XV
Exar Kun could remember small moments from his life before the gap. The language had changed, the accent and styling and government had changed, but that which reassured the man called Exar Kun had not changed. It could not.
The dark side kept the power to save and control all lives.
Too many times for debt to be dropped had that power preserved Exar himself, or turned things back to his advantage, or showed him how those with a sixth sense improved upon those without.
So amusing how one Sith had devastated the Republic and Jedi (with little evidence of saber-shed limbs), until a military rebel government changed the scene again. So much history. Exar had soaked into himself and used and savored the vast perspective he held, how only a very few things--the dark side and its elite followers among them--could survive and make a true mark. Could raise temples and change planets, until their changes were assumed to be ancient and forever by any creature walking among them.
And then of course they were.
Kyp Durron had listened well to the whispering of these truths. It was easy to show (him) the probable failure of Skywalker and his infant complacent Jedi Order.
However, if Exar showed Kyp Durron the core of Master Skywalker's pure prowess, the young man would not consider even walking into this apartment.
Exar did not fear. He held life itself in his own consciousness, and he had forgotten the need for a physical manifestation. It helped to form the illusion of a body, which though a hat-trick mind manipulation was not suited to his current situation. Far easier was honing in on willing Durron's life force and moving with it.
Skywalker needed to be out of the picture before Exar could reform the Sith and the focus temples on Yavin IV to assure his immortality.
One powerful, disheartened, ruined Jedi standing in the Dark Lord's way.
Exar Kun did not fear.