Wasn't he the only possible individual who could act as savior to the planet?
"I sense your thoughts, Kal-El," Darth Maul said quietly. "You know what I say to be true. People of your world simplify what we are. You can save them, but first you must have the tenacity, the desire, the will to rescue these fools from themselves."
Superman stood, his eyes unblinking, watching Maul, thinking of how this demon-like creature, whose powers was lacking compared to his own Kryptonian gifts, almost defeated him with cunning, strategy, and discipline; the Dark Lord of the Sith had taught the Man of Steel a powerful lesson that could never be forgotten. And maybe, if the Kal-El could endure some of the darker elements of the Sith's philosophy, he could, indeed, unite the Earth under a single rule, eliminating the petty battles that destroyed so many human lives.
"I cannot deny your words, Sith. I've lived a lifetime of solitude, growing up alone, lost in a quiet sense of shame because of what I could do," Kal-El spoke, the admission, almost liberating him.
"You must deny no longer, Kal. Your world does not possess the power to govern themselves. The universe is brutal, lacking foresight or discipline. If we were to parlay our combined abilities, our joined forces would enable a structured future for these barbarians. The best of their kind would never know the suffrage we have endured for our differences. We can unite the galaxy by forging the difficult decisions that they cannot or will not make."
The rush of emotions nearly crippled the Man of Steel more so than any of his previous, blundering attempts at preserving humanity by working with them. He could change Earth by ruling it. He could...
Sacrifice. The world emerged from the depths of his consciousness. Pa Kent's image appeared in Kal-El's mind's eye. His human father understood the limitations of his own species, how they would tear apart his Kryptonian offspring out of some imperceptible obligation to their ever present fear of the unknown.
Yet Jonathan Kent loved his boy, allowing himself to succumb to an earthly cessation so that Clark would understand a truth that bridged humanity, planets, and the universe itself. For a moment he caught a glimpse of his mother, who would not understand the decisions that her son would need to make to protect her species. No, she would not understand, because Superman was seen as just a puppet of Earth, whose powers were held in awe and abomination in equal parts by Earth's leaders. But Martha Kent would never see her son in that fashion.
No, Clark Kent was simply her son. And like Jonathan Kent, Martha Kent would die to protect him. Kal-El knew little in the ways of the universe and the infinite ways the dark void could destroy you. But what Clark did know, was that to subjugate a people was to decimate them, and within that blind grouping of mass humanity, there would be people like Martha Kent. Like Lois. And for the first time in his short life, Clark Kent accepted the abysmal responsibility of being a creature of two doomed worlds; one lost to their own greed, the other desperately hoping to achieve the same fate.
"Sith," Superman said, "your reason is strong, but so is your folly. I will not be corrupted by your hatred, by that all-consuming rage that defines you. If I am to live a million lifetimes, I will do so freeing souls from subjugation."
Maul seethed within himself, knowing that control over the Kryptonian would be tantamount to allying with divinity. Reaching out with the Force, the Sith Lord probed the Kryptonian's mind.
"You love a woman of that foul planet." Maul spat the words out derisively.
"I do," replied Kal, "and you cannot change that. Despite your control over this mystic Force, you cannot break certain bonds. Your black heart cannot destroy my love for a woman."
The skies crackled; the end was near. But Darth Maul was a Sith, and if the Kryptonian must retain his sense of ideals, so must the Dark Lord.
"I have no heart for weakness. I hold no regard for a fool!" Maul yelled, momentarily losing dominion over his ceaseless fury. The Sith closed the distance between the two men, ignoring the agony of his broken leg, feeling the satisfaction upon hearing the sizzle of his focused blade of light burning through the skin of this child god. Hearing the scream of the alien being, Maul twirled his lightsaber, the twin blades whirling before feigning a blow and reversing his strike.
Maul backhanded his lightsaber and felt the solid contact of the blade against the Kryptonian as the Man of Steel incredulously grabbed the burning ray of light in his hand. The Sith struggled knowing no one could resist the lightsaber's blade; it would soon carve through the hand of the Last Son of Krypton. It was only when the Sith struggled that he realized that the Kryptonian was no so easily dissected.
The Man of Steel grimaced, baring his teeth as his hand clenched the glowing brilliant glare of Darth Maul's lightsaber. His hand shone brightly, the bones shining underneath the skin, as the Man of Steel held the focused, crimson rays emerging from the Sith weapon in a vise-like grip.
The Sith stared in incredulity. There had never been a creature vigorous enough to survive a lightsaber's killing blow. It was as if the Kryptonian was summoning an unknown reservoir of his own gift, gripping the luminous blade with his hand, screaming in agony but maintaining his hold nevertheless.
Maul growled while savagely focusing his power of the dark Force, pushing the blade with all of his capabilities, relishing the inevitable moment when his lightsaber would finally emerge from the opposite side of the Kryptonian's hand.
Kal-El screamed, his hand firmly entrenched upon the blade of the lightsaber. Twisting the light weapon, Superman's hand, now nearly a burnt husk, violently twisted the raw blade of energy, shattering the crimson cutlass of light. Shards of the lightsaber's blade shattered, sailing a great distance until the glowing red embers evaporated into the air.
Maul's face belied his incredulity. Seizing his moment, Superman chopped down on the Sith's hold of his energy weapon, sending the still functioning, opposite end of the dual bladed lightsaber into a ravine. The Darthomirian, so close to victory, was now weaponless.
"You have shattered a blade of a Sith's lightsaber, a feat no Jedi has amassed in the history of my kind," Maul said, barely hiding his astonishment.
The Man of Steel's eyes radiated heat; the Sith Lord knew he was staring at death.
"Yes, Kal-El, destroy me, end my life," Maul said, "and all that you will be, all that you are, will be revealed in this final truth..."
Maul's rictus was as close to a smile as the Sith Lord could muster.
"That you were my finest creation. You will become a Dark Lord of the Sith. A creature of unsurpassed power and strength..."
The Kryptonian's launched a vicious uppercut, nearly decapitating the Sith. Darth Maul barely saved himself from the killing maneuver, feeling his cheekbones fracture as the dark Force reflexively contorted his Darthomirian body, rolling with the punch.
But despite surviving the god-like creature's attack, the Sith Lord would never be whole ever again.
Forcing consciousness into his clouded mind, Maul was sprawled onto the ground, half of his demon-like face a ruin mass of crushed bone and torn muscle, the orbital socket unsalvageable, the left eye decimated. Reflexively he searched for his lightsaber. Failing to find his Jedi weapon, Maul extended his right arm, in rage, compelling the dark Force, lightning tearing through his fingertips, burrowing into the Man of Steel.
The Force lightning nearly brought the Man of Steel to his knees. Nearly. The Man of Steel leapt into the air, levitating into the smog surrounding them.
Maul searched the skies for his adversary. The Sith Lord's skull was half-broken, and surely his end was near, but the hunt was on and the Dark Lord was never one to turn down the call of the great game.
The continual collapse of the landscape surrounding Maul distracted his finely honed control of his Force awareness. The Man of Steel emerged from the devastated planet's fog-like atmosphere, emerging from the dark fog surrounding the Sith. Kal-El did not hesitate as he hurled himself at the Sith Lord, the acrimony flooding his nerves, his fists swinging in a devastating flurry. Darth Maul, his body shattered, his skull, barely head together with his control of the Force, managed to deflect Superman's wildest swings, only to realize too late that the Kryptonian had his own stratagem.
The Man of Steel quickly moved to the Sith's blind side where his ruined eye could not see the Kryptonian with any acuity. Focusing his Force powers to anticipate various angles and directions of the Man of Steel's punches, Darth Maul did not sense the Man of Steel's burst of heat vision. The laser like beams erupted from Superman's pupils, cauterized the wounds on the Sith's face, severing the optic nerve, sending his left eye tumbling into the cracked ground beneath them.
Maul howled in pain, his scream suddenly cut short as the Man of Steel gripped the Sith Lord by his throat, lifting him high off the ground. Still, Kal-El marveled as the Sith Lord howled in laughter.
"Yes, Man of Steel," the Sith chortled, "strike me down. Destroy me with the vengeance heavy in your heart. I want nothing more than to die knowing your journey to the dark side is complete."
Kal-El stared at the Sith, watching his pointed teeth, his grotesque features, all culminating in the damaged monster of a man. His robes torn, his body broken, his face nearly ripped to shreds, the Sith still possessed the air of power, and even defeated, destroyed, the Dark Lord's rictus widened, his laughter booming over the devastation tearing the planet apart.
The Man of Steel grimaced as a blinding, killing madness tore through his conscience, raging in battle not only with his Kryptonian values, but of his Kansas upbringing. He had promised Jonathan Kent that he would abide by humanity, not the human rules of government, but of what made a man a human.
"Silence monster," Kal-El said in a low timbre. The Dark Lord of the Sith, his breath labored and blood choked, did not restrain his demonic laughter, enraging Kal-El. The Man of Steel roared, his grief-stricken tone barreling into the Sith with bone shattering decibels. Despite the agony graced upon Maul's eardrums, the creature did not cease his mirthful exhibition.
"You cannot kill the darkness within you, Kryptonian," Darth Maul laughed, "it is a malady, a plague that knows no end. The dark side is the only truth that matters. The only axiom the universe understands. You should know, Kryptonian. You've have the stink of murder on your soul, and not a conventional death, but the murder of your own your kind."
Clark felt a tingle run up his nerves, from his spine to the most primitive realms of his brain. The Sith was in his mind, delving into his consciousness with his sorcery, unveiling secrets buried deep within the Man of Steel.
"This General Zod, a Kryptonian such as yourself. A fool. But he was of your people and you did not hesitate in destroying him. I can only aspire to have blood so foul as you Kal-El. You are a natural assassin, Kal-El. You will make a grand Sith.
The Man of Steel seized the Darthomirian, raising him above his head, ready to smash him down, tearing the beast in quarters. Maul was a cornered, feral animal, exploding into a series of bestial, psychotic screams, each octave radiating the most primal nature of the dark Force. Yet Kal-El fastened his grip, his pupils simultaneously glistened like a kindling fanned by a constant wind. The effect was not derived from the gathering tempest of his heat vision, but out of a growing madness within him. Kal-El felt the embrace of the dark side and understood its beauty, its power. One could so easily be turned, the brutish rage inside of it could so easily be released, purging itself on the Sith Lord.
Superman fought the disturbance within him, wearily battling with the beast within him, holding the rage in check, but the war within the Last Son of Krypton was nearly over, and a pervading darkness appeared imminent.
"You are an affront to life," Superman screamed at his foe, justifying the blood lust in his veins. "You are..."
"I am you," the Sith replied summarily. "Not with your abilities, of course, but with what you carry within you. The anger. The rage."
So easily could I snap you neck. Why not kill you, demon? Why not? Why...
"Clark" came the whisper from his father. Just a memory. He was a weak man, a soft man, a...
"Clark, don't..." Pa Kent said once. Just once.
The dark intentions, stoked within the Kryptonian by the Sith Lord, slowly faded from Kal-El's being. Superman released the Sith, dropping him to the ground of this cursed realm.
Maul's rage enveloped him as he stared at this alien of near infinite power waste his abilities because he was ingrained with scruples of a farm boy.
"What are you doing? Fulfill what you must become!" Maul hollered. "Despite the trappings of a weakling, you feel the power, you are a Sith at heart. Do not shun your destiny!"
The Man of Steel stared into the skies above, focusing his vision, seeing the stars beyond this arena of a planet, this site of Superman's most dangerous trial. Kal-El now understood the nature of the dark side, and his only salvation was to stave off the corrupting influence of the Sith.
Clark caught a glimpse of Maul's whirling figure, as the Sith extended his hand, threatening the Man of Steel with Force lightning. With a blast of his heat vision, Clark nearly severed the Sith Lord's hand at the wrist. Clark Kent, once raised in Smallville to avoid confrontation took no joy in nearly dislodging Darth Maul's limb. The Man of Steel felt a burning sensation in the palm of his own right hand, examining the damage done when he grasped the burning blade of the Sith's lightsaber. An impossibly heavy weight seemed to place itself over his already clouded demeanor; the Man of Steel wearily acknowledged the similarities between the two men.
"You have defeated my body," Maul said behind a scowl of agony. "But you will never defeat the dark side."
Kal-El stared at the Sith, marveling at the beast of a man; the Dark Jedi was ceaseless, remorseless, a perfect assassin, and an even greater manipulator.
"I am not you, beast," the Man of Steel said. "And this Force you speak of..."
"If you allow the dark side within you, the passion will bring you to unimaginable heights," Maul said, facing the Man of Steel, his reddish, yellow eyes gleaming with unnatural hate. "Untold power, dominion over others, control. You would become a god."
Superman shook his head slowly, a pained expression crossing his face.
"Life is more than absolute power. There is a saying on my world that absolute power corrupts absolutely."
The Sith snorted in derision.
"I beg you, Kryptonian, kill me, but do not lecture me with your naive notions of the universe while you coddle the primates of a world that will destroy themselves."
Superman absorbed the words of the Sith Lord, weighing them as one would a difficult choice between the lesser of two great evils. He could feel the truth behind the words, hidden in emotions that he had denied for what seemed to be an eternity. The Kryptonian sensed the temptation of the dark side, knowing it would live within him much like it gestated amongst all beings.
Superman made his decision.
"You're right, demon. I'm of a younger species, not as ancient or distant as the galaxy you are from. But folly or not, I choose to temper and accept instead of dominate and control. In a desperate time, the choices are unclear, blurred, but it is a man's choice nevertheless. I'm leaving this planet. I'm going home," Clark said. "I'm offering you an escape from this rock."
Darth Maul watched the Man of Steel, his mouth agape with amazement. The Sith held out his hand in a gesture of assistance. Kal-El reached towards the Dark Jedi as Darth Maul closed his eyes, violently extending his undamaged hand, channeling the Force.
What remained of the Sith's lightsaber flew from a fissure in the ground, the hilt of his double-ended lightsaber landing solidly in his grip. In a flash, the blade of energy was ignited; the weapon's crystal housing was severely damaged, creating an unfocused shaft of energy that cracked haphazardly. The Sith Lord swung blindly, using the Force to cast a one handed slash of his energy weapon. The lightsaber cleaved nothing but air.
Maul eyes darted, searching for the Man of Steel. Slowly, the Dark Jedi's eyes rose upwards, glaring at the S shaped insignia on the Kryptonian's chest, now half torn while the Kryptonian floated unsteadily in the soiled air above.
"Last chance, Maul," Superman said glancing at the ground with his x-ray vision. "This planet is breaking apart. Because you were so ready to destroy me, the explosion of your ship's engines damaged the planet's core. You would have killed yourself to destroy me."
"It was worthwhile if only you would stay dead," Maul replied.
"I can bring you to safety. There isn't much time left."
Maul gazed at the Man of Steel.
"No, there isn't."
The Sith Lord did not move a muscle.
"Listen to reason," the Man of Steel called out. "You'd rather stay here, marooned on a dying planet than accept my help,"
Maul spun, hurling his lightsaber at the Man of Steel with all his might. The Man of Steel levitated upwards, swatting away the crimson blade of light, shattering the hilt of the weapon, destroying the focusing crystal within the housing.
"I'd spend eternity living in agony, than exist as what you are," Mauled growled.
"And what is that?"
"A lie," Maul said. "But you will learn, young fool. The truth is powerful, undeniable, and always shrouded in darkness. But do not worry, the truth will not visit you by my hand, but by the darkness within you."
The ground surrounding Darth Maul cracked and crumpled.
"Leave, Kryptonian," Maul said, "but know you will never be able to escape your destiny."
Maul cackled as magma erupted from tiny cracks in the planet surface. The heat was incredible, but the Sith stood his ground, his eyes fixed on the Kryptonian's visage. Even as the lava incrementally roasted his skin, the Darthomirian's hate was focused on the Last Son of Krypton.
Superman spent another moment in solitude, finding a reluctant understanding of this creature, Darth Maul's identity solid in what he was; death incarnate.
"Goodbye," Superman simply said before extending his arms and powering through the debris-riddled atmosphere. Kal-El, in his weakened state, struggled to escape the gravity well of the doomed planet before finally pulling loose, escaping into the airless vacuum of space.
Maul watched the Man of Steel disappear into the great void, leaving him amongst the ravages of a ruined landscape.
"Be seeing you," Maul said aloud as he was slowly engulfed by a pool of liquid fire. The Sith Lord sank into the magma, laughing as his mind drifted towards an uncertain end.
Space. Cold and endless.
The Man of Steel thought briefly of the visage of the Sith, the adversarial demon laughing as his own demise became apparent. Kal-El regained energy with every kilometer he put between him and the energy draining red sun of the nightmare universe he recently escaped. Brought to the uninhabited planet under unknown circumstances, Kal-El barely survived the battle with the Sith; only he and the doomed creature, Darth Maul, were witnesses.
Superman saw a bright flicker behind him, turning to watch a world explode, becoming nothing; the planet of his sternest trial, along with the Sith Lord, were gone forever.
Superman turned away, focusing his eyes in the distance, seeing a familiar pattern of stars that he hoped would bring him closer to Earth. He began his laborious journey, never looking back again, hopeful that the demon he fought was well and truly dead. But there was an inner sense of anguish growing inside of him, the seed of mistrust, of knowing the path of the dark side that he could never unsee or unknow.
Going home, he thought to himself, knowing that what was touched by darkness will never be the same ever again. Superman continued his solitary journey homeward bound in silence, confident he discovered a newfound belief in the universe; whether it was light or dark was an answer that still eluded him.
THE END