Author Note: Welp, this chapter was interesting to make. Now we only got a couple more chapters till we reach book 3. Honestly, this fic is longer than I would've expected and I am quite annoyed by the fact that we are still on Book 2. I know, due to canonical divergences and lengths of chapters. That's usually what happens, but now I am going to kick it into overdrive to get us to Book 3 as fast as possible. Still, thanks for reading. Remember to follow, favorite, and review. Greatly helps with my motivation and my speed in updating.
A reminder, the Q&A is still going on. Put a review with any question about the fic or the sequel and I will answer your question at the bottom of the final chapter of book 2. So, we're less than ten chapters remaining. Thanks for reading and have a good day!
Chapter 64
No hatred, no anger.
Ben walked through the valley of darkness as his eyes adjusted to the deep darkness of the cavern. His flowing combat robes swaying within the breeze of the cave.
He could feel it…everything.
The humming malevolence of the Dark Side of the force and the swarms of those strange creatures advanced towards him. They were like a swarm, a ravenous disgusting amalgamation of flesh and fur that wished for the taste of human flesh.
He had walked this corridor many months ago, but it had felt like years. He saw the fallen corpses, the discarded weapons, and felt the faint stench of death within these halls. But he would not turn back or turn away ever again.
They moved towards him now. There beady red eyes brightening the darkness as they snapped their maws at him. Ushered forward as they were…
But then, it happened. Like a dam thrown into the river to stop the rapids…they stopped moving towards him. Ben without a chant or a sign had initiated an Aura of Uneasiness. An ability he learned from the long dead Sith Lord Sirius Syn.
The creatures snapped their jaws at him, there spiderlike feet scampering around him, but he didn't make any sort of indication or care towards them. The Aura caused them to all feel a powerful wave of despair and terror. They feared him.
But there was one creature that did not.
"Hey there, big guy," Ben spoke. Hearing the snapping of its large maws and seeing it's strange glistening skin that separated it from its brethren. "Remember me…"
Ben's face tightened into a smirk. This creature, the alpha. The thing he believed was the Sith Lord's prized creature.
It was a massive creature, easily towering over its lesser brethren. It's beady eyes locking along his own as his armorlike skin was molted and burnt. Ben could still feel the dark side echo of what he had done here. The way his purple lightning set the beast ablaze, rippling, and causing the beast to feel great pain.
Even now, the once apex predator struggled to properly walk. Even seeming to be blinded in two out of its eight beady eyes. Ben drew upon his lightsaber, dragging it within the force as he got himself into his form. Igniting the blade as he looked upon the beast.
Look upon him now…back then, he was carelessly and like a doll was thrown away. Being rendered unconscious as his back and head had struck the walls of the stone caverns. He had once again walked the path of the Jedi, and in this dark place, he had once again fell and walked the path of the Sith.
The place in which he had taken the teachings of the Dark Side and became a weapon of destruction. But never again.
He had been a knight of the Jedi Order, an acolyte of the dark side teachings of Exar Kun. But now, he had changed. Maturity, growth, and knowledge of the force had changed him.
His mind now, was not tempered of grief and revenge. But now, of justice and doing what he should've done all those months ago. The creature screamed, pushing itself forward as Ben moved with force augmented speed.
Dashing like a blur through the darkness. His bronze blade traveling like a flag as he made his way towards the creature. Back then, he was so scared, so conflicted over the power he needed to gain strength…but he was wrong, there was no power within the Sith, no power within the darkness.
Ben lashed out his hand. An arch of force lightning being sent as it dazed and tazed the creature. Nearly collapsing face first within its tracks. A scream that echoed throughout and echoed through the halls.
A slash with its claws came towards Ben. Dodging within a high jump, dashing to the creature's side as his lightsaber cleaved an arch along the beast body.
He continued to battle the beast, but his thoughts began to go, began to push through everything. He thought past this place, past those stone walls, and towards his journey.
He had grown so powerful, far stronger than he ever was before. Stronger than he was as an apprentice to Revan, and stronger than his time with Meetra. And he wondered what that meant?
He dodged another blow coming his way. Snapping his lightsaber upwards as it cleaved off the clawed feet of the beast. Screaming in response as Ben launched a beam of force destruction. Sending it off it's feet and onto it's back.
It threw itself back up, but it was obviously reeling from both pain…and even animalistic fear. Ben approached, and the creature backed away from him.
He knew that it was due to the path he had walked. He was not a grey jedi, but he knew deep down that the ways of the Jedi had warped. It had become a way of arrogance, self-delusion, and the obsessiveness of prior past glories lost to the past.
Because Ben had known this, he had walked his own path. Jedi, Sith, and even without the force. He was once everything, and at the same time nothing. And there was a great strength in such things. A great power in knowing what the force can be…of what it can make you into.
He was a servant to the light, and a grandmaster. His New Jedi Order would not hold the ignorance and arrogance of the old. They would be better, and just like him, they would find and learn their own path. Because there was a strength within finding who you are.
Ben heard the creature scream. Whirling towards it as he leaped overhead, quickly slashing and darting as it tried to hit him, but Ben was quicker. Darting with a flurry of attacks. His bronze blade cleaving arch after arch, and when his feet connected back to the ground…the beast was already nearly defeated.
Struggling to stand up on its own feet as it desperately tried to claw toward him, but as he looked upon it now…it looked far smaller. For a second, it reminded him of Lord Ruin. The decrypt and sick old man that had bested him prior.
He was afraid of this creature, of that man, and he had forgotten what both truly were. Archaic, and disgusting creatures of the darkness. And such things did not deserve to be feared.
Ben unignited his weapon. Reattaching it back to his belt, lashing out both hands as the creature began to rise, slowly, dragging it's claws along the walls and floor as it desperately fought against the force grasp that Ben had it locked in.
Ben wrenched his hand down. Dragging the creature within his grasp, slamming it with such fervor and intensity that it rocked and sent boulders raining down at their sides. Squishing the other smaller creatures of the alpha's brethren.
Then, it was over. Its neck snapped in half as Ben wiped the strands of sweat from his brow. Slowly shaking his head as he once again turned to face his direction. Not even giving a glance back to the simple beast that caused him so much pain…one of his footsteps that made him once again rejoin that dark path.
Ben moved, keeping his movements forward as he continued down that path. His eyes locking ahead, but he seized his head. His eyes wavering as smoke flooded his senses, seizing the walls by his side as he…
His eyes widened at the change of the terrain. Pushing himself off the wall as he scanned around his new surroundings. He was back there, in that place.
His senses had betrayed him. Now, he was in a completely different place. The decrypt cave walls had meshed into something else. Light yellowish-grey stone tiles surrounded him. The open windows and doors wafted with the natural scent of the area.
The burning remains of the creature was completely gone. Now, it was replaced with the smells of nature and greenery. But it was the light side aura of this place, a wonderful place filled with the calming smoothness of the light side.
For a second, he was about to calm down and take a deep breath, for a second to linger without his defenses. But he caught himself. Seeing outside the window and recognizing the twin moons that hung over the setting sun.
A pair of children brushed by his side. "Sorry, Master Wilum!" They called out to him. There lightsabers along there waist bouncing as the tabard of there jedi robes chased after them like a cape. Ben stared at them for a second longer.
"Master Wilum?" He repeated underneath his breath. Turning his gaze back to the twin moons. But then, it had hit him.
He was back home…on the edge of the outer rim, Dantooine. It had been years since he had seen this place. He had been taken here after being initiated within the order on coruscant. The council deemed him acceptable, that his skill and force sensitivity, was a factor that outclassed his age and his prior Mandalorian upbringing.
Yet, his eyes slowly narrowed. Aiming towards the entrance of what should've been the main gathering hall. He could remember this place; he could remember what was happening in that hall. Even though it had been so many years ago.
'He knows I am here…he knows that I have came to destroy him, but he believes that I am the same Benjamin. That I am still filled with self-loathing and fear. I shall never fall again, especially from his Sith trick.'
He did not travel back in time to Dantooine. No, he assumed that the spirit of Exar Kun had felt him within the force. He must've felt his intentions and what he was planning on doing here. But he seeked to still convert him.
Ben walked into the open hall. The place in which Malak had secretly told many initiates and apprentices to meet him to discuss the Mandalorian Wars. He walked in, and he could feel the eyes of his Jedi peers on him.
Even within the vision…he was regarded like a Jedi Master. Even though he was young, they acted like he was an actual master of the force from his title alone.
"Master Wilum…" He heard Malak's voice rise.
He gazed back towards him. Both their eyes locking along the other as they stared at each other for a second. It was like a massive auditorium. The dozens of jedi apprentices took a seat along the front, while many more stood along the platform in which Malak stood.
Strangely, Revan was not in the vision. But Ben just shook his head at the thought. This was merely a hallucination, a test that if he failed, the spirit of The Sith Lord would sick his teeth deep into him. Ben took a deep breath.
"It's been a while, Malak," Ben regarded him. "I remember this…you know?"
Malak's bald head and blue tattoos were still a strange oddity to Ben. Now bearing a deep red battle suit that he would forever bear into battle, keeping them on even after his fall to the darkness. There was a strange humanity in that, Ben had begun to realize.
Just like many of his Dark Jedi peers, they still bore their old lightsaber blades they built as Jedi. Still, not turned to replace the old focusing crystal with either natural forming red gemstones or synthetic crimson gems. Even Ben, he had kept the twin cyan crystals for the entirety of the war. Only leaving them behind when he renounced the force.
That felt like eons ago, and he had changed so greatly. Before, when he was younger, Malak and Revan had looked so strong, and so powerful.
But now, he realized how small Malak truly was. Just a young man, striving to escape the shadow of his best friend, and he realized just had sad that truly was.
Malak didn't respond to him. Merely turning his gaze back to the crowd. "Do not heed the words of the Jedi Council. The republic will fall if we do not act now. Already the Mandalorians have taken three systems along the Rim. They will only grow more powerful with time,"
He parted both arms, raising them to the sides as the wide-eyed innocence and sense of adventure ensnared the Jedi apprentices. "Come stand with me. We will use our might to help the republic in it's time of need. Join Revan, me, and Meetra Surik. Together, we will battle this menace."
He saw a couple rise. Snapping his head to attention as the blurred face of those apprentices walked to be by his side. It was so easy for them, Revan and Malak were both talkers, but they had all been spurred so easily.
Even Ben, he had grown up with stories of the Jedi. Both from his mother, Mandalorian teachers, and from the Jedi Order. They had hungered for adventure, to fight for justice, and the Mandalorians presented them with such an enemy.
They were enacting mass genocides, destroying planets with orbital bombardments, and even enacting massive slave armies to fight against the republic. To the jedi apprentices that were eager for justice, it was the easiest choice to make. But Ben knew the future…the great battles, and cost of what was going to come.
"No."
Ben's voice rose and cut through the air. The rising Jedi stopped, and he saw a death glare aimed at him from Malak.
"Think, all of you, of the great consequences the war is going to bring on us. Death, destruction, and despair. Your bodies, minds, and souls will be broken under the weight of warfare," He turned his attention to the padawans. "You must decide, if you wish to walk that path of war and violence."
Malak regarded him with that sinister glare. "…and what of you, Wilum?" He snapped. His finger aimed at him. "What do you wish for us to do. Fiddle with our thumbs and wait for the council to give us an answer. As millions and worlds die around us!"
But Ben stood silenced. Not offering any answer as he hid his gaze. He could hardly think of any retort to say, and even though he hated it…Malak was right. They had won the war just in time. If they had lingered any longer than the Mandalorians would've won the war.
Even deep down. He knew, that fighting in the Mandalorian Wars was not a betrayal or was as wrong as the council believed it was. To fight to protect the innocent and the weak, how could they be wrong?
Malak smirked as he rendered him speechless. Raising his hand towards him. "The Jedi council is wise but will take too long to deal with this threat. We must act now to stop the Mandalorians."
Malak inched closer. His dark blue eyes locking along Ben's golden. "I've heard tales of you…Benjamin Wilum. Raised by a Mandalorian and a slaver. You've seen the horrors of what they are capable of firsthand. Kreia, she had trained Revan himself, and she had chosen and taken you as a padawan…I've heard of the way she speaks of you. Your skills in battle, and of your control of the force. You've joined us once; you know what is right."
Ben snapped his head, nearly instantly as he saw more rise to join the ranks of Malak's ill-fated crusade against the Mandalorians. "No…" He snapped. "I joined without hesitation. Against the wishes of Arya, against the wishes of the Jedi Council. This war, Malak. It doesn't turn out the way you expect!"
Malak approached, now Ben could see him far better now. Almost like he had teleported in front of him as he continued to speak. "The Jedi Council is wise but can make mistakes. History has proven this time and time again. Think of Exar Kun, of Ulic Qel Droma and Freedon Nadd. They will merely talk and debate…I sense you will join us."
Ben's eyes went to the floor. Reeling from the memories of that encounter. Of the way he gazed into Malak's eyes and choose to fight. "I hated the Mandalorians, and I wanted to fight. I wanted to use my abilities to kill those that murdered my mother…to kill those that were destroying worlds."
"A good reason, delay would've…"
But Ben cut him off. Shaking his head as he raised his hand to stop him. "No, but that wasn't it. I wanted to fight because it was just…because there was no other way to stop them. I may have been moved by revenge when I was younger, but I fought to pave the way for a better tomorrow. As all Jedi should!"
He screamed the last words in defiance. Slashing his hand through the air as he stared at Malak, rendering the leader mute. "Enough games, Exar!" Ben screamed. "I will not fall to the Dark Side with these petty schemes and delusions!"
He snapped his hand towards Malak. Inching closer as he stared into those dark blue eyes. He was taller now, stronger even. "I was a boy, Malak. A twelve-year-old boy!" He yelled. "Never again. You used my hate, my anger, my thoughts of revenge to create a weapon against the Mandalorians. A broken boy, still suffering from the abuse of his father, still reeling from the death of his mother,"
But Ben smirked, seeing the strangeness of Malak's features warp and contort from the smile. "Such a big man, such a strong Jedi," Ben sneered. "Needing to use the death of a boy's mother to get what you wanted.
Malak scoffed. "It doesn't change anything," he yelled. "You still joined us, and your back where you once were. At the choice that will decide your destiny and the destiny of the galaxy. Remember, it was within the Jedi that was able to put an end to the Mandalorian Wars."
Ben grimaced, btu he continued. "You are alone within this trial, Benjamin. Would you join me now? You followed Revan and I down our path, but you faltered. Join us. Your journey isn't over yet…"
Malak raised his palm to Ben. His eyes locking to it as Malak raised that faint smirk, but Ben sneered in disgust.
"I followed you once. I agree with you, that there was no other choice but to fight during the Mandalorian Wars. I agree that the Jedi of the old order had lost themselves to arrogance and past glories. But I have learned so much here, so much…"
Ben thought back to everything. His friends, the lessons, the sacrifices…to Jet. He whirled his body back towards Malak. His words flying from his lips with fury, the force along his vocal cords as he felt the illusion shatter underneath his fury.
"I will never be your slave!"
With those parting words. The vision faded, shattering underneath his might, but Malak's lips loosened once again into the smile. Seeing the world shatter around him and be replaced by the dingy old cave as Malak locked along his form.
His laugh echoing, a mixture of Malak's and Exar's own contorted and maniacal.
"Time for words are done. Now it is time you experienced the old power…of the Dark Side!"
Ben was back in the cave. But he didn't even have a second to relax. The whirling of two cyan blades descended onto him.
The hissing of his lightsaber joined the choir as they locked along the other's blades. The illumination causing Ben to realize who he was dealing with. "Sith trick." He spoke.
Him, the old Ben, the one that had followed Revan and Malak during their great crusade against the republic. He could see the Dark Side deterioration, and his blade casted off a bronze gleam over the slain Jedi's lightsabers arranged along his belt.
"I warned you, Ben!" He regarded with a disgusting laugh. "You'd have a stump like the one you gave me if you resisted what you were, and you did!"
Ben broke through the saber lock. Kicking the doppelganger in the stomach as he was sent lurching backwards. Throwing himself back into his stance as the duel was about to continue.
Trading blows, dodging, cleaving, slashing. But in complete contrast to the prior duel from before…Ben was winning.
Hardly even needing to put any effort to dodge the whirling cyan blades of death as he would snap his wrist to catch them. "Damn you!" He would scream. Launching at him with the fevered determination of an erratic beast.
But that Ben was gone, and now what remained was a master of the force. He dodged another blow, whirling his left hand forward as the dark side version was thrown against the wall.
Ben caught him within his grip. Wrenching him through the air and through the force, whirling him around like a tornado as he was repeatedly wailed on all sides. Until Ben had enough. Dropping him on the floor as his lightsaber vanished back into the hilt.
Ben approached, his footsteps echoing within his ears as the humming choir of his bronze blade filled his senses. Gripping it with both hands as he stood over the fallen Ben. But hesitation did not follow within his movements, and he did not strike him down.
He took a deep breath, letting the anger and negative feelings dispel from him as he brought the blade to his lone hand.
"You fool!" The dark side version spoke.
Launching himself onto his feet. "You are foolish, to not strike down your enemy…and you know full well what I can do to you!"
He circled around Ben, but he didn't care. Hearing the snapping and murmured curses. "You think that the Heart of The Guardian. Because that cursed crystal chooses you, that it makes you a Jedi. Did you fail to realize that it was of Sith legend!"
Ben nodded. Only infuriating the past dark side version of himself more. Veins popping along his head as he stared at him. "Kill me!" He screamed. He wailed on him. Repeating the same word, over, and over again within his ears.
Slamming his stomach and chest as Ben just stared him. The hate, the orange infused dark side corruption that had once consumed his golden eyes. He looked upon them now.
His blade dropped to the floor. Both his hands locking along the younger version of himself as he stopped him. "I am sorry," He murmured. "I'm the reason you were like this, right?"
The Spector remained silent. But Ben had continued. "Facing you, that was the trial that spirit wanted me to do," He chuckled. "I failed that trial, just like I did this one."
But Ben shook his head, his golden eyes locking along his other's own again. "I was meant to come to terms with what happened to you, to us. To deal with the issues I've had, to deal with the grief, the suffering, the self-loathing."
Ben stopped, chocking on a sob. "I forgot, how much I've wanted to die. Was that the reason I did all that…why I hungered for great foes, even though I was consumed by the darkness, I wanted it all to end…"
The other Ben fought within his grasp, btu he refused to let go. "We were only children, and we held such darkness within us. But I understand now that there was no other way to stop what was going to come. It was either we would fall like the rest of the Jedi and save the republic from the Mandalorians. Or we stay pure, and the republic would fall. There was no option, nothing we could do to stop or save the day, we were only children…and we didn't have a choice but to fight."
Ben looked upon him now. Seeing the faint fickle, the static of his being warp. "I hated myself because I was the product of my mother's suffering. I hated that I wasn't the one that killed him, that she was punished for protecting me. I hated myself, I hated my blood, I believed that I didn't deserve anything, that I didn't deserve love…and that if I became a Jedi, that I would have the power to protect those that needed it."
Ben hid his gaze, but he rose it a second later. "But I was wrong," He spoke. "So wrong," He repeated. He felt the trickle of a smile dart along his face. "Because she loved me. Our mother, she loved us, she cared for us no matter what we were. Even though we were a product of her suffering, even though we held the blood of slavers and murderers she still accepted us. And she was willing to die for us."
"I've been running from them for so long. I thought, I had confronted them and made peace, but I realize that I didn't do it yet…not fully at least. Memories that have haunted me since I was a boy, I won't run from them."
"We thought we had no room for peace. No room for compassion. No room for love. I thought, there was a strength in my isolation and within my negative feelings. I thought, there was truth within the Dark Side. But I realize it now. I withdrew into myself, because I feared what I thought I was…a devil, a demon, a monster."
He felt the way his younger self tensed up. The way he stopped struggling, and he could see the olive tint of skin return, slowly pushing through the deep pale of the dark side deterioration. "I hated myself for so long, and I failed to realize that I made you. I wanted you to die, and I felt that killing you was going to lead me to clarity and acceptance, but I was wrong…"
"You were birthed from my own self-hatred, of my rage, my hate. But now, you are just a part of me that I wanted to kill for so long, but I failed to realize that I created you…"
"We can be a force for good. Spread peace throughout this war-torn world…Aang, Katara, Ty Lee, Haru, Sokka, Yue, Toph, Thomas, Jet…they had shown me that."
He looked upon him now, but now he was merely a small thirteen-year-old boy. There identical golden eyes leaking with tears as they stared at the other. "You deserve so much, Benjamin. You can be loved…you don't have to feel guilty for being happy!"
With those final words. The Benjamin that was within his arms, smiled at him. He faded away, like a ghost, vanishing within his hands as Ben just stared at that empty place as his arms once again sagged by his side.
He understood now…better now. After all these years, he had hated himself, so much. He hated the blood of his father, of the Mandalorian creed that had tainted him, and his own fall to the Dark Side. Guilt, self-hatred, and disappointment. They have always been a factor within his day to day lives.
That version of him that he had always encountered, the one the spirit had brought him too was a trial. A trial in which he had failed. He failed to recognize that he could never kill that part of himself, how that Benjamin would always be there within himself…the Jedi Killer would forever remain.
Ben knew that the guilt that lingered deep within was still there. The guilt of his mother's death, his kills, and now of Jet. He wasn't sure that he could ever recover from them. But he knew that he had slowly been making promise.
He chuckled to himself. "Maybe, I should've went with Aang. Maybe, that Guru would've helped sort out these feelings."
He murmured the words to himself. But right now, he knew it would do him no good thinking about a what if. Still, there was once an empty dark place deep within, but after accepting that part of him. Accepting it and making peace…understanding that he could be loved, he realized now.
Yes, I'll marry you.
The words of Ty Lee stirred him and filled him with a brilliant warmth within his chest. Smiling as he whirled towards the entrance of Exar Kun's secret temple. Wrenching the door open with a force pull.
He took a step forward, seeing the large spirit of Kun instantly form as he faced the Old Sith Lord. It had been months and he had eagerly taken the lessons from his Holocron. At one point, he was his apprentice.
"Look at how strong you've become, my apprentice,"
Exar Kun's spirit hummed the words. The large, malevolent hood had been draped to the side. Now he was able to see the fallen spirit of a once great Jedi prodigy. Now turned, into a sinister dark side revenant.
He could've blamed Exar here and now for his failings, he could've blamed him for giving him the teachings of the darkness that had slowly warped him. But Ben merely shook his head. Exar presented him with the lessons, and it was his choice to take them.
He thought back to Katara, to Sokka, to Jet and their prior argument when they found out about the Holocron. They were right, he had become the creature of Exar Kun.
He smirked at Ben. "You've grown so strong," He repeated. "It is time for you to accept my teachings, the true teachings of The Sith. With this strength, you'll be able to put an end to the false Sith…you'll be able to usher in the future of a New Golden Age!"
Ben wrapped his arms around himself. Staring at Exar, a once great student in which his masters believed would be great. Only to be warped into a failure, only sustained by his hatred and loathing towards the Jedi.
"Your future is looking pretty grim, Exar." Ben lectured.
But he heard the snicker from Exar rise. "On the contrary, you've done so much. You have cut down so many dark jedi, fire nation soldiers, and demonstrated the great power of the force," Exar stopped himself, his smile inching along the sides of his face. "For you to take control of this world…it is now within your hands!"
Ben began to move forward. His footsteps echoing along the pair's ears as he moved towards him. Exar, like the dark shadow, swayed and moved away. "None of that is going to happen, Exar Kun. I have realized the error of my ways. I have come to terms with the darkness that was within my heart…I am no longer your creature."
Exar chuckled once again, btu Ben could feel the way the force beckoned towards him. Letting his mental guard down so Exar could peek, so he could see the truth within his words.
Exar's eyes widened. Realizing that not only had Ben spoken the truth, but now he had grown a new strength, an even greater strength within the force that could possibly rival himself.
Fear, etched along his psyche as he quickly tried to look for anything he could latch onto. Throwing off another sly smirk to throw off an aura of control, but unlike last time, Ben regarded him with indifference and annoyance.
"I was wrong about you, young apprentice. Your failure as a Jedi and as a Sith hasn't weakened you, it's only made you grow stronger," He took a step forward, lashing out his palm as he tried to get Ben to take it. "Come, join me. You know in your heart you'll never truly be one of them."
Ben's eyes went to the floor for a second, Exar hoping that this was what needed for him to realize the great truth of the force. Only for Ben to lock his gaze along him. A smile that sent a shiver down the ethereal spine of Exar Kun.
"…but I'll never be alone, never again. Because I have them waiting for me."
Ben lashed out his right hand. Chambering with the technique that Exar's own Holocron taught him, Force Destruction. The riveting beams of pure force energy careened and were shot from his hand.
Exar at first nearly broke into a laughing fit, believing that Ben was trying to somehow kill him with his abilities. But that smile quickly warped into one of terror.
Three beams hit the overreaching roof of the cavern. There ears ringing as boulders and stones began to rain on there sides as Ben nearly collapsed to the ground with the amount of energy he had expelled.
But the adrenaline from his heart, kept him up. He threw himself onto his feet as he began to run. Exar's form lashing out towards Ben. "Foolish apprentice!" He screamed. "I could've given you everything, all you hoped for, all you desired. It could've been yours!"
Exar knew what was going to happen, eternal torment. Being suffocated within the darkness with no way of influencing the world with the meager connection he had now. As he watched his last hope…vanish within the darkness.
Ben ran, running faster than he ever had before, he overloaded his connection to the force. Utilizing his precognition, dashing, and speed to the best of his abilities. Dodging, weaving, and leaping over fallen boulders or torn floors of the earth.
Until he tasted the night air. Hearing the final boulders collapse behind him. Already knowing that the whole tunnel was flooded…and Exar Kun's schemes and apparition was finished.
He collided to the floor, knees sinking as his hands went to his face. Taking a second, taking a breath, taking a moment to let his heart return to normal.
As he let go…and stared into the bright allure of stars. He knew something had happened, that something deep within had changed from within. The last remnant had been thwarted.
Fire…rage…eternity…entropy…annihilation. As Benjamin Wilum, the last of The Jedi, stared into the wonderful stream of stars. He had finally faced one of his greatest trials and succeeded.