“So… you’re the master that this world speaks of.”
Vergere sat in the lotus position, back to Dan’s approach. The bird-like woman had no weapons in hand, but a lightsaber graced her hip. Dan was back in his standard, Venomised form, the Darksaber hidden under his skin.
“I suppose so,” Dan shrugged. “Are you here for the council, or your other masters?” He walked around the peaceful alien and took a seat across from her.
“I have no master, beyond the will of the force,” Vergere smiled as she opened her eyes. “And my master is very confused about you.” She tapped her knees and leaned forward to sniff the air between them. “You don’t fit into the plans I’ve been shown, the future has become unreadable. I suspect you are the cause!”
“You really are one of the more attuned to the force, huh?” Dan laughed and returned the Sith’s smile. “Master Yoda didn’t seem to put it together.”
“The Grandmaster stands too close to the light,” Vergere’s beak clacked. “He doesn’t understand the truth, so the force hides it from him.” A mild pressure formed at the base of Dan’s skull as the woman continued. “Just as something hides your mind from me…”
“Everyone needs privacy,” Dan smirked as he tapped his head. “You don’t need to be ‘force sensitive’ to use the power of the world.”
Dan’s constant lessons hadn’t been for nothing. His mind was wrapped in a labyrinth. A mental defence against magical influence. Dark and endless, its visualisation had become second nature. The first ‘spell’ he’d mastered, his wall against the thoughts of others.
“Indeed,” Vergere raised an eyebrow, a shadow in her gaze. “What is your purpose in this world, Challenger?” A deep orange blossomed in the bird-woman’s eyes as the pressure on his mind increased. “What path would you force the galaxy down?”
“I just want to live free,” Dan shrugged as he searched his motivations. “I’ll protect my family, give them the best life I can.” Dan’s eyes hardened as he met the gaze of the calculated Sith. “Beyond that, I’ll try to give others that same life, maybe punish the monsters hidden in the dark forest of this universe.”
“So you plan to play the hero?” Vergere’s demeanour changed. Red-orange eyes framed by a face lost in shadow. “What makes you think you’re prepared for what’s coming? The force trembles with your words… fear or joy I cannot say.”
The Sith stood, lightsaber held, inactive, in her hand. She cast aside her Jedi robe, gaunt frame exposed to the jungle air. Dan mirrored her, the Darksaber pulled to hand by Venom’s effort.
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“I may not be ready for everything, the wider universe holds countless mysteries,” Dan thumbed his blade to life, a black scar on the backdrop of sky. “But I know with certainty, in thirty years nothing in this galaxy will be able to stop me.”
Midnight wings grew from his back, narrowed into long spears. Venom wrapped his face and a maw of teeth replaced his mouth. Even Abeloth, with all her terrible power, would have to flee from him or die. All he had to do was lay back in the sun and wait.
“That is then, this is now,” Vergere ignited a green blade and raised it in a guard. “You have chosen to act in this world before this supposed power has appeared. As you are now, I know many who could kill you without thought.”
“I think many is an overestimate,” Dan laughed as he spun his blade and circled to the side. “Some, but less than four of them are even active in the galaxy. Yoda and Darth Plagueis certainly, maybe Darth Sidious… and probably Mace Windu.”
“You know names that you shouldn’t,” Verge laughed. “Such knowledge is dangerous!”
The Sith darted forward, a swift thrust that Dan smashed aside. She rolled with her weapon, rather than lose it, a graceful arc that put her metres away. She glanced at her hand as it trembled on her lightsaber’s grip.
“Such a powerful body,” Vergere cackled as she raised her hand toward Dan. “But brute force cannot solve every problem, maybe pain will help teach you!”
A cascade of luminous, blue lightning crackled through the air, locked onto Dan’s location. His body had already twisted, under the command of Venom’s powerful instincts. His profile narrowed behind the Darksaber as it intercepted the rush of power.
“Pain…” Dan snarled, eyes bright. “If I remember, you preach that pain is the greatest source of a Sith’s power.”
A thin line of energy lanced from his eyes toward the woman, her blade a step ahead as it deflected his heat vision. They stood, locked in an exchange of energy, until Vergere abandoned her attack and leapt to the side.
“Pain has many uses,” the Sith chuckled as she drifted around Dan. A bird of prey, uncertain it could lift the lamb. “Power is only a means to an end. The duty of a sith is to serve the united force, keep the balance so that life may go on.”
“Please,” Dan laughed, muscles tensed for a charge. “You scraped your principles from the shrine in the dark, huddled around a black tower below the Jedi temple.”
Vergere missed a beat as he mentioned the hidden shrine and Dan took his chance. The world slowed around him as he struggled against the air. One foot after the other pressed him closer to the Sith. The Darksaber slammed her green blade aside, launched from her grip into the forest.
“Even now, I’m better prepared than you think,” Dan held the tip of his blade under her chin. “The arrogance of force users will be your downfall, it always is. Power has many forms… what would Darth Plagueis do, if I pushed his entire world into the sun?” The Darksaber singed Vergere’s skin. “What good is the force to him then?”
“My death will change nothing,” Vergere sighed as she closed her eyes. “It may even make things worse in the long run…”
The darksaber vanished, stowed away as Dan laughed. He snatched the sith’s weapon from the ground with a strand of silk and inspected its design.
“I’m not going to kill you, that would be a terrible waste.” Dan switched the sabre on and off before he gave it to Venom for storage. “You can either fight me, and Ultron will take you to prison,” Dan pointed to the drone filled sky. “Or, you can come meet my Wizard.”
“Your Wizard?” Vergere smiled. “That is an archaic title indeed.”
“He has a thirst for knowledge that the Jedi can’t fill,” Dan laughed. “I want him to better understand the abilities of the Sith.”
“You would trust me, even with what you seem to know of my past?” The Sith tilted her head.
Dan shook his head as he walked toward the jungle and his ship. He trusted no one but May. Everyone else was unknown, even with his knowledge about the galaxy and its future.
“I’ll trust you to be you, and Ultron and Merlyn can handle you well enough if you step out of line.” Dan motioned for her to follow. “Now let’s go, I have a schedule to keep!”