Star Wars: Duality

CHAPTER TEN: CLEANSING

     "Aedan... you must awake."

    With a groan, Aedan reached over to hit the snooze on his alarm. He kept feeling around until his hand found...

    His lightsaber?

    He sat bolt upright like he'd been electrocuted, which he immediately regretted. The dizziness from the gash on the back of his head was compounded by the total darkness he found himself in. He thumbed his saber's power switch, but it wouldn't ignite. Great. Aedan pulled a glow rod from his pocket and activated it; what he saw didn't necessarily make him feel better.

    The tomb looked mostly untouched, but the door had been reduced to a craggy wall of crumbling rock. The rubble around it suggested some kind of cave-in (which made escaping suck to think about). Aedan carefully got his legs underneath him and used the sarcophagus to help him stand, and in doing so discovered that the lid was lying at an angle, unsealed from the coffin; curiosity got the better of him, and he kept pushing on it until it fell to one side.

    A dark cloud exploded from within, rising up and forming a huge, shadowy figure. Aedan stumbled and fell back, but before he could try and defend himself, the apparition vanished...

    Or was it dispelled? The room seemed to get a little brighter in response to Aedan's thoughts, and a phantom shimmered into view. It smiled kindly, an interesting look for its canine features.

    "Oh fierfek, it's you. I'm dead, aren't I?" Aedan's voice was shaky as he got back to his feet. "I'm in hell."

    The ghost of Jedi Master Yoruuk Vohz chuckled. "Ignoring your assumption that I  would end up in such a place, it is good to see you, Aedan."

    "Well, you– wait. You know my name?"
    "The level of self-mastery required to manifest an identity after joining the chorus of the Living Force is not without its benefits: namely, the ability to stay informed on the details of your journey, young man."

    Aedan squinted. "I... didn't understand a word of that sentence. I don't even want to know why you're slumming it in this hole with whatever the hell that thing was, I just need to–" His face drained of what little color it had left. "Drystan!"

    He ran to the collapsed door and slammed his fist into it. "Damn it all, that smug bastard must have taken him!" Aedan tried reaching out through the Force to begin excavating his way out of the cave, but all he felt was an unsettling quiet; he struggled, and pushed, and found only emptiness, like phantom pain from a missing limb.

    Master Vohz sighed, a strange mannerism for someone presumably without physical lungs. "Calm yourself. There is a heavy curse on this place, designed by the Sith of old to trap Force-wielders with their own darkness, a spell recently inflamed by your adversary."

    "I don't have time for any kriffing curses!" Aedan punched the wall, eliciting a sharp crack that would have been somewhat cathartic... if it had come from the rock.

    Cursing, he slid down to the ground. With a unique, intangible grace, Master Vohz sank down and sat cross-legged next to Aedan. "You have more time than you'd like; such is both the burden and the blessing of those who wait."

    "And what exactly am I waiting for, you ethereal fart?"

    "An opportunity to respond."

    Aedan looked at the ghostly Jedi with venom in his eyes. "Could you speak like, I don't know, a normal  being for 5 kriffing minutes?"

    "I only echo your own thoughts," Master Vohz responded without even a hint of offense. "You've been waiting for destiny to sweep you up in its arms and enact the change you long for, yes? Well, your destiny has arrived, and I its harbinger. The only thing you cannot influence is what it demands of you.