Maul: Legacy of Shadows

Chapter 22: Walking the Line

***Year 3,958 BBY***

Bao-Dur ran down the side of the cliff as fast as his legs could.  His master's body was laying at the bottom of the canyon, and he couldn't accept the fact that she was gone.  Inside his heart, the anguish of her passing was placing an immense strain on his body.  Rounding a small rock outcropping, Bao-Dur leaped over the natural structure, landing next to his master's body.

However, her body was not there.  On the ground only her clothes lay motionless, even as a large breeze from the planet attempted to displace them from their resting place.  Bao-Dur had heard of such a phenomenon; masters becoming one with the Force at the time of their deaths.  Laying next to her robes sat his former lightsaber, which he picked up and held to his chest as he fell to his knees.

"Master, I failed you," Bao-Dur whispered to himself.

Inside he blamed himself for falling to the Dark Side, allowing for their destinies to intertwine and meet at his master's eventual death.  The Dark Side was screaming for him to release it once again, but he used every ounce of willpower to push it from his head.  He knew who was to blame, as his mind was pushed away from his body, he felt the power of Miraj taking control of him.

As he stood back up, still looking down at his master's robes, a presence in the Force was manifesting near him.  Bao-Dur ignited his former lightsaber, readying himself against the threat that was approaching in the Force near him. He could sense its malevolence and wondered silently if it was Miraj once again attempting to claim his body as her own.

Finally, a swirling mass of sand and dust began to coalesce into a slim humanoid form, feminine in shape.  Bao-Dur had hoped it was his master coming back to speak with him before passing completely, but the form radiated a sinister aura as the sand finally completed its construction of her body.  Like a flawless sculpture, every emotion and expression were seamlessly shown through the earthen medium.

"Ah yes, I remember this one," the sculptured female finally spoke, her voice manifesting through the Force itself. "You're the murderer of thousands.  A most impressive feat I might add."

Bao-Dur deactivated his old lightsaber at her words, trying to comprehend what she was speaking of and who this person was.  Through the granite medium, the female stood naked and had short hair parting to her left side but looked young and confident.

"A wise decision my young apprentice," she replied in response to his lightsaber deactivating.

"Apprentice? My master is dead, and you are not her!" Bao-Dur snapped back insulted by the form's presumptuous behavior.

The female merely smiled and walked to the robes of Surik, that sat empty and motionless upon the ground. Bao-Dur tensed in anger as she knelt down beside the robes and picked them up, putting them onto her earthen body. She felt the man's anger swell at the gesture and hid a smile from him as her arms slipped into the sleeves.

"Enough!" Bao-Dur screamed, pushing the female away with the Force.

As she hit the outcropping he had previously jumped over, her body disintegrated into powder once again, causing the robes to fall to the ground empty.  Bao-Dur breathed heavily, he knew the Dark Side drove into his body slightly at the moment he forced her form back.  A rising laughter began to fill the air around him, echoing off the canyon walls all around the young man. As he spun around, trying to pinpoint the laughter's origin, he noticed a new layer of sand reforming into the female once again. Her laughing continued even as her face hadn't fully formed once again and Bao-Dur knew she must be powerful in the Force to perform such a feat.