Encroaching Darkness

One reality to the next

  "What do you want?" The shadow only moved across the mirror and faded out of existence. Turning around he faces the misty form of Darth Maul. "Why do you hesitate?" Turning again the figure reappears behind him in the mirror. "All you have to do is try." Wiping the condensation from the mirror he continues to shave off his beard. "What would be the harm?"

  "Get out of my head goddamn it! I killed you! You shouldn't bother me anymore! Why haven't you gone!?" Smashing the mirror and sink with the force and throwing the now-demolished sink across the bathroom, he screams out in a rage at the fact that even after death, Maul still somehow plagues him.

  A light knocking on the door caught his attention. "Ez, you okay in there? Is it the shadows again?" The gentle voice of Sabine asked through the door. "No, I'm not alright." He mutters out before falling to his knees. Opening the door herself Sabine walks into the now-demolished bathroom. Kneeling down next to Ezra she holds him as he lets it out. "Ez, what happened? What upset you, you've been happier than ever these last few months. Is it Vader? Is he coming back?"

  Pulling away from the hug with Sabine but not letting her go he looks her in the eyes. "No bean. It's not Vader. It's Maul actually. He's been taunting me the last few days. I figure it would stop after a few days like all the other times but it didn't. He spoke to me, Sabine. You know how I told you about that vision I had after I beat Vader? He told me to try and do what it said to do."

  "Weren't we going to try and do it anyway? So what if Maul wants it to. That doesn't matter anymore, the dead have no effect over the living. If we think it's the best choice, that's because for us it is." She squeezed his arms to help reassure him. "Ez, the galaxy needs Jedi. Not the Jedi of old, they proved how ineffective they were long ago. The galaxy needs the kinds of Jedi you want to create. You can't really do that without an academy and a new order. It's probably just Maul trying to get you to not go through with it. So ignore it and maybe talk it over with Kanan."

  Kanan sat onboard the Ghost. "So love, do you know why Ezra asked us to join him and Sabine on this trip. I don't really mind but it just seems kinda weird." Kanan understood why she had many questions. The last time they were called to krownest they got handed a baby Aiden and then the duo ran off for two weeks. "Ezra has asked for my help with a project he's decided to embark on. It was a proposal I couldn't pass upon it. He wants to rebuild the order, not exactly as it was, but we both agree that's a good thing. So that's the reason we've come back. Ezra told me he found two other force users and a few younglings to take in. So that's what we'll be doing first, I guess."

  The two had just arrived at the open field that they've been told to wait at. "Master, is there a reason we had to be a whole week early?" With a heavy sigh, he looks the young girl he calls his padawan in the eye. "Because Jaden, if we are early we cannot possibly be late. And it lets us have some time for meditation." Hearing her sigh out the word mediation in exasperation he knows he won't be making much progress in improving her meditation technique.

  "Or maybe we could practice lightsaber forms." The jumping and the squealing was the outcome he was expecting from the fifteen-year-old girl. 'She might not like meditation but she's a natural with the lightsaber. Well, that's not surprising, she did make one on her own before I ever found her.' "You're the best Master Katarn!" He was happy she still got excited when they trained. 'I'm glad she got over what happened to Rosh.' Then a feeling came over him, one he hadn't felt in years. 'This feeling, It can't be, can it? If it is I've got to help.' Looking about the forest, he sees nothing and the feeling left him. Believing the force was only playing tricks on him he turns and faces his padawan to properly start the lesson.

  Standing in front of the ruins she felt they were finally coming back. "Not long now, a few days or so at most." Sitting down to meditate to bide her time, Ashoka inhaled deeply through her nose and slowly let it out, allowing the force to flow threw her.

  "Insufferable wretches, the senate thinks to defy me, their Emporer." Palatine grumbles to himself as he makes his way back to his throne room onboard the death star. "Hand, come to me." Motioning for a young red-headed woman to step forward. He looks her over. "You seem to be ready, my hand. Are you ready to serve the empire, to kill for the empire?" The woman now kneeling before the emperor only nodded in response. "Good. Now go. You'll be accompanying a few inquisitors in killing a few troublesome Jedi that Lord Vader doesn't have the time for. Now go, my hand."

  The hand marched out of the throne room, making way for the hangar bay. Along the way, she was joined by grand inquisitor Jerec. An older man who survived the Jedi purge. "Hand. Has the emperor informed you of our mission?" Taking a deep breath as to not yell at the older man for his condescending tone she answered. "Yes, grand inquisitor."

  A young man with only his right arm stood at the edge of the forest. Silently watching master and apprentice. "Soon, soon." Turning around he heads back to his ship to wait in comfort.