ADAS KALLIG

I opened my eyes.

I was no longer on Dromund Kaas, instead finding myself in an unknown place.

There was an enormous pillar of light before me, blindingly bright. I could feel its energy, limitless and all-encompassing, as it was connected to every living being in the galaxy, including myself. In comparison my power, even the power of the dark veil I was using, was nothing. Because I was watching the heart of the force, the stream of all souls in the galaxy.

I could still feel my real body. It was still on Dromund Kaas, keeping the tear open, allowing me to be there. Intellectually I knew it was going through unimaginable torture. Both the power gathered inside me and the force trying to fight against the intruder were tearing it apart. Only my relative immortality and regeneration, strengthened by the same energy that was ripping me apart, made it possible for me to keep the tear open. And even then I was losing enormous amounts of energy every second.

It was like rodeo-riding a Rancor. You knew from the start that you would eventually fall off. The real question was, how long would you be able to stay on top of the monster?

I didn't plan to waste this opportunity, so I had to hurry. I didn't have much time.

I started walking towards the pillar, looking at my surroundings. The surface on which I walked looked mesmerizing. It was as if two primal forces, light and darkness, were coiling around each other, as its color was changing with every second. It was a seamless harmony between two opposing forces.
The sky, if it could even be called a sky, was full of colorful strands of energy, etheric and delicate, slowly surging through the sky, free and unrestrained. It was like looking at life in the purest form, perfect harmony between all sides of the force, joined in the beautiful symphony.

I honestly didn't know if this place was even real. Maybe it was just my mind conceptualizing what I was about to do, as it was the only thing he could do to avoid melting. Maybe it was just an illusion created by the force, like some sort of vision. Or maybe it was real, I didn't know. It probably didn't even matter at this point.
It would be nice to stay there and just watch, but it probably wouldn't be wise. You know, because of the agonizing pain and the tear in reality..

I finally reached the pillar. There was only one thing left to do. I raised my hand, ready to plunge into the force stream.

"Don't do it, Kallig!" a voice came from behind me. I turned around, not expecting anyone else to be there. I was quite surprised to see Selleana Myr, my very own rival. What a pleasant surprise!

Selleana Myr, also known as a Barsen'thor, was, well, the republic version of me. She went through a similar journey, gained power in her order around the same time as I did in mine and we often clashed our blades during the war for various reasons. She was one of the few people I could name as my rivals. She was of course hindered by her refusal to become a sith, an obviously better choice, instead staying the Jedi, but even then she was quite powerful, stopping me from achieving many of my plans.

Despite us being on different sides, I didn't dislike her. In truth I considered us quite good friends. It was hard to hate someone who helped you fight Revan and the Eternal empire after all. She was also a great cook.

That was why it was nice seeing her. I even knew how this conversation would go. She would probably say a lot of serious, pompatic things trying to convince me, see that it wouldn't work, fight me and leave. That was how it would normally end with her.

There was something different about her though.

"Selleana, I didn't expect you there. Did you shorten your hair?" I asked. No. That wasn't it. It was something else. I did a quick scan. Clothes? No. Tattoos? No. Hmm. Wait, I knew what changed!

"You are a force ghost. I didn't expect that. You always seemed like a person who would go with the flow" I said, subtly pointing with my head at the stream of souls, hoping she would get my joke, as it was great and witty.

Unfortunately she didn't smile after hearing it, though I didn't know whether it was because the joke was too subtle or because she didn't have a sense of humor. She was a Jedi, so it was probably a latter.

"You can't meddle with the force like that, Adas. The consequences of you tearing the force open could be catastrophic for the entire Galaxy. What you are about to do is even worse!" Pompatic speech, I called it. Man, She was really paranoid. It was not like I planned to do anything evil or to break anything permanently. And the tear would close itself on its own after I was done. She was just a worrier as always.

"Calm down, it will be fine" I waved my hand dismissively. She should trust me more after such a long time. "I will just do what I have to do and leave" She gritted her teeth at my refusal.

"What do you even want to achieve by doing something so irresponsible?" She asked, clearly suspecting me of doing something nefarious. How rude. I was a responsible adult.

"That's easy" I responded "I want to retrieve my girlfriend" Then I smiled shyly, a little embarrassed after saying that. She probably expected something grander. I felt like I disappointed her with my humble goal. She looked at me dubiously, visibly angry after hearing my answer.

"You think I will believe it? That you would reshape the entire Galaxy just to see Lana?! You can't expect me too.." she trailed off after looking me in the eyes.

"...you are serious" she whispered softly, coming to some sort of realization.

For a second we saw each other in the truest sense. We were just two souls in the heart of the force, free from any barriers between us, our minds and souls bared before each other. I was seeing her exactly as she was and she was seeing me.

Well, I didn't see anything I didn't know before. She was a good woman, no surprises there. I looked at her, interested in what she saw in me.

Revulsion, shock, fear, pity, sadness, worry, helplessness, relief. These were the emotions I was able to see in her eyes.

Why would she feel that?

Did I have something on my face? I tried to scrub it off, but Selleana was still looking at me in this weird way. Was I wrong? Hmm. I knew it. She was trying to stall me so I would waste all energy collected from the veil! Quite a devious plan!

I knew I was right to think of her as my rival. She deserved a reward for tricking me like that.

"I admit. You are quite a sneaky, little jedi. Here's your prize!" I said as I quickly approached her. Before she was able to react, still acting strange, I tapped her on the forehead, infusing her with large amounts of energy. She looked at me in panic. Two seconds later she disappeared, returning to the real world.

I was sure she would be happy with the new body I just gave her. Being a ghost was probably quite boring, judging from what grandpa Aloysius said. Hmm, I should probably revive grandpa too, I thought before also sending some power to him. Should I also destroy Zakuul while I have a chance? Nah, waste of energy.

With no further interruption, I approached a pillar. After gathering courage, I plunged my hand into it.

I screamed as I felt that my soul was on fire. The energy coming from the pillar was so immense that even with all my gathered power I was barely able to stand, completely overwhelmed by it. All I could do was to try to stay alive, as the force was trying to violently repel me by burning my very soul.

I knew I wouldn't be able to withstand it for long, as both my soul and my body were being torn apart by the torrent of pure power surging through them.

I laughed, completely happy at the moment. I felt free. I was dying, in immense pain and I was doing something that most would consider insane, but it didn't matter. This was the reason I became the sith. To do what I desired, damned be consequences. The force itself was trying to stop it, but even that couldn't stop me!

I plunged my hand further, ignoring the pain spreading through my entire soul. I sent my presence through the stream, trying to find Lana. Various souls, seeing the opportunity, were leaving the pillar, using the hole I made and returning to the real world, but I ignored it. The only one who mattered at the moment was my girlfriend.

As the time was passing by, I started to think that maybe manually searching for a single person in the all-encompassing and endless force of the universe, containing all souls from since the beginning of time, would be harder than I originally thought. Well, I couldn't have predicted that, so it wasn't my fault.

My energy was beginning to run out. I knew I didn't have my time. I was frantically searching through the force, hoping to find Lana before it would be too late. When I was close to giving up, it happened.

I felt someone grabbing my hand. I didn't even have to check to know it was her. Finally finding my target I pulled. I saw the hand first, slowly leaving the pillar. It was covered in light, black armor, the same she liked to wear. Few seconds later I was finally able to see her after so many years apart. Blonde hair, piercing eyes and confident smile on her face. It was her, as beautiful as the day I saw her for the first time.

It was so worth it to potentially destroy the Galaxy to see her again.

We looked into each other's eyes. Just like with Selleana, she could see the real me, as my soul was bared before her. She smiled, eyes full of warmth.

"I will have you know that what you did was extremely stupid" she said seriously, though a small smile was still dancing on her lips despite her words. She then looked at me seriously, eyes full of emotion "Thank you for finding me"

"Well, what can I say, I am a sucker for pretty girls" I responded, smiling too.

Feeling my energy dwindling I knew it was time to leave. I grabbed Lana and left through the tear with her.

Everything became white.