Star Wars: Darklight
by AB
Chapter 27
Darklight
Tern felt his chest burn as Darth Novus' lightsaber penetrated his skin, muscles and heart. He closed his eyes. The mosquito bite-like feeling replaced with a feeling of void, death coming over him.
"I give you one final gift, for you have no time for what comes next young one." He remembered the Celestial's final words. It'd have taken decades of meditation, training and preparation to do what followed next. The Celestial and the first Dark Jedi before had made sure this would not be the case now.
Everyone present who were close enough to see him, sawn a bright aura-like glow envelop him before his body turned into energy. Bright white and black energy. His hair now filaments of blue energy waving as if by the breeze. There was no breeze.
Darth Novus powered down his weapon, shocked. The blade falling from his hand as he staggered back a few steps.
"There is life after death, the Jedi have it right in their thinking of the Force as the living Force and the Sith have it right that not everyone can or will achieve Force-consciousness. But I will teach those I can in the new Order of the Force." Tern stood there, a being of pure energy. The silence was such one could hear the soldiers, troopers and everyone present breathing.
Tern kept his hands to his sides.
"Sixty thousand years of Force Wars, sixty thousand years of the Jedi and the Sith fighting, the Dark Side fighting the Light Side. For sixty thousand years the galaxy has suffered an endless civil war of the two sides of the Force. It ENDS! NOW!"
He turned slowly around watching everyone.
"The Sith grow in power, push back and defeat the Jedi almost eradicating them. Then be it a few years or millennia later the Jedi grow in power, push back and eradicate the Sith but neither of this balances the Force. It only imbalances it. The Jedi believe in afterlife and so they can sacrifice themselves selflessly while the Sith will do anything and everything to cheat death and gain power."
"The Jedi Mantra is; There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force." Tern looked towards the Sith Warriors, Novus, Drakus and other Sith lesser Lords present.
"The Sith believe; Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me." Tern looked at the Jedi.
"Both sides are correct and both sides are wrong." Tern stated. "Both sides have become dogmatic, have forgotten they are studying the same coin under different light. There is no emotion, there is only passion. There is emotion but if you allow it to rule you, you are no better than an animal. There is peace, peace is a lie. Peace can only be gained by embracing your emotions, understand them and accepting who and what you are."
"There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken." Reiterated the final verses of the Jedi and Sith Mantras. "Chaos is all around us, by constructing order we find peace and serenity. By dying we find freedom and unite with the Force. Without passion, strength and ambition the world would stop spinning. Controlled and measured they empower us, drive us to achieve greatness, Jedi, Sith and non-Force-Sensitives alike. Unchecked, raw and untamed they lead to destruction, chaos and suffering. Order is how sentients understand the universe but without some chaos it becomes as tyrannical as chaos without any order. This ends. Now. The two sides of the Force have battled each other like unruly kids searching a parent's approval for over sixty millennia. This ends NOW!" Tern continued his part speech part lecture on what divided and united Sith and Jedi.
"How can anyone love the Force or study the Force if someone is taken from one's family, denied any relationships with anyone else and made sterile in one's thinking? Denied emotions and feelings. How? How can anyone not turn to the Dark Side and allow anger and hatred to overwhelm one's mind without understanding, accepting and damn right embracing one's emotions? Relationships to other sentient beings to exalt us, to push us to new heights? The Jedi have become rigid." Tern was the only voice, the only sound to be heard in the surface or in space around Moraband.
"How can anyone be free if one is a victim of one's raw emotions? Raw passion makes us not free, makes us animals. Embrace our emotions yes. Seek power, understanding, knowledge of both sides of the Force, yes. Master them, rule them otherwise… you are at the whim of forces not yourself. Otherwise you are ruled by forces you do not control and power and victory become moot and ash in your mouth." Tern changed back to flesh and bones standing naked as the day he was born.
He walked the few footsteps to his clothes putting them on. "Jedi and Sith no longer fight for their beliefs, because it's right or wrong, because… No, you have been fighting to destroy the message, the ideology. The Jedi have become too dogmatic, too strict and the Sith are no more than a band of thugs rather than an order of people who study the Force."
"This ends. Now. Masters of the Jedi Order, why have you come to this place?" Tern directed the question to Master Korhu.
"To make you Grandmaster, you are the chosen one. The one Anakin Skywalker failed to be."
"I accept. As my first order of business I abolish the Order. The Jedi are no more." Gasps filled the atmosphere around them.
"Darth Novus Dark Lord of the Sith why have you allied yourself with me?" Tern asked the Sith Lord.
"To make you Conclave Leader, Emperor of the Sith. To make you Sith'ari, the one Darth Bane failed to be." Darth Novus replied.
"I accept. As first order of business I abolish the order. The Sith are no more." More gasps and screams of rage and anger filled the air.
"I do this with the authority of the Force and of the Masters and Lords of eons past." Tern spoke, his voice overcoming all others. A second or two later the Force-consciousness of Masters of the Jedi and of Lords of the Sith of millennia past appeared all around him. Anakin, Yoda, Luke Skywalker, Darth Bane, Darth Plagueis, Freedon Nadd and others known and unknown who managed to master Force-consciousness during their lifetime.
"I now establish a new order of the Force. Neither Jedi nor Sith but both. Just like I am neither Sith'ari or Chosen one but both. The new order of the Force will study the Dark Side and the Light side. The rule of two instituted by Darth Bane and abolished by Darth Vitus is now re-established in part. Each apprentice will have two Masters. One of the Dark Side and one of the Light Side. The council of the Order will apart of six members, six Masters. Three of the Light Side, three of the Dark Side. They will have each one vote. If in any subject, they come up with a tie the Grandmaster of the Order has one vote to end the tie. Only one who is equally knowledgeable in the Dark and the Light and can power up the Forcesaber with all four blades appear black and white like this… "
Tern powered up his Forcesaber separating the staffblade to two blades powering up the extra two blades. Each hilt having one black blade with white blade and one white blade with black glow. Tern started turning the two blades in a whirlwind-like motion. The white and black mixing into a grey colour with white and black glows.
Tern stopped whirling the blades around, powering down the blades, reuniting the blades.
"Anyone who can do this is the next Grandmaster. He or she does not have to be in the council, he or she has to be in the Order. After the death of the Grandmaster and if he or she has not named his or her nominee each of the Masters in the council power up the Forcesaber in front of the whole Order or as many as possible, if none of them power it up grey then each of the Knights and apprentices of the Order power it up. If none of them power-it up grey, then the position remains vacant until one does. For as long as it remains vacant the whole of the Order votes in if there's a tie and the majority result wins. The vote goes to the majority vote."
"How do we know the Forcesaber doesn't power up like this to everyone?" Darth Drakus asked.
Tern extended his hand towards the man, palm open Forcesaber offered. Darth Drakus Force-pulled it powering it up. The two blades appeared blood red.
"Now give it to Master Korhu if you please." Tern asked him. Master Korhu Force-pulled it powering up a green and a blue blade.
"I'll take it back now." Tern Force-pulled it without powering it down. The blades changed to black and white with opposite glows.
"The Order of the Force will not mingle with Galactic politics anymore. We will not fight for the non-Force-Sensitives anymore unless one of the Order tries to conquer everyone or starts killing civilians. We are going to learn of the Force, we are going to grow inside it and we are going to meditate and I am sure we are going to have our internal intrigue but we will no longer be peacekeepers for the new galactic governing body whatever and whichever it may be. We will not fight in your armies and we will not be in your courts."
"Where will the Headquarter planet be? It cannot be Tython." Darth Novus inquired.
"Indeed, and it cannot be Dromund Kaas or Moraband." Tern replied. "It will be in Tatooine who will be terraformed into a green world. All Sith and Jedi planets are holdings of the Order of the Force and no one who is not part of the Order has access unless given access by the Council."
"What of the younglings?" One of the Jedi Knights asked.
"Academies will exist in every planet of the Order. Force-Sensitive children will be taken there, with their parents if they so will agree. Their parents can work for the Order for as long as they want with the same payment they earned before if the Order can give it, if not a new payment will be negotiated but no longer will children be taken away from their parents."
"What of relationships between members of the Order?" A Sith asked.
"They are and will be encouraged and welcomed. Between minors or between adults but not adults and minors regardless of different or same sex."
Tern walked to Volun holding his hand walked them back to the center of the open ground circle. Tern cupped Volun's cheeks in his hands pulling him in, in a soft kiss.
"Dogma of the past is that. The past. I am not going to say this will be easy. It cannot be easy after sixty thousand years of Force Wars. It will be a son of a bitch but we will make it because the Force-Wars are over, because the Galaxy cannot go another year much less another sixty thousand years like this." Tern held Volun's hand.
Tern could see the Jedi look at the Masters of what used to be the Jedi Council just as the Sith were looking at the remaining Sith Lords.
"No! We cannot be "friends" with the Jedi! They must all die!" A Sith said powering up his lightsabers.
Darth Novus raised his hand throwing a disk at him then pressed a button with the disk exploding mid-air. The Sith jumped away to avoid the explosion but never touched ground as Darth Drakus snapped his neck using the Force.
"Yes, you can and you will. They are not the Jedi. The Jedi have been defeated and abolished." Darth Novus said loudly.
"Master Korhu… how can this be? We have battled the Dark Side for over sixty decades."
"Indeed and in doing so we have become what we fight. Narrow-minded and closed to new ideas. The Jedi are obsolete." Master Korhu replied.
"You can't expect the end of warfare by creating this new "Order of the Force"?" A Jedi asked looking a mixture of anger and confusion.
"No, I am not naive. To war is to be sentient. The Force-Wars will end though. The Wars between the Light and the Dark have come to an end. Those who want to study the Light will do so, those who study the Dark will do so and those who want to study both will do so and all of them will do so without fear of persecution for as long as innocents are not harmed and if they are he she or they will be brought to justice but the Order will not splinter." Tern replied. "Will there be wars between the non-Force-Sensitive Sentients? Yes. The Order of the Force will stay out of it. If any one of its members gets involved and tries to conquer the Galaxy the whole of the Order will stop him her or them not because they are practitioners of the Dark Side or the Light but because they will be breaking the Order's Creed and because they are harming innocents in their pursuit of power."
"What if someone, anyone wants to leave the Order." Umaga asked him.
"They are free to do so once they are adults. Once they've been taught how to use the Force. For as long as they cause no harm the Order will not intervene in their lives. We cannot understand the Force if we do not traverse the stars and explore the wonders of the Galaxy."
"What if we do not want a Master of the Dark or the Light." A Sith asked.
"As younglings you'll be taught both. As adults you can go where you want. Dark, Light or both. It will not be easy, but we will bring about balance to the Force not by exterminating the other side but by understanding, embracing and accepting both sides." Tern answered.
"The Sith have surrendered by Darth Incendius' defeat and Darth Novus making me Grandmaster of the Sith Order. The Jedi have surrendered by Master Korhu making me Grandmaster of the Order." Tern took a deep breath. He knew he had to mention the two prophesies.
"The Jedi believed the Prophesy of the Chosen one. In the time of greatest despair, a child shall be born who will destroy the Sith and bring balance to the Force. The Sith believed in the Prophesy of Sith'ari. The Sith'ari will be free of limits. The Sith'ari will lead the Sith and destroy them. The Sith'ari will raise the Sith from death and make them stronger than before." He spoke the verses of the two prophesies aloud.
"Do you not see they speak of the same thing? Free of limits and yet without limits there is no freedom. What greater despair than having the Leader of the Sith be the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order? Both prophesies speak of the destruction of the Sith yet the Sith are destroyed to return time and time again. I have destroyed both of you. Your Orders are no more and through the Order of the Force we are all stronger, united and no longer divided because of difference of opinions. Thus is the Force balanced."
Master Korhu nodded to the remaining Masters of what used to be the Jedi Order and walked forward from the rest. The Masters followed him. Master Korhu made a bow with his head and chest. The other Masters emulated him. He then turned around to view the others.
"We have been fighting for sixty millennia. Now we will try this. I and the other Masters believe in Tern and his Vision, we only ask that you trust in him as well and give him a chance." Master Korhu walked and stood next and just behind Tern to his left.
Darth Novus walked forward. "The Sith… we have believed we are the embodiment of emotion, of freedom from restraints, of the Dark Side for over Sixty millennia and perhaps we are but Tern is right this fighting has gone on long enough and our thirst for power almost killed all life in the Galaxy. This cannot be allowed to happen again. We will practice and learn the Dark Side, we will grow our power but this will not happen again. We have been banging our head against an ever illusive wall for far too long. We will now try something different. Light cannot exist without Dark and Dark cannot exist without Light." Darth Novus walked behind and to the right of Tern.
"Are you all ready to be part of the new Order of the Force?" Tern asked loud and clear. "If you are stand behind me. If not, you are allowed to leave this place and live your lives as you see fit but if you harm innocents we will come after you." The soldiers of the Coalition and those Sith troopers not Force-Sensitive stood idle while Sith and Jedi walked behind Tern or away from behind him.
An hour later it was over. Tern looked over to the soldiers and those Force-Sensitives who had decided not to join his new Order of the Force.
"Soldiers of the Coalition you are to return to your ships and your planets for this war is over. Troopers of the Sith you are disbanded and free to go." He told the non-Force-sensitives. "The rest of you, you are free to go and as I said live your lives as you see fit but harm anyone and you will find my Forcesaber aiming at you. If you ever decide to change your mind and want to join the Order of the Force you are welcome to do so."
"What if we have children, Force-Sensitive children?" One of the Jedi who had decided to not join asked him.
"You are Force-Sensitive. Raise your kids as you please, teach them of the Force. If one of the Order comes and asks you can tell him no and he or she shall leave or you can decide to join and let the Order help you teach your kids in the ways of the Force." Tern replied. The Jedi who had asked smiled and bowed before she turned to leave.
"Why would the Sith Lords who have mastered Force-Consciousness not teach the others? If the Sith learned of the ability to live after death… they may not have resorted to such extreme lengths to prolong their lives, to not die." Volun asked. He had not uttered a word since Tern had asked Darth Novus to kill him.
"They did not like to share their secrets." Tern stated.
"What made them change their minds now? Why appear in front of everyone?" Volun asked in reply, confused.
"I wasn't really asking now was I?" Tern grinned mischievously.
Volun giggled. "No, I suppose you didn't. But how?"
"I am the Listener of the Force. It sings I listen. There is something I have to tell you later but not now."
"Okay." Volun smiled warmly, he knew not to ask "what", when Tern wanted he'd tell him.
"Who are going to be the six new Masters of the Order of the Force?" A Jedi knight asked. Tern saw more than a few Sith and Jedi looking his way.
The Coalition soldiers and Sith troopers had started to leave. Talking to their superiors and packing to leave.
"Master Korhu, Master Umaga and Master Katosh-Val are going to be the three Masters of the Light." Tern said. "Master Novus, Master Drakus and Master Kaa'ara are going to be the three Masters of the Dark."
The Jedi Knight who had asked smiled making a bow recognizing Tern. Others followed him.
"Volun. I think I am going to take a Sunday trip." Volun looked over to his aged love.
"It has only been seventy years, are you sure?" Volun knew Tern spoke in code. He had not taken a "Sunday trip" in over seventy years.
"I am. The Order is doing well, Karek powered up the Forcesaber as I hoped, Kaa'ara is fine with her family and grandchildren. Our children are Masters of the Force and in the council, one of them is probably going to be the next Grandmaster and we have grandchildren. Lavos and the others are fine. Yes, I am sure. It is time. Now or the Order will become about me and not about the Order or the Force."
"To the Homeworld of the midi-chlorians and the Force-wielders then… will I ever see you again?" Volun asked tear-eyed.
Tern smiled getting up from the bed. It was breaking dawn outside.
"Of course, I am not ready to give you up yet. I'll see you later baby." Seventy years later and Tern still called him baby. Volun chuckled.
Tern left their room.
"Master Karek." An aid called his name. How had the time passed, from a scared child closed in his own fears and self-loathing to the next Grandmaster of the Order of the Force. "Just like Tern told me all those years ago… "
"What is it, apprentice?" He asked the aid even though he had a pretty good idea what it was about.
"Grandmaster Tern is asking for you in the main courtyard, sir."
Karek smiled. "Thank you, Gorak. Lead the way." Karek stood up. He had come a long way that was for sure.
They entered the main courtyard sunlit and full of life. The white columns of the colonnade covered in vegetation. Tern was atop the stairs while the others of the council and those of the Order in Tatooine stood in the courtyard.
"Order of the Force." Tern smiled at Karek. "I give you your next Grandmaster, Karek." Tern offered the Forcesaber to Karek who powered it up unleashing the black and white blades with opposite glows.
"It has not been easy, we have had wars between the sentient species of the Galaxy but not amongst the Force-Sensitives and have had troubles and moments in time when it looked like as if the Order would fall and crumble but it stands and we stand with it and it is now time for me to leave the position of the Grandmaster to Karek who is now ready to become the Grandmaster of the Order of the Force. And it is time for me to step down and go for a trip."
Tern left Tatooine for the last time later that same day, he was never seen or heard from again. A year later Volun fell off the face of the Galaxy. Many a legend did their disappearance create.
The Galaxy and its inhabitants continued on with their lives but the Force-abomination created by the will of three different Sith Lords to eternal life, conquest and death achieved what countless generations of Jedi had failed to do. End the Force-Wars and bring balance to the Force and the Galaxy.
Thus this story ends, thus end the Force-Wars, at least in this unofficial way. I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it and that you felt what I felt while writing it.
Send your feedback emails to: ckskb1@yahoo.com and add "BCC list" along with your comments/feedback if you want me to add you to the list of people I will be emailing with updates and release dates of new chapters/stories.
May the Force be with you all.
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