A couple days later…
Maul was conflicted. He had been, for the past couple of days, distraught with the relic that they retrieved from the outpost, and the host of new memories and nightmares that spawned from it. He had a bad reputation with it, and a part of him, not small at all, wanted to discard the relic all together, but he knew that was not his path. His life was a mere chapter in its path, and he knew that it had ended back all those years ago. No, now he was just an intermission: a messenger. Still, the memories haunt his dreams, and the image of his long lost brother weighed down the heart he hadn't really felt in those years. Solitude had that effect.
Yet he talked with Kanan and, though they both knew that it would eventually be given to Sabine, to do with whatever she wants, and that it wasn neither of their rights to deny her that, they both decided on waiting on it. Not long, but when they were at a peaceful respite from the Empire, they would give it to her. Until then, they acted as if nothing had happened, which was easy for them.
The hard part was the third person who knew about it, and the mouth he had, but that was an easy fix. The promise of wrath from both his Master and Maul, a former Sith (though he hated using that), had kept his loud mouth muted, at least for a while.
Right now, Maul was calmly sitting on the rocky surface of Atollon, attempting to meditate. Yet, with all his effort, he felt something else gnawing at the back of the force, something that he never felt before. A Force presence, but not of anyone he had met or he had seen before. No, this was ancient, it was eternal (as hard as it was for him to wrap his mind around), and it was powerful. What it was, he had no real clue, but he knew it was something grand.
"Credit for your thought?"
Pulled from his thoughts, Maul turned to see Kanan and Ahsoka, looking curiously towards him. Slowly, he stood from his spot (and pleasantly surprised by the lack of a flinch from either of them) and faced them.
"You sense something." It wasn't a question, and he understood.
"Yes, but it is...strange."
"Can you describe it?" Ahsoka asked.
Maul paused, and felt through the force. He took his time picking his words, wanting his intrigue and hesitance to flow through. "It is...ancient. I sense a great source of power, something greatly in tuned with the Force, but it was not there before."
"Not there?" Kanan asked, looking curious.
"This is the first I have sensed it," Maul explained, turning out to the cliff. Raising his arm he pointed in a general direction, "It lies over a small distance, around that ridge, and I can feel a pull towards it."
"Then let's go." Kanan said, already looking for a speeder bike.
Maul was surprised, even more so by Ahsoka's lack of stopping him, but nodded his head. It took a moment, and some good convincing on Kanan and Ahsokas' part with the rebels, but they soon headed off, heading towards the source of the disturbance. Along the way Maul was deep in thought, his mind wandering back to the Darksaber and its long, bloody, war-torn history.
As Maul told them, it was a short ways away, not half an hour on the speeders before they slowed. They arrived at a small arena like spot, a divot in the ground with some stone stairs leading downwards. Hesitantly, and taking an antenna (that they grabbed before leaving Chopper Base), they trekked down, watching for spiders.
"Anyone sensing anything?" Kanan asked, looking around.
"I sense it," Ahsoka answered, "But I can't pinpoint it." It was scattered to her, confusing her and making her more cautious.
"The same is on my end," Maul added.
The trio reached the bottom, then the middle of the amphitheatre like spot, and looked around. Nothing seemed to be calling them, and the Force was not very forthcoming either.
"I do not understand," Maul spoke, "I can sense it, but I cannot locate the source."
"Me neither," Kanan spoke.
"Me either- wait" Ahsoka focused, getting the other two to look at her. "Something is shifting, the Force is moving. I can feel the source…"
Before she could continue, or the other two could ask, a rubble came from behind them, the very ground trembling. Quickly the trio spun around, tensing up for anything dangerous to come. They watched as a pile of foliage and rocks moved, seemingly coming alive. An arm came from the pile, followed by another, then a pair of legs. It shifted, and turned itself, before a face was looking down at them, curious and wondering, eyes glowing white. It was a tense silence, before the creature spoke, eyes focusing on Maul.
"Ah, you heard my call...good, your imbalance in the Force woke me, from a deep slumber." His voice was deep and powerful, shocking the trio.
"You were… 'calling' me?" Maul asked, looking both shocked and confused. The others remained silent.
"Indeed," The creature spoke, leaning down a bit. "Your imbalance is like a violent storm on this quiet world."
It took a second for his words to process, before Kanan bent to one knee. "You're a force wielder." Ahsoka and Maul quickly followed, unsure of how to react.
"Wielder?" The creature repeated. "The Jedi and Sith wield the force, the Light and the Dark. I am the one in the middle, The Bendu." He focused once again on Maul, "A trio has come here, but it is your conflict I sense."
Maul calmed himself, keeping his emotions in check, not liking how 'Bendu' was reading him quite easily.
"What do you all call yourself?"
"I am Kanan Jarrus, Jedi Knight."
"I am Ahsoka Tano, former Jedi Knight."
Maul paused, "I am...Maul."
"Hmmm, no alignment?" Bendu inspected him, looking over his features. "The dark side flows from you, yet I can sense the dam you have attempted to contain the flow. Why is that?"
"I was...a former Sith," he hated saying that, the 'dam' cracking slightly before Maul refocused. He had worked years on keeping it back, and wasn't about to burst now. "I was taught their ways, but was abandoned and left to rot for so long."
"Indeed, I can sense the madness lingering at the farthest reaches of your mind. Always prodding you, looking for a weak point for which to rush in, to retake the land it once had. Mother Talzin's magic is holding it at bay, but your lack of will will rot the wall away."
"I try to halt it," Maul explained, "but it is...stubborn, and relentless. I want to push it away, to lock it forever in some forgotten memory, but it infects the very base of my soul, never releasing its hold."
"Ahhh," Bendu spoke, looking at him with wider orbs. "I see. Your problem becomes clearer." As if his attention was pulled, he turned to the antenna, holding back the nearby spiders. "What device is this? Why do you have it?"
"It keeps the spiders away," Kanan answered.
"Might I see it?" Before any of them could answer him, he reached out and picked it up, inspecting it. Then, without words or warning, he snapped it into pieces, acting as if it were a toothpick to him.
"Woah hey!" Kanan shouted, scrambling to the pieces. "Why did you do that!?"
"I am helping you."
Hissing from the top of the stairs made the three of them turn. The spiders had felt the lack of the device, and were slowly swarming over them. Ahsoka and Kanan went for their sabers, but Bendu had summoned all three to his hand, holding them without release.
"How is this helping us?" Maul couldn't hold the worry from his tone, eyeing the spiders coming ever closer.
"They sense your conflict," Bendu spoke, "They sense the storm. You must calm yourself, and they will calm with you."
"But that is impossible!" Now some of Maul's former fury flowed from him. He had spent years trying to come to peace with himself, only becoming more and more hermit and crazed. There was a reason he exiled himself, and he wasn't about to risk a second relapse.
"Only because you think it so," Bednu calmly explained, not at all worried about the ever growing, ever closer group of spiders. "Your turmoil is of your own doing, of your shoving down and waiting to deal with it rather than acting upon it. You must learn to see the world from a different angle. To let go of your pain, of your anger."
"Your path has been bloody and dark, sucking away at the happiness in the galaxy, yet you looked for the Light to save you. Now here you stand, on the edge of a blade, with only your balance to keep you from straying into nothingness."
"They're getting closer." Kanan warned, backing up. Ahsoka was with him, trying to keep herself calm.
"But what good is in this galaxy!" Maul felt the pent up hatred, the savagery from years past unleashing in the storm that had been brewing for over a decade. "The dark side is a trap, trading power for sanity, and the Light trades discipline for social powers! Neither side can give the idealistic path that we all want! When I had but a small taste of it, the immeasurable ability of deciding my own fate, I felt free! BUT THAT WAS A TRICK!"
By now the Force was becoming thick with emotion, nearly choking out the others, who looked on in fear. Bendu looked on in a blank stare. Spiders cowered nearby, but not left the arena.
"ONLY BY BLOOD CAN ANYONE GET A SMALL PIECE OF THE GALAXY TO THEMSELVES, BUT IT IS A FLEETING WASTE AND TRAP, FOR IT SOON IS SWEPT AWAY LIKE DUST OFF A FLOOR! THROUGH MY OWN LUST AND STRENGTH I MURDERED INNOCENTS, BROUGHT RUIN TO A PEACEFUL PLANET, CAUSED GREAT PAIN IN ONE MAN, AND THEN WAS GIVEN THAT PAIN A MERE HOUR LATER!"
"MY BROTHER'S CORPSE LIES COLD AND EMPTY, HIS LAST FLEETING WORDS OF REGRET AND FAILURE, AND IT IS ALL BY MY OWN DOING!"
With that last word, a blast shot out from him, shoving everyone down. Spiders screamed and shrunk in on themselves, legs curling for protection. Kanan and Ahsoka were thrown back, barely landing on their feet, but breathing heavily. The weight of the Force and the blast made them lose a couple years, (and add some gray hairs for Kanan), as they watched Maul.
After the blast, Maul crumpled under his own energy, feeling weakened by the outburst of power. He panted, trying to collect himself, when he felt something. Something had just happened to him, and he felt a strange new feeling, almost weightlessness, like he was floating on the ground. It was such a strange feeling and it felt like something he never felt before. He barely managed to get out, weakly, "What happened?"
"Just as I said," Bendu spoke, for the first since the rant began. "You had been harboring your hatred, your anger and pain, consolidating till you would implode. Now, you have let go, allowing a new feeling to come into yourself."
"What...feeling is...that?" Maul looked up at Bendu, confused yet at ease with himself.
Bendu chuckled, "Peace." And with that, Maul looked around and found that the spiders had unfurled themselves, yet weren't advancing on themselves. No, they were just standing around, acting like they weren't there at all.
Calmly, and peacefully, Maul stood upon his two legs, and took a deep breath, the lack of a dulled pain from long ago bringing a strange feeling about him. He never, not to his memory, had such a strange and wondrous feeling like this before, and it felt intoxicating, addicting. The peace was something he always sought, and, after decades of not having it, he finally found it, and it was worth the weight.
A hand gently grabbed his shoulder, and Maul didn't flinch. Calmly, he turned to Ahsoka, who looked upon him with an easy smile. "How do you feel?"
Maul looked at her, and managed a genuine, natural smile to her, something that had Ahsoka smiling wider and Kanan giving his signature grin. "I feel...at ease."
"Then I believe our chat is done," Bendu said, giving them their sabers back. Maul took slightly longer clipping it back, inspecting the grim design of it. First chance he got, he was changing that, but clipped it on.
"I think it's time we head back," Kanan spoke.
"Until next time." Bendu bowed his head.
"Until then." Maul bowed back, as did the other two.
Silently, as words would only ruin the peace they had, they strolled back to their speeders, not at all worried about the nearby spiders. At the back, Maul took slightly longer, looking at the world in cleaner eyes, seeing the beauty in it. Passing by, he reached out and stroked a spider, feeling the peace that the gentle creature was enjoying. With a smile, unafraid of showing it, Maul held his head high, back straight, his saber/staff off the ground as he walked back to the speeders, feeling a second new feeling.
Happiness.
