Chapter 5

Erk and Exar charged at each other, holding their blades above their heads. When they got close, they swung down and caught their blades in a lock. Aang ran at Erk, but Erk disappeared in his cloud of smoke. Seconds later, he came back up behind Aang and swung down.

Jo tackled Erk before Aang could get struck down. Jo aimed one of his wrists at Erk and small, thin lasers shot out. Erk moved his head, dodging the lasers, then kneed Jo off of him. Recovered, they were already on their feet. In one swift motion, Erk slammed his palms down on the ground, creating a force-lightning repulse that flew in every direction. The Jedi stuck their lightsabers in the ground, deflecting the lightning that came their way.

Jo pulled a small, handy blaster, that he kept for special occasions, shouted "Happy Birthday!" then shot at Erk. Erk simply reached his arm out and absorbed the blast. The red glow dissipated from eyesight, the action surprising the Jedi.

"You've really been busy." Erk said.

"Nice of you to notice. We haven't fought in so long that we forgot our usual battle initiation." Exar replied.

"Ah yes. The deciding fight. It requires just you and me." Erk emphasised, looking at Aang and Joe.

Aang got the idea and retracted his lightsabers, then stepped back. Jo did the same.

"Yeah I was taught not to fight ugly people. They have nothing left to lose. And we Jedi are taught to have mercy. That's why we have friends." Jo said. Erk raised a finger at him, as if he was about to reply.

Exar and Erk then sat down and they placed a hand on each others' foreheads, entering their minds.

Exar found himself in the all-too-familiar white, box-like abyss where their deciding fight takes place. It was white all around, and there was only a floor.

He looked around but didn't see Erk.

"Where'd you go?" Exar murmured to himself. Then, multiple colors started appearing everywhere, and started swirling around above him.

"What is this?" Exar asked quietly, completely bewildered. He had never seen anything like this before.

Then from the array of colors, Exar saw two big, smoky yellow eyes appear. Then red colors formed the shape of a red lightsaber. Then more was added. Exar then gasped, seeing Erk in possession of the crossguard lightsaber of the former Kylo Ren.

Then Erk, with the crossguard lightsaber, emerged from the colors, which disappeared immediately, and sped down upon Exar.

Erk swung down hard, but Exar already drew out a blade from his lightsaber and blocked the swing. Their battle soon escalated into a fiery duel; their blades were swinging wildly. The blades were flying everywhere: up, down, and sideways. Their fight was going at the highest speed ever seen possible in a lightsaber duel.

Their battle continued for several minutes, no one landing a blow on one another. Their arms were getting weary from their 'arm work'. At one point, Erk gained the upper-hand and kicked Exar down.

But just as Erk was about to strike down Exar, a ghost-like wraith appeared out of nowhere and tackled Erk, snapping both of them back to reality.

When they did, Exar quickly stood and was alert. He looked at Erk and was confused. Exar had never seen Erk so... shaken.

"Given up?" Exar asked.

Erk just retreated to his ship and left.

"What was that about?" Aang asked, stepping up.

"I don't know. But believe me, he didn't cower. There is something much bigger going on. We need to get back." Exar replied.

The Jedi hopped into their starfighters and flew back to Kashyyyk. For a while, no conversation emitted.

"Why didn't that sith destroy our ships when he had the chance?" Jo asked.

"Sith have their reasons for everything... usually. But that, that doesn't make sense to me either." Exar replied.

They landed on the landing platforms and they found Rye, Erickson, and Ephraim waiting for them.

"We sensed a troubling disturbance in the force. What happened?" Rye asked.

"Some strange force-work, and we encountered some enemies from my past." Exar hesitated before continuing, "And a sith."

"Sith?! Do you know anything about him?" Erickson asked.

"Actually, Exar here knows everything about him. He has a lot to explain." Aang said.

"What do you mean?" Rye asked, very concerned.

"Tell them, Exar." Aang said.

"Stop telling me what to do, and no, I don't know everything about him." Exar whispered to Aang. "I do not know everything about him," Exar emphasised sharply, "But the sith we encountered was, and still is, someone else from my past." He explained.

Aang rolled his eyes, "Exar knew the sith was alive this whole time." He said.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Ephraim asked.

"We all have our reasons for everything." Exar said.

"Indeed, we do. But you realize that we all could have dealt with him, right?" Rye pointed out.

"I really doubt it."

"Excuse me?"

"Sith Lord Erk is a master of the dark side of the force. He's the one who knows the most about the force. He is far more poweful than all of us."

"How do you know that?"

"Well, you guys remember the battle ritual the sith and I performed?" Exar asked.

"Yeah." Thay all replied. "But you never told us how they work." Jo added.

"Well, the participants have to picture the place they want to spar in their minds , then they appear and fight there. Our physical forms stay present to others, but the force takes our force-astral forms to the battlefield. Erk and I made ours a while ago, just made an easy, white, never-ending chasm. When a mental battlefield is set, you can't change it. But somehow, pay attention to this, Erk manipulated the cosmic force-energy to mentally alter the battlefield. So now I know they can be altered." Exar explained.

"He manipulated the force?" Erickson asked in complete disbelief.

"That's what I'm saying." Exar said.

...

"Well that does change things." Rye said, not diverting his conversation with Exar. "But you really should have told us about him, first thing."

"He would have defeated us all if we faced him earlier. I was waiting for the right moment, the moment when we got enough Jedi on the team, to strike." Exar said.

"Five Jedi isn't enough?" Rye asked.

"I'm afraid not. You all have told me about your past experiences, and compared to Erk, we won't stand a chance." Exar said.

"My past experiences dealing with several inquisitors doesn't give you hope?" Aang chimed in.

"Inquisitors wouldn't know nearly as much as Erk does. I'm telling you: we, can't, beat, him." Exar punctuated each word of the message, hoping to reach a point.

"You can't decide that until we face him." Rye said. He turned away and asked, "You know what I have to do now?"

Exar didn't respond.

"I'm promoting Aang to be the team leader now." Rye finally said. Then he motioned to everyone else, "Come on, we have to discuss this with the senate. Maybe they won't be as hard as we think they might be." He told them.

"Can't say that until it happens." Exar murmured quietly. Rye looked back at him with his eyebrows furrowed, still walking indoors.

Aang walked past Exar and whispered, "This is probably for the best." Then he continued walking.

Then all of a sudden, Jo and Aang started receiving a shortness of breath. Then they found themselves gasping for air. That got Rye, Erickson, and Ephraim's attention. They saw Aang and Jo hovering and choking in the air. Then they saw Exar looking down, and raising his slowly-clenching hand.

"Exar!" Rye called out with a raised voice.

Exar looked up, and the authorities were greeted with misty, green eyes.

"Exar?"

"Exar is gone." The voice came from Exar, but it wasn't his. It sounded like several voices speaking at once. "There is only Mirtis."

"Let them go." Rye commanded.

Mirtis laughed, "Wow! that was predictable."

"Is this?" Rye asked. He reached his hand out and used the force to lower Mirtis's hand. Slowly, Aang and Jo lowered to the ground, receiving air.

Mirtis was being held still.

"Ephraim, Erickson, restrain him." Rye said.

"My limbs are restrained, but my mind is fr-" Mirtis was cut off because Joe knocked him out with a metal arm.

Exar woke up, strapped to a table, seeing everyone around him. Brett was also standing in a corner.

"Exar, would you mind explaining yourself?" Rye asked.

"Well I appear to be strapped to a table." Exar replied. But the serious glare on Rye's face made him think. It took Exar a moment to put the pieces together. "Oh man. It was Heceowa. He cast a spell on me, temporarily." He said.

"You said that he didn't get to you." Aang said

"Yes but I didn't want you guys to know that because I didn't know what you guys would do if you knew I had been tacked with the dark side. And that was an effect of the spell." Exar whispered the last part.

"We'd have done this." Jo said.

"Exactly." Exar sighed.

"Exar." Rye called out, getting his attention, "I don't know if you remember everything from whatever happened, but we've demoted you."

Exar slightly looked to the side, then said, "Understood."

"Good."

Erk entered a dark room which lit by a fire that was elevated at a height twice the size he was. He kneeled down, then spoke.

"Sir, I have returned from engaging the Jedi. I couldn't finish them because... there was a complication."

"What complication?" A mechanical voice emitted from the dark.

"I was about to strike down one of the Jedi when I was in a mental force-battle, but then a wraith came from nowhere and knocked me out."

"That's strange." The other voice said before a pause. Then he spoke again, "What did the wraith look like?"