CHAPTER NINE
Amaxine Station—Twenty-one years ago
“Do you like this place, Ben?”
The young boy couldn’t help but blink in confusion as he looked up at the tall man standing next to him. Snoke had his hands sheathed in the large sleeves of his green robes, looking serene as they walked through his garden of bizarre exotic plants. Anyone else probably would have felt uncomfortable or even disgusted around these plants. But Ben had known this place for so long, nearly all his life, that he was used to them by now.
“It’s… interesting,” he said quietly, glancing at a dead-looking plant with long, thorned tendrils. “It’s home.”
“Home.” Snoke repeated the word, sounding as if he had never contemplated the prospect. “I’m not sure anyone has considered this place home before you. It’s had a rather dark and twisted history.”
“How so?” Ben asked.
Snoke was quiet for a moment, as if he was considering whether or not to elaborate. Finally, he said, “This station was created by a culture of warriors known as the Amaxine, for whom it is named. It was abandoned when they were driven to extinction by the Drengir.”
“The Drengir?”
“Frightening creatures that terrorized the galaxy over two centuries ago,” Snoke explained. “They were the thing of nightmares, terrifying even the Sith to the point that they forcibly confined the Drengir to this very station.”
Ben’s eyes went wide and he looked around the garden with a look of unease. “Are they still here?”
Snoke chuckled softly. “No, my boy. They are a thing of the past now. Echoes of them remain on this station if you know where to look, but they are nothing more than that. Just echoes.”
They continued to walk through the garden in silence until Snoke extended a hand and rested it on Ben’s shoulder.
“The reason I’m asking this, boy, is because I’m afraid that your time here must come to an end.”
Ben looked up at him with wide eyes. “What? Why?”
“I have taught you all that I can. You are a very talented young boy; more talented than any of my previous students. But my knowledge and expertise can only extend so far. You need a teacher who can help you realize your true potential.”
Ben frowned, unsure how to feel about this prospect. “Who’s going to teach me then? I don’t know anyone else besides you.”
Snoke smiled. “You need not worry about that; I have already found someone who can teach what I never could.”
Ben took a deep breath and exhaled. He did not want to leave Amaxine Station; this was his home after all. But he trusted Snoke, and Snoke knew what was best for him. He would do whatever his teacher asked of him.
“Where will I be going then?” he asked.
“I have arranged for a transport to stop by and retrieve you,” Snoke replied. “It will take you to the planet Varnak, where you will find a man called Ren. When you do find him, tell him that I sent you. Your life will then be in his hands.”
Ben looked up at Snoke, his dark eyes meeting his teacher’s blue ones. “Will I ever see you again?”
Snoke offered him a warm, fatherly smile. “What does your heart tell you?”
Mustafar—Now
Kylo Ren woke from the memory, breathing heavily as he knelt on the ground. Surrounding him were the abandoned ruins of Fortress Vader, its obsidian walls having collapsed after decades of abandonment, giving him a full view of Mustafar’s volcanic plains.
As he struggled onto his feet, Kylo heard what sounded like breathing coming from behind him. However, when he looked over his shoulder, he saw nothing but shadows behind him. The breathing continued unabated for a few moments until it was joined by a booming voice that Kylo was intimately familiar with.
“Welcome, my grandson. Welcome to my birthplace.”
Kylo Ren felt his breath hitch. “Grandfather?” It was a struggle to even get the word out.
“You have come a long way.” The voice of Darth Vader shook the fragile walls of the fortress and yet the shadows themselves remained undisturbed. “Every choice you have made has led you to this moment.”
Kylo started to step towards the shadows, barely even thinking about it. It was like some string was tied around his feet, pulling him in.
“Come to me, grandson. Fulfill your destiny.”
“No.”
A bright light flashed before Kylo Ren’s eyes and he stumbled back onto his knees, landing face-first onto the ground. His mind spiraled away and he soon found himself falling back into a field of memories.
Then
“Bored now. Can we leave already?”
“The concept of patience is a foreign one to you, isn’t it, Trudgen?” The man known simply as Ren calmly drank from his bottle of port-in-a-storm. It was another quiet night at the cantina. It always was when the Knights of Ren were in town; no one wanted to get on their bad side, and the best way to avoid that was to lay low and keep quiet. No one made a fuss and no one got hurt. It was a simple formula, and Ren liked simple formulas.
“Besides,” he said as he set the bottle down, “we’re still waiting on someone.”
“You still haven’t told us who this ‘someone’ is,” said Cardo, tinkering with his arm-mounted blaster cannon. “Is it someone important?”
“Potentially,” Ren replied. “It depends on how our meeting with them goes.”
“Well, it looks like we don’t have to wait any longer,” said Vicrul.
Ren glanced at him and the other Knight nodded in the direction of a young, dark-haired boy that had just walked in. The boy looked no older than sixteen and probably wasn’t even old enough to set foot in a cantina, let alone drink at one. Were it anyone else, he would have been roughed up and thrown back out onto the streets like all the other rapscallions. But this wasn’t just anyone else; Ren knew that much about the boy.
“Over here, kid,” he called out to the youth. The boy looked in the direction of him and the Knights and his eyes narrowed in uncertainty. There was no trace of fear though, not yet at least. That was good, Ren thought. It was a start.
Wading his way through the cantina, the boy approached the Knights at their table and said, “I’m looking for someone named Ren.”
“You’ve found him,” Ren replied.
“Snoke sent me—”
“I know Snoke sent you. We’ve been waiting for you.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” muttered Trudgen. “This is who we’ve been waiting for? Just some kid?”
The boy glared at him, his hands rolling into fists. “I’m not a kid. I’m—”
Ren raised a placating hand. “Relax. Trudgen’s just egging you on. We’re all a bit restless. One too many drinks, yeah?”
The boy returned his attention to Ren and seemed to study him. While the other Knights were clad head to toe in full black armor, Ren left his face and heavily burnt chest exposed, his own mask resting on the table next to his drink. It was a handy tactic against enemies, luring them into thinking that he was vulnerable and that they could hurt him. Those who thought that often ended up never thinking again.
If the boy was thinking any of those things, he did not show any indication. Instead, he looked Ren in the eyes, brown meeting blue.
“Will you teach me?” he asked.
Ren smirked at him. “I’d say that choice has already been made for us, wouldn’t you?”
“When do I start?”
Ren reached for his mask and picked it up from the table. The mask was all silver and featureless save for the red markings that distinguished it. He then stood up as he slid the helmet over his head.
“You already have.”
Now
“Ben. Get up.”
Kylo Ren groaned as he came back once more to reality. He felt himself being cast beneath a blue glow, though it hurt too much for him to get up and see what the source of the glow even was. All he knew was that he felt cold.
“Take off that mask. It’s weighing you down.”
Kylo’s hands instinctively went for the mask but the voice of Darth Vader stopped him.
“That mask is what makes you,” the long-departed Lord of the Sith intoned. “It defines who you are.”
Then
“Why do I need a mask?”
The hairy creature made a disgruntled sound as it pulled the freshly made mask from out if its forge, slamming it down on the table in front of Ben.
“If you want to be a Knight, you have to wear a mask,” snapped Ushar, steam emitting from the breathing tubes of his own mask. “You think we wear these for the hell of it?”
Ben frowned. “But why, though? What’s the point of it?”
“There doesn’t need to be a point to it, kid,” Ren said, slapping Ben on the shoulder. “It’s just part of our identity; part of what makes us who we are. Besides, people respect you more when you wear a mask.”
“And fear you,” added Kuruk.
Ren chuckled. “The two aren’t much different, my friend.”
Ben continued to stare at the mask, studying the silver inlays surrounding the thin black visor. He could feel the others’ eyes on him, even through their masks, and so he picked it up from the table and raised it over his head.
Now
With a click and hiss, Kylo unlocked the seal of his mask and pulled it off his head, letting it clatter to the floor. He lifted his head up, pushing strands of dark hair out of his eyes, and stared at the blue spectre standing in front of him.
“Hey,” it said to him with a friendly smile. “You’ve got good genes. I wouldn’t hide them behind a mask.”
Kylo blinked rapidly, unable to tell if he was hallucinating or not. “Who… who are you?”
“I’m the guy that other voice is claiming to be. I am your grandfather.”
“Do not listen to him,” the voice of Darth Vader boomed. “He is an illusion borne from the fumes of this planet. He is preventing you from achieving your destiny.”
“Other way around, I think,” the ghost of Anakin Skywalker countered. “This isn’t the first time I’ve had to deal with a lava-induced illusion of myself. Strange sentence, I know.”
Kylo Ren ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t… I don’t understand. What is happening? Is this my test?”
“Turn around, Ben,” Anakin Skywalker said. “Just turn around and leave this planet. Get off this path that your master has put you on. You will only find regret and despair. Believe me; I would know.”
“Those are the words of weakness,” Darth Vader retorted. “Words of an insolent Jedi.”
Anakin’s eyes narrowed as he turned to face the shadows behind him. “Ben,” he said quietly. “You should leave. Now.”
“No.” Kylo fumbled for his lightsaber. “You’re an illusion. A trick. My grandfather will show me the dark side, as he always has.”
“Ben… I turned my back on the dark side in my final moments. You would know that, had your family raised you.”
“My….” Kylo felt his heart drum against his chest. “My family abandoned me.”
“No. They lost you. They searched for you, but the ones who took you did everything they could to hide you from them. Even from me.” Anakin looked over his shoulder to look at his grandson, his eyes tired and sad. “It’s not too late, Ben,” he said softly. “It’s not too late to go back to them.”
“It is far too late,” Darth Vader hissed. “They will shun him for the monster he is.”
Anakin shook his head. “No. They won’t. My son never gave up on me. And my daughter would never give up on her own son. Not a single day goes by without her thinking about you, Ben.”
Kylo Ren swallowed hard, his eyes stinging from the water forming in them.
Then
Lightning crackled all around him, obstructing his vision, although he could still hear their voices.
“Go! I can only hold him off for so long!”
“We’re not leaving him!”
“You have no choice! If you stay here, you’ll all die!”
“If he dies, so do we.”
The words of his mother rang the loudest. Even after they had gone, after the storm had stopped and Starkiller laid dead at his feet, he could still hear them.
I love you, she had said.
He picked up his discarded mask from the floor and placed it back over his face.
I know, he had answered.
Only the Force knew if she had heard him.
Now
“She’s on Naboo.”
“What?” Kylo croaked out his, his voice choked with emotion.
“She’s on Naboo,” Anakin Skywalker calmly repeated. “You will find her in the city of Theed.”
Kylo wasn’t sure what to make of this information. He waited for the voice of Vader to respond, but the Dark Lord had suddenly fallen silent.
After a long, pressing moment, he slowly got up from the ground and back onto his feet. It was easier this time, as if a weight had been lifted off him, although he could not explain why. He gave one last look to the specter of Anakin Skywalker before turning around and walking away; away from the ghost and away from the shadows. He retraced his steps through the fortress of Darth Vader and soon found his way back onto the scorching plains of Mustafar.
It was not until he was well away from the fortress and on his way back to his ship that he realized he had left his mask behind.
No comments:
Post a Comment