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Chapter 32

They had touched down on Appa. Making camp, the allure of the freshly caught fish simmering along the open flame caused their mouths to water. Each taking a skewer as they began to gnaw on their dinner. The grease rolling off their chins as they ate.

"Ah, that was a good meal…" Sokka muttered. Patting his stomach as he finished his food. The rest were taking their time as they began to gnaw at their own meal. Appa rested as their campsite was already prepared. Sleeping bags spent over the forest floor as they would soon begin to make camp.

Yet, the events a couple of hours ago was still present in the back of their heads. The attack of general Fong, the damn general believing that putting the avatar and his companions in danger would lead him to unlocking the secret of the avatar state.

Still, the question remained unanswered…right as Ben cleaved his head from his body. Aang watched him, the way the watchman bit into his food, picking through the bones as Aang couldn't help but watch.

He didn't seem affected…

Yet, he killed all those people. Ben's eyes hovered towards the avatar; half closed as he parted his lips to speak. Finishing off his meal as he casted the skewer into the pile, the hungry flames chewing the wood.

"Aang, I sense your thoughts. There disturbed, is everything all right?"

The young avatar hesitated, quickly nodding his head. "Yeah, everything is all right. I was just thinking back to General Fong, and what happened back there."

There was a relative silence that filled the void. Yet, it was Katara that broke through said silence. "Thank you, Ty Lee. If you didn't use your skill or attack…whatever it is called. Who know what would of happened?"

Ty Lee nodded, lightly nudging the girl. "It's all right. Honestly, I have some things on my mind as well."

"What?" Sokka murmured.

"The war, I've grown up in the fire nation and heard about it my whole life. But I never imagined that it would be like this, uncontained and so many people are getting hurt. It feels wrong, and I just don't know what to do about it…"

Ty Lee dropped the rest of her food to the side. Katara's hand going along her shoulder, her grip tightening as she began to squeeze. Tears began to slip down her face. "When I came out here, I wanted to be different from my sisters, so I joined the carnival. It got sacked and I was captured, kind of funny how things turned out, right?" She sniffled, trying to crack a joke but team avatar just solemnly lost. "The thing is, I can feel it at times you know. There aura's and it gets so blinding…"

"Auras?" Ben repeated after the girl. Jet cueing him in on their conversation. The watchman's fingers going to his chin as he took a knee.

"Interesting…" He slowly spoke, turning back to the crying girl as she began to wipe her tears. "Ty Lee, when have these aura readings begin?"

"When I was a little girl, my father told me not to tell anyone about them. Said that there was something there, I don't really remember much about those conversations."

Katara with widened eyes stared at him. Ben didn't truly know; with Jet it was easy to say and Haru as well. But was Ty Lee, possibly a force sensitive. Ben squinted at the girl, he held no real clue, and it was far too early to talk about it. It would be best to think about it later he decided when more evidence supported this.

"So, what are you guys planning on doing when we deal with the fire lord?" He questioned.

His friends cueing in on him. Even Momo's ears raising as Ben spoke, their eyes directed towards him. Sokka coughed into his fist. "Um…why?"

"Because I am bored, and none of us is really tired. So, lets pass the time."

It took a minute. But Aang slowly rose his hand. "I honestly don't know, I guess…I will continue doing my avatar duty. Help the world out."

Sokka was next. "Honestly, I think…we're going to find our dad. Reunite our family, and head back to the WaterTribe and fix our tribe." Katara snickered, her brother shooting her a look. "What?" He questioned.

"I'm not sure about you, Sokka. But I am never going to go back to the WaterTribe, only to visit gran gran. No, I am sticking with Aang, honestly we have seen so little of the world, and I still wish to help people while we can."

Katara nudged Jet, the boy finally finishing his meal. "Fine, I guess, I am going to stick with Ben. I am his apprentice, and I still have a long way to go with my Jedi training." He rose his eyes towards Ben, no not just Jet but all of them did. "What about you, Ben?"

Ben hesitated, for a second…he didn't know what he was going to do. Yet, he felt it within his heart, rather he knew of it. What his destiny lied in; it won't be like before in which he wandered aimlessly like a vagabond. Giving into his vices and fears…no he was a warrior of the force now, and he was greater than that.

"I will travel with Aang to help him restore balance, but I will find Haru and drag him with us if I have to. Then, when we help recover this war-torn world, it will present us trials for the pair of you…" Ben smirked as the next sentence began to empty from his lips. "After some time, and the safety of this world is assured. Jet and Haru, they shall become the next masters of my New Jedi Order, a Praxeum for the new generation of Jedi Knights."

A new jedi order, the word ringing in their heads. A place where the next generation would be trained, a place in which Ben would train them all, a new center for learning.

"I don't believe in many parts of the jedi order, I believe attachment is a very good thing. Hell, the attachment I felt towards you all, it has saved me and kept me tethered to the light. So, in my new order I shall make it possible for people to get married, to have a family…to form healthy connections."

He wondered what his fate would have lied if his mother was able to come with him. Yet, he dissuaded such an idea. It didn't matter anymore; the past was the past and he couldn't change his life. He had to take what was given and do what he had to.

"What about you, Ty Lee?" Katara questioned the girl.

Ty Lee, shrieking in response. "Honestly, I don't know. I just, I guess I've been thinking so long about getting away I never really thought about the destination."

With those parting words, they decided to head to bed. Their eyes closing as the allure of the moon began to cover them. The sparks of flame began to die out as the smoke trickled into the sky. Sokka's snoring compounding along their ears…

That was when Ben knew it was time. Discarding his jacket, shirt, and gloves. He felt the cold but refreshing air trickle along his face. Letting his hair down as he shook it free from the bun. The tendrils clouding his eyes as he began to do a quick look around.

It was time…attaching his lightsaber blade to his belt, he drew his bag over towards him. Throwing the sack over his shoulder as he began to stalk through the forest line. Unknown to him, someone stirred, deciding to follow him.

Split

The hum of dark blue plasma filled the air. Contrasting the crimson, orange glare of the Holocron gatekeeper of Exar Kun. Sweat dripped down Ben's body, his eyes in a haze as he trailed along the beam of dark light.

Flipping as he followed through in a flurry of attacks, his long hair flowing along his face as he lashed out with the force. His muscles tightening with the augmented strength as he kept with his form. "Excellent…" Exar hummed, his lips tightened along a sly smirk.

Exar and him were doing something different from their normal routine of things. They had moved onto something else, Lightsaber training. Exar wanted Ben to learn a new form, believing that his over reliance on the Shien form was overall a bad thing.

Ben knowing full well that he would need all his abilities and techniques to best that Sith Lord that stole his arm, he accepted those teachings. He was learning a new form of combat, the sixth form of lightsaber combat.

The Niman Form, or to some the moderation form. A lightsaber form that relied on one's balance, spreading all of the individual's power evenly. This fighting style was a hybrid martial art created by effectively combining elements of the preceding lightsaber forms into a single, generalized form. Niman balanced out between the various specializations of the other forms, covering many of the basic moves, but focusing on overall moderation.

This resulted in a fighting style that lacked a significant advantage, but also lacking any serious drawbacks, and thereby not leaving adherents as exposed as some of the more aggressive or specialized forms. Overall, Niman had a fairly relaxed focus on bladework, designed as a simple, easily mastered fighting form for Jedi to devote their time and knowledge onto other avenues of study.

"…I'm a duelist, why should I learn such a thing, like Niman."

"Well, my young apprentice. To be so closed off to other avenues of the force, is a very jedi trait." He chuckled. "Yet, I shall speak of this. It was my mastery of the niman form that killed my former master, the great Ood Banar and slayed many great jedi. Do you truly believe now that such a form could be better used by someone else? In the hands of a capable duelist, any master could utilize it into a powerful flurry of death."

Ben sneered, following in his Sith Masters instructions as he began to make progress with the form. With the might of the force, he would be unstoppable, and he would only grow in power. The Sith and the fire nation wouldn't know what hit them.

With shallow breaths, Exar lightly nodded, signaling for his apprentice that it was time to stop. Ben heaved, his rasped breath as he swiped the sweaty tendrils that clung to his face. Unigniting the dark blue beam, he was enveloped by the natural darkness of the forest. There was hardly any light from the moon, clouds covered it like a canopy as only Exar's gatekeeper could produce an unnatural orange gleam.

"Now, apprentice. What do you seek to learn from me…"?

"Sith magic." He raised his hand for the gatekeeper, instantly with zero hesitation. His eyes fixating along the false arm. "I've already fashioned myself a new limb from metal, I've read the tales…I've heard the songs of what the ancient Sith could do."

Exar chuckled, his apprentice was eager. His arrogance and lust for power shall surely in times come be the things that cause his fall. Hell, he could already feel the dark forces that welled deep within his heart. The boy was going to break soon, and the horde of darkness that he thought was quelled deep within would eventully burst like a dam.

"The arcane arts, what is it that you desire? To channel your blow into mighty blast of energy, to cripple one's mind under the weight of the dark side of the force…or to create powerful illusions, capable of causing men to drop their weapons in fear as they are forced to see what their greatest fears are?"

Ben was silent for a second. Raising his finger. "The last one, I would like to learn what Aleemo Keto did during the Great Sith War. I've heard the legends; I want a taste of that."

Exar snickered, drawing forward as began to explain to his young apprentice what was going to happen, and this new technique that would be added into his arsenal. "Qâzoi Kyantuska, a powerful magical ability of the arcane arts. Aleemo Keto used said ability, weaponizing it against her foes during the war. She could create mighty illusions that could cause men to go mad…"

Ben eagerly listened on. Taking out a piece of paper as he began to document the language and the hand movements Exar had done. "You must practice said ability, Benjamin. This isn't something that you can brute force with your hate, the dark side fuels itself on vibrant emotions but likewise it consumes those that are foolish enough to get washed within its tide."

"Benjamin…"

He was tense, far to anxious. Whirling around to see the person he hoped would never see this part of him…

"Katara."

The girls dark blue eyes peering at him, the orange gleam of the gatekeeper casting a deep crimson along her skin. "Who is this?" She questioned.

"I am Exar Kun, his teacher. A dark lord of the Sith that is teaching him the ways on how to attain true power, the true weight of the dark side of the force…"

Katara hesitated, watching the spirit as it vanished within its emitter matrix. Ben using the force to propel the object into his right hand as he turned back to Katara. Her eyes widening as she looked at the object. "That, that was the thing that was in the cave. I never had a good feeling about it, you said that you destroyed it!"

Ben sneered, putting the object back into his bag as he turned back to the girl. "Yeah, what of it…"

Katara's eyes widened. "What of it?" she repeated. Walking over towards him, her finger going along his chest. Her hair wild and uncontrolled as the weight of her finger pressed down on him. "Are you kidding me, Ben? You're playing with dark forces, forces that will consume you…aren't you a Jedi?"

Ben walked past her, his eyes fixating on the sky above him. The pitch darkness, what even was he anymore? Jedi didn't use the force like he did, Jedi never touched upon the arcane arts of Sorcery, yet he believed that they were merely just tools. Weapons of war to be used against these overwhelming forces of the dark.

…or was that simply the excuse the young false Jedi had used to reason for this dark crusade. "I don't know Katara, I don't know anymore…what I am?"

He left his robes back there, those Jedi robes that Aunt Wu gave him, because he didn't know what he was anymore. He had failed in being a Jedi, he had failed in being a Sith, he didn't know what else to be anymore.

"But I do know this. I must take on these darker powers of the force, Katara. To pave an era of peace and put an end to this war needs someone strong enough to handle the weight of the dark side."

"Ben, you're playing with powers that will consume you. I know for a fact that your smarter than this. This Exar Kun, he's just in your head, he's got his grip on you."

Her hands coiled along the base of his shoulder, only for Ben to move it off him. "No, you're wrong. Exar doesn't control me, he's my beast…just a shell of his former self locked away in his Holocron." Ben snarled.

"Still, it doesn't change anything right now. What are you going to do with this…this dark lord will just seep into your head and try to change you? Is that why you didn't spare fong?"

"Spare!" He snarled at the waterbender. "You wanted me to spare that old fool that nearly killed us all. He nearly killed you, no I face my enemies only once Katara…this won't be like Kiara anymore, I kill my enemies."

"That's a very Sith way of looking at things, I know that you've told me about the force. If you keep playing these games, then it will consume you!"

Ben gritted his teeth. "Don't give me that, Katara. I have no other choice, to handle the threats we face daily. I need all the powers and teachings of the force…both light and dark. I am no Sith, and I am no Jedi, I know that now."

"Ben, don't you see. You've wanted to be a Jedi for your whole life, you've told me about what it was like when you were a child. Please, just don't make these mistakes. I can understand killing your enemies, but messing around with these guys, you'll fall just like that time with Kiara…"

"Katara, listen to what I've told you back then. The Jedi are fools, small people who reject the blessings of the force." He smirked, his hand outward for her. "Don't you see it. The Jedi are no better…"

"No better, what about Haru's grandmother? What about your former master…you may be right that your order was flawed? But their cause was noble. It made you noble!"

"No, these Jedi aren't the right ones that I've grown up with. They weren't like the ones of legends, like the ones that were sung in songs." "Jedi don't die, they don't choke on dirt and get slaughtered by Mandalorians. They live forever, and if they do die, they die protecting a planet. I don't want to…I never wanted this…"

Yet, right before their argument could continue. A horrific scream echoed through the valley. "Jet!" They each screamed. Ben grabbing his sack as they sprinted through the forest lines. Repairing at their camp. Sokka and Aang comforting the young Jedi as he rocked in place.

"What the fuck happened!"

Ben dropped his sack. Resting his own hand on Jet's shoulder. The young apprentice lifting his gaze towards his master and brother. "Ben, I saw something. There is going to be a great battle, a truly great one that is going to come and take over omashu!"

Ben nodded, instantly knowing what is going to come. A grand battle, a war over a city. Ben clicked his lips, as team avatar started to pack up. Donning his jacket he grabbed onto Jet, hoisting him up.

There was something coming, and they needed to be ready for it. To find Aang an earth bending master and to give him the proper recourses to restore balance to this world. Team avatar set out onto the sies. Eagar to find what was coming to them and to make sense of Jet's vision.

They flew for hours, their eyes half closed from the few hours of sleep they had scrounged. Yet, they saw it once again. The place in which Ben had reconnected with the force, erasing that block. The place in which he was left broken and discarded by Darth Ruin. The same man that would take his arm and steal his lightsaber.

"No…" Sokka slowly murmured as Ben and Jet both rose, lightsabers in hand as they knew what was going to come. As they watched those large sandstone walls that touched upon the sky, now bearing fire nation flags.

Jet grimaced at the sight. "Another captured city, master…" He slowly spoke. His cyan blade sparking to life. Ben nodding as he ignited his own blue beam. Silent, but ready for the coming journey ahead. For he was neither Jedi nor Sith, a failure of both orders…tempted by the will of the dark side and on the verge of falling, he resisted Exar.

Yet soon a question would be asked. Would Ben hold to the light, or truly become a monster once again and give himself into the true weight of power and of the Sith.