Star Wars: Duel of the Fates

Chapter 54

Kylo Ren paused at the top of a hill that looked across at the far off monastery.

"You're a long way from home," a voice said.

Kylo spun around, his lightsaber ignited and raised to cut through his opponent. He paused, knowing the partially transparent face staring at him from the darkness: Anakin Skywalker.

"...Grandfather..." he whispered, lowering his lightsaber and deactivating it.

"Ben," he replied, surrounded by a gentle blue light.

Kylo studied him, the gentle blue light gleam surrounding Anakin emphasising that he was partially transparent.

"That isn't my name," he said.

"No," his grandfather said sadly, "You've taken a new one...much like I did."

"I...I've heard you so many times before...your guidance has been...everything to me."

Anakin smiled wistfully, "That wasn't me, Ben."

"It was, I've heard your voice for years!" he said starting to grow angry, "I would meditate and sit in the presence of your helmet for hours...sometimes days!"

"It's just a piece of metal."

Kylo stared at him in disbelief, "You're not real."

"I'm as real as anything else here."

"My grandfather was one of the greatest Sith lords to have ever lived: he helped dominate a galaxy! He understood real power."

"I did," he said drawing closer, "and I found it meaningless beside the love I had for my child."

"This is a test," he replied, "I won't have my faith shaken so easily."

Anakin shut his eyes for a moment, "I saw you make so many of the same mistakes I did, Ben."

"That isn't my name!" he roared.

"You are and always will be Ben Solo."

"That name is nothing but a dead fable and a lie. My real grandfather would understand that."

"But it's never too late..." Anakin said, "You can always change your mind...because the light is always there, no matter how small it always shines...even in the darkest places."

He held his hand out towards Kylo, his palm course and marked from years as a slave and a Jedi.

"Please," Anakin implored.

Kylo looked him in the eye and silently turned, descending the hill without a backwards glance.