Chapter 23: Conquer the darkness within

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(Normal pov)

A Mandalorian gauntlet fighter jumped out of hyperspace and approached a planet that was powerful with the Dark Side of the Force, in fact, this planet was the birthplace of the Sith Order itself.

Korriban.

Within the gauntlet fighter, Horus and Maul were taking the Skywalker twins to this planet so they could conquer their inner darkness so that it couldn't be used against them when they meet either Vader or Sidious. Turning to the red skinned tattooed Zabrak, Horus spoke. "Has Sidious ever taken you here when you were a Sith?" Pursing his lips, Maul shook his head. "No. Only Malachor, it was there at the sight of an ancient Sith temple, laid frozen corpses of both Jedi and Sith. Sidious then forced me to inhale the ash of the fallen Sith Lords and I could hear their dying screams, feel every lightsaber cut inflicted upon them and could see how the Jedi murdered every Sith during those times." Sighing heavily, Maul turned to Horus and continued. "But that is the past. Right now? We must ensure the Skywalker twins conquer the darkness within them."

Nodding in agreement at Maul's words, Horus then steered the gauntlet fighter down to the ancient planet, approaching the atmosphere, Horus could feel the power of the Dark Side here and how it called to him; tempting him with unimaginable power, secrets of immortality and other alluring promises of power, but he shook off the Dark Side luring him and proceeded to land the gauntlet fighter outside an ancient Sith temple. Lowering the ramp of the fighter, Horus, Maul, Luke and Leia were draped in robes and raised their hoods over their heads to shield them from the raging sandstorm.

"I feel so... cold." Leia said as she clutched herself closely, Luke turned to his sister and shivered himself. "So am I. I feel... hatred, anger, lust for blood and power." Maul turned to the Skywalker twins and clarified. "It is the spirits of the ancient Sith Lords. Thousands of years ago, the Sith numbered in the thousands, many of them delved in different variations— Inquisitors, Warriors, Sorcerers, Alchemists and even Infiltrators that managed to slip into the Republic and Jedi Order itself. Darth Sidious was the latter; able to remain undetected by the Jedi Order." Turning back to the Sith temple before them, Maul continued. "What we face in the temple is unknown, but whatever it is we face? The Dark Side will prey upon our darkest fears and attempt to corrupt us. Do not give into your fear."

Horus lead the way with Maul walking besides him and the twins walked behind the two masters of the Force, approaching the steps of the temple, Horus breathed out. "Some of the galaxy's most powerful Sith Lords originated from this planet— Marka Ragnos, Naga Sadow, Ludo Kressh, Darth Andeddu and many more." Humming in agreement, Maul turned to Horus seethed out. "The spirits of the fallen Sith will come to us and attempt to rob us of our mortal bodies and use them as their own vessels. We must enter with extreme caution."

"Agreed." Horus said to the Zabrak, he then turned to Luke and Leia and spoke to them both. "The spirits of the ancient Sith Lords will attempt to lure you with the promise of great power, but of course it'll be a ruse; an attempt to rob you of your mortal bodies so that they could claim them for themselves and return to our galaxy." Placing a hand on each twins shoulders, Horus smiled at them and encouraged them. "I can sense the close bond you two share. Watch each others backs. Remember your training and trust in the Force."

That being said, the group entered the ancient Sith temple and the walls illuminated with the ancient Sith tongue, and blood red light shone off the ancient language. Removing their hoods, the four Force users then entered an inner chamber that held decayed corpses splayed out on the floor, against the wall and even their guts and intestines were hanging from the statues, causing the group to steel their stomachs and nerves at the gruesome display.

"They are simply scarecrows. Do not give into fear." Maul said, the Skywalker twins nodded at the Zabrak's words and stepped forward until they stood in the center of the chamber, Luke turned back and looked to Horus and Maul before asking them. "Will you not come with us?" Horus shook his head at Luke and explained. "This is a path only you and Leia must take. If I am to fall? You and Leia stand as the galaxy's last hope in ending the Sith and their madness. But first, you must conquer the darkness within you so that the Sith do you prey upon it and have an opportunity to turn you to the Dark Side." Horus then offered the dirty blond Skywalker a light smile and nod. "Trust in the Force. It will guide both you and your sister." Bowing his head in understanding and thanks, Luke and Leia delved deeper within the Sith temple while Horus and Maul stood at the entrance and awaited the Skywalker twins to return.

As Luke and Leia continued striding down the hallways of the ancient Sith temple, they activated their lightsabers to give them much needed light, the twins felt a cool whisper that reached their ears and it sent shivers down both their spines. The whispers spewed out hateful and vile words to the twins, controlling their fear however, the Skywalker's held strong and pressed forward.

"There is no life after death, only nothingness."

"You are going to die, Jedi dogs!"

"We are the Sith. And we will devour you!"

Hissing and snarls reached Luke and Leia's ears, looking ahead of them, were yellow eyes glowing within the darkness, pulling out an emergency flare out of a pouch clipped to his belt, Luke lit it up and hurled the flare towards the creatures in the shadows, when the chamber illuminated blood red, the creatures were revealed to be Massassi warriors. The Sith subspecies snarled and growled at the sight of the two Jedi intruders and bore their weaponry at the Skywalker twins.

"Lets stick to together, we can do this Leia." Luke said, turning to her brother, Leia nodded and the two got into battle stances and the Massassi were about to pounce, one of the subspecies Sith hurled a spear, causing both Luke and Leia to sidestep the incoming projectile and they then leaped into the center of the chamber, causing the Massassi to scatter and then circled the two Skywalker's like a predator does with its prey. Luke used the Force to bring down a nearby statue down on the nearest Massassi, successfully crushing some to death while others scattered, one of these ancient warriors pounced at Leia, but she used the Force to freeze the creature in its path, then proceeded to cut that Massassi down with her azure bladed lightsaber.

A bola then came out of nowhere and wrapped itself around Luke's torso, dropping him and causing his lightsaber to slip from grasp and deactivate. Handfuls of Massassi advanced on Luke, but Leia stood in the creatures way and prevented them from harming her brother. Quickly slicing the bola wrapped around her brother, Leia grabbed Luke by his shoulder and quickly helped him up and then pushed him away from an incoming spear that was hurled their way. Before any of the Massassi could press their attack, blue fire surrounded the twins and the Sith subspecies halted and then they all bowed down at an unseen figure.

"Such potential in the both of you."

Looking towards the source of that voice, both Luke and Leia laid eyes a Force spirit that wore intimidating armor and the presence of this spirit was hateful, cold and evil. The spirit gazed at Luke and Leia with... lust almost and then let out a dark chuckle, causing the Skywalker twins to stand firm and to steel their nerves.

"It has been centuries since beings of such power have come to this temple. Why have you come?"

Looking at each other, Leia looked up at the spirit and answered. "We've come to conquer the darkness within ourselves." The ancient Sith spirit let out a cold and amusing laugh, Luke however spoke up. "We don't fear you." Ceasing its laughter, the Sith spirit looked into Luke's eyes and replied back.

"We shall see."

The ring of fire surrounding the twins rose and caused both twins to shield their eyes from the blinding light, all of the sudden, they could hear horrifying, blood curdling and ghastly screams around them. Looking towards the source, the Skywalker twins gazed at the fire and saw it projecting images of thousands of Sith being cut down by Jedi blades and to what lengths the Sith would go to cheat death and preserve their lives.

Then they laid eyes on something that truly frightened them.

It was... them. Well, more accurately, dark versions of themselves that stood beside Darth Sidious himself and gazing down at a near dead and critically wounded Darth Vader, only... Vader's mask was cracked opened and his eyes weren't hateful and burning with hatred. Instead, the half man half machine Sith Lords eyes were now... azure. The twins understood what they were seeing, that wasn't Darth Vader, that was Anakin Skywalker.

The flames around them then showed Sidious letting out a series of sadistic and maniacal laughter as he began to bombard their father with Force lightning and the darker versions of themselves did absolutely nothing to intervene, rather... they seemed to take great pleasure at the sight of their father suffering the Emperor's wrath.

"N-No... this can't be true." Leia shuddered out, shaking his head in disbelief, Luke turned to his sister and then looked towards the now unseen Sith spirit. "We will not allow you instal fear into our hearts! This is an illusion!" The flames died out and the Sith spirit once more revealed himself to the Skywalker twins and snarled out.

"What you saw was the truth!! You will both turned to the Dark Side of the Force and carry on the Sith Order and lead it into a glorious new future! The likes of which our universe has never seen before!!"

"NO! We would rather die than give into the Dark Side!" Leia said firmly, the Sith spirit scoffed at the female Skywalker and extended his arms out.

"You refuse to believe the truth? So be it. Then let us see if they can convince you."

"Who will convince us?" Luke demanded.

"We will."

Turning back towards the Massassi, Luke and Leia saw the Sith subspecies clear a path as two hooded figures approached the Skywalker twins, once the figures removed their cloaks, Luke and Leia were shocked to lay eyes on... themselves. However, once these darker versions of themselves got closer, the twins could see that these figures looked more dead than living, their skin looked... thousands of years old and was a dark grey but their eyes burned like a thousand sons and the two dark figures smirked at the twins. "Welcome to your future." Luke however looked towards the Sith spirit and spat out. "What black arts is this?!" The spirit chuckled darkly and shrugged.

"The moment I sensed your presence in the temple, I was able to revive two dead corpses within the temple and just by looking at you? My undead acolytes shape shifted into darker versions of what you can become. You two become the Sith Lords who actually conquered death and will live on for ten millennia! My acolytes merely shifted into what you will become many years from now."

Luke and Leia turned to the two darker versions of themselves and saw them activate blood red lightsabers and advance on them, sticking close together, Luke and Leia both got into fighting stances as the their two dark mirrors pounced. The darker Luke slammed his crimson blade down on Luke's green blade, they engaged in a three second blade lock before Luke broke it and tried cutting his supposed future self in half, but the creature blocked Luke's attack and unleashed a fatal torrent of Force lightning, Luke unfortunately tanked a direct hit from the lightning and flew across the chamber and crashed into a nearby pillar and let out an agonizing cry.

Slowly lifting his head, Luke could see his sister fighting desperately against her supposed darker self, Leia summersaulted backwards just as her attack attempted removing her upper body, pressing her attack, Leia's attack unleashed Force lightning that successfully connected to Leia's body and the female twin let out an agonizing scream that caused Luke to quickly get back to his feet and unleashed a powerful Force push to his sisters attacker. The darker version of his sister was pushed back so violently that when the darker version of Leia made contact with the wall? Her back snapped and she fell to the ground, lifeless and then the flesh off the undead corpse melted off and turned back into dust.

"You cannot escape your destiny you fool! You and your sister are the future of the Sith and will rule this galaxy longer than any Sith Lord has ever dreamed of!" The undead corpse wearing Luke's future skin snarled out, however, Luke rose to his feet and once more activated his lightsaber and shook his head. "No. We are Jedi..." He said, referring to himself and Leia before booming out firmly. "...like our father before us." The undead corpse let out an animalistic and bloodthirsty cry as he charged Luke.

Luke met the undead corpse and unleashed a flurry of strikes as he ripped out a battle axe from one of the Massassi warriors and pressed his attack, however the creature wearing Luke's skin swatted every attack, as if it were child's play, he then kneed Luke in the gut and then proceeded to push the descendant of Anakin into a pillar, once falling back to the ground, the impact caused the young Jedi to fall to his head hard; going into unconsciousness, and before the creature can deliver a killing bow, Leia blocked the strike with her azure lightsaber and kicked the foul creatures chest; causing it to somersault backwards and get back into a battle stance and snarled out. "You will serve the Dark Side, sooner or later."

Leia summoned her brothers lightsaber with the Force; twirled them both in her hands and replied. "Never." She then charged toward the creature that wore her brothers face and the two exchanged heavy and powerful blows, Leia attempted vertical and horizontal slashes, yet the creature evaded them all, it then knocked away Luke's lightsaber out of her hand and then proceeded to land a heavy shot to the female twins gut and sliced her left arm with the blood red blade of the lightsaber it wielded. Leia backed off and twirled around her lightsaber still and returned to his fighting stance.

The creature then launches heavy attacks that staggered Leia and she couldn't keep up the defense any longer.

Leia and the creature both began to quickly sidestep around each other, looking for a good opening to get an attack on the other. The undead creature knew that Leia's impressive defense would be a problem, but it wouldn't be a challenge to break her at all. He then sprinted towards the female Skywalker, but Leia unexpectedly summoned one of the Massassi's projectiles and threw a bola that wrapped around the creatures legs, causing him to fall on the ground. Leia tried to capitalize on her surprise attack by attacking with her saber, but the undead monster defended himself with blood red lightsaber in time, catching the female Jedi's own blade.

He then flung Leia backwards off of him, and shook off the bolas from his legs. The creature started to swing his lightsaber at Leia's head, and the Jedi was barely dodging the attacks. It continued to chase Leia around the chamber, not giving her another chance to attack at all. The Massassi were giving the two Force users much needed space to battle and not intervening in the affairs taking place.

The creature was beginning to close in on Leia and corner her. Leia retrieved Luke's lightsaber with the Force, and the creature charged into her, effectively knocking her brothers lightsaber out of her hand and causing it to fling across the chamber once more. Leia growled as she wielded her azure blade as best as she could, trying to use all the strength she could to stager her foe. Leia managed to keep up with the undead creatures movement, however, the creature then managed to tackle Leia, knocking her to the ground and holding her down. The female Skywalker's blade had fallen a little bit nearby, but the undead monsters knees were pinning Leia's arms to the ground. It then made a shallow cut on the Leia's throat with his crimson lightsaber, and she yelled in pain, even though the cut was shallow, it still stung and burned.

"Everything you done? All that you have accomplished and everything that you've achieved? It will all end here in this temple. If you and your brother will not accept your fate as Sith Lords? Then I will continue to play as your brother and resurrect a corpse to wear your skin and then we shall consume the ancient Sith power that rests within this temple and destroy the Sith of your time and rule the galaxy. While stealing your identities and powers." Krogan chuckled darkly.

"AAAHHHH!" After hearing this, Leia found energy she never would have guessed she had. She used all the strength he had to throw the creature off of her, knocking her opponent to the ground. Leia then quickly retrieved her lightsaber, then used the Force to lift up burning sand that was left over from the fire that encircled her and Luke and then pushed it at the creatures hood and causing it to catch on fire. The creature shouted in pain as flames burned at his face and shoulders, and he desperately tried to remove the hood from his body. Leia ran to where Luke was just now slowly beginning to recover. "Mmmm, L-Leia?" Luke murmured out, but she stood besides her brother and shielded him from the creature that was still desperately trying to rip its hood off.

The creature had just removed its cloak and was charging at Leia with his lightsaber raised high above his head, enraged. Leia then managed to surround the creature in a sphere of Korriban's crimson sands and then caused the sand to enter the creatures every orifice and soon enough? Sand burst out of the creatures eyes, ears, nostrils and mouth. Luke, getting back on his feet, summoned his Light Saber with the Force and activated it, he then proceeded to throw his saber at the creature, cutting it clean in half and it fell to the chamber ground, lifeless. Leia then embraced her brother and whispered words of relief into his ear, Luke returned his sisters embrace and then saw the Sith spirit return and it looked enraged as it then pointed a finger at the twins and snarled out.

"You think this ordeal is over? NO!! The undead corpses wearing your skin are what you become!! You cannot escape your destiny!!"

Luke, still holding his sister looked into the spirits eyes and spoke calmly. "You're right. Their Force signatures? They were ours. The power they wielded was... powerful. But the future, by its nature can be changed! We refuse to give our inner darkness power to fester and grow within us." Wrapping his arms around Leia, Luke closed his eyes and began a ritual to purge the darkness out of him and his sister entirely.

"NO!! KILL THEM!! DEVOUR THEM! DESTROY THEM!!!!"

The Sith spirit commanded the Massassi, they all charged the Skywalker twins, but when the twins turned towards the servants of the Dark Side? Their eyes illuminated of pure light and unleashed Force lightning that is channeled from the Light Side and when the white lightning connected with the Massassi? The sight of the Sith subspecies being destroyed so easily caused the Sith spirit to shake his head in disbelief and outrage.

"N-No. You insignificant-- ARGH!!!"

The twins then proceeded to purge the Sith spirit of its power on the mortal realm, beams of light then burst of out the spirits body, then out of his eyes and mouth.

"NOOOOOOOO!!!!"

The Sith spirit then imploded, sending dark energy and crimson sand to fly everywhere and the twins shielded themselves from the energy and sand. When everything was silent, the twins released each other and smiled warmly at each other. "We did it." Leia breathed out, nodding in agreement, Luke added. "We know who we are. We're Jedi and we won't make the same mistakes the Jedi in our fathers time made. We'll do better and do our duty to keep peace in the galaxy. Starting now." Both brother and sister walked side by side as they then exited the tomb with their purpose more clearer than its ever been, not only did they managed to conquer the darkness within themselves, but they knew what they were.

They were Jedi Knights.

Like their father before them.

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