SW Mafia: The Power of the Dark Side (Lynch #3..finally)

Manotas had found a small room that was out of the way. From the square-shaped patterns in the dust, he assumed it was occasionally used for storage although currently there were no containers here.

He found the empty space perfect for practicing his saber techniques, a pastime to remain fit and to relieve stress. And he was very stressed right now.

He had heard the others mention his name in contempt and feared their actions.

As his lightsabers, he was currently practicing his twin-blade forms, sliced through the air, leaving the sharp smell of ozone in their wake, his mind began to wander.

His life had changed drastically several times, once when he began his Jedi training, then again when Ani stormed the temple, and now here, on this desolate excuse for a planet, it was changing again.

His sweat had covered his face and soaked into his simple and functional clothes. In his heightened state of awareness he was made aware of the approaching group even before his senses had registered them. He deactivated his lightsabers and hung them at his belt.

The group, which was becoming smaller each day, entered and wasted no time accusing the heavily panting alien.

"I see you are practicing with your lightsaber, expecting to be using them soon?" Asked someone.

"No, I am just," Manotas began.

"Save your excuses! Admit you killed those people and perhaps we will consider sparing your life," said another.

"But I didn't..."

"Shut up! Lying is the child of fear, and fear is an agent of the Dark Side. Traitor."

He was beginning to get angry; he could feel his blood pressure rising.

"You are the traitors!" he shouted back finally silencing his accusers. "You claim to be doing good, when it is really you lashing out in fear. Fear is an agent of the Dark Side and it has gripped your hearts."

Someone from the crowd responded to this, "Yeah, well great, but I am no Jedi, so I could care a less about this Dark Side business. You are a killer. You are scum."

Manotas was becoming more angry, he could feel the rage building inside him. This pitiful soul thought itself worthy to judge him? To sentence him to death? He, who had fought a sith lord. He who had been willing to sacrifice his life for a greater good!

Slowly, the group began to back away from Manotas, and he thought perhaps his logic had affected them.

He was wrong.

Moments later, a searing pain began burning from the core f hi body. It was almost as if he could feel each cell being incinerated. His fear at that moment overcame him, but only accelerated the process. His anger at his attackers only fueled his demise. He was being seared from the powerful Dark Energies that stemmed from that side of the force. Energies he had yet to learn to control, energies amplified by an ancient sith lord that had yet to see equal in power or malice.

Manotas' body engulfed in black flames, though they didn't radiate heat. His mouth was open in a silent scream and his body shook with spasms as his nerve endings were fried individually.

For a moment, it looked as though it was subsiding, that he may survive the onslaught of which source couldn't be identified; but then it began a new more fierce then before. The flames reached several feet into the air, licking the gray durosteel ceiling.

As he fell to his knees an otherworldly scream erupted from him, and a violent wind rushed past those in attendance and ot through the rest of the station.

Witnesses claim they each heard a voice, though reports indicate an inconsistency, it appeared, however, the voice was a manifestation of the person they most feared.

Exar Kun had abandoned Kessel, returning to his secluded sanctuary in temple ruins far across the vast distances of space.