Torment 7

Luke stood frozen in place, a part of him too frightened to move. Someone in the room had gotten shot with the blaster and he was anxious to find out whom it had been. Numerous scenarios ran through his mind, all too horrible to contemplate for more than a briefest second. Had Han shot his dear sister Leia? Or perhaps Han himself was the one lying on the floor now? He knew it wasn't Jade because the trained assassin still had her arms wrapped around him tightly, her hot breath wafting on his cheek. And he was relatively certain it hadn't been his Father, as he still heard Vader's mechanical breathing. A part of him yearned to stay this way in this state of not knowing but he knew that was impossible. Sooner or later Tantalus would provide some sort of illumination so they could all see the results of the weapon discharge.

A loud, ear-splitting rumble filled the air and the floor trembled under Luke's boots, the vibrations traveling up into his legs. All thoughts of who had gotten blasted fled from his overworked mind as a new threat surfaced. The horrible sound continued and a pale slit of yellow light appeared, this time on the floor. A huge block of stone was slowly moving, stone grating against stone to produce the deafening racket. The glowing rectangle of light grew larger and larger, the heavy block moving at a steady pace until it clicked into position with a resounding report of doom. Lazy tendrils of gray, sooty smoke rose upward from the now perfectly square burning pit and Luke's body filled with dread. He could sense all eyes were on the deep pit before him and apprehension filled the room. He could feel Mara tense alongside him, her slender muscular body preparing for the worst.

Something moved deep within and slowly the shadowy figure began to rise upwards. First a long pair of ivory twisted horns appeared, each longer than he was tall. The firelight flashed on the smooth surface turning it scarlet. Then the immense head emerged, or what was left of a head. It was a giant skull from some fantastic beast. It had a long snout that tapered to a rounded tip, the maw filled with sharp teeth. Luke figured the jaws were large enough to easily swallow a man whole if it wished to. A much smaller horn stuck up from the tip of the snout, just above the bony nostril openings. Red fire burned from within and flickered from the large diagonal eye sockets. The skull soared upward on the hot draft coming from the pit and hovered there in mid air effortlessly. Luke couldn't take his eyes off it. He stood memorized in place, as if hypnotized.

SOON VICTORY WILL BE MINE!

Bravely Mara moved between Luke and the giant flaming skull. The smaller flame skulls began to wink into existence around the room and she didn't let this deter her.

Darth Vader, however, used the light provided by the numerous skulls to determine whom the blaster had shot. To his dismay, it was as he had feared. The Sith Lord moved closer to Luke and placed both hands on his son's shoulders and forcibly turned Luke around. "Son, Palpatine is dead. The blaster shot must have took him by surprise and he wasn't prepared for it. He cannot protect you any more, but I will do my best."

Luke's eyes widened as he took in Palpatine's body lying close by on the floor. The Emperor looked the same dead as he had alive: a wrinkled, rotten corpse. Raw panic started to gnaw at his soft innards and he twirled to face the immense hovering skull. The lightsaber's metal handle felt slippery in his sweaty hands and he struggled to hold the blade steady. Palpatine had been the only one standing between him and Tantalus, but now he was gone, taken out by a stray blaster bolt. His eyes shifted momentarily to Han, but he couldn't be angry with his grief-stricken friend. Yelling at Han wouldn't accomplish anything worthwhile and would just make matters worst. Tantalus seemed to feed on their rage and hatred, so he would have to stick with the Jedi ideals Yoda had pounded into his head during his brief training.

"Ha! Look at that!" Han said as he finally noticed Palpatine dead on the floor. "I killed the old coot by accident!"

Vader shook a fist at the smuggler. "You have just sentenced us all to death!"

"He was the one killing everybody!" Han argued hotly, and then doubt filled his eyes as he gazed at Vader's black breath mask, red reflections on the smooth black metal. "Unless it was you…"

"Han, please!" Luke pleaded with his friend, aggravation growing inside him. He was getting fed up with Han's constant bickering and accusations. "Don't start blaming Father now! Do you want me to end up possessed by that thing over there? I know you're hurt over Chewie's death, but we have bigger problems at the moment!"

"Han, I think you should listen to Luke…" Leia placed a hand on the smuggler's shoulder, trying to comfort him. "Perhaps for once in his life Palpatine was telling the truth. He did want to catch Luke after all. And once he had us there was no need to go through all this elaborate planning!"

"But look what he has to gain!" Han pointed out. "With both Palpatine and Xizor dead, that leaves HIM in charge! Plus he has Luke's trust to boot! I think its simple murder with a flashy light show."

Luke stared at Han, his mind whirling out of control. Could his friend be right? Could the skulls be nothing more than special effects his Father had rigged up to kill Palpatine and become Emperor? He imagined himself as his Father's right hand man, a fleet of Star Destroyers at his command. The entire galaxy would lie at his feet and he'd have his Father's love. Wealth beyond his wildest dream would be his, power…yes; it all would be there. They could do so much good for the galaxy. But then his vision snapped and he realized in that scenario his Father would be a cold-blooded killer. He realized that Vader had killed before, but he usually had a reason for it. This whole thing just didn't seem to be his style and he prayed that the Sith Lord hadn't changed so much in a short period of time. He was still relatively sure that Tantalus was real and wanted to possess his body for no good. "Han, I think Tantalus is real and this isn't any case of murder for power…"

"Well, I'll PROOVE it to you!" Han muttered as he stalked towards the large flaming skull that had come out of the pit.

"Han! Don't!" Luke cried, his heart leaping into his throat. He dashed past Jade and ran towards his friend, all thoughts of his own safety vanishing. "It'll kill you!"

Luke reached Han and gripped the man by his arm. The giant horned skull was directly above them and Luke could feel the intense heat from the flames searing his skin, as if he was on Tatooine once again under the double suns. The heat didn't exactly burn, but it felt very uncomfortable and he didn't think he'd be able to stand it for too long. Digging his heels into the smooth floor, Luke tried to haul Han back towards the others. "Please, Han! Listen to me…"

But the smuggler shook Luke off and turned around to face the younger man, waving a finger at his nose. "This is a scam and I'm going to prove it to you!"

The flame skull, fire crackling loudly, tilted as if it were staring down at them with its empty eye sockets. As Luke stared up into those burning sockets an immense cold swept through his body and he was forced to look elsewhere, fear of possession filling him. Before he could grab Han again, the smuggler reached up and stretched his arm while standing on tiptoe. His fingertips brushed against the skull's chin. A radiant bluish-white light appeared and zapped Han, the energy crackling loudly. The smuggler was flung across the room where he crashed to the floor. It had all happened so fast that Luke hadn't had a chance to do anything to save him.

Luke spun around, intending to dash to Han's side but saw that Leia was already there, kneeling by his side. Her face was sad and she shook her head, silent tears on her face. "It killed him."

To be continued…