THE MASTER CALLS - A short tale of the Knights of Ren
It is a time of peace after the fall of the Empire, and its twin masters; Emperor Palpatine and his mailed fist, Darth Vader. Thereabouts of twenty years have passed since the Sith have openly ruled the Galaxy, with the countless trillions none the wiser that the Dark Side had reclaimed what the Light stole from us all those many years ago. Reclaimed the fragile peace that the masses thought their own. But peace, like all things, is a lie. There is only truth in strength, in power, and through strength and power; there will be victory.
The force shall free us.
I, now going by the name of Vicrul... Vicrul Ren, know this to be a truth taught by our Master, Kylo Ren; and our Lord Snoke. Along with my fellow Knights, we find ourselves on the far side of the galaxy, on a mission of dubious importance when we sense that things have gone… not entirely in the favour of the First Order, the Imperial Remnant that has been rebuilding in strength under the guidance of Lord Snoke and the keen involvement of the Master. Here, within our starship, the Scimitar, which was once the craft of our distant predecessor, Darth Maul; we feel the disturbance in the Force, like a lash of stinging goodness against the shadow of the Dark Side.
“You all felt that?” Trudgen states off-handedly, looking at both myself and Kuruk. Kuruk returns with a nod, while Ap’lek gestures his hand in a clenching motion, deliberate, as if trying to feel not only himself, but the act that we all sensed. “The Master is no longer with us.” Ap’lek said, as Ushar began to finish his sentence for him. “He has returned to Ashla. To the Light.” I find the words escaping my own lips next. “-and slain our Lord Snoke. The First Order is headless without its Supreme Leader.”
Ap’lek responds to my own statement, as Bogan, the Dark Side- begins to reassert itself around us, the strength, the power roiling about us as it does when we grow strong with focus. “The new Supreme Leader in Armitage Hux is…unwelcome. He views those with power with contempt at best-” Ap’lek looks at Trudgen to finish the sentence as Trudgen turns to fully to face us in his own chair. “-with disdain at worst. He would cut off our resources and standing within the First Order now that the Master and Lord Snoke is gone.”
“This does not change our MISSION!” Kuruk drives his fist into the table and looks at all of us, quickly casting a gaze with his steely eyes. Although we share the same pupils in our eyes – the burning crimson and amber as we are wont to do when we are fully immersed in Bogan – Kuruk has a glazed, almost cataract-like quality when he becomes enraged, but tries to rein himself in. All heads turn to him, as he breathes in deeply, hunching over the table. “Lord Snoke tasked us to journey to the storm planet and recover the Tourniquet. To close the wound in the Force. His death changes nothing.”
Ushar responds in turn. “What of our former master? What of Kylo Ren?” A dread hush sweeps upon all of us in the cabin, the Scimitar still in the tranquil silence of hyperspace. Finally, as if speaking for all, I find the words well up again. “He showed us the power of the Dark Side. He showed us that Master Skywalker was weak.” I turn to look at Ap’lek, who meets my gaze with an approving nod. Despite my reference of my past life as one of Skywalker’s students – all of us – we realized that we five are what our Master forged into a new generation of warriors free of the past. Ap’lek continues my own thoughts as he looks towards Trudgen. “The power of Bogan is stronger than Ashla. Than the light. If our Master has forgotten the promise of power that he tasted that night-” Trudgen puts on his helmet and continues the half-sentence, half-response in itself. “-then he is not worthy as our Master of the Knights of Ren.”
Trudgen pauses for a moment as he looks to Ushar, then to me, then to the rest of us once more. “Then it is decided?” We feel Bogan ululating around us, the Dark Side manifesting within the confines of the cabin, the ship, all drawn from the galaxy itself. “Yes.” Ushar begins, his helmet locking with a hiss of compressing gas. “Like our predecessors which had drawn upon Bogan; the Nightsisters, the Bando Gora, the Sorcerers of Tund and the Sith-”
Kuruk slings his rifle around his shoulder as the mouthpiece of his helmet slides down and locks into place. “-there is no place for the weak among those who draw upon Bogan. No place for those such as our former Master who would use the Dark Side.” We rise as one, placing our hands across our hearts, our lightsabers in hand. We ignite them one by one, as I finish what we started. “Against the hated Ashla.” I ignite my lightsaber, the crimson beam reflecting against my segmented faceplate and narrow visor I fashioned to honor my former Master, whom I must now destroy.
“For Lord Snoke.” Ap’lek declares, his own crimson beam reaching against the darkness.
“-Against Skywalker.” Kuruk joins our promise.
“For the First Order.” We see glimpses of Ushar’s thoughts, that we would take the First Order from Hux and continue the vision of what our former Masters would have wanted-
“-Dominion. Against the Republic, the Resistance, and any who would oppose us.” Trudgen states, igniting his lightsaber sideways, his hand outstretched against us in a fist.
“Dropping out of hyperspace in 3 minutes.” The navicomputer chirps, cutting in our pledge. We glance at one another, our features hidden behind our masks, but our resolve and our purpose reaffirmed and never stronger. We deactivate our lightsabers and hitch them away, hidden to the observer, a feint to lull them into thinking we rely only on base weapons of lesser beings.
“We complete our mission in these unknown regions.” I begin again, feeling the bubbling power of the Dark Side against my voice, in my veins and in my very frame. It is as if the other Knights take note of the new paradigm we sense in Bogan itself. I store my phrik scythe against the holster on my back as we prepare to land. “-then we bring justice for Lord Snoke, and deal with the traitor Kylo Ren.”
www.youtube.com
twitter.com
