Star Wars Jedi Knight IV: Sith Empire

Chapter 30: Ghosts

"It is only here that I can control them. A family in balance—the light and the dark. Day with night. Destruction replaced by creation."
―The Father

"So," Ben remarked. "This is it then."

"Indeed," The being responded. It pointed a slender figure at the portal before them both as a Jedi in homespun robes produced what Ben could only assume was the Dagger from his belt. "There it is. Whenever you are ready, just step through."

Through the portal Ben could make out several figures in the dark. One appeared to be using what looked like red Force lightning on another. A faint shout reverberated through the portal. "Anakin! Now!"

Ben let out a breath. More voice followed. He stepped back a couple paces and opened himself up to the Force, letting it course through him. He sprinted forward leaping through the portal.

Immediately the glass strewn cobblestone below him was illuminated for an instant as if by a flash of lightning. Everyone in the vicinity looked toward the portal in surprise that Ben had just left. Below his feet was Ahsoka, and she appeared several years younger, just a child. But her irises bore the yellow glow of the Sith.

Ben came down on Ahsoka with a boot to her temple as she held the Dagger. Ahsoka collapsed in a heap, dropping it, and Ben skidded across the stone terrace to a stop. He extended his left hand in the direction of the Dagger and summoned it to him. It's hilt landed in his hand with a satisfying smack.

Everyone including Ben was stunned for a split second. The Jedi that remained standing and the Ones stared at Ben, dumbfounded. Ben stared back with his own expression of shock on his face, as if wondering what would happen next.

"No!" The black clad male of the Ones bellowed, shattering the silence. Ben could only assume this was the Son. His face was deathly pale with Sith-looking tattoos. His eyes, like Abeloth's, were empty black voids with a pinprick of light in each. Except on the Son, they weren't white, they were an enraged red. And they were riveted on Ben.

Ben turned and ran in the opposite direction to take a leap off the terrace and use the Force to open a portal that would return himself back to Ruusan. But suddenly his windpipe was squeezed as if in a vice, then dragged downwards. Ben fell to his knees, grasping at his throat with his right hand. He opened his mouth gasping for air, but none came.

The Son vaulted upwards into the air and then descended in front of Ben with the ease of a bird, his slender form towering over Ben. He began to extend a hand for the Dagger, but before he could, Ben began to stand up. For the second time that moment, the Son's expression changed to one of surprise.

Ben grabbed his lightsaber in a flash and ignited it, still clutching the Dagger in his left hand. He slashed first with his saber, then with the Dagger in the direction of the Son. The Son stumbled backwards, then morphed into a winged creature and proceeded to fly away over the terrace. There was silence except for the hum of his lightsaber. Ben switched it off, and in the absence of it's blue light, things seemed much darker.

"Who are you?" A male voice behind him with a thick Coruscanti accent asked.

"It doesn't matter. I'm taking the Dagger." Ben said, beginning to take a step forward in the opposite direction of the voice.

A snap-hiss broke the silence, and the ground around Ben was once more bathed in an unstable blue light. "You're not going anywhere." The voice said.

Ben paused for a second, watching his shadow seemingly jump around from the light of Obi-Wan Kenobi's lightsaber. He swore under his breath and turned around, leaving his own lightsaber clipped to his belt in what he hoped would be a show of good faith. This was not going smoothly.