Chapter 14
In all her vastness, some corners of the Galaxy inspired fear and cautiousness. Those were to be avoided; or passed in a hurry. But there were some regions untouched by man for millennia. Those planets, barely accessible by hyper drive, earned spots on pages of charred chronicles, which described them as monster regions. In the heart of the Unknown Territories orbited one such world – Rakata Prime. And in the heart of planet Rakata Prime stood an ivory temple.
Dense jungle covered it from prying eyes. The structure consisted of a wide disc with a tall, conical summit. Few knew of its existence. Even fewer could lower the force field to enter it. Kylo Ren was gazing on that temple from distance of several miles.
"Keep them in check," he said to the stoormtroopers who accompanied him. These inept soldiers let the Resistance pilot and the traitor FN-21 87 roam too freely. Both were bound and fatigued from his interrogation, but he wouldn't take any chances. One escapee was enough to take all measures necessary.
Ren took them on the trek to the temple. He needed the live bait when the stubborn Jedi would have landed to rescue them. He was still recovering from the vision Force had shown him. It was an odd mixture of future and past - his desires and his greatest fear. The compassionate nature towards Rey would be his undoing. He had to purge himself of these inclinations. The conflict within him grew, like a cluster of dead cells devouring an organism.
Poe's feet crossed in front of one another mechanically. Finn didn't look much better.
"Pssst," Finn hissed. "Can you feel it?" He sneaked closer to his friend.
Poe nodded. "This place is foul. The air is too stale and the sand too fluid. If we don't choke, we might get sucked in the ground. We gotta get out of here…"
Poe and Finn trudged behind Ren, exchanging furtive glances. Poe regretted sending that emergency signal. Seeing the planet; he'd rather Resistance didn't find them here.
"I don't wanna have death of my pilots on my conscience. We have to try and escape on our own."
Kylo Ren swiveled on the spot. His arm shot up in the air and Poe fell to the ground, unable to breathe.
"Stop it!" Finn pleaded.
"You will be quiet, or I'll take care of you personally. After all, only one of you will do for my plans." He released Poe. Ren tapped into their emotions; and surprisingly, he felt it too. The oppressive waves in the air distorted his vision. Unexpected shadows crept from the bushes; sounds of drumming and loud breathing got carried from the woods.
Kylo's mask protected his startled look, but he didn't walk into the unknown with head held high. Simmering heat wave produced strange mirage against the sun. The earth crunched under their feet, layered with cracked sand.
Finally, they arrived at the base of the temple.
"Wait here. Contain the prisoners in a magnetic field cage. Under no circumstances leave them alone. You are to wait here for my further orders. If I return in ten minutes, or ten hours; you will not break my commands. Shoot anything that moves on sight."
Ren ascended up the cobble steps. He evened his breathing and cleared his mind. With great mental effort, he pressed against raised force shields. Breaking the barrier sounded like a resonance of thin metal sheet; as if the sky thundered without the storm. Finally, it fell. His energy penetrated the walls of the temple.
"Supreme Leader, I need your assistance again. Guide my steps towards you. Make me worthy to finish my training." Ren spoke the invocation softly and stepped into the darkness.
He touched something hard and slimy. No light shone inside; so he drew his lightsaber and ignited it. Red immediately landed on two rows of statues parted by a wide corridor.
The statues looked amphibian – they were tributes to the old Rakata race. Ren was walking and thinking only about what he mustn't think in front of Snoke. He cursed inwardly. Damn her; the girl. She occupied his thoughts even if he pondered how to expel her from them.
A presence of powerful force user hit him.
"At last, you have come." Snoke's throaty voice reverberated in the distance. Ren arrived in a magnificent hall, lit in blue neons radiating from hologram figures. Leader he was, indeed – but not as supreme as Ren had imagined. Supreme Leader Snoke was sitting on his usual throne; straight and composed. This was the first time a padawan laid eyes on his master in person.
Snoke was around seven feet tall, clad in a simple black robe. His face reminded Ren a slashed canvas; ravaged by many scars and burns. The gash in his lower jaw looked worse in person than when Ren saw him as a hologram. The tendons and ligaments crawled to the surface and moved as he spoke.
"I have been waiting for this day, Kylo Ren. Look around you and appreciate this place. It was built thirty thousand years ago. Come, see the homage to the Force I had established."
Snoke got up, beckoning his student. The stone walls were adorned with hundreds of lightsabers which transitioned from useful weapons to mere relics. In the middle grew a tree, the very same his knights stole from the village on Ord Mantell. Masks and pieces of armor stood on display by the holograms.
"Even if the old Sith Empire crumbled, one can appreciate their art." Snoke nodded. Kylo Ren felt like a child in a gallery. They stopped in front of the white skull mask covered in two red stripes. Darth Nihilus, Ren heard a tremor in his mind. He took off his own mask.
"This display serves a greater purpose than to awe you. Each fragment is charged in Force and I can show you how to harness it."
"Harness the Force – form the non-living things?" Ren asked astonished.
"Yes. There were some Sith Lords who could devour the life Force from the living organisms… I perfected the art. "Snoke said. "After all, I had nothing but time to experiment."
Whispers echoed in the hall, thousands of voices mingling and trying to tell their tale.
"If you but listen, you shall learn that the Force transcends time and space, even bodies and minds."
"Tell me, Supreme Leader, is this the end of my training?"
"I have not been hiding here for hundreds of years in vain, Ren. Patience is the key to understanding one's desires. You want it to be the end, don't you?"
Ren struggled to control his voice. "I have killed all the Jedi there were left. I have procured rare artifacts from the tombs of Korriban for you, Supreme Leader. I have overseen the construction of the Starkiller Base and fought against the Resistance. I have never questioned or doubted your orders, even if I don't know your plans. I killed my father and my knights. Don't I deserve to become a true Sith Lord?"
"A Sith?" Snoke spat offended. "I've seen the Sith'ari rise and fall again and again. Their passion was their ultimate weakness. Forget that cultish order, my neophyte. Peace is a lie, but so is passion, There is only Force; and the four people in the whole Galaxy trained to use it. Three are standing in this hall."
"Three?" Ren's eyes widened.
"Come out, child. Come and meet your maker." Snoke called into the darkness.
The darkness called back.
...
A/N Well, two chapters today since they're connected. Their anticipation before meeting is killing me. The big showdown is coming 3 I'm enjoying these last few chapters when they're apart, bc I realized that the majority of the third act will feature them together, A LOT.