Dawn of a new Force

Chapter 42 - Phoenix.

He followed the speeder for a long time, and at the end of the day he saw it enter an imposing mountain. They were very far from Niima, very far from their shuttle. And they were in unknown territory.

Ben stopped the quad-jumper a little before and continued on foot. The twilight diffused a red, oppressive light. He grabbed his lightsaber and entered the foot of the mountain, in a natural crack where he had seen the speeder enter.

A few meters further, he saw that he was there. The speeder was stationed in a small natural circus, open at the top. The light filtered through this opening, diffusing its dim light and tinting the ocher rock glowing reflections. He cautiously circled the speeder, and found that it was empty. Then he noticed a door in the rock and approached it.

It opened almost noiselessly, and he continued his exploration in a long corridor of rock, on the ground covered with sand. He felt her presence, but something was hiding her signature ... He searched, but did not find. It seemed that someone was keeping him away, mentally, from Rey. Another door was opposite him, he opened it in the same way and immediately arrived in a large room, carved in the rock, circular. A piece of the same size as the throne on the Supremacy. The floor was stone, like paved. He came in and walked slowly towards his center. His boots were ringing on the flagstones, and he immediately saw a man next to Rey at the back.

Firming his grip around his still-inactive lightsaber, he continued to advance, now uncovered, toward them. He noticed as he approached that Rey was motionless by force, as he knew how to do it too. She could not speak, but he was reading fear in her eyes.

He recognized the individual, and understood why he had not been able to read Rey's signature better before.

- Brehan, what are you doing here? And why do you keep this woman prisoner?

- Kylo ... Or should I call you by your old name, the one you once denied? I am here for you, I am sent by our Supreme Leader. He had a message to give you ...

Without warning, he punched Rey's belly, who screamed in pain without any sound coming out of her mouth. Ben clenched his teeth and his eyes became angry. Nobody will ever raise their hand on Rey.

- Never do that again. Never.

Brehan, without letting go of Force's grip on Rey, started walking around Ben.

- So, you betrayed everything in which you believed. You are infatuated with a traitor, a filthy plunderer of wrecks ... You have killed your master, and finally you have made a deal with these scum of the republic. You do not deserve your Ren name anymore.

- It's me who made you, it's me who taught you everything. I can get everything back to you with a snap, Ben provoked.

- And you were a good master. But now you are only a shadow of yourself. Observe, never before would you have come to save such an insignificant person as this ... girl. She has consumed your mind, she has perverted you, you have become weak.

Ben looked at Rey. Brehan was right ... or did not he? Since Rey had appeared in his life he had known happiness ... and also decay. He lowered his eyes. To see Brehan, who had been his best friend, to hear him tell him these truths, troubled him. He was in front of a choice, but the shadow of doubt passed as quickly as it had arrived. He looked up at the man.

- Take off that mask ... he growled.

- No, Kylo. I remain true to my beliefs and values, and you know the code of our order. I took the lead, since you gave up your duties.

- Vainglorious! Vanity has always been your inclination ... Brehan you're better than that. Do you really want to respond to this Supreme Leader, a man with no other power than his politics? We had an ideal, to bring order to this galaxy. Do you think Hux will do it? Do you think that all his corruption will save us? I beg you, think. My friends, he said, addressing those who were in the shadows, do not let him divide us. Let's unite to create a new order.