Chapter Text
He woke up to distantly blinking stars in a black and infinite expanse of space above his head. Tongue glued to the roof of his mouth, there was no strength left in him to swallow the dryness away. Too weak, powerless… all he could do was to stare up. Where was he? After he had impaled Valkorion, their former Emperor’s power had recoiled through the Force like a thunder slamming through air, robbing him of consciousness. Was this death?
Chest tight, he had to force out a breath. Their former Emperor had lain defeated at his feet… at last. Vengeance for Ziost… all these lives, for his games keeping the Empire from moving forward…. Yet, the thought did not dispel the hollowness in him. What had been the costs?
“And every last of the core worlds will burn….” The prince’s voice echoed as a distant memory around him.
Billions dead… a war to come raining down its full might on the already struggling surviving. Edenye, Alathea, the little one he’d never know… all he sacrificed will have been for nothing. His promise held, unbroken. But still, he had failed that foolish last oath: to return regardless what the Force intended. Now the stars shone down on him, uncaring and silent to this one regret. He wanted to snuff out each one of them, one by one. Failed in his duty as the defender of the Empire.
If this was the Force, it felt nothing like the one he had felt for all his life. No trace of warmth, of a strange peace whenever Edenye or Alathea were around, nor the power that had served and lived in him all his life. No… this was a cold uncaring void churning beyond his senses. His fingers twitched… and met ground. He blinked. Real ground? One that gave away easily as he desperately dug them in. Like… sand. Some of his strength returned and he rolled on his side.
Ash… Ash as far as he could see. With hills rising sharply in the far distance, further away than he’d ever be able to reach. His skin prickled as the darkness shifted beyond the edge of this plane. Something cold lurked there evading his grasp. He was alive… but not awake. Wherever he was, whatever this was, it was not death. Only him, the void above and ash as far as he could see. No father, no mother… no traces of their presences here. Not death, something else, more horrifying lurked in this absolute solitude.
The hair on his neck stood on end, electric shocks raced down his spine. Whatever was out there, it drew closer, reaching out to him, prodding along his mind. Terror burrowed in his gut, forcing him to his feet. Nerves strung tight, he reached to his belt… only to grasp at emptiness. His weapon was gone…
“I have always loved the stars,” a deep, disembodied voice spoke up dispassionately behind him.
He twitched. That voice. Valkorion… Whirling around he came face to face with the former Emperor materializing in front of him. Cold realization flooded him, his hatred roaring back to life as a smug smirk formed on the ghostly man’s face.
“We both are not dead,” he spat it out like a curse.
His promise… even that he had not been able to keep. To take down the mad Emperor for them all, no matter the cost. And he had failed. Hate furled in his fingertips that twitched, waiting to be unleashed on the incorporeal Emperor coming to a stand in front of him.
He hated the man in front of him. Yet… most of all… he hated himself.
“It would take more than my son to kill us both,” Valkorion decreed dismissively, aloofly lifting his nose up to the void hanging above their heads.
“Once I wake up, I will kill you both,” he growled, spreading his fingers in preparation to strike.
Another promise, one he might fail yet again. But it was his duty, his sworn oath to protect and defend his people. No matter the cost.
“But now you are trapped, powerless and at the mercy of your enemy!” Valkorion laughed openly in his face, before his face gained a taunting sharpness. “Only you have warranted my attention for all these years. Back when I elevated you to one of my rulers to the dying Empire and now…” - He paused and looked him over as they squared off against the other - “Now you had to destroy me and be the only one coming close to succeed.”
“If I had succeeded, we wouldn’t be here, now would we?”
“You forget, I cannot die,” Valkorion turned his head away with a crinkle of his nose. “You destroyed my vessel, but not my spirit.”
No…. He rushed at Valkorion, who fizzled out of his grasp.
“You sought out a new body!” Marr yelled, swiveling around to see where the Emperor had gone.
A cold chuckle was his only response. One that seemed to come from all sides just as pain stabbed into his insides. It twisted them forcing him down on his knees. Coughing with his lungs burning, he grabbed onto fistfuls of ash, an anchor in the agony. Cramps wracked through him, excruciating pain robbing him of sight.
“The carbon freezing process was imperfect,” Valkorion’s voice slithered through the loud and blinding pain that robbed him of strength and he crashed face first into the ash. “You are dying.”
Dying… clarity snapped his vision back.
“If that is the only way to get rid of you,” he wheezed out, voice hoarse, spitting out ash. “Then I will gladly embrace it.”
“You do not understand,” Valkorion mocked lightly, now towering above Marr. “I will not let you.”
The world around him tilted. He fell away, ash flying past his arms, trailing into the nothingness. Until it burst into swirling colours, a pink and yellow vortex forming in front of his eyes that slowly sucked him in. How long he was suspended in the chaos, he did not know. After felt eternity, but still too soon, he landed on his knees and hands. Concrete and dura-steel that was wet with rain pelting all around him. There was no need to tell him where he was.
Kaas city.
Burning, Skytroopers marched through the streets, mowing down fleeing civilians. Desperation, fear and hopelessness permeated the air, faltering his steps. Their bodies fells on fallen troopers and Sith that littered the streets. Blood ran into pools, smoke blotted out the sky into a deep shade of dark grey. Eyes wide he could only stare at the unfolding massacre. The price of his failure… his people were murdered because of him. Was this punishment? To make him watch?
Sounds of lightsabers hissed in distant clashes, metal screeched. A swell of fleeing civilians flooded the street he stood in, running away from the sounds. He broke into a sprint towards the commotion. Around several corners and streets filled with panicking civilians and skytroopers marching towards them.
Vowrawn and his apprentice were there, fighting a losing battle with another Sith Lord at their side. Stemming against golden knights with blue lightspears. Bodies of knights, droids and Sith piled to the sides of the battle. Hope, unbidden, pressed into his legs propelling him forward. Maybe they could see him! See he was still alive… and Edenye…
Metal groaned making him skid to a halt. Sliding across the wet ground, he watched – unable to intervene – in horror as a building toppled over, raining mangled steel down on them. His hand was outstretched with a scream tearing out. Only… it was silent to anyone else and he could do nothing.
Nothing… he… the protector and shield of the Empire, could do nothing. Nothing to save his most trusted ally and friend.
“All you hold dear is falling, dying…” Valkorion taunted above him, almost gleefully so.
His head snapped up. The Emperor stood on top of the monument that hovered in the middle of the city. The Spires of Victory… a mockery of the slaughter to its feet. An insult to have him standing there.
“And whose fault would that be?” He yelled, falling back into a full on run.
If they were both still alive with Valkorion being in his head barely keeping him alive, he’d make his stay as miserable as possible. Make him regret the choice to elevate him to the Dark Council. Only… the Emperor regarded his on storm with an idle smile before he swiped his right hand through the air.
It threw him back. Back into the vortex that dissolved the burning city. Marr yelled in rage, thrashing against the invisible Force holding him in place.
“You knew love,” Valkorion spoke then.
At that, Marr pressed his mouth tightly shut. He would not give him the satisfaction of an answer. Valkorion’s tone of forced remorse made him nearly retch.
“The touch and the sound of children. They are what make our legacy.”
“Who was their mother?” He finally had found his voice.
“She left when they were young. My mistake was to let her go,” this time the tone of regret… it sounded false, displaced.
A lie. Valkorion didn’t have the capability to love. Use, abuse… the former Emperor excelled in these.
“Your spawn is the same as you,” he spat into the swirling colours that seemed to be spin faster until they burst into the far too familiar grey ceiling of the Citadel.
An amused huff, a knowing one that was far too amused to withhold the punchline.
“They lack restraint, discipline… it will take our combined efforts to undo their damage.”
“Why do you care?” He asked, pushing himself to his feet again. “You left us all those years ago for Zakuul.”
The Council chamber. A large tear, where his seat had once been, let in the pelting rain. On the crowd that had gathered in the middle. Two groups… Acina stood in front of exhausted soldiers that formed a ring around someone else… In front of her stood Prince Arcann, hands clasped behind his back that regarded the small force meeting him.
Frowning he rounded around them to see what….
Edenye?
His knees buckled as her gaunt face peeked from between the ring of soldiers. With her braids scattered around her shoulders, disheveled… but he felt his heart grow lighter. She was alive! His briefly lived sweet relief died when the soldiers parted, reluctantly with some even looking to the ground in shame. With how quickly his heart had grown lighter at the sight, it plummeted right into his gut. Her hands were cuffed tightly in front of her already growing stomach, just as her feet were shackled. Force-restraints…. Why was she a prisoner?!
Two knights stepped forward, grabbing Edenye roughly by the forearms. They hauled her away into the waiting middle of the Knights standing behind Arcann. All the while Acina and her soldiers looked on displeased. Arcann’s smug smirk at the humiliation could be felt from underneath his mask.
A tribute! In horror, he reached out to her, his fingers nearly brushing against her.
There was no way she would not sense him! Then he ran after her, so ever slowly, like running in water. Why was he so slow? The distance between them grew further and further as she was dragged away.
“Edenye,” he screamed out in desperation, his hand still stretched out.
That was… the shift was heavy on his heart. Brown and purple eyes connected with his and widened. Hope flared up behind her like a solar flare. He could only smile openly at her. As long as she had seen him! Strength drew back into him, more alive… Any grief she must have felt… hopefully it was gone for now.
I will be back! Promise.
Her lips tucked upwards in a wavering smile. For too brief of a moment before she was harshly yanked back, making her stumble and broke eye contact. Snarling he ran after…
But claws clutched at him, drawing him back into the vortex.
“Your right hand,” Valkorion sounded curious, almost praising. “One of the most formidable opponents my children faced. You chose well in her.”
“It was my duty,” he hissed, bristling at the meaningless praise. “Unlike someone I did not abandon my home.”
“I left when it became clear that this Empire would only fail. Your persistence is admirable, but misplaced.”
“And well-placed with Zakuul?” He shot back. “Last I checked, your children wanted you dead.”
Valkorion cackled at his jab. “Zakuul is now the ruling power over the galaxy. Something your Empire has never accomplished.”
“Yet you chose me.”
“I did….,” Valkorion conceded, again with this amused laughter.
What did he know that he didn’t?
Before he could attempt to form the question, he landed in another scene.
Drellik’s stronghold. Surrounded by swathes of golden knights and shuttles circling around. How did they find it?! The surroundings blurred and he found himself inside. Right behind Tolun who was racing through rooms with Lord Drellik on his heels. Mouths were moving frantically, but their words were mute.
Where was Alathea? He ran after them into the living quarters where Tolun was pushing buttons in his panic while Drellik looked beneath tables… how did they lose a two-year old toddler?!
They found her, not a moment later. Tolun dragged her crying and screaming from behind a bookshelf. Face red and soaked in tears as she waved her fists in the air in protest. It hurt… to watch his daughter fight in blind pain. Instinctually he had his arms out… if he could only hold and soothe her. Like all the nights he could spend with her. His hand connected with her cheek, his thumb stroking the skin and she abruptly stopped.
Grey eyes, painfully like his own, blinked back in wonder as she ceased her struggling. Her ceasing was what Tolun needed to secure his grip on her. Like her mother… she could see him and he could only stare back in awe as she was hauled away.
When his fingers lost contact, her eyes filled with tears again and she made a desperate grab for him. How his heart was still beating was beyond him, not with how much it bled in grief. What good was his power when he was locked away? When his promises were broken and now he was paying the bitter price for it?
“No,” he whispered, trying to reach for her.
But something hit him in the back of his head just as Knights swarmed his vision.
When he awoke next, he was back where he had started. Underneath the expanse of space surrounded by ash. Only this time he recognized it. Ziost… the remains of a once alive world.
“I need to wake up,” he said out loud.
Get Edenye, get Alathea… Tolun… and… reclaim the Empire….
“You refuse to understand,” disappointment laced Valkorion’s voice. “They are lost to you.”
He took a deep breath.
“No,” he stared point blank into the ephemeral face that formed in the stars looking down on him.
The face remained impassive at his open defiance. With glee, he watched it remain silent for a long time.
“You match my will,” again this grating appraising tone. “But are you strong enough?”
He bristled. How dare he question his ability? His power? His resolve? His passions? After entrusting an entire Empire on his shoulders alone so he could gallivant in another corner of the galaxy?! Omnious laughter rang out, purple mist sinking into the ash, lifting it up to form a figure.
Involuntarily he had to take a step back. An all familiar shape and face stepped out of the whirlwind. Edenye… the bastard was going to make him fight her. Stunned he watched her shift into her combat stance. Weight shifted into his right hand, his lightsaber materializing with its blade buzzing to life.
Muscle memory took over as Edenye charged at him. Arms lifted just in time to block her overhead slash. Their blades met in a furious roar, so unlike all their sparring sessions. He kicked out at her knee, sending her stumbling back. Circling the other, they adjusted their stances, pointing and switching the direction their blades faced. Ash kicked up in their movements, illuminated red and purple from their blades.
He swept in from the side, as quick as wind, with his saber cutting horizontally. Gracefully, jarringly familiar, she fell out of his reach. Using her spike to redirect his saber and pushed herself off the ground. She jumped up, her spike poised to stab at him. He stepped quickly to the side, forcing her jab to slide down past him. Leaving her side open.
He rushed her, shouldering the phantom to the ground. The spear fell from her and she lay there unarmed. His own weapon pointed at her throat. This had been over far too quickly, not an echo of her true power. What had Valkorion wanted to achieve? With this mockery of her skill and power? But hesitation stilled his arms. Edenye was staring back at him. His wife…. This was what Valkorion wanted to test, show… whatever this twisted game he was playing….
No. This was not her. An illusion that held no life in her eyes. Gritting his teeth, he pushed through and watched as the body dissolved into ash. He still fell to his knees, grasping at the ash that fell through his fingers.
“You have once again proven yourself,” Valkorion suddenly commented right beside him.
He snapped his head around seeing the figure standing idly there. Hands clasped behind his back, not even watching him.
His mistake… Now or never. In a blur, he shot up and plunged his lightsaber into Valkorion’s chest.
“Do not toy with my family,” he growled watching the Emperor rip his mouth open in shock.
Until the face relaxed, a knowing, gleeful glint brightened in his eyes. “You fail to see. This is rebirth.”
Maniacal laughter vibrated around, forcing him back, lightsaber extinguishing as it fell from his limp fingers. Streams of the ash enveloped him, blinding him and he had to put his arms up to shield himself. But then it was in his lungs, eyes. Choking him. On top of him, burying him alive.
Agony… to not be able to breathe but to keep living. Agony, burning agony in his veins and mind.
Until … until…. His eyes could open again.
“Hold still,” a female voice whispered urgently as a blurry face swam in front of him. “I may have your cure but….”