The fire was burning out alive the last of the survivors. Screams of terror were the proof of an unmerciful end of an era. Invalid people, with cut off limbs, were begging for their suffering to stop by being allowed to die, but that monster was not going to allow it. Keeping them alive and in agony, making them feel even the smallest area of their body how it was being destroyed to the bone, meant one's satisfaction and another’s disgust.
Kylo woke up covered in sweat and sick to his stomach. The night terrors never stopped, they were there to remind him of his and Snoke’s doings in the infamous night at the Temple. The guilt was unbearable for him and Supreme Leader knew it and took advantage of it. There was no better way than for his apprentice to constantly have those nightmares which would slowly strip him off of empathy for his own victims and turn him into a merciless puppet. There was too much of Skywalker in him but without a properly father figure in his life, Snoke would be the one to replace that hole in the boy's heart. Worse was the fact that Kylo had no idea about it, he was too naive to see through his new Master's deception and lies but he never offered him his complete trust either.
“You were like a brother for me, Ben. Why? Just Why?” It was Daenov, his only friend during training at the Jedi Temple and the only one who actually tried to understand his hopes and dreams, even if he didn’t fully succeed. “This is not how you will achieve your goals! This is how you will kill them and with them, my best friend as well! Please, stop this while you can...” Daenov had his eyes filled with tears and a broken heart caused by betrayal.
“You don’t understand, do you? If I don’t do this, he will go after my family! Better to know them that they hate me but are alive!” Ben was desperate. “I know you will never join me, but please, run away, save yourself. If I don’t kill you, he will and he will torture you prior to that like he did with the others.” Daenov looked at his friend and saw the Light in his eyes as well as the emotional torture he was made to endure.
“No.” He said after a long silence. “My loyalty stays with your uncle.” He then fell on his knees in front of Ben. “I want you to be the one to take my life away. You were right, I can never join you because it stands against the code I follow. For me there is no chaos, there is harmony, and I made peace with my death. But you are not lost yet. Follow your heart and be the one to put an end to the era of war that there is to come. Your enemies are neither Light or Dark, but those that abuse the Force for personal gains.”
Ben couldn’t believe his eyes. They always had each other's back, he was the only one he confessed to his wrong doings and he wasn’t judged for it. His emotions were overwhelming him. Daenov felt it, grabbed him by his wrist and began meditating, transmitting the flow of the Force through Ben. It had a calming effect on him, the Light was there to protect and guide his way without asking anything back, unlike the Dark that was shredding his soul apart if he didn’t give in to the urge of killing. And then he understood that both had each other’s back for one last time. Daenov and Ben looked at each other, pained and with tearful eyes as a form of farewell while the swift movements of Ben’s other hand took away his dear friend's life by the strike of the lightsaber through his chest. Daenov’s lifeless hand loosened his grip and fell on the ground along his body as the magic of the Force ended, taking away the state of serenity that Ben had. Instead, a violent realisation of the gravity of his doings and all the previous feelings of torment and guilt crashed down over his mind, making him scream and cry like never before. His grief was so unbearable that even the nature around him reacted to his emotions, becoming as lifeless as the body laying at his feet. Ben fell on his knees and embraced the dead body of his friend that was mercilessly killed by a monster. His heart was breaking apart and was losing his breath over the tears that were shed straight from his soul. Daenov’s body faded away in the end, meaning that his training was complete and he was a true Jedi at the moment of his death. Ben did not want to carry on with his life anymore, he wanted to join his friend, but the truth was that they would never meet anymore. He was lost far too much in the Dark side to deserve redemption from the Force or so he thought. Ben’s mood was slowly changing, his sorrow slowly replaced with a feeling he never experienced before, that of thirst for revenge. His friend did not die in vain and he would avenge his death even if it meant to kill anyone, including his former Master. Daenov sacrificed himself for Ben with his loyalties to Luke without knowing that the same man tried to kill his own nephew, that it was the blindness and arrogance of his own uncle at fault for unleashing the dawn of the Jedi. And he was not going to forgive it.
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Ben got up and ran back to the Temple that was already burning to its core. Snoke was inside, torturing the poor souls of the remaining victims that were still alive. Their limbs were cut off and they were begging for their suffering to stop by being allowed to die, but that monster was not going to allow it. Keeping them alive and in agony, making them feel even the smallest area of their body how it was being destroyed to the bone, meant one's satisfaction and another’s disgust. Ben no more had any compassion for the victims, they were all followers of his uncle, they were all dying for him and he wasn’t even there to watch them suffer. He was hiding like a fool that he is, a coward, an abomination of the Jedi Order and his nephew was there to make sure that his reign would come to an end.
“Please... kill me...” A disfigured girl begged him for mercy and he offered it by decapitating her. “With pleasure.”
“No!!! What are you doing???” Another apprentice yelled while he was crawling on the floor in a far corner to avoid the flames. He wasn’t spared either by the fury of his former colleague.
“Run!! Everybody run!!” This was one hell of a coward and he was never worthy of the Force. From the distance, Ben used for the first time his newly learned ability, the Force choke, taught by the deceased Revan. The flow of the power of the Dark gave him a feeling of electricity running through his veins. It was like a drug, he wanted to feel it more, it was so satisfying and addictive and he didn’t even care that he was suffocating the poor boy. No, it was impossible to stop, this power was irresistible and he didn’t fight it back. Once his victim gave out his last breath, that sensation disappeared and left instead a void in him, one that would be filled again with another killing.
“AAAAHHH NOOOO PLEASE, NOT ANYMORE!!!” This was one of Snoke's victims. Ben did not recognize her, she was already burned beyond death point but his Master kept her alive. He didn’t want to see it anymore, he was disgusted so he chose to snap her neck instead. She deserved a quick death after a prolonged torture.
“We beg you, spare us and we will join you.” It was a group of five apprentices of age close to his, unharmed yet by Snoke. They kept their heads down, not daring to look up in Ben's fiery eyes. “Look at these cowards, betraying the teachings they stood for and joining the winning side just so they can live. They don’t deserve their life another minute more!” he thought, but Snoke stopped him right before he was ready to send them to the path of an eternal sleep.
“Don’t. We need people like them. Their loyalty may be questionable, but right now, they can be powerful allies for you. For us.”
It was the same memory that came back in his dreams over and over again. Every time it hurt him greater than the last time because instead of giving up on his humanity, he was even more aware of it. He was forced to be the leader of five traitors that chose to save themselves instead of suffering an honourable death and in search for a man who is as good as dead for the Jedi concept. Pathetic.