Jade Shadow, Mortis; 44 ABY
The planet they found themselves flying over was one of unique sights. A robust landscape of trees littered the ground. Massive pillars of stone were rising from craters in the ground. It looked surprisingly like Abeloth's planet had after her influence had been purged.
"Looks familiar," Ben mumbled. "Why doesn't that fill me with joy?"
Vestara closed her eyes and reached out. "It's . . . strong in the Force, I haven't felt anything like it before."
Luke looked down at the outer sensor reading. "The atmosphere is breathable, at least. But readings indicate this 'planet' isn't all that much bigger than an asteroid."
"That does lead one to think it was created artificially instead of being a natural formation," Ben noted. "Where should we land?"
The Shadow flew above a valley of floating columns, fog hid the ground from them. It almost looked like the sunlight didn't make it that far down to burn away the mist. For that matter, Luke couldn't figure out how there was any sun at all, there was certainly not one in-system. The further forward they flew, the darker the day became. Rolling clouds cast the horizon in shadow.
"That looks like a good starting point," Vestara indicated to a towering building before them. Like a spear rising from the land, it jutted upward. A jade orb crowned the apex. Around the base lay a coliseum wall, four smaller orbs crowded inside the walls.
Not seeing a better place, and the building giving them their best chance at finding inhabitants, Luke brought the Shadow down to an opening just outside the walls. They strode down the ramp in a group. Looking around, Luke reached out and felt the slither of a chill run through him. "This place is corrupted," he warned.
"Strong in the dark side," Vestara concurred. "But that doesn't mean we can turn back, that's why you have me."
Luke was about to suggest they start elsewhere, but Ben preempted him. "We'll have to search here eventually, might as well get it over with now."
"You say that like it's a bad thing," Vestara practically hummed, this was her element. She sent out a mental probe, and the ebony defensive wall cracked open like a gate.
With serious misgivings, Luke followed the pair into the monastery. Inside, stained glass windows cast the same glow as the summit globes. Triangles and sharp lines were the dominant style. Diseased trees lined the inner courtyard of flagstone.
"Cheery place," Ben couldn't resist saying.
"Just needs a woman's touch," Vestara quipped. "And a new color scheme. Green is definitely not my color."
Luke couldn't help but feel nostalgic, he and Mara had once been able to do that. Never on something so divisive a subject, but at least in spirit. Another part of him, the one that let him slay Sith in legion heard only the part of Vestara's propensity toward darkness. He still hadn't decided which voice was the right one.
The entrance into the tower itself was even more simple than the gates, there wasn't even a door. It just twisted and turned into what could only be called a throne room. The glass itself was giving off the same glow as it had from the outside, as if you were always looking out to the light no matter where you stood. Shadows cast diagonal lines and diamonds on the stone floor. A stone eerily similar to that which paved the courtyard of the Font of Power. A single chair dominated the room, set atop a stair. Behind it, the glass what shattered on either side, letting in the ambient light from outside.
"Now that won't do at all," Vestara frowned and turned to Ben. "Where would you sit?"
"I'd stand," Ben said seriously, but his eyes took on an amorous leer a moment later. "We could always share."
Luke rolled his eyes. Banter was all well and good if you were involved in it, but there was a time and place. "Searching, remember?"
Vestara was chagrined. "Then why don't we split up to cover ground faster?"
"Sounds fine with me," Ben shrugged.
There was no way he'd leave Vestara alone in a dark side nexus. "Why doesn't Vestara come with me?"
A brief scowl crossed her face, but there really wasn't any malice in it. "As you wish, Master Skywalker."
"I'll take up, you two take down." Ben started up the spiral stairs that lined the inner walls of the tower, disappearing to the higher levels. He pointed down, where the stairs led under the base of this landing, hinting to sublevels.
"Still keeping tabs on me?" Vestara asked as they descended below ground.
Luke was unabashed. "It'll take a lot more than speeches to get me to really trust you, and I have no intention of pretending otherwise."
"I suppose the honesty is admirable," she scoffed.
The further they went down, the warmer it became. The level right under the throne room could only be described as a dungeon. Restraints lined the walls. Light here was more subdued, but equally as mystic as above, nothing here could possibly be from the outside. From there, they found themselves traveling at a much steeper pace, moving well outside the walls of the tower above.
"Guess someone couldn't afford to keep up their cooler," Vestara said as they walked deeper. Ripples of heat made the whole hallway dance.
When they reached an opening, it opened to the heart of a volcano. Molten rock poured off the sides like water. Hardened platforms floated freely in the river of magma, a puzzle of flooring that shifted beneath their feet.
"This place could give Mustafar a run for its money." Luke jumped to the largest floating landmass, a glowing symbol carved into the surface was something he'd seen on the most ancient of Jedi sites, where the Sith first broke away.
Vestara jumped after Luke, but instead of looking down, she looked around. Bobbing in the magma were obsidian stones. Obelisks of black glass. She reached out and pulled one in. "These seem familiar."
Without thinking, she ran her hand over the mirror-like side and gasped. Luke was at her side a moment later. "What is it?"
"They're like the stones on Abeloth's planet. Knowledge kept within." She raised one hand and a black smoke convalesced in her hand, forging a arrow-tipped spear of darkness. "I'd venture a guess that all these," she pointed to the numerous floating stones, all uniform obsidian columns, "are Dark Side powers." She tossed the shaft into the molten river.
"You are correct, young one."
Luke and Vestara turned to a tall figure donned in armored black on top of the glowing symbol. The red-yellow glow of the magma reflected off the splayed helmet. Luke couldn't believe his eyes, as solid as the obelisk had been, there stood Darth Vader, a blood-shine blade in his gloved hand.
Ben regretted taking the high road almost immediately. The landings above the throne room were filled with what could only be trophies. Crystal balls glinted in the lime light, skin-bound manuscripts lined the walls. It looked for all the world to be a library, but one of dark side knowledge. Instructions on torture were left open, making Ben wince in sympathy for whomever served as a test subject for those.
A far wall was lined with lightsabers. Their hilts were ancient and caked with dust. Lifting one off the wall, its handle carved out of a bone, Ben wasn't all that surprised to see it's crimson blade when he turned it on. Still, he had a feeling Vestara might like it. He looked over the wall and picked up one cast from silver and gold, more 'mainstream' than the others.
"Stealing. Quite apropos given intended recipient, Ben."
Ben dropped the saber he'd been holding and spun to see his cousin stepping from behind a shelf of books, his own lightsaber drawn and ignited. "How are you here?"
"Here? Do you mean how am I in this specific room or how am I not in my eternal damnation in a more general sense?"
"I don't suppose I could say 'both,' could I?"
Caedus shrugged, his floor-length cape jumping with his shoulders. "This is a nexus of the Force, Ben, I was drawn here because of you."
"Me?"
"Yes," Caedus' eyes danced in intensity. "When you leave, I'll go back there, probably not even remembering ever seeing you."
"And why are you here?" Ben circled him, not letting him get too close.
Caedus picked up a small ruby orb and tossed it in the air. "To warn you of something, isn't that always the case with apparitions?"
"One of these days I'd like to see someone show up for no other reason than to say 'hi."'
"Hi."
"Very funny."
Caedus squeezed the glass sphere and it cracked in two. "If you're going to keep this so-called 'balance,' then you need to be the one to do it. The girl is a slave to her own whims, her self-indulgence will be your downfall."
"So says the man who tried to turn me when he was alive."
"Now I'm dead," Caedus stated bluntly, "and you're not the same person you were then. You're not even human anymore, Ben."
"I don't see why I should listen to you." Ben started for the stairs.
"Fine," Caedus shook off the broken glass from his gloved hand and inside was a faceted ruby, perfectly cut. "You might want to check up on your father and girlfriend, though, the basement is where you always keep the monsters."
Caedus tossed the gem to Ben, who caught it in mid-air. When he looked back to where his cousin had been, there was nothing left. Looking down, he saw flashes of lightsaber blades from within the crystal, a battle. He might not trust Jacen's words or visions, but it never hurt to play it safe. Dropping the stone, he ran to the stairs without looking back.
"Father?" Luke asked, he hadn't seen his father in more years than he could remember, but it was never like this. This was like the vision on Dagobah.
Vader ignored Luke and eyed Vestara. "You have a destiny, one you were born to fulfill, and it doesn't involve foolish notions of balance."
Without warning, Vader spun and swung his saber at Luke. The Jedi Master caught it on instinct. "Help me, child," Vader rumbled, "and you will take your place as Grand Lady of the Sith."
Luke fell back, Vader falling forward with his weight behind the blade. The Jedi Master remember Vader's style and proficiency, his father would never have fallen for that in either a literal or figurative sense. He flipped over the armored Sith and slashed at Vader's mask on his way over. The splintered and cracked duraplast mask smoked.
Vestara lit her own lightsaber and lunged at the Dark Lord's knees. Vader v-stepped and swung his blade in a steep arc, locking them together. The smoke obscured the face beneath, but was quickly clearing. "You betray your own kind?" His voice no longer had the bass filter, and actually reminded Luke of someone, he just couldn't place who.
Luke landed next to Vestara, heartened that she hadn't lunged after him. He sprang up and jabbed his saber into Vader's center of mass, his bulky thoracic plate. The Sith forced the pair of locked blade over to block and knocked Luke back with a pulse of Force energy.
"You would deny me this, Vestara?" the Sith demanded, the smoke fading from the split mask. The face inside was not the sallow one Luke knew to have resided in Vader's helmet, or his own, as it had on the planet of Yoda's exile, but instead black hair and dark brown eyes, much like Vestara's own glared out from the mask. "Your own father?"
Vader's armor dissolved away to the traditional robes of a Sith Saber. Gavar Khai raised his own scarlet saber, Vader's ballast one gone. "Kill the Jedi and redeem yourself for my death," he shouted over the buffeting winds generated by the rising heat. "It is your destiny, take your rightful place as ruler the Sith!"
Luke saw the temptation in her eyes, a chance to be forgiven by one's parent would be alluring to anyone. Would she do it? Luke shifted into a defense guard slightly angled at her in case she turned.
When Vestara moved, it was faster than Luke had ever seen, a blur of the brown robes Ben had given her. Her blade of emerald fire met crimson flame and she attacked with a rage that drew heavily on the powers of the crater.
Ben reached the volcanic cavernin time to see Gavar Khai offer Vestara the chance to rule the Sith. He trusted her, more than he probably should, but there was a tiny voice that feared she'd do it. Instead, and much to Ben's elation, she didn't turn on his father, but attacked her own.
She was a beacon of power, slashing and parrying with her saber. The Sith Saber fell back under the assault, sliding along the rocky floor and scratching his shiny armorplast shoulder plate. Vestara held her blade at his neck.
Gavar Khai looked at his daughter with a look of panic. "Don't kill me, please. I love you."
Instead of plunging the saber home, Vestara hesitated. In that instant, Gavar kicked her away and jumped to his feet. As she was reeling back, he nearly sliced her pilfered blade in two. By that point, Ben and his father had reached the dueling pair. Luke blocked Gavar's next killing stroke as Vestara recovered.
With three fighters on him, the Sith Saber was disarmed quickly and found himself with Ben's sapphire sword at his throat. "Do it, young Skywalker." Gavar urged. "Take your journey through the darkness with my blood on your—"
He was cut short as Vestara thrust her own blade into his chest. "Doesn't really bother me," she hissed to her father. With the lethal blow delivered, his body faded like the ghost he was.
They all looked down to where the specter had fallen before Luke turned to Vestara. "Thank you."
"What for?" She knotted her brow in confusion and panted from the exertion of the last few minutes.
"You could have listened to him, probably killed me," Luke put a hand on her shoulder. "I know how tempting a father's words can be."
"Um, you're welcome," she looked somewhat shell-shocked, but looked down at the blade in her hand, what she used to cut down her father for a second time.
The ground rumbled and rocked, lumps of hardened rock dropped into the magma. On the opposite side of the one the stairs had entered, slabs of stone fell away, creating a new bridge and revealing an opening behind the rock wall. They looked at one another. Ben cocked an eyebrow and started for the new pathway. "Anyone up for more?"