Endgame

Penultimate chapter to the Starwars story.
Part 30
Enjoy

Endgame

Ozar was waiting for the right moment.

Turge’s blades were almost upon him and that was the right moment.

Losing his facility meant he lost a good chunk of power input but they had made a grave miscalculation. It was Ozar’s innate darkness that had created the facility and kept it going. He was the black heart and dark soul of that facility and, without it to siphon off his power; he had become a nexus of the Dark Side.

His sulphur eyes gazed at Turge and emitted hatred: pure, unfiltered hatred. The Dark Side powers flared as his gaze transmitted that hate and turned it into offensive power. Ozar gazed at Turge – and the mutant disintegrated. He became a puff of ash, like a piece of paper burning and its ashes left in a breeze.

Wraith and Pym remained stunned, as if frozen in time. It was the rarest of Dark powers called Deadly Sight. Whilst most Dark Side powers used anger as their source, Deadly Sight was the gaze of hatred.

The Sith turned his gaze at Pym. Wraith stepped in front of him, shielding the small Bimm from sight, and channelled his own Force powers. He could feel Ozar’s will power as his Deadly Sight willed his body gone. But Wraith countered with equal willpower and managed to remain intact.

“You are just like a plague,” spat Ozar. “You’re impossible to get rid of.” He ignited his lightsaber and a veil of darkness gathered around him. “Unless I cut you off at the source and annihilate you once and for all.”

The three clashed. Wraith and Ozar traded vicious blows, whilst Pym used his smaller frame to navigate is between them and leap. His shoto shot out like a blaster, stabbing into Ozar. The Sith’s veil of darkness blocked every strike.

Wraith retreated suddenly and unleashed a barrage of red lightning. Ozar dissipated the attack and ducked as Pym shot from out of nowhere and nearly beheaded him. He hovered in the air as gravity increased. The two warriors were soon on their knees, struggling to breathe.

‘It’s a Force power,’ said Wraith telepathically. ‘Absorb it.’

Pym was not a master of tutaminis, the art of absorption and redirection of the Force, but could perform it. They both redirected the gravity power back at Ozar: Wraith blasting him with lightning and Pym unleashing a blast of pure kinetic energy.

Darth Ozar was sent upwards and into the ceiling. Wraith Force pushed, keeping him in place. The Sith was disarmed and completely vulnerable. Pym leapt, ran up the wall and Force jumped. His orange shoto was inches away from killing the Sith.

All it took was a twitch of his fingers. Ozar telekinetically brought his weapon upwards, like a red arrow. It intercepted Pym’s leap and impaled the little furred Bimm. The force of the impact sent the now dead Jedi against the wall; nailing him into the stone like a grotesque ornament.

Ozar broke free of Wraith’s hold and retrieved his weapon. There was a silent look between them. Then the Sith brought the ceiling down and flew out of the hole he just created.

Wraith’s powers saved him from the falling debris. He glared at the hole where Ozar escaped through – no, not escaped: the Sith simply changed location.

His eyes wondered over Turge and Pym. Perhaps he should heal them. No, that was not the will of the Force. His destiny was to destroy Ozar and set the future for the rest of the galaxy. That was why he was enlightened in his jail cell all the time ago – it felt like years. He, as a person, may have changed, but his mission, his reason to live, had not.

He extended his senses and felt Elara’s Force signature. She was alive and that made him happy. If he fought Ozar away from here, she had a better chance of survival. It was a battle to the death between him and the Sith. If she interfered, she would be killed.

So he squeezed his lightsaber and allowed the Force to guide him again. He took a step and felt space shift around him.

He reappeared on the rooftop of the building. Darth Ozar stood at ease on the other side. He wore only his boots and billowing pants. Natural lightning illuminated the grey skies and his black Sith tattoos showed briefly under the flash of light. His red lightsaber hummed in anticipation at his side; the plasma blade pointed downwards.

Rain began falling; gently at first, then picking up the pace. Every drop hummed and hissed against the Sith lord and his weapon.

Wraith removed his cloak, revealing the sleeveless black tunic he wore beneath it. His lighsaber ignited twice, and a flame coloured plasma blade appeared on each end.

Both Force users stood there, starring at each other. Their Force signatures were at their fullest and loudest. There was no more need for secrets now- this was an all-out fight.

Their presence began pushing against one another before they even moved. It was like two opposing tidal waves crashing against each other. Then the fight began.

Red lightsaber met amber lightsaber in a flurry of blows. Wraith blocked an overhead strike and spun low. Ozar pushed with the Force, saving himself from impalement. He suffered a light scratch on the leg and Wraith was sent sprawling.

Wraith shot lightning and the moisture increased its power. Ozar deflected it. Wraith teleported to his flank and their weapons met again. Ozar’s free hand collected shadows and became a spike. Wraith unhinged the unused end of his lightsaber and parried the shadow blade. Ozar augmented his strength with the Force, driving Wraith down.

Wraith focused his power on the moisture and a tidal wave of water rose from behind Ozar. He turned in horror as Wraith slip from under him with a Force pull and saw the wave crash down on the Sith.

Ozar yelled in anger and his lightning arced towards Wraith. The latter dodged and Force pulled his leg from under him. Still holding the Force grip, Wraith rose to the skies, spun and slammed Ozar down on the roof ground. Ozar steadied himself and absorbed most of the impact.

Both of them now hung in the air clashing against each other. They were evenly matched and the storm raged more violently as they went in for the kill over and over again.

They smashed into a blade-lock again and Ozar drove them down. He straddled Wraith as both lighsabers hummed dangerously close to their faces. Shadow tendrils rose from Ozar and threatened to piece Wraith. He utilized a combination of powers: first the rendered himself intangible. At the same time he put up a barrier of light so that the Dark Side powers will not harm him. Lastly he Force pushed himself: upwards and into Ozar.

He phased through his enemy and materialized above Ozar’s back. In one swift motion he conjoined his weapon again and spun. Ozar’s red lightsaber parried his strike and shadows rose. Wraith broke off his weapon and defended himself using the Jar’kai technique called Rising Whirlwind, in combination with Shien and Soresu techniques.

The Force users clashed again. Ozar’s weapon arced in an overhead strike as Wraith’s paired weapons met it in a cross shape. They pushed against each other.

The ground shook beneath them and crumbled. Their Force powers reacted with each other and an anti-matter field was created around them. They ended up floating in midair. The more they struggled, the large the field grew. The roof began disintegrating as the sphere shaped field consumed every material thing.

From Ozar, shadows rose and engulfed him. His red lightsaber was shrouded in obsidian. From Wraith, light emerged and his twin amber lightsabers were bathed in light.

They let go of their weapons: this was a battle of wills. The lightsabers remained there, remotely controlled by their owners- they were mere extensions of their willpower.

As their weaopons floated above them, the two pushed with their palms extended. There was an invisible heavy force between them, the balance: it was a surge of destructive energy, and the key to win. If only he could do it, if only he could push through, Wraith would finally be at peace.

But his strength was failing. Even the Force within him began ebbing. He was reaching the last of his reserves. Perhaps this was how it had to end – mutual destruction.

He felt the Force answer his plea. Power siphoned through him as he felt himself become one with the Force. And in that blizzard of sensations, he got a glimpse of Ozar’s past and his destiny. He also felt Elara. She had gotten away long before the building had collapsed.

He saw the future he desperately fought for: the destruction as Order 66 would be issued. The fall of the Jedi. And then, one man, chosen by the Force to become the kindle of hope. He also saw the fearful Sith who renounces evil at the last moment to save his son. The fall of Sith and an era of peace.

And then, like a tiny black hole, he saw an anomaly. A world, perhaps even a different galaxy. The Unknown.

Then he saw them: the next generation. A Nautolan with a curved lightsaber smiling happily. A purple skinned Twi’lek, not unlike Elara’s blade. A skilled yet shy Zabrak mechanic and a brash female human pilot. An engineer who spends his time tinkering with mechanics. All of them Jedi and somehow connected.

But that was another time. Perhaps even another lifetime. Perhaps this was how the Force reassured him that the fruits of his labour will prosper.

He felt all their power, every living creature, who was to perish should Ozar exist, and he fought for them. This was why he fought – all this time, he thought it was the Force. But the Force was alive: life from these beings who desperately wanted to live.

And live they shall.

Blinding light exploded from Wraith as he pushed through. Ozar felt his power and wondered: just where can such strength be found? All this time he spent searching for power and now that he found it, he was to perish by it.

Light and power consumed the sky and Darth Ozar felt himself disintegrating. In one fell swoop he ceased to exist, all of his influence gone.

The light kept on expanding, travelling through the Force, to reach every corner of the universe, cleansing the Sith’s presence forever. Only one remained now, but he needed to be kept alive. Darth Sidious – the lynchpin of the future.

Then finally the light faded too and Wraith found himself face up on debris. He no longer had the strength to move or even fell the lightsabers pressing painfully against this back.

He felt nothing.

And in that nothing, he found total peace.