"We won't hold out for much longer, retreat!"

"But the weapon is still…"

"There isn't any time, and we did everything we could; it's on Vaylin and Cassian now. If we stay, we'll die for nothing!"

Theron hated to admit that those words were true, but Lana had the right to it. They attacked every single reactor within their reach, yet it was too late. They had already transferred all the necessary energy to the weapon, and damaging them would change nothing. The only other option was to force Jadus to shut it down manually or destroy the weapon. Both of those were out of their control. The living followers of Jadus were no longer a threat, yet the droids remained prevalent and managed to annihilate almost all of the Alliance's forces. However, there was a possibility of escape.

The Flagship's destruction created a breach within the Star Cabal fleet's positioning, allowing some shuttles to reach the ground. They were their evacuation. In the end, Theron and everyone else had to accept that they did everything they could and the most they had left was to escape with their lives. Yet, as Theron and others found their places among the shuttles, he quickly realized that some would have a much harder time accepting this truth.

The spy looked at Jac, looking down in the corner with his tired eyes. All of his wounds weakened him, even broke him. He didn't move or talk at all, simply taking one heavy breath after another, yet there was no need for words when Theron could see it all in Jac's eyes.

Failure stung deep, especially when so many people relief on Jac. First, he failed to strike Jadus down during their battle on Odessen, and with the way this rematch turned out for him, this burden must have become even harder to bear. A truth uncomfortable and ugly, the one that a man who defied fate countless times in his life would not accept.

But even for him, all that was left now was to pray.

…

"Stand tall…You are the unbroken."

Those words were followed by a loud crack of Jadus's head getting torn from his body. Vaylin raised her hand, applying all of her force to it. She unleashed rivers of blood after ripping Jadus's head and spine and tossing the discarded parts away. Such a swift, unceremonious end for this bastard. It was more than he deserved, but there was no time left. Vaylin was willing to give Cassian the kill, as the Sith wanted to avenge Jaesa, but he allowed her to do it. Vaylin was happy to oblige.

"Good riddance," Cassian said with spite as he looked at Jadus's mutilated body, but neither he nor Vaylin could accept any relief yet. Jadus told them about the inevitability of Void Hammer firing, and by refusing to torture him for information, they accepted that he spoke the truth.

"So…" Vaylin said quietly and looked at Cassian. "What now?" Those words were followed by a long silence, for the Sith wasn't sure how to answer.

"We…We regroup with Lana and come up with Something. The Void Hammer is still charging; we can call the factions and have them bring their fleets over here to bombard it."

After he said those words, a powerful shockwave made both Cassian and Vaylin shake. The Void Hammer was pulsing with energy, growing brighter with every minute. It was as if it drained the entirety of Iokath for this one blast. The weapon that was connected to the core of this artificial world, the one that granted it a steady, destructive supply of energy. It was clear that there was not much time left.

"We don't have enough time…" Vaylin said in a grim, pained tone. She felt her powers re-emerging, they healed all her wounds that she received during the battle, as well as restored her strength and control over the force. Perhaps this was the natural result of a brief respite in her state, or perhaps it was the knowledge of what had to be done and the desire to do it that sped the recovery up.

"We don't have any other options except standing aside and allowing it to fire. We'll never track the Cabal fleet in time."

"So you want to say that we fought for nothing? That this was just a waste of time?"

"We got rid of Jadus, that's…"

"That's not enough!" Vaylin snapped and shouted but quickly changed her tone. "Sorry, I didn't mean to, just…" It was hard to deny that she feared what was to come, but there was no point in hesitating and giving the weapon more time.

"You have something on your mind, right?"

"Jadus said that there is no one strong enough to absorb all that Voidcaller, right? But what if he's wrong? He underestimated my power before, and he could've done it again!"

"You're not serious…It's suicide!" Cassian spoke up.

"But we can't do anything else! The enemy fleet still protects the weapon, and the factions are too busy fighting each other; we couldn't convince them before, but it won't go any quicker now! Not when that thing can fire any second now! I can destroy the Void Hammer myself by getting inside of it. Maybe I'll absorb the Voidcaller, and maybe I'll explode it from within, but I'm the only one who even has a chance!"

"I can't allow it, you'll die!" Cassian clenched his fist.

"You said that I can do everything my father can do and even more; what's different now?"

"Even you father never encountered a void this large, it's powered by the entirety of this world, do you realize how much raw power is that?"

"I do, that's why I'm the only one who can try it! Please, Cassian, just let me do it! I want to destroy it, and if we just leave, that means we just wasted our time and energy for nothing, that Jadus will win even after death!" Vaylin's voice grew louder as tears emerged in her eyes. "Do…Do you know what kind of thought allowed me to survive that ritual on Nathema? I thought of why I was doing it…I wanted to run away from you, find a place that the Voidcaller wouldn't reach, and live in peace. I know you wanted this, too, but I couldn't just leave Jadus to his own devices! I thought of all the people he would kill and torment…Of the children that would have to live in the same hell I lived. Imagine them being scared and alone in the darkness, crying out for their parents and cursing the galaxy for making them suffer when they've done nothing to deserve it. That's the last thing I wanted to do before leaving this galaxy to rot…I wanted to save them from this horrible fate! Killing Jadus and his cultists won't change anything. Only destroying the Hammer will! So, please…I beg of you, don't hold me back!"

Cassian looked up, finally unveiling some of his own tears. His hands shook, but in his eyes, Vaylin saw the understanding and acceptance that she sought. The realization hurt; it was downright agonizing to think about, but this was the only way to stop the cataclysm that Jadus's weapon was about to unleash.

They both knew what had to be done.

…

Lana, I hope you receive this message.

Vaylin and I planned to regroup with you and escape Iokath together, but plans have changed. We tracked down Jadus and killed him, but this didn't solve our biggest problem. The Void Hammer can't be shut down manually, but Jadus made sure to destroy any alternative so that even if he dies, his plans will still come to fruition. We have one last idea of how to stop it, but Vaylin will have to use all of her powers. We're on our way to our shuttle now; we'll fly to the very heart of the Voidcaller from there.

Don't wait for us; escape this world, but stay on the ship and don't land anywhere, either. If the Hammer fires, we don't know where the epicenter will be. And tell the others that I wish them the best of luck. I don't know how this will end, but whatever happens, I'm not abandoning Vaylin.

Thank you, Lana.

For everything.

…

Vaylin took a deep breath, knowing full well that nothing could prepare her for what lay ahead.

She stood on the edge of her and Cassian's old shuttle's hangar, looking down to the Void below her. The Void Hammer looked even bigger when looked at from a close distance. It was a gigantic pit of Voidcaller, a tunnel leading directly to the planet's core, and all of it pulsed with bright violet colors. But nothing could compare to the grotesque aura that emanated from it. The feeling of rot, despair, and death. It reminded Vaylin of how she felt the first time she stepped on Nathema's surface. She remembered this childish fear in her eyes, how she looked into both of her parent's eyes, as if pleading to take her away, or at least explain what was going on, why was any of this necessary…Here, the feelings were similar, but she wasn't a child anymore. There was no uncertainty, only knowledge, and anticipation, but the fear was just as strong. No matter how much knowledge or experience Vaylin had, staring into the Void's very heart has always been terrifying, but hopefully, this would be the last time she ever had to do this.

Vaylin looked back, noticing Cassian standing beside her. He remained quiet for most of their journey, and Vaylin could feel his pain and fear throughout. She wished she could do anything to soothe it, but there was only one way out of this: to destroy the Void and come back alive, Something she would try to accomplish.

"I…I'm ready." Vaylin clenched her fist and said with resolve.

"Good luck, Vay. The galaxy is counting on you…I am counting on you."

"I'm going to destroy everything Jadus built…" Vaylin closed her eyes but quickly realized that there were some words that remained unsaid, and even the mere thought of them made tears emerge in her eyes. The woman quickly turned around and rushed towards Cassian, giving Chiss a tight hug and catching him by surprise.

"Vay, I…"

"Thank you!" She said, unable to hold back her tears. "You gave me a chance I didn't deserve; you were always so kind to me, even when I pushed you away, you helped me sleep, helped me be without fear…Thank you for making my life worth living." She felt her hands shaking as she poured out all of her deepest emotions, and Cassian hugged her back with a warm smile on his face.

"And thank you for showing me the taste of true freedom. Come on…Save the galaxy and come back alive. I know you can do it. I love you, Vaylin."

After those words, no fall seemed like an insurmountable challenge. Vaylin closed her eyes and jumped off the ledge directly into the abyss.

She descended quicker with every second, getting closer to the violet pit. Even before she contacted it, Vaylin felt a surge of pain overtaking her. The Voidcaller burned through her skin and bone, forcing her libs to shake. Vaylin closed her eyes, trying not to think of the danger and simply continue through with the descent. Vaylin relied on her senses to detect the strongest surges of the Void and avoid them. The few defense systems the pit had were not enough to hold her back. Vaylin focused on her inner force, unleashing the most powerful aura she possibly could before contacting the abyss.

She felt the moment when she passed the threshold.

From there on, she was submerged in the Void. It was as if she once again stepped inside the Nathema sanitarium, staring at the darkness before her and inevitably getting consumed by it. Shadows stared at her, forcing her into a dread circle and slowly tearing her apart, making her feel small and pathetic. It was similar now but ten times stronger. Even as an adult, Vaylin felt the urge to scream in terror and do everything in her power to end this pain, even killing herself.

In the next instant, Vaylin felt her aura dissipate. She wanted to screech as the Void danced on her body, but those cries would not even leave a single echo in chaos like this. She had to hold on and continue, for Cassian, for all the innocents she swore to save; Vaylin could feel that she was getting closer to the core. She created yet another aura arising from her pain, wounds, and burns. No matter how much it hurt, it was nothing that she hadn't already been through. Jarak and Valkorion's torture was methodical; they knew how to unravel one's psyche step by step. This was simply an uncontrolled Void that attempted to attempt a spirit entirely, throwing all of its power at Vaylin and struggling to reach her. Vaylin opened her eyes a little, trying to peer into the violet ocean before her and eventually seeing the gleaming core.

Just a little more…Vaylin screamed one last time, forming another aura that was just strong enough to have her reach out toward the heart of this poisonous Void.

They have become one, and Vaylin has finally felt the ground beneath her.

All the pain and agony forced the world around her to shift. The violet color dissipated, forming a familiar Ashland. She was standing amidst the barren ground of Nathema once again, just like in her last dream. The cold winds of this dread place pierced her skin once again, as did the icy chill of this forsaken place. She was all alone, small, and powerless. Vaylin could feel hair tied in a braid, Something she hadn't done ever since being sent to Nathema. The girl looked at her hands, smaller, softer, and far less pale than how they were. It was her, just like she was the moment she first came to Nathema. A young, scared girl who didn't want to go.

"This is your home…"

"Embrace it…"

"Do not be afraid…"

More whispers in her head; this time, they were distorted and did not have a single source. They were an ever-present array that surrounded Vaylin, trying to convince her to submit and embrace the horror around her. This must have been the effect of the core being overwhelmed with this violet poison, Something Vaylin must have resisted. She witnessed the too-familiar Sanitarium in front of her, the place that still called out to her as if it were the pulsing heart of this place. This must have been the core, how she saw it…The source of all her pain and agony.

A step.

Another.

One after another.

The girl walked towards the Sanitarium, praying to find some way to destroy this place inside, to resist this all-consuming circle of Void that was getting closer to her. Suddenly, she felt pain. A few black tentacles emerged from the ground and clung to her leg, making Vaylin turn around with an expression of primal fear in her eyes.

"Why are you afraid?"

Vaylin looked up and noticed a shadowy phantom form before her. It was a man with dark hair and a single eye, dressed in grey robes. The reflection of Jadus.

"This darkness, this void, it has always been a part of you."

"No…Leave me alone!"

Vaylin shouted and used some of her force powers to break the tentacles and rush towards the Sanitarium. At this very moment, hiding inside that hellish building seemed preferable to staring into the face of this monster. Only a few moments ago Vaylin stood triumphant over him, and yet now she was reduced to being a powerless child, no matter what she tried to do, nothing was enough. Now, she rushed to the Sanitarium's gates, desperately hoping that she would find some form of salvation there.

"How curious…" Jadus's voice became distorted, barely recognizable. "Even after all you've endured, your most primal instinct is to run back to your prison. I was right. Your subconscious never left this place."

"Get away from me!"

As Vaylin got close to the gates, two new shadows emerged on her sides. The ghostly horizon guard warriors blocked the girl's way, looking like all-consuming shadows. They jumped at her simultaneously, making Vaylin recoil and close her eyes. Even her reflexes and behavior became childish; everything in this place tried to unmake her very core. Vaylin tried to turn her thoughts towards defense, which soon created a weapon in her hands…A weapon that she soon realized was just a training stick that one of the knights easily cut with his lightsaber.

"No, no, no…"

"Defend yourself, Princess! Fight to the death!" The other guard shouted as she approached Vaylin closer.

"Show us what you can do!" The first guard joined in. Both of them cornered Vaylin, making her shiver in fear and call out to her force powers.

"GET AWAY!" Vaylin screeched, unleashing a surge of force lightning and annihilating both of those shades in an instant, yet she could hardly feel any relief due to the eerie silence that emerged afterward. Vaylin felt watched, and the only path before her remained the same. To descend into the core, enter the Sanitarium and face the Void.

Vaylin closed her eyes and stepped into the elevator.

Ascension.

The familiar ruined halls.

Their layout was similar to how she remembered them, yet Something was different. There was only one long corridor with a few glass walls on each side. And each of those walls emanated Something disgusting and horrific, making Vaylin shiver in fear. The shadows before her started to take form again, this time turning into an Anomid scientist who made her life miserable for many years. Even when Vaylin visited the Sanitarium to undo her conditioning, she still felt unnerved when standing near Jarak.

"Ah, you've come back, my dear; perfect timing!" Jarak said in a condescendingly playful tone.

Vaylin attempted to destroy him with force lighting, too, but Jarak quickly disappeared and turned into dust, yet his presence remained just as strong.

"I created a collage of all the best memories from the time we spent together…You wouldn't turn down a dose of nostalgia, would you?"

Vaylin turned around, but the elevator she entered disappeared, leaving only a dark wall that blocked her way. There was only one path, to go ahead. The girl carefully took steps, she wanted to close her eyes as she passed those cells, but an unseen force kept them open.

The first one was a girl that was a spitting image of her, but with even more fear in her eyes. She rushed to the wall, putting her hands on it, hitting the glass and screaming in utter despair.

"Please, don't leave me! Tell mom, please, they…They hurt me! Please, I want her to take me away, I…"

But Vaylin had no power to change the past, only to move forward. The next cage showed a girl whose skin grew paler and whose hair lost color. She sat on the floor, crawling and shaking in a fetal position, shivering from the cold as she had no power left to scream.

The next cell showed a girl who had lost her humanity. She lay on a bed, tied up and still shaking, occasionally trying to break free. She lost some of her hair, her body was covered in scars and bruises, her face radiated no emotions, and she occasionally let out pained wails but not a single word.

Finally, she saw a girl with the entirety of her head shaved and tattoos covering her body. Her eyes were yellow and brimmed with silent hatred. For the monsters that chained her here, for her family that turned a blind eye and allowed her to rot here, for the entire galaxy that didn't know or care about her. An angry, hurt child who stopped asking what she did to deserve it. Instead, she thought of what others deserved for not coming to save her.

Finally, the girl witnessed the final cell, this one had two different people inside. One of them was adult Vaylin in her High Justice robes with her lightsaber in one hand and force lightning sparkling in the other. The other person was a scared girl, but not Vaylin. Instead, it was Kaia. She cowered and clung to the wall with an expression of utter terror on her face, while the adult Vaylin had a sadistic grin on her face.

"No…" The real Vaylin shook her head and stepped away. "This…This never happened!"

"Are you certain?" A cold, uncaring voice echoed behind her, making Vaylin make a misstep and fall to the ground in horror. The shadows before she claimed the form of a man in bright white armor and yellow Sith eyes. Her prime tormentor, father dearest. "This is what your actions meant for that girl. You were always short-sighted, failed to grasp the consequences of your actions…Yet here they are, clear as day. You killed her mother; you traumatized her and didn't even realize it. How callous."

Vaylin attempted to run, but more shadows began to swirl around her, recreating familiar silhouettes of Jadus and Jarak.

"Already leaving? How disappointing, I didn't even begin!" Jarak said with glee.

"You still deny your nature, child? It will only make the truth hurt even more." Jadus added.

Now, there were three of them, all approaching Vaylin from different sides. Each of them looked at her with their vile eyes, reaching out towards her as some prize to claim, as an experiment to conduct, and a toy to play with. They were cravens that latched onto people that were easy to break, and they felt her fear. Each of them was a powerful source of the Void, a manifestation of its effects and devastation. They radiated so much despair that Vaylin wanted to puke, to fall to the floor and accept her gruesome fate like those girls in the cages. It was the very heart of the Void, too terrible to bear…

"When your father entrusted you to me, I was tasked with permanently altering your brain," Jarak said with pride. "Here are the consequences."

Vaylin fell on her knees and began to cry and scream, clinging to her head in despair. There was nothing left around her; even the halls of the Sanitarium were consumed by the Void. It was just her and those three tormentors, and they got closer with each moment. She had to fight and resist; she had to overpower this Void…But how could she do it? Was this even possible?

"You are a tragedy," Jadus spoke. "Granted with such power at birth, yet you never learned to use it properly."

Vaylin felt her heartbeat increase, and she felt the darkness crawling on her skin like a swarm of insects that corroded her. The poison that her father implanted in her from her youth has begun to come out and eat her from the inside. Vaylin was stuck between the inner and outer Void, with nowhere to run.

"Your destiny was decided the moment you were born, daughter." Valkorion looked at her from above, still showing no care or emotion. "You cannot escape the Void. It has been your abode ever since I sent you away, and it has never changed."

Of course…This hell has been a part of her a long while, a part that Vaylin desperately tried to get rid of and yet never succeeded in doing so… Something clicked in the girl's mind as she pondered Valkorion's words. Vaylin has often delved into the Void's depths, so much so that they became like home…And why would anyone fear being in their own home?

Vaylin opened her eyes, and this time, they gleamed with violet.

It was time to reclaim her home.

Vaylin let out a shockwave that pushed the craven trio aside and created a purple aura that swirled around the girl like a chaotic vortex. She drained power, but it wasn't just her force anymore. Vaylin called out to the darkest, hidden parts of herself. The most twisted out of powers and auras, the result of all the depravity she was subjected to. The knowledge of the horrors she experienced was a simple reminder of why she was going through this hellish cycle all over again. If this meant saving people like her, children who looked to a better future and still had hope to never know the Void, Vaylin would gladly throw herself at its core, again and again. It was time to turn the tables on this Void, on this core, and to break it entirely. Vaylin felt the metal walls of Iokath around her trembling, and she would not stop before all of it became dust and ash.

Her aura exploded, releasing Vaylin in the open. She was not that same girl anymore; Vaylin had regained her adult body. She wore grey torn rags that she was dressed in on Nathema; they were not enough to cover her entire skin, but she didn't care anymore. When she hijacked Syl's body, Vaylin thought she could forget the scars she had carried in her old one, but they were always with her, now finally on display. Her tattoos, her wounds, her bruises, the acid stains…Each one of those represented a method of torture, an ordeal she was put through. Something that she never deserved but couldn't change, only embrace as a part of her and repay the galaxy for all the crimes she committed against it. But first, she needed to banish some old demons.

Vaylin looked at the cravens and felt a surge of power inside her. Yes…This was exactly what she wanted, to push those monsters into Oblivion from whence they came.

"You think you can scare me?" She chuckled. "I admit, for a while, you looked terrifying…Because you looked real, pretended to be real. But that's all you can do, right? To just pretend. Because I know what you actually are…You're nothing! You are phantoms of the past that desperately cling to life through my mind because that's your only chance of avoiding an inevitable fate! You will all become dust, and there won't even be a memory left. And I'll gladly send you back into the darkness."

Vaylin felt the power of the core overwhelming her, but this time, it was met with an unbreakable resolve and aura, the one that could withstand and absorb all the Void thrown at her. She looked at the trio, immediately noticing signs of weakness and terror coming from one of them. Jarak recoiled and shivered like the sniveling worm he was.

"Didn't you say it yourself?" Vaylin chuckled as force lighting emerged in her hands. "We've only just begun!" She unleashed a powerful bolt of lightning, only leaving a mere minute for Jarak to screech in terror before he was annihilated. As Vaylin purged him, she saw a glimpse of Iokath's surface. A purple crack emerged, unleashing a surge of energy strong enough to strike at a portion of the Star Cabal's fleet in orbit. Just as their ships started to crumble, Vaylin was dragged back to the Void.

Jadus was the next one to attack; he used his lightsaber, but Vaylin was above falling to such trivial weapons. She created an aura of all-destructive lightning; the moment Jadus attempted to pierce it, his weapon shattered and turned into ash. Jadus stood there, shocked, allowing Vaylin a moment to rip his heart out with her overwhelming force powers. As Jadus faded, she saw another glimpse of the outside world, saw the Cabal fleet in chaos, and saw that the violet waves the planet itself emanated annihilated them so quickly that not a single one got a chance to escape.

Now, only one single push remained.

"I did not raise you to become a beast!" Valkorion said with spite.

"Oh, shut up." Vaylin shook her head and unleashed her force lightning on Valkorion. It was such a powerful surge that it quickly immobilized the Emperor, forcing him to shout in agony like the meek, powerless creature that he had become. He was at her disposal once again, yet another phantom rearing its ugly head, giving Vaylin all the more motivation and pleasure to finally destroy him for good. The Emperor was resilient, but with every second, more violet cracks would emerge around him, and his spirit became fainter as it was overwhelmed by Vaylin's forces. She was in control of this place, trapping the phantoms in a cage that was too small for her. It was time to finally break free…

In a moment, Valkorion exploded, and Vaylin heard a loud explosion that pierced her ears. One last vision of cracks spreading all throughout Iokath, the uncontrollable power of the core that had its container unceremoniously destroyed, a devastating process that has been stopped in a single moment, a weapon that would not fire anymore.

All of it shrouded by soothing darkness.