"...I have returned."
The words followed the five Jedi into the silence.
There was no anger behind them. No triumph.
Only certainty.
The towering figure moved before anyone could answer.
One moment, Master Yarael Poof stood among the others.
The next, his body was torn from the ground.
He flew across the chamber with terrifying speed, robes snapping behind him, until a massive hand closed around his narrow throat.
The impact cut off his breath.
Yarael's feet hung above the stone floor as the ancient warrior lifted him effortlessly. The Jedi Master grasped the armored wrist with both hands, but the grip did not loosen. Even the calm presence he had maintained throughout their journey wavered beneath the sudden assault.
Master Coleman Trebor reacted first.
His green lightsaber ignited as he lunged forward, the blade rising in a precise strike aimed at the warrior's exposed side.
The figure did not turn.
He simply hurled Yarael toward him.
Coleman's eyes widened. His lightsaber extinguished an instant before the blade could meet his fellow Master. He caught Yarael across the chest, but the force behind the throw drove both Jedi backward.
Their boots scraped over the stone.
Coleman stumbled several steps before managing to remain upright, one arm holding Yarael steady as the other Master dragged air back into his lungs.
The attack had lasted only seconds.
It had nearly killed a member of the High Council.
Four lightsabers ignited throughout the chamber.
Khan stepped forward, his blue blade held firmly before him.
Kit and Aayla moved apart, widening their formation while keeping the ancient warrior between them. Coleman reignited his own weapon as Yarael slowly straightened beside him.
Five blades illuminated the circular prison.
Blue and green light passed over the figure's scarred armor, revealing ancient metal fused with machinery that no longer resembled anything used in the modern galaxy. Tattered black cloth hung from his shoulders. A respirator covered the lower half of his ruined face, each breath emerging as a slow mechanical rasp.
He showed no concern.
His yellow eyes passed over the Jedi as if counting them.
Then they moved beyond them.
Toward the corridor behind the group.
His head tilted slightly.
Something had caught his attention.
The figure raised one hand.
The Force struck the shadows.
A hooded individual was ripped from concealment and dragged into the chamber. He flew between the five Jedi so quickly that none could intercept him before he crashed onto his knees before the towering warrior.
His hood fell away.
Deep red skin emerged beneath it, framed by sharp cheekbones and small tendrils hanging from his jaw. Dark ceremonial markings covered portions of his face. His golden eyes widened as they rose toward the being standing above him.
The stranger carried the darkness within him.
There could be no mistaking it.
He was Sith.
Before he could speak, the ancient warrior reached toward his belt.
A curved lightsaber tore free and flew into the warrior's waiting hand.
The crimson blade ignited.
One swift motion followed.
The red-skinned Sith collapsed before a sound could leave his mouth.
His body struck the floor and remained still.
With a careless motion of his hand, the warrior threw the corpse across the chamber. It crashed against one of the surrounding pillars before falling into the dust.
For a moment, none of the Jedi moved.
The red blade continued humming in the warrior's grasp.
He turned the unfamiliar hilt once, testing its balance. His expression gave no indication whether the weapon pleased him.
Kit's usual lightheartedness had vanished.
Aayla tightened both hands around her lightsaber.
Coleman placed himself slightly ahead of Yarael, prepared to intercept another attack.
The figure had killed someone clearly touched by the dark side without hesitation.
Whether that made him an enemy of the Sith—or something far worse—none of them could determine.
His mechanical breathing continued.
Slow.
Steady.
Unaffected by the five lightsabers surrounding him.
Then his gaze moved toward Khan.
It stopped there.
The pressure within the chamber shifted.
Khan felt the stare before their eyes met. Something brushed against the edge of his thoughts, searching for the same opening it had exploited before.
Master Yarael's protection remained around his mind, but it suddenly felt thin.
The ancient figure looked past Khan's defensive stance.
Past his lightsaber.
Past everything he presented to the world.
His eyes settled upon the wound Khan kept buried beneath discipline and duty.
Grief.
Failure.
Anger that had never completely faded.
The same darkness that had allowed the whispers to reach him.
The same fracture through which the ancient presence had moved his body and broken the chains.
Recognition entered the warrior's yellow eyes.
Not affection.
Not gratitude.
Interest.
"You heard me."
The voice came through the respirator with a low metallic weight.
Khan did not lower his weapon.
"What are you?"
The figure ignored the question.
"You crossed the silence when the others could not."
His gaze briefly passed over the four Jedi surrounding Khan before returning to him.
"They are closed."
The red blade slowly rose.
"You are not."
Khan felt the words strike deeper than they should have.
Aayla glanced toward him, but his expression remained controlled.
Whatever the figure believed he had sensed within Khan, he would receive no answer.
"You used me," Khan said.
The mechanical breathing paused.
Only for a moment.
Then the ancient warrior gave the faintest inclination of his head.
"I reached for strength."
His eyes remained fixed on Khan.
"And something within you answered."
Khan's grip tightened around his lightsaber.
Behind him, Master Yarael extended his presence through the Force once more, reinforcing the barrier surrounding Khan's mind.
The ancient warrior noticed.
His yellow eyes shifted toward Yarael.
The chamber seemed to grow colder.
Coleman raised his lightsaber.
"Whatever you are, you will not touch his mind again."
The figure studied him in silence.
Then the crimson blade turned toward the five Jedi.
Not raised into a recognizable stance.
Simply held at his side.
Ready.
"You stand within the remains of an age you have forgotten."
His gaze returned to Khan.
"And you believe yourselves prepared to command what you have awakened."
The Jedi tightened their formation.
The ancient warrior took one step forward.
The stone beneath his armored boot cracked.
Coleman Trebor moved first.
"Together!"
The five Jedi attacked.
Kit and Aayla separated immediately, racing along opposite sides of the chamber. Yarael remained behind them, extending his presence through the Force as Coleman advanced directly toward the towering Sith.
Khan moved with him.
Five lightsabers converged upon one crimson blade.
Against any ordinary opponent, the formation would have ended the battle before it began.
But this was no ordinary opponent.
Coleman struck high.
The Sith caught the green blade and turned it aside with a single movement. Khan came from the opposite side, aiming for the exposed space beneath the warrior's arm.
The crimson saber dropped.
Their blades collided.
The force behind the block traveled through Khan's arms and into his shoulders. His feet slid across the stone before he managed to twist away.
Kit arrived next.
His blue blade swept toward the warrior's back while Aayla attacked from the front.
The Sith stepped between them.
He caught Aayla's strike, turned his wrist, and forced her blade into Kit's path. Kit barely pulled back before the two Jedi struck one another.
Coleman pressed forward again.
The ancient warrior met him with a heavy downward blow.
Coleman blocked.
The impact drove him to one knee.
Khan saw the opening and lunged.
His blue blade cut across the Sith's shoulder.
Metal burned.
A thin line of molten orange appeared across the ancient armor.
The warrior stopped.
His yellow eyes shifted toward the damaged plate.
Then toward Khan.
There was no anger in them.
Only interest.
Khan did not wait to learn what that meant.
He attacked again.
The Sith turned his blade vertically, catching Khan's strike before driving an armored fist into his chest.
Khan was thrown backward.
He struck the floor, rolled with the impact, and forced himself upright before the warrior could follow.
The others were already upon him.
Aayla swept low.
Kit struck high.
Coleman drove toward the center.
For several seconds, the chamber erupted with light.
Green and blue blades flashed against crimson. Sparks scattered across the stone. The Jedi moved around one another with practiced precision, changing positions and covering openings as quickly as they appeared.
Yet something was wrong.
Their timing was slipping.
Not enough to be obvious.
Only a fraction.
A warning through the Force arrived too late.
An opening disappeared before they sensed it.
The darkness surrounding the temple pressed against their awareness, smothering instincts that should have guided their movements.
Every strike required thought.
Every defense came a heartbeat slower than it should have.
The Sith did not suffer beneath the planet's shadow.
He moved through it as though it belonged to him.
Aayla attacked from his left.
The warrior caught her blade against his own, locked them together, and stepped inside her guard.
His free hand seized her by the shoulder.
Aayla's eyes widened.
He threw her across the chamber.
She struck one of the pillars and dropped hard to the floor.
"Aayla!"
Kit turned toward her.
That moment was enough.
The crimson blade crashed against his saber with such force that Kit's weapon was knocked from his grip. Before he could recover it, the warrior drove an armored knee into his abdomen.
The air left Kit's lungs.
A backhanded strike followed.
Kit spun through the air and hit the ground beside a fallen section of stone.
He tried to rise.
The Sith extended his hand.
Kit was lifted from the floor and hurled into the wall.
His body struck the ancient stone and fell motionless.
Two Jedi were down.
Yarael's presence expanded through the Force.
Calm spread through Khan's mind, pushing back against the suffocating darkness. Coleman's movements sharpened. Aayla stirred near the pillar, struggling to regain her senses.
The Sith noticed.
His attention moved past the fighters in front of him.
Toward Yarael.
The Jedi Master raised both hands.
The Force tightened around the ancient warrior.
His robes shifted.
The chains scattered throughout the chamber trembled against the floor.
For the first time, the Sith's advance stopped.
Yarael's eyes narrowed with concentration.
"Now!"
Coleman attacked from the front.
Khan moved from the side.
The Sith remained trapped between them, his body held in place by Yarael's power.
Coleman's green blade descended.
At the last instant, the crimson saber rose to meet it.
Yarael's expression tightened.
The warrior took a step.
The stone cracked beneath his foot.
Yarael pushed harder.
The pressure surrounding the chamber surged. Dust spilled from the ceiling as the walls groaned beneath the collision of their wills.
The Sith took another step.
Then another.
Yarael began to tremble.
The warrior's yellow eyes settled upon him.
A terrible pressure rolled through the Force.
Yarael gasped.
His restraint shattered.
The darkness he had been holding back crashed into him all at once. His body lifted from the ground before being hurled into the curved wall of the chamber.
He struck the stone and fell among the broken chains.
The calm presence surrounding the Jedi vanished.
The planet's darkness rushed into the space it had left behind.
Khan staggered.
His connection to the Force became distant and clouded, as though he were trying to sense the battle through deep water.
Coleman recovered first.
He placed himself between the fallen Yarael and the Sith, green blade raised.
Khan stepped beside him.
Across the chamber, Aayla tried to push herself upright. Her arms shook beneath her weight. Kit remained where he had fallen.
The ancient warrior faced the two Jedi still standing.
Coleman adjusted his stance.
His breathing remained controlled.
He attacked.
The Council Master's blade moved with disciplined precision. He no longer attempted to overpower the Sith. Every strike was measured, designed to restrict movement and deny the warrior an opening toward the others.
The Sith recognized the change.
Their blades collided once.
Twice.
Coleman turned aside a heavy strike and answered with a thrust toward the warrior's chest.
The crimson blade swept it away.
Khan came from behind.
The warrior twisted before Khan's attack reached him and caught the blue blade along its edge.
Khan immediately withdrew.
The Sith's counterattack passed through the space where his head had been.
Khan did not pause.
He kicked a loose piece of stone toward the warrior's knee and attacked from the opposite side.
The stone shattered beneath an armored boot, but the distraction allowed Khan's saber to scrape across the warrior's side.
Another glowing scar appeared across the ancient armor.
The Sith turned toward him.
Khan retreated before the retaliation came.
A blast of Force energy tore through the air.
Khan crossed his arms and reinforced himself an instant before it struck. Even prepared, he was thrown several meters and crashed onto one shoulder.
He rolled.
The crimson blade pierced the floor where his chest had been.
Khan slashed upward from the ground.
The Sith withdrew his arm before the blue blade could take it.
For the first time, the ancient warrior stepped back.
Only one pace.
But he had moved.
Khan rose quickly, keeping his lightsaber between them.
His breathing was heavy. Pain burned through his chest and shoulder. Every instinct demanded that he create distance.
He ignored it.
He had learned on Naboo what hesitation cost.
The memory of a red blade flashed through his mind.
Dooku falling.
Yoda dying.
The Sith escaping.
Khan moved before the grief could root him in place.
He attacked with none of Coleman's restraint.
His blade struck for the warrior's neck.
The Sith blocked.
Khan drove his elbow toward the respirator covering the lower half of the warrior's face.
An armored forearm intercepted it.
Khan twisted free before the warrior could seize him, swept low, and immediately followed with another strike.
Crimson and blue crashed together.
The ancient Sith studied him from behind the crossed blades.
Khan could feel it again.
That presence pressing against the edges of his thoughts.
Searching.
Not controlling him.
Examining him.
Khan pushed away and broke the lock.
Coleman entered from the side, forcing the warrior to turn.
The Council Master's green blade moved in a rapid sequence, each attack keeping the Sith occupied while Khan circled behind him.
Together, they began to find a rhythm.
Coleman forced the defense.
Khan attacked the openings.
The Sith blocked both.
He caught Coleman's blade near the hilt and struck Khan's saber aside with the lower end of his own weapon. An invisible force slammed into Khan's chest, driving him backward, but he remained on his feet.
The warrior's gaze followed him.
Coleman attacked again.
The Sith met his strike without looking.
"This is what remains of the Jedi?"
His voice cut through the clash of their blades.
Coleman pushed against him with both hands.
The Sith's arm did not move.
"Our Order has faced darkness before," Coleman said.
"Not as you are now."
The warrior twisted his blade.
Coleman's guard broke.
An armored shoulder struck the Council Master and sent him staggering aside.
Khan rushed forward.
The crimson saber met his own with enough force to shake both weapons.
The ancient Sith advanced.
Each strike drove Khan backward.
"You hesitate."
Khan blocked another blow.
"You restrain yourselves even while facing death."
A horizontal strike forced Khan to duck. The crimson blade passed close enough that he felt its heat against his hair.
He rose with an attack toward the warrior's ribs.
The Sith caught it.
"Your Order once sent armies against us."
He forced Khan's blade down.
"Jedi who understood that peace was purchased through victory."
Coleman returned, attacking from the warrior's unprotected side.
Without turning, the Sith raised one hand.
Coleman was thrown across the room.
He landed hard but kept hold of his lightsaber.
The warrior's full attention settled upon Khan.
"And now…"
The red blade pressed against the blue.
Khan's arms began to shake beneath the pressure.
"…you struggle to produce warriors."
Khan shifted one foot behind him, holding his ground.
The Sith leaned closer.
The mechanical rasp of his breathing passed between them.
"How has the Empire not destroyed you?"
Confusion broke through Khan's concentration.
"What Empire?"
The pressure against his blade stopped.
The ancient warrior became utterly still.
His yellow eyes narrowed.
"What did you say?"
Khan used the pause to wrench his lightsaber free and step back.
Coleman rose several meters away, green blade held before him.
Khan kept his eyes on the Sith.
"There is no Empire."
The mechanical breathing continued.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Khan could not tell if the warrior had understood him.
Then he added the truth that history had preserved.
"The last empire that was around fell, over a thousand years ago."
Silence consumed the chamber.
The crimson blade remained ignited, but the warrior no longer appeared to see the Jedi standing before him.
His gaze moved across the prison.
The broken chains.
The collapsed walls.
The roots splitting ancient stone.
For the first time since emerging from the suspended cell, he seemed to recognize the decay surrounding him.
Thousands of years.
The words settled over him more heavily than any attack.
His head turned toward the body of the red-skinned Sith he had killed.
Then toward the unfamiliar lightsaber in his hand.
"What remains?" he asked.
The question was quieter than everything that had come before it.
Khan did not answer.
He did not know what the warrior was asking about.
The Empire?
The Sith?
The galaxy itself?
Coleman moved closer to Khan, maintaining enough distance that they could respond from separate directions.
The warrior looked at the two standing Jedi.
Then at the three who had fallen.
His expression hardened.
"The Empire is gone."
It was not grief.
It was a conclusion.
His yellow eyes returned to Khan.
"And this is what survived it."
The contempt in his voice deepened.
Understanding slowly entered his scarred features.
"Peace."
The single word carried more disgust than any threat he had spoken.
"You have known peace."
Khan raised his lightsaber.
"It hasn't made us weak."
The warrior looked toward Kit, Aayla, and Yarael.
Then back to him.
"It has made you uncertain."
His crimson blade rose.
"It has taught you to fear the acts required for victory."
Coleman settled into position beside Khan.
"And what did your Empire's strength earn it?"
The ancient Sith looked at him.
For a moment, only his respirator answered.
Then the red blade shifted into a guarded position.
"Oblivion."
The admission came without shame.
Without sorrow.
As though the destruction of everything he had known was merely another truth to be endured.
His gaze fixed upon Khan once again.
"But not for all of us."
The darkness around them surged.
The broken chains lifted from the ground.
Coleman turned toward Khan.
"Move!"
The chains exploded through the chamber.
Khan threw himself aside.
Ancient metal tore through the space where he had stood, striking the walls with enough force to bury entire links in stone. Coleman raised one hand, diverting another chain before it could reach Yarael.
The ancient Sith remained at the center of it all.
His crimson blade lowered.
Then his free hand closed into a fist.
The chamber ruptured.
A violent wave of the Force burst outward from him, tearing through the surrounding pillars. Stone split from floor to ceiling. The walls groaned as cracks raced across their surface, spreading into the corridors beyond.
The tilted ruin shifted beneath them.
Khan struggled to remain standing as the ground rolled under his feet. Sections of the ceiling collapsed, smashing into the chamber and throwing clouds of dust into the air.
"Khan!" Coleman shouted.
Another pillar broke apart.
The upper half crashed between them and the ancient warrior, scattering fragments across the floor.
Khan raised both arms to protect his face.
Through the dust, he saw Aayla pushing herself upright beside the wall.
One hand clutched her ribs. Blood ran from a wound near her temple, but her eyes remained focused.
"Can you move?" Khan called.
Aayla took one unsteady step.
Then another.
"I can move."
Kit did not.
He remained motionless beneath the broken section of wall where he had fallen.
Khan extinguished his lightsaber and ran toward him.
The entire ruin continued to shake. Dust poured from the ceiling in thick streams as the ancient structure began to collapse under its own weight.
Coleman reached Yarael first.
The Council Master knelt beside him and pulled one of Yarael's arms over his shoulder.
"Stay with me."
Yarael's eyes opened slightly.
His breathing was strained, but he forced his feet beneath him.
"The structure…"
"I know."
Coleman lifted him.
"We are leaving."
Khan reached Kit and dropped to one knee.
"Kit."
No response.
Khan pressed two fingers against the Nautolan's neck.
A pulse.
Weak, but steady.
Relief lasted only an instant.
A deep crack sounded above them.
Khan looked up.
A slab of stone tore free from the ceiling.
He reached out with the Force.
The darkness of the planet resisted him. The falling stone slowed, but only slightly. Pain shot through his head as he strained against its weight.
Aayla's hand rose beside him.
Together, they pushed.
The slab shifted just enough to crash beside Kit rather than on top of him. The impact threw Khan and Aayla to the ground.
Dust consumed them.
Khan coughed as he forced himself back onto his knees. His shoulder screamed in protest when he grabbed Kit beneath the arms.
Aayla took hold of Kit's other side.
"I can help."
"You're hurt."
"So are you."
Another violent tremor passed through the ruin.
That ended the argument.
They lifted Kit between them, but Aayla's injured side immediately buckled. Her grip slipped as pain crossed her face.
Khan pulled Kit's arm over his shoulders and took the full weight himself.
"Lead us out," he said.
Aayla hesitated.
Then nodded.
She reignited her lightsaber, its green light cutting through the thickening dust.
"This way!"
The corridor through which they had entered was already collapsing.
Its slanted floor had become even more difficult to cross. Broken sections of stone slid past them, disappearing into fractures that had opened along the walls.
Aayla went first.
Khan followed with Kit hanging heavily across his back. Every step sent pain through his chest and injured shoulder, but he tightened his hold and continued.
Behind them, Coleman helped Yarael through the falling debris.
The Council Master kept one hand wrapped around Yarael's waist while using the other to deflect smaller fragments with the Force. Yarael tried to assist, but his presence within the Force had weakened to little more than a flicker.
The ruin shook again.
A section of the corridor collapsed ahead of Aayla.
She leapt backward as stone crashed across their path.
For a moment, there was nowhere to go.
The passage behind them was filling with rubble.
The route ahead was buried.
Aayla looked toward the cracked wall beside them.
"Stand back."
Her lightsaber cut into the ancient stone.
The blade moved in a rapid circle, carving through the weakened surface. She finished the cut with a thrust of the Force.
The section of wall broke outward.
Cold air rushed through the opening.
Beyond it waited another corridor, narrower and more sharply tilted than the first.
But it led away from the collapsing chamber.
"Go!" Coleman ordered.
Aayla climbed through.
Khan shifted Kit's weight and followed, squeezing sideways through the opening. Kit's boots dragged against the broken stone, forcing Khan to pull harder until they were both through.
Coleman guided Yarael after them.
The moment the two Masters crossed, the corridor behind them collapsed completely.
The sound rolled through the ruin like thunder.
They continued.
There was no longer time to determine whether they were following the same route they had taken inside. They moved wherever the structure allowed them, through fractured halls and beneath leaning archways that threatened to fall with every tremor.
The ancient darkness pressed against them.
Without Yarael's protection, the ruin seemed determined to pull them deeper. Every branching corridor looked identical. Every shadow resembled another opening.
Aayla stopped at an intersection.
"Which way?"
Khan tried to reach into the Force.
Pain answered him.
The planet's presence closed around his thoughts, smothering his senses beneath layers of cold pressure.
Then he felt it.
A faint current of air brushing across his face.
He looked toward the corridor on their right.
"That way."
Aayla did not question him.
They turned.
The passage rose sharply, forcing Khan to climb while carrying Kit's full weight. His legs trembled. Each breath scraped against his ribs.
Kit remained unconscious.
"Come on," Khan muttered, tightening his grip. "You're usually much louder than this."
No answer came.
The ceiling behind them collapsed.
A blast of dust struck their backs and drove them forward.
Aayla reached the end of the corridor and disappeared around the corner.
"Light!"
Khan lifted his head.
Ahead of them, pale flashes of blue and violet cut through a jagged opening in the stone.
The storm.
The forest.
The outside.
They were close.
Coleman and Yarael followed behind, both struggling now. Yarael could barely keep his feet beneath him. Coleman's robes were torn, and blood darkened one side of his face, but his grip around the other Master remained firm.
The opening widened with every step.
Then Khan stopped.
Something pulled at his attention.
Not a voice.
Not this time.
A presence.
He looked back.
Far down the collapsing corridor, beyond the dust and falling stone, the circular chamber remained partially visible.
The ancient warrior still stood at its center.
He had not attempted to follow them.
He had not sought shelter.
Broken pillars crashed around him. Chains whipped through the air. The ceiling split open above his head as the ruin folded inward.
Yet he remained motionless.
The crimson lightsaber burned at his side.
His yellow eyes found Khan through the distance.
For one suspended moment, the collapse seemed to disappear.
Khan felt that ancient presence reach toward him again.
Not commanding.
Not calling.
Remembering.
Their eyes remained locked.
Then an enormous section of the ceiling fell between them.
Stone struck stone with a deafening impact.
The warrior vanished behind it.
"Khan!"
Aayla's voice broke through the moment.
The corridor shifted beneath his feet.
Khan turned and ran.
He carried Kit through the jagged opening just as the wall behind them began to collapse. Aayla grabbed Kit's arm and helped pull them clear.
Coleman emerged next with Yarael.
The five Jedi stumbled away from the ruin as the structure continued falling into itself.
Trees shook around them.
Ancient stone disappeared beneath clouds of black dust. Entire sections of the slanted pyramid sank into the earth, dragging roots and shattered pillars down with them.
The Jedi did not stop until the forest swallowed the sight of it.
Only then did Aayla fall to her knees.
Khan lowered Kit carefully onto the wet ground before collapsing beside him. His arms shook from the effort of carrying him. Every breath sent a sharp pain through his chest.
Coleman helped Yarael sit against the trunk of a massive tree.
The Jedi Master's head lowered as he struggled to remain conscious.
For several moments, none of them spoke.
The storm rumbled overhead.
Rain passed through the canopy in cold, scattered drops.
Aayla pressed one hand against her ribs. Her breathing was shallow, but steady.
Coleman checked Yarael's injuries before looking toward Kit.
"How is he?"
Khan placed a hand against Kit's neck again.
"Alive."
The word left him with more relief than he intended.
Aayla closed her eyes.
"Did it follow us?"
No one answered immediately.
Khan looked back through the trees.
The ruin was hidden by the forest and the dust rising above it. He could no longer see the chamber or the towering figure who had remained inside.
But he could still feel something in the distance.
Faint.
Ancient.
Awake.
"I don't think it needed to," Khan said.
The group fell silent again.