Chapter 3
More Than an Apprentice
Benjamin tipped the water sack down his lips as he gorged greedily from the fresh water from the pouch. The boy savoring the cool drops of water as he took a share. Giving it back to the water tribe girl that offered it to him before. "Thank you, Katara." He spoke, wiping away the few strands of water dripping down his face.
The girl nodded to the boy as Benjamin began to button up his jacket, the boy getting cold from the high altitude they were flying on the beast. The saddle that he was resting on was coarse but felt strangely comfortable.
The boy Sokka…was busy training a stone over a piece of his strange boomerang. The young warrior was one to crack jokes, but Benjamin did not laugh. It made Sokka have certain uneasiness towards the boy, though he felt that given a little time, things would be okay.
Sokka smirked as he stared at the dark-haired boy. "Ay, Benji was it…where are you from?"
Benjamin slowly turned his gaze towards Sokka, the smiling boy's grin slowly dissipating as the boy stared him down. It was not from hostility, but it felt like…a defense. Maybe in fear of him using that information against him.
So, instead Sokka reignited that smile and opened his mouth. "Me and my sister are from the southern WaterTribe, how about you…excuse me for not telling you about me first."
"Wow, Sokka…finally being polite for once." His sister nagged.
The boy stared at the siblings bickering and for a short second a faint smile appeared over his face. "Fine…far away. Farther than you would expect…"
Katara and her brother simply stared at the boy as they shrugged their shoulders, though a sigh escaped. It was better than nothing, and prior the poor boy was completely silent to everything going on.
"Though, I have to say Benjamin I have to admit I was quite impressed with you back there." Aang spoke as the rest of the siblings watched the conversation unfold in front of them. "All those fire nation soldiers, and with a single push they were gone."
Benjamin waved off the compliment. "Aw, it's fine Mr. Avatar…I'm sure you and your bending powers can outmatch me anytime." He absentmindedly joked.
"Though, I didn't expect to find a Jedi in that town. I was expecting…"
Benjamin's body shot up as the young nomad's eyes trained on him. "What did you just call me!" His sudden voice carried weight as the young nomad nearly jumped from his seat.
Aang was worried that he offended the boy, so he quickly spoke. "No, offense…Jedi. I thought calling you wizards would be disrespectful."
Benjamin nearly fell off the strange beast. His eyes training to the boy. "Jedi, wait…but there aren't any here. No…they were nearly all lost due to the Civil war nearly destroying them?"
"Civil war…I told you about being absent for a hundred years. Though, the Jedi?"
Katara and Sokka both stared at the strange pair. The boy collapsing hard with a massive thud as he stared into the sky. "I would never expect…there to be others like me here…"
'I'm confused…I thought that I was just the last one. My hand went to my face as I parted to see the white clouds of the sky, though I felt the force here before. Though, to think there were more Jedi around…'
Benjamin's face scrunched up as the thought of more jedi came into his head. "Hypocritical fuckers…" He whispered underneath his breath.
"What are you guys talking about?" Sokka spoke up placing the boomerang in his pack. "Je..di..Jeadi? Or something strange like that."
"What?" Aang spoke up, his voice booming. "The Jedi, the ones that fight for peace, they helped maintain relations between the four nations for years with the Avatar. They had academies, enclaves and even temples located."
Though, Katara and Sokka both shook their heads. "We have never heard of them, that was the first we ever heard of such a strange name."
Aang spoke up. "No, not them also. Why?"
It was no secret as the air nomad and the exile both realized it at the same time, during this one-hundred-year war…the Jedi vanished just like the avatar, or the fire nation wiped them out like the air benders.
Though…Benjamin did not feel anything. The boy just stared down at his feet, it was not out of grief, but he understood the Jedi and their hypocrisy. 'The less Jedi, the better…'
Silence overtook the four until the young nomad spoke up. "Ben…what were you there." The young exile stared at the nomad, his eyes drooping as memories cut into his psyche.
"Nothing too important." Benjamin spoke, waiving any sign of conversation as the rest of the trio stared at him.
"Come on what class were you; what color was that lightsaber?" Aang spoke, a wide simple over his face as the exile turned away from him.
"I don't…remember." He said, though there was a bite in those words.
That silence returned and overtook the four. It was dense and Benjamin felt quite bad that he was the cause of the silence. The boy tucked his head into his knees, but he began to realize something. He was the last air bender, and he was the last of the Jedi…there was a certain comradery in that.
The exile gazed back up as a sigh erupted from him as his lips parted, the nomad's ears perking up. "I was a Guardian of the Jedi order. We prioritize lightsaber combat more than anything." He exhaled as he traced back the nostalgic but bitter memories, the memories that bit like a rabid dog. "A cyan blade…like the light blue roaring rapids of the Dantooine rivers."
Ben spoke those words and they were released into the air, free from the confines of his memories as the young Jedi felt something strange…was it relief? Relief,
"During the wars…I made my single bladed one into a double bladed." He continued as the rest of the crew began to pick up more from the relatively silent boy.
"Double bladed, I heard about single bladed and dual wielding but never double bladed." Aang said as his eyes trained on the canyon below them.
Ben nodded his head as he continued with his explanation. "There harder to master, but they make enemies stampede as they try to run away. The blades are harder to control but when you get the knack of it down…"
"A lotta Jedi used them in the Mandalorian wars, in reverence of the Sith lord Exar Kun. It's a more aggressive blade, gives more slaughter per swing."
His eyes widened from the last couple of words as those horrible memories came. The smell of smoke and ash so thick you could nearly drown in it, the way his cyan blades cleaved through the Mandalorian ranks.
His fist tightened as the blood began to drip from his bandaged hands. 'Never again, I will leave soon…and once again, abandon my connection. It's better this way…'
The words came from the boy's mouth uncontrolled. Though, before they can do anything the young avatar began descending through the clouds. "Um, Mr. Avatar…" Benjamin spoke as he quickly grabbed onto the creature's handlebars, in fear of flying off the mount. "Where are we going!"
The wind whipped into the young exiles face, his eyes scanning the soaring desert canyon below them. The yellow hedges nearly clouding everything in sight. Two groups…they appeared to be arguing over something.
One side of the group…was full of people dressed in leather, there animal garments rough and sturdy, braced and prepared for the rough terrain Infront of them. There weapons were forged from rough iron, holstered in their bear skin scabbards.
While the other group…wore clean and pristine silk white robes, there weapons were daggers and short bows as they stared at the other group. Hurling insults at the other tribe, there gazes cold.
Benjamin's eyes narrowed, a dangerous glare forming…the white pristine robes contorting and melting into Jedi robes, the hypocrisy of the council warping his vision as he stared at them. "Thinking there always better than everyone, fucking Jedi…"
Sokka's ears perked up at the boy's words as they landed on the hot sand, the young warrior scratched his head unsure if he heard the boy right. The boy throwing off his army jacket as he only wore the white tank top to deal with the desert heat. His holster unlatched from his belt as him and the avatar began to walk.
"Aang…what are we doing here?" Benjamin asked, the young avatar's gaze only focused solely ahead. Benji's right hand was resting along his blaster, the cool metal gracing his fingertips as the boy was ready to put down anyone that was willing to harm them.
Aang stuck his hand out stopping Benjamin mid track as the young air nomad continued his walk, his eyes scanning the crowd of bodies as the other boy held his blaster in his off hand.
Katara and Sokka stood close to the boy as they observed Aang as he tried to calm the groups down. "What's he doing, we have to go to the next town." Benjamin said.
"Aang is the avatar, and he has to settle disputes between people…that's his job." Katara nagged, the dip in her voice signaling how she found the act annoying. Though, there was a soft smirk as she watched Aang help people.
The trio walked along the sand paths as they began to reach their friend, it seemed that the avatar has begun to calm down the bickering groups as they stared at him. Though, as they walked the young exile's feet stopped.
His body ceasing function as he rested his other foot on the floor, while limping the other like he was about to step down. Katara, she was the first to notice. "What's wrong Ben?" She asked as the boy's eyes scanned the cliff edges.
The boy's pistol aimed towards the cliff edges as he leveled the gun. The boy squinted his eyes as the bolt of red fired from his pistol. A strange tripod creature, it's body like a mantis as its snout aimed down at the group.
The bolt of red light slammed under the beast's jaw and through its head. "Aang!" Benji screamed as he saw more of the strange monsters began to arise from the holes of the canyon. Sokka pulled out his boomerang, the weapon flying as another of the strange creatures poked its head from the cave system.
Katara's water bending slashed into the beast approaching like a whip. Her bending working as the beast were being kept at bay.
Ben quickly moved forward. Putting one foot in front of the other as he aimed and fired. He could not feel the bite of the recoil due to the adrenaline pumping through him. "How did I know it was going to be there?" Ben spoke to himself as he crouched, his blaster punching holes into another one of the creatures advancing towards them.
Benji's slid under one of the tripods, the blaster racking holes underneath the monster as it fell behind him. 'The force, that must be it…precognition!' The boy's thoughts soared through his head as he struggled against the number of strange creatures.
The young exile turned his attention towards the young avatar. The young boy's air bending throwing the beast on their backs as the tribesman's used their weapons to hold off the beast.
The benders complicated bending caused three beasts to slam into the searing hot rocks of the canyon. Benjamin continued forward, pulling the trigger of his blaster but the pistol quickly overheated. "Damn it!"
Benjamin screamed as his boots clamped along the sand trail. Though, the boy stopped in his tracks as another of the strange tripods slammed into the dirt in front of him. The boy stared up; the mouth of the creature parting as green slop spilt from its lips.
The boy slammed the pistol into his holster…his hands rolling into two fists as he got ready to fight the creature one handed. 'I have the power…'
The boy shook his thoughts out of his head. The young man getting ready to slam a punch into the base of the creature's face, though he already knew how useless this was. 'I can use the force, I am a Jedi…No, I was never a Jedi. I am sure, that I was never one of them…'
Though the boy felt his hands loosen. The feeling of self-doubt, self-hatred…the self-loathing and guilt that squirmed within him, and the feeling of weakness. They roared inside of the boy like a raging storm. His fingers loosened as he extended his right hand.
The creatures' prattling and advance halting as the creature could only look down in fear…seeing that it was a couple of feet off the ground. Benjamin, the boy did not miss a beat as he thrusted with his left hand, the creature soaring through the air as it slammed into the wall, the creature's neck and leg bones snapping on impact, a bloody mess the only thing left.
Benjamin wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. "Strange, before during the wars using the force never left me this tired out. Is this because I just reconnected?" The boy mused to himself, only to be alerted by a large scream.
The boy turned towards the sounds. A rockslide…aimed at a little girl and her mother. The pair frozen in shock, though Benjamin reached them first. He thrusted out both hands, the rocks sliding to the stop as he felt a horrible headache break through his mind.
"Go…Get out!" Benjamin groaned, the young exile straining against the rock pile. The small family making their way under the rubble as the exile released his hold. Though, as the boy scanned the area for more of those strange creatures…
His eyes widened…a massive tripod stood over the mountain; its red skin brighten due to the harsh glare of the canyon sun. The black snout was the last thing the boy saw as it disappeared into one of the holes of the canyon.
'It felt strange for a second, kind of like it was watching me. That rockslide did that creature trigger it? That is impossible these creatures show hardly any intelligence. I doubt a creature like that would be smart enough to use a person as bait. No, I am just being paranoid. It's just some beast, but that bad feeling, almost like the…'
"Dark side, like one of the corrupted animals of the force." Benji spoke aimlessly to himself. Shaking the thought out of his head as he just chalked it up to paranoia.
"Wow, Benji…that was awesome!" Sokka spoke as he expressed a wide smile. The warrior running up to greet the boy. Benjamin did not smile back. Only staring at the strange boy in front of him. 'So, we hardly know one another but we are calling each other nicknames?'
The boy sighed as he listened to Sokka, the self-appointed leader of the group beginning to rant about how awesome he was with his boomerang. "Katara, what were those things?" Ben asked, completely ignoring Sokka and his boomerang.
Katara locked eyes with Benjamin. "I don't know but they seemed dan…"
"Dangerous, damn you really are protective. We kicked their ass!" Sokka cheered as he raised his boomerang once again into the air.
Katara stared at her brother, closing her eyes due to the frustration she felt. "Yeah, but we got to be more careful. We got lucky…"
"No, I think they were the ones that got lucky." Benji pointed to the bickering groups as they continued arguing once again. "Damn, just like the Jedi. They never learn from their mistakes. Before, they were ambushed due to not paying attention…and here we are."
The trio approached Aang as the two groups continued bickering. Benji, his anger mostly directed towards those in the white robes…though it was restrained, at least for now.
As they made their way towards the tour guide, Benji felt something grace his foot. The boy stared down, a sword. The blade was grafted from iron and was still in its scabbard. It was the size of his hand to his elbow. A decent sized sword, though the pommel was slightly broken off, a sword that appeared to be a gladius.
The boy sighed as he picked it up, arranging it along his back as he began to walk towards his comrades again. Though, glad to finally have a backup weapon to call his own. The sour sight of the tour guide made him swallow his spit.
The old man's left arm was bent in a crooked and sickening angle. The tour guide's earth armor not even able to protect him from the beast's advance. The Katara ran to the man's aid, Aang and Sokka adverting their glances while Benji watched her work.
She could not help but feel glad that he was there. He was a good combatant for their trio, ready to spring into action at any moment...and even was not afraid of wounds.
Though, that grin disappeared as a recollection entered her head. "…what happened to you to make you like this, Benjamin?"
Aang stared at his friend healing the girl. "Benjamin, can't you heal people?" Ben took a knee as he stared at the old man. "I know Jedi are capable of healing things."
Benjamin shook his head. "Aang, I appreciate the high praise that you think I can do that, force healing is really complex, and many masters can hardly do it. Also…" Benjamin ducked his head in shame. "I'm not good with abilities of the light…"
"Well, sorry that you aren't good with the sunshine." Sokka joked, getting a slap from Katara. Benjamin rubbed his hand with his free one, memories of the years of the temple. The loneliness, the fear…the isolation and finally…
You are a failure…
The words rattled Benjamin's head as he turned towards the pair. "I'm proficient in the dark side." Benjamin uttered; a small awkward chuckle came from him. "Maybe, too good…"
The sun was beginning to dip over the horizon. The old tour guide groaning as he tried to escape from Katara's grasp. His eyes crazy as he pointed towards the sun. "We got to find shelter, before nighttime…"
The old man's eyes began too slowly close. His hands falling limp as Katara continued healing him. "He's out, and from the way it looks…"
Benji strained his eyes as Aang began herding the people onto the strange bison like creature. Then they began to move. Though, Benjamin was the one that was lagging. The children would even shoot the young exile strange glances as the boy would observe his surroundings.
"Benjamin…" Katara's voice arose as she walked up to him. Her eyes darted to his right hand, which rested on the grip of his pistol. "Are you alright?"
"No, I don't think I am. This place feels so strange…like a blanket of twilight." He whispered as he saw the sun begin to fall and be consumed by the massive sand dunes.
She chuckled at the boy's words.
"What?" He responded back.
"That was sort of poetic in its own way."
"Well, thank you Katara."
They both giggled from it. Though, it was like a wave…guilt, traveling through his stomach as they stopped in front of something. Brief memories of his days at the academy, of friends that were gone…friends that he could never see again.
"Cut through there!" One of the members of the strange robes spoke. The old elder sporting a wide white beard pointed farther down. Benjamin glanced at the dark cave as he ran a hand through his hair, his eyes wandering along the entrance of the cave.
His footsteps stopped as he stared into the cave. It was a pitch black…the walls of the cave were rough and contorted, the bits of green slime around the edges. Though…a shiver rocked the boy through his spine, his body nearly crumpling from the pressure of the dark side that echoed from deep within…
"Stop arguing!" Aang's voice shook the crowd. The group in robes and the leather silenced. The avatar standing up on a rock as his voice boomed.
"We need to figure out a plan!" Sokka's voice arose with Aang as he walked next to him. Ready to aid his friend.
"We can just go through this cave!" One of the members of the animal skin tribe spoke.
"Yeah, finally someone me and those vermin can agree on." The old elder of the white robe's tribe agreed.
Sokka only sighed in disappointment as he listened to the argument continue, but as he strained his eyes they shot open. There was someone missing. "Guys, where is Benji!"
They all stopped talking as they heard the young warrior's words. Though, as Sokka trained his eyes into the cave entrance he watched the dark hair of Benjamin swiftly swallowed. Like a large black monster composed of darkness, it was like Benjamin welcomed it…and threw himself into its wide jaws.
Benji did not even realize it…as Sokka's hand clamped along his shoulder. "Ay, buddy you okay." The young warrior spoke to the exile. Benjamin shook his head, his eyes dilated as he stared off into the darkness.
The cave from the dark looked empty…there was no noise in it. They were so far in that the natural light of the entrance could barely reach them. The young dark jedi, his neck craning as he turned to the young warrior, Sokka felt a shiver reach through his body from the sudden act.
Benjamin aimed his finger into the darkness of the cave. "We can't go down here." He spoke.
"What do you mean…" Sokka stuttered. He was about to ask more but Ben was…his eyes began to return to normal as he glanced around his surroundings once again.
"Sokka…why are we in the cave?" Ben asked, the young warrior chuckling a little bit as he thought that the exile was just cracking a joke.
Sokka smirked as he wrapped his arms around himself. "You tell me…you're the one that went in here first.
Ben's eyes widened as him and Sokka both began to walk to the entrance. 'Why? It was like a feeling…something was in there? Power, the dark side is so thick in that cave to the point where I could hardly think straight. But I did not fight against it, I welcomed it and if no one were in the cave with me I would of have kept on going.'
Sweat began to form on his brow as he continued towards the entrance. A horrific thought began to fester and form in the confines of his broken mind.
"Did I want the power…of the dark side?"
The young exile turned to his companion as they both emerged from the entrance. "Sorry everyone, but that cave…I don't have a good feeling about it."
Aang and Katara both nodded their heads. They could feel it on Benji, an unrest circulated around the poor boy. It was like for a second, he was possessed, or even worse. 'I wanted to go in myself…' Ben thought.
Benji shook the thought out of his head, or at least he tried to. Fearing, it festered in his broken mind of wanting to experience the dark side again. Though, he smothered those feelings down.
"Listen, this feeling I have in there is…"
They walked around the boy ignoring his pitiful attempts to warn them about the horrible fate that could occur in there. The dark side littered the cave.
The two groups completely annoyed his pleas. Team Avatar did not have a choice but to accompany them. So, Benji took a deep breath and began moving.
Though the team did not falter as they pushed ahead. The looming cave went far and straight, though as the quad made their way through it. Ben began to slowly relax…his eyes softly closing as he began to chalk it up as just some bad feeling.
Though the two groups eventually made camp. Two roaring fires breached through the darkness with their red glow, Katara sticking to those that bore the white robes, while Sokka stuck with those that wore the animal garments.
Aang stood right in the middle. Observing the pair so they would not argue, while Benjamin rested on the ends of the camps. Where barely any of the light could reach him or grace his presence, it was due to not fitting in with the group and making excuses of how they were too loud.
Though…
"Hello their mister!" A young voice spoke, Benjamin's ears perked up as he heard the soft voice grace his ears. He looked down seeing a little girl, her arms wrapped around her teddy bear. She was missing her two front teeth as she grinned at the boy.
"Hi…" He awkwardly said as he stared down at the girl, though she refused to say anything. Smiling at the exile with her toothless grin as Benjamin began to scratch the back of his head. "Can I help you?"
"Thank you, mister, for saving me and my mommy!" She erupted with a massive grin.
"It's fine…kid."
They sat there. Ben closing his eyes as he tried to feign like he was asleep, he wanted to get a quick smoke in but this kid was bugging him too much. Though, even after five minutes she was still stuck to him like glue.
"Mister, can I ask you a question?"
Ben took a deep breath. "Sure." He sighed as he shook his head, knowing full well that he was going to have to wait longer to smoke one of his cigarettes. "I got nothing else better to do."
"Why aren't you with your friends?"
"Oh them!" He snapped his fingers, but he scratched his head as he wondered what the right answer would be to give. "No, there not really my friends you can say. Sure, they seem to be good people, but I only known them for a day."
"Though, they remind me of them…" He spoke, unfiltered as he gazed along the trio. A small smile forming, bits of memories neither bitter nor sweet beginning to cloud his mind.
"Them?"
His eyes sunk, as the guilt began to once again bloom. "The people I lost…"
"Who did you lose mister?"
"My family…well we weren't related like that, they were both taken from their homes when they were babies, but I was taken into the academy when I was seven years old." The girl sat down as her eyes stuck like glue to Benjamin, his eyes focused on the roaring fire far away as he began to recount days from long ago. "I didn't have many friends, and I was quite terrible with instruction. Though, they looked past it and I was welcomed me into their fold."
"What happened?" She asked.
He nodded his head as he focused, trying to remember. "I grew stronger…with my weapon, and my skills. I wasn't strong with the conventional techniques but with the other, darker ones I flourished."
"The war came soon after…"
There was a noticeable silence as both felt a tension released into the air. Both were affected by wars…the girl did not realize that the boy was talking about a completely different war than the one she was familiar with. The war in a different galaxy…the war between the Mandalorians and the Jedi, the Mandalorian Wars, and the Jedi Civil War.
"My teacher, she joined the war with the other powerful warriors of our order, and I was still young, but I was welcomed into the war effort. They needed every Jedi they could get, to fight off the Mandalorian onslaught."
"Your friends, did they?" She began to speak but was quickly answered.
"No…they didn't." The young boy spat out those words as he shook his head, Ben knew what war did to Jedi…he remembered the dark path that both wars forced onto him. Though, what other choice did he have?
The council was doing nothing…they were content with watching the threat from afar as the Mandalorians pillaged and enslaved systems, massacring and even destroying planets due to there sick war effort.
He teeth grinded together as the boy struggled to keep his rage in check. "They tried to convince me to heed the words of the council, but I knew that they were wrong…we only won the war just in time. It's been years since I last saw them, they most likely died during the civil war."
"Do you miss them?" The girl asked once again.
"Yes…I do, everyday…"
The girl began to play with her stuffed animal, moving around the arms and legs of the toy. "Would you do it differently, maybe joining the war was the wrong answer…fighting from what my mommy says is a truly horrible."
"It is…fighting for your life instead of living it, is truly a horrible existence."
Horrors of the Darkness
Benjamin maneuvered around the dark catacombs of the cave alone. The darkness his ally as his boots echoed underneath his feet, bits of water falling through the cracks of the cave doused the young exiles hair.
His sharp eyes maneuvered around the darkness. A feeling, a familiar feeling…a hunger. Power, calling out to the young exile as the boy moved his way through the darkness once again. He moved farther and farther until he arrived…
His eyes widened in shock as he gazed around. Skeletons, rows, and rows of corpses were spread out across the room. The young exile stilled his breathing, feeling the weight of his sweat bear down on him as the young man moved his way through the skeletal remains.
It was not long before he found something…separated between the main walkway was a bridge. Grafted of stone, built to be sturdy but now due to time and ash has been barely reduced to anything. Though, the young boy was uninterested in that.
He was far more interested in that strange feeling that was welled up in his chest, the feeling that made him tighten up his breathing.
Benjamin made his way through the mounds of corpses. Gritting and gulping his spit as he fought the urge to vomit, as his boots would break through bone like a poorly made sandcastle. The young exile stopped moving as he stared at something far in the distance.
One of the skeletons wore a hood over its head, this one was the one that had been calling out to him…that familiar feeling, Benjamin did not waste time as he flipped the skeleton over. As a crimson light sparkled along his eyes.
It was in the shape of a 3d triangle, it's crimson sides…the color of blood and unbridled rag. Grafted with strange symbols on the sides, paved into it. Golden streaks surrounded the dark object that called out to the exile.
The young man reached for it as he held the object in his hands. His eyes widening as the sudden realization set in for him. His lips parting. "A Sith Holocron…"
The power of such a thing, the strange historical item…the thing was perverse in its own way. Benjamin began to put it back in its pile, to let it once be forgotten with the mounds of corpses in the cave.
Though…
He did not…the young exile's face contorting into a hideous smile. His eyes dilating as he let go of the holocron, the force lifting it into the air as the pieces of the holocron began to unscrew and unlock.
The dark secrets hidden inside of the crystal matrix was located for the young jedi to see. Benjamin's hands extending as the holocron began to untwine and open, the Jedi so weak…trying to hold back their students.
Before the wars Benjamin was a Padawan that had no real talent with the light, but thanks to a new master he embraced the darkness. The fools of the council tried to hold him back before, trying to restrict him to only use the weak powers of the light side.
His lips pulled farther into a disgusting smile, his eyes turning crimson from the blood red light emanating from the holocron. Though…he was more than an apprentice, and he rejected their desire.
The secrets…the power…the anger, all for Benjamin to feel. The familiar feeling of power coursing through the young dark jedi as he welcomed the rage. The feeling of power once again…
"Benjamin!" Katara's voice radiated.
The young boy's eyes returned to normal as the triangle crumpled back to the floor. "What are you doing?" She asked as she ran up to him. "We were waiting for you at camp, but you just disappeared…wait, what's that?"
The girl pointed towards the holocron located onto the floor, the dark presence radiating through the cave. "Oh…nothing." Benjamin quickly spoke, rushing his words together as he tried to hide the crime.
Katara strained her eyes as she gazed down at the red triangle, the water tribe girl picking it up and holding it in the middle of her palm. "It feels strange, almost like it's alive."
Benjamin's breathing was uneven. 'Yeah, she had no real clue what a Jedi even was…there is no way for her to understand what a holocron even really is.'
"Don't worry Katara, I will dispose of it." Benjamin spoke, plastering a fake smile across his face as he stuck out his right hand to receive back the object.
Katara only sighed as she handed the strange object back, not realizing its sinister nature…though feeling a certain unease from Ben's smile. "Fine, but we need you back at camp. Where going now."
Though as Katara vanished back to camp. Benjamin, the boy pulled out his blaster. He was not a fool and knew what the holocron did to him before, he was right he was not a true jedi and this was proof of that.
As his eyes began to return to normal the guilt began to bloom…soul crushing guilt of nearly falling to the dark side again, and welcoming the holocron, but what messed him up the most was his lack of resistance towards it.
How easy it was for him to just…accept it.
If Katara did not snap him out of that daze he would of have become a slave to the dark side once again, walking down that dark path. So, he raised that weapon and aimed it.
Though, he could not…or rather decided he should not. The young exile picked up the holocron, checking left and right to make sure that no one was watching him. "Yeah, I will just sell it…at the nearest store. Something like this is worth a fortune."
He tried to laugh, to snicker to himself about his newfound treasure. A secret prize that only he knew about, but there was a lie etched within that voice. Selling that artifact…was the last thing the exile would do.
So, he placed the holocron deep within his bag, the red glow offering solace. As the boy began to walk back to camp, though unknown to him…the creatures of the darkness, were already making their way closer to them.
Author Note
Hi!
Well thanks for reading. Please follow, favorite and review. Ben just got a new holocron, a sith one that will play a very important role in the story. Thanks guys for reading.
Also I was thinking of doing a q and a. Make a review and I will answer any question in the next chapter, also a review of what you think Ben's first lightsaber color should be? I was wondering what you guys would think would be his ideal color. No black or white lightsaber crystal, but EU colors are allowed.
Thanks once again for reading and have a wonderful day.