The Chosen One: A Reylo Story

Chapter 8: Darkstaff

Streams of rain pour down the front of Kylo Ren's mask.

The earth below his boots is wet but firm. His thick black robes hang heavy, soaked through.

A crack of lightening above briefly illuminates the scene before him. The rocky, uneven terrain stretching out in front of a massive tree towering above, the trunk as wide as a TIE fighter, black, oily and twisted. It's moving. Or at least it seems to, thick roots squirming like snakes on the ground, slithering up into the tree, trunk throbbing with dark energy.

All six of his knights are kneeling in a wide circle around him on the perimeter of the tree, heads bowed and chanting in an ancient language. The Old Tongue. Sith.

Chirikyât

Taka zeech ma toka duuwaj

Chirikyât

Hadzuska koshûjontû Vexok savaka.

The words seem to come from not many voices but one. One omnipresent voice, filling the air around him.

As they speak the words again and again, Kylo Ren feels the Dark Side of the Force surging through him with an intensity he's never felt before. He's soaked through with rain and yet he feels on fire. He should be in agony, flesh boiling with white hot pain, but he's not. He's strong and steady with a calm like the eye of a storm inside him.

He's ready for this.

In some ways, he's been preparing for this moment his whole life. From first the day Snoke stole into his mind and planted a seed of darkness. The first of many.

The Jedi talk about the Dark Side as though it were a cop out, the quick and easy path as opposed to their labored but more rewarding one. Fools. They speak about a power they've never tried to wield, a power they don't understand.

The Dark Side is easy enough to draw from, but once it enters you... it is corrosive. That part is unavoidable. But what can be controlled is how rapidly the corrosion spreads, how deeply it infects. And the power one can harvest from the source of the corrosion—the greed, anger, hatred, aggression. And fear. For those who can channel the intensity of these emotions without allowing themselves to be crippled by them, there awaits power that is almost inconceivable.

Most don't make it that far. The darkness consumes them, kills them.

But Kylo Ren has been channeling the darkness for many years now and he's not dead yet. Not even close. Just the opposite. His Life Force is strong. His body is strong. His mind more unbreakable than ever.

He is still corroded... in his spirit. But his bloodline grants him an incredible degree of endurance when it comes to channeling the Force in either aspect, darkness and light.

And he will need all of it today. The advantage of his bloodline... his years of training under Snoke... because today he will do something precious few Sith have been able to do.

Today, he will call the Darkstaff to him.

He is not so stupid as to not be afraid. Fear is a necessary ally in the task that lies ahead. If the past is any teacher... the moment one stops fearing the Darkstaff is the moment one loses control of it.

The Darkstaff is best understood as a living thing. A personality. It has a will. Like the Force, it is an intelligence, except instead of seeking balance it seeks destruction. It can communicate with sentient beings in their minds, seducing them, drawing them into its web of deceit. It is the ultimate deceiver. It will project thoughts into the mind of its host, thoughts to make them believe what it needs them to believe in order to achieve its ends.