Projection, you are my salvation. If not for a certain sense of detachment and numbed sensations that you provide, I would've already fled without looking back! I truly have no desire to discover who is hacking through space with broad, measured strokes.

The red hue of the lightsaber...

Truth be told, despite my attire, I'm not a significant Star Wars enthusiast. Of course, I've watched both the original trilogy and the prequels, although I didn't manage to catch the new Disney productions. Nonetheless, I lack the knowledge to understand what this exact shade of the sword signifies.

A Sith is trying to break through to me.

But which one?

Darth Maul?

Or...

Heaven forbid...

Darth Vader?!

Even Maul would be more than a match for me. I know that against any Force user from the universe conjured by Lucas' talent, I am nothing but an ant attempting to halt an avalanche.

The portal yields, and a dark figure steps onto the rocks.

Reality...

You are a heartless and merciless bitch!!!

How?!!!

How can I stop HIM?!

"What an encounter!" A voice, soft yet resonating with the strength of steel, envelops me, compelling me to believe everything its owner utters. "Do I truly see the Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn himself?" A dry chuckle echoes from beneath the hood. "More accurately, a Force ghost of the Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn..."

The figure draped in darkness advances. His strides are slow yet as inevitable as the swing of his blade.

"You are dead." These words are not mere utterances; they hold enough Force to dispel any phantom.

But I am not Qui-Gon, and this blow passes through me without inflicting any harm.

Embodied by the Break, my personal nightmare halts, noticing that his assault only stirs the spectral shrubs behind me.

"Interesting... How interesting!" The failure did not fluster him at all. On the contrary, he is delighted.

Delighted in a genuine and profound sense. As befits a true Sith. There's a reason the incantation goes:

Peace is a lie. There is only Passion.

Through Passion, I gain Strength.

I tremble slightly with nervousness. I see no way out, nor do I know any means to defeat him.

Not a single one.

Even worse, I sense that even though this Breakthrough is an anomaly, if I lose, he will emerge into the physical world. Would the duke's messengers and the Third Palm be able to stop him? I highly doubt it. What's more, he is too shrewd to get embroiled in a direct confrontation.

The finest schemer in the Galaxy Far, Far Away would choose another path. In a matter of a few decades, the entire world would unknowingly come together under a single authority.

The authority of the Emperor.

"You are afraid?!" Sheev Palpatine seems quite taken aback by this fact.

He even halts and lowers his sword. His hood shifts, and I catch a glimpse of a portion of his face - a face that isn't marred, quite ordinary, even pleasant and inviting. The face of a wise and understanding politician. In other words, my visitor hails from a time close to the third part of the prequel trilogy. Even before the battle with the council's messengers, but certainly after the first part since he appeared much younger there. This is Darth Sidious in his prime, not yet crippled, and his mind not yet fried by dark lightning.

"Word" trembled.

"Can ghosts be... afraid?" There is so much compassion in his voice, so much consideration and a genuine desire to assist and understand, that you feel compelled to cast aside the blades and disclose everything. The whole truth.

The truth that he is in the Break, and what this Break is, as far as I comprehend. The truth that I ended up here accidentally, not only in this place, but in this world in general. The truth about everything...

I became disoriented, allowing the enemy to close in, and perceived his movement too late. The red blade lunged forward, and neither the "Word" nor the "Purity" could keep pace.

A sharp pain seared my right cheek, a pain that instantly disappeared. Prana plummeted immediately by one-tenth, yet the wound healed instantaneously.

Having landed a blow, or rather a gentle thrust, Darth Sidious immediately widened the gap, leaping back five meters.

"Indeed, a ghost." With his free hand, the Chancellor of the Galaxy Far, Far Away rubbed his chin. "On the other hand, how could it be otherwise? I did kill you. Not personally, of course, but by directing my instrument. Still, I was responsible for your death. True, I lost my instrument. That was a shame, albeit a small one since the exchange was a sight to behold. The Chosen One lost the only mentor who could interfere with my plans, and fell under the half-tutored Obi-Wan's guidance, thereby becoming easy prey." He seems to delight in the sound of his own voice. "Is the loss of someone who had the audacity to consider himself my true pupil a great price for such an exchange?"

A realization hits me: if I continue to listen, everything is lost - I've already lost.

Sliding.

Sword throw.

"Purity," go!

All my assaults are parried with astounding ease. Darth Sidious doesn't even cease to rub his chin.

Don't stop. Act! Do something!

"Word" spins, loops, and flutters at such speed that it becomes a barely discernible blur. "Purity" thrusts. Again and again. I evade with Sliding, approach from various angles, try to leap over him or get him from below...

"Calm down," Sheev Palpatine gestures slightly annoyed, deflecting all assaults. "I am thinking. And by the way, your Ataru is simply horrendous - I've seen younglings who handle this form much better."

A wide, outwardly lazy sweep of the red blade - and "Word" is knocked out of my grip, plummeting into the abyss. I barely have time to summon my sword back. He knocked my weapon away so effortlessly. So effortlessly...

Don't surrender! Never surrender!

I channel all my effort into these futile attacks once again.

He doesn't even counterattack. He merely stands there, thinking. His sword is always where it needs to be. All my speed and skill amount to nothing more than a trifling inconvenience for someone who fought evenly with the Grand Master of the Jedi Order.

"When will you calm down?" The Sith explodes in genuine rage.

His strike is swift as lightning - I can't even see it. The red blade penetrates under my chin with unspeakable ease and exits through the top of my head. Darth Sidious twists his hand, and my prana dips into the red zone. Another moment and I would be dead, but the Sith pulls out the sword when I have barely five percent left.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"A ghost," mutters the dark Force user, irritated. "You're already dead. You can't be killed again. More precisely, I do not know how to kill you again, Qui-Gon Jin. Not now, but I'll figure it out, have no doubt! Maybe not now, later..."

Pull yourself together!

Don't tremble like a leaf in a storm.

You are already dead.

You did die before.

So leave with dignity! And not like the last time, slipping silently under a stool in the changing room!

"Word," get in position, "Purity," stand by!

A Force Push many times stronger than my ability hurls me onto the stones.

Get up!

"Word," "Purity," HELP!

My blades respond, glowing brightly, the sword silver, and the wakizashi pure light.

It doesn't help. A fresh wave of the Force, and I'm tumbling on the ground.

"Why did you bring me here, ghost?" Palpatine's voice is fraught with alarm. "To this peculiar place. Why? What are you trying to achieve, Qui-Gon Jin, with your pathetic antics and display of the dreadful Ataru? Has your transition into the Force driven you mad, Jedi Knight?" The Sith pauses, turning his back on me, peering into the darkness of the portal from another plane of Existence. "No, you were never stupid. An idealist, yes. A fool - no."

Darth Sidious takes a step, but this step is not towards me. Instead, he's moving toward the portal!

"I understand!" A bitter smile colors his tone. "You're stalling for time! You brought me here and you're keeping me here. So something significant is occurring in the Galaxy! No, I will not pursue you, attempting to kill you over and over again. You've misjudged, Qui-Gon. I'm not that gullible!"

The red blade descends upon the veil of the portal.

"But thank you. You have shown me a new facet of the Force. And also the truth that ghosts can feel fear! And fear leads to the Fall and the Dark Side!"

Darth Sidious' laughter is so potent that the Break ripples. Far away, in materiality, Zanh Kiem is brought down by this laughter. The Maker groans in pain as if crushed into the stone by a multi-ton burden. The sensum writhes, and next to him, standing unyielding like a heroine from legends and fairy tales, like the celebrated warriors of old, is a young girl. Stone crumbles beneath her feet, but she stands! Her eyes are ablaze with a fire I had never noticed before.

Struggling, I rise to my feet. Prana is only at two percent.

One step, one more step. There isn't even the strength to lift the blades. It's all about the movement of the legs. One step, one more step.

Meanwhile, Sheev Palpatine, in a fit of rage, slashes at the veil of the portal, which resists letting him pass. It resists, but finally yields under the fearsome strikes of the red lightsaber.

The Sith has stopped laughing. He simply mutters under his breath.

"The fall of a Force ghost... How tantalizing... So many possibilities!.. Let me out!"

Dark lightning strikes the portal, and it concedes, opening up.

Before taking the last step, Darth Sidious turns to me.

"Join me, Qui-Gon Jin. I will reveal to you the full power of the Dark Side! Become my apprentice!"

With these words, the Sith vanishes behind the fallen veil of Existence.

And I collapse onto the rocks.

I fall and laugh.

Until tears come.

It's amusing when others credit you with more intelligence than you possess!

They ascribe to you motives that you didn't even consider.

A grand schemer who outwitted himself.

What a relief.

I'm alive when I didn't dare hope for such an outcome.

But my laughter is short-lived.

Two columns descend around me. One is darker and more impenetrable than the blackest, moonless night. The other is the very embodiment of flawless light.

The first one promises power, strength, capability, opportunity.

"Choose me... And you will avenge the deaths of the Knights with ease. Eshin will fall and be erased from human memory. You will become a great Defender. The greatest. The whole world will bow before you!"

The second one isn't simple either. If I choose it, I will gain peace, knowledge, wisdom, infallibility. All I need to do is to renounce revenge and also dissuade other raigs from it.

"Embrace the Path of Light, Defender of the People. Accept your mission with honor. Revive the forgotten Ideals!"

I rise to my feet. My knees tremble.

"Seize the power!"

"Choose Knowledge."

"Become the Best."

"The Right Path awaits you."

"FORCE!!!"

"PATH."

"Shut up! Both of you!" I growl in response. "Darkness, I don't want to lose my sanity. Light, I don't want to forget! So you know what, both of you - get lost... to your Far, Far Away... Galaxy!"

And... They complied. And they vanished with a soft pop.

The Break quivered, became flat, then regained its volume. A green beam struck me.

"You are right," said a voice that was both mine and not mine. "There is no Darkness, there is no Light. There is only the Force. The Living Force."

My eyes, and at the same time not mine, peer out of the green stream. And I am changing. What Zanh Kiem referred to as the grey spark is reborn, and its color becomes emerald.

"You are one with the world, and the world will support you. There is no single Path - there is the Diversity of Life. Welcome to this ever-changing, chaotic, yet beautiful Labyrinth, youngling."

The light vanishes. The Break recedes. The Breakthrough is complete.

As a reward, I gain a new ability. "Fan of Probabilities." It's a passive ability that automatically activates only during the Breakthrough and only when reflecting Breakthroughs. But this ability is not so impressive due to the "Level of proficiency - youngling."

Regardless. The Breakthrough has ended. I'm alive. What more could one ask for?

With that thought, I'm thrust back into the physical world.

I slip, unable to maintain my balance, and fall. My eyes meet Zanh Kiem's, who is still lying on the rocks and breathing heavily.

Maya rushes to help, lifting my head and placing it onto her lap.

"Never..." My voice is muffled. "Never... repeat... this... Don't even... think... about... this."