The jungle was vast, a lush forest biome as far as the eye could see. Xeran made his way forward, observing the sea of trees underneath, even admiring the scenery as he flew by. Finally, he landed his ship in a small clearing.

He exited the borrowed vessel, then made his way inside the jungles of Tython. It was a strange place the other man had chosen to meet, although the young Zabrak had his suspicions as to why. He believed he knew what he would find at the end of the road.

As he reached the coordinates the human had sent him, he saw the building emerge from behind the trees. Tall, made from white marble with but a handful of lavish decorations, surprisingly well preserved over the years, a simple but sturdy design, with a dome, from which one could observe the entire jungle. The old Jedi Temple of Tython, once a place of worship and study, now a miserable and forgotten ruin, much like the order that had built it.

The Sith entered the sanctuary of the Light Side of the Force, his warblade at the ready.

After passing through the wide, spacious corridors, he entered the hall of the Temple. There was complete darkness around, but his Zabrak eyes and the Force were enough to allow him a sense of his environment. The hall was large, once a place where Jedi could meet and converse comfortably with one another, now filled with overgrown vines, with the broken pieces of what might have once been a statue abandoned near the edge of the room.

Suddenly, the flip of a switch was heard and the lights were activated, slowly and with some buzzing. Xeran turned towards the direction of the sound and looked at his target, sizing him up. He looked to be in his late forties, and, now that he saw him up close, there was a little grey in the black of his hair. He looked like a man who had seen war, but he was hardened by it, not tired. He was wearing simple clothes, a white shirt and black pants, and had a pouch strapped on his belt.

"I heard you were looking for me."

Xeran sheathed his weapon and approached the man. "Yes, and I have to admit that I should have used…other means to locate you. There is no simple man who could stalk one of your kind and not be discovered, is there? Although I believed brutalizing people and keeping them hostage was beneath a Jedi."

There was a moment of silence. The older man's hand approached the pouch hanging from his belt.

"So you know who I am."

"The truth is evident in the Force. I did not know up until now, but that information pleases me."

"Oh?"

"Yes. Because I believe any Jedi would do anything to end the Sith Emperor and his corrupt Empire. And that means our goals align." He paused, giving the older warrior time to process what he had said, then continued. "You possess information that could lead us to an old Sith superweapon, as I am certain you are aware of. I have been tracking it down for a long time, and I intend to use it to strike back at the Empire and finally rid the galaxy of it. And I am willing to share that victory with you, if you so desire. Which I know you do."

The Jedi laughed. "How very generous of you!"

Xeran frowned. "There is no need for animosity between us, Jedi. I assure you, I only want what is best for the galaxy, just like you do. I know what you have been taught about my kind, but it is not always the case. I am willing to lay down my arms and resolve this matter peacefully. Set your suspicions aside and let us work together, as has never happened before, to achieve the impossible. To finally end this war."

The Jedi smiled sardonically, then used the Force to push Xeran across the room. The Zabrak hit the wall and fell, growling.

"I am a Master of the Jedi Order, boy! You cannot deceive me. All you want is to own that weapon and use it for your own ends. Oh, I am sure you would destroy the Emperor if you had the chance, only to replace him afterward. But I cannot let it fall into the wrong hands. That's why I'm going to destroy it."

Xeran got on his feet, shocked. "You are going to do what?"

"That's right. No one should wield that kind of power. Certainly not someone like you."

"But…it is our only chance to destroy the Empire. You cannot tell me that you never wanted to use it yourself, at the very least?"

"Me? Allow myself to be corrupted in this manner? No, I do not think so. I have been trying to make the Empire's spies lose my trail for a long time, and now that they have, I will head there immediately and destroy that accursed Sith creation. But before that, I will destroy you!" He reached inside his pouch and drew his lightsabers. The azure blades illuminated the half lit room.

Xeran cursed to himself. He had really hoped to avoid fighting the Jedi, but the man's foolishness had left him no choice. He drew his warblade and charged.

The Zabrak warrior was fast. His swift strikes and acrobatic movements quickly put the older Jedi on the defensive. But the Jedi was a big, strong man, and Xeran knew one misstep on his part would mean certain death. He dodged a brutal blow, then delivered an upward strike with his blade, hoping to slip past his opponent's defenses, but his hit was blocked. The Jedi charged at him, but Xeran merely sidestepped and managed to score a hit on his opponent's arm, earning a groan of pain and a few drops of blood on his warblade.

His opponent counterattacked, and Xeran dodged one, two, three blows in quick succession, then he managed to hit one of the Jedi's lightsabers, destroying it. If the man was phased at the loss of his weapon, he did not show it. Instead, he gripped his remaining saber with both hands and he approached the Zabrak.

Something was changing in the Jedi during the course of their fight. With every passing moment, his control of his emotions was weakening, allowing him to slip closer and closer towards the darkness. His fighting style kept becoming more brutal, angrier, his attacks stronger and more precise. He did, after all, have to live through decades of solitude and hate, and the Jedi philosophies could not survive immersion in reality. Xeran would have chuckled at that thought, had he not been forced to go on the defensive himself, having to push his skills to their limits to keep dodging and parrying the older warrior's increasingly powerful attacks.

As he evaded another strike, he found himself being lifted in the air with the Force. With a roar, the Jedi propelled him towards the room, smashing him on the wall once more, and he leaped towards the young Sith. Xeran rolled out of the way as the Jedi's weapon slashed at the wall where his head was a second ago, and he used the Force to slam the Jedi on the wall in turn. He saw his moment and, as the Jedi was dazed, he delivered a powerful blow. The Jedi managed to raise his weapon in time, but Xeran had foreseen this and aimed to disarm his opponent. It worked, and the lightsaber flew across the room.

As Xeran raised his blade to finish the fight, the Jedi opened his arms and charged at him, trapping him in a bear hug and slamming him on the floor. He punched him once, twice, then grabbed Xeran's hand when he tried to hit him with his blade and twisted, managing to disarm the Sith and Force push the weapon across the room. Now both were unarmed, but the larger, stronger man was sitting on top of the young Zabrak, ready to kill him with his bare hands.

Xeran would not fall without a fight. He raised his hands to block the Jedi's fists, then wrapped his legs across his opponent's waist and, with a lot of effort, managed to push to the side and drop him on the floor, now sitting on top of him. He punched the Jedi in the nose, hoping to use the second his eyes would fill with water to escape, but the man pushed him blindly with all his might, dropping him. He kicked and struggled as the bigger man pinned him on the ground again, then smashed his elbow on the Jedi's face. He retaliated with a punch that filled Xeran's mouth with blood.

They wrestled on the cold floor for quite some time, both of them full of dirt and sweat, with red stains on their shirts. Xeran tasted something metallic, felt his face hot where the Jedi had punched him, and he felt his strength slowly leaving him. He managed to escape a chokehold, then, with a few acrobatic jumps, he put a little distance between himself and his opponent, trying to earn a little respite. The Jedi simply smiled and used the Force to summon the warblade in his hand.

Xeran could not accept this twist of fate. After he had fought so hard and had sacrificed so much, his mission had failed. He was scared of death, but right now the prevailing feeling was…disappointment. The Empire would be spared his wrath, and he would be denied his vengeance, all because of a Jedi's foolishness! The man was too blind to see the opportunity before him. Xeran was prepared to share his victory, but to know that the attack on his enemies he had envisioned for so long would never happen, that his prize would be destroyed because of some nobody's short sightedness…it was just too much. The man before him was nothing but a prejudiced fool, not worthy of being the one to stop his plans. But he was close to doing exactly that, and Xeran wanted to make him suffer for it.

He felt something he had never felt before. It was more than just hate, it was…disgust. And an explosive rage. Without thinking, or even knowing what he was doing, he raised his hands. Blue lightning emerged from his fingertips, striking the shocked Jedi across the chest and sending him flying across the room. He landed on the floor, the weapon leaving his hand, and Xeran walked closer and used his lightning on the man again, making him scream in agony. Oh, how he enjoyed that agony. The worm that almost denied him his victory, squirming on the floor before him…he had never taken delight in torture, but right now, the Dark Side was whispering at him, taking control of his actions, relishing in the Jedi's torment inside his sacred sanctuary. And Xeran was letting it.

He finally decided to wrestle back control, not allowing the darkness to consume him, but rather mastering it himself. He raised his hand to summon his warblade in his hand, but he smiled as a better idea dawned on him. He summoned the Jedi's lightsabers instead, one of them broken, but not completely destroyed, the other functioning perfectly. He activated the blue blade and stood above his enemy's trembling, smoking body, feeling the last remnants of his life force struggling to hold on. He lifted the man in the air with the Force, and he looked in his eyes, which returned the gaze. With a swift strike, he cut off the man's head, then let his lifeless body fall.

Then the surge of power passed, and he fell to the floor, exhausted. He laid there, and he closed his eyes, he didn't know for how long.