The room was dark; gleaming black walls, high vaulted ceiling, and a cracked stone floor lit all in red. The unmechanized doors opened and closed again with the scrapping sound of heavy stone, too heavy for human strength to budge.

I should kill him.

The Knights stood waiting in front of him, gathered together for the first time in months. The Knights of Passion and Freedom stood on the left; the former impatient and twitching to get back to his ship, and the latter glowering beneath her hood at the exclusion of her own precious acolyte. Fury stood alone facing them - towering head and shoulders over both of the smaller Knights - fully armored, masked, and motionless.

This is a mistake.

Kylo watched the acolyte approach, passing between the Knights without a glance to either side. The man still wore his plain blacks, the cloak and hood of nameless slaves, but he held himself proudly. After only a year in the service of a master, his eyes burned with such fervor they practically glowing in the red light.

Fury does not need more power.

The acolyte reached him, and without hesitation he knelt at Kylo's feet.

"Master."

The other two wouldn't care. He might fight back – Ceada would jump in on my side at once. She hates them both...

"I have abandoned my name and my history. I have passed my Knight's tests. I have learned of the Force. I have mastered my weapon. I have obeyed every order."

Soro might snap in either direction. He is getting worse. We will have to deal with him, sooner or later.

"I have brought back information, slain enemies, and spread terror for the First Order, as you commanded. And I have killed a Jedi. I have earned my lightsaber."

He killed a Jedi.

Fury's acolyte raised his cupped hands, presenting the blue crystal he had torn from a broken hilt.

Kylo took the crystal and turned. Behind him stood the centerpiece of the ceremonial hall, the forge. Ancient stone betrayed no secrets, no runes or markings except unbroken lines that glowed from the red energy within. There were no explanations to be found in the study of the device, only practical uses. He had required something just as old to uncover its secrets - something that remembered.

Shatter.

His had cracked. But that had been before.

The blue crystal caught in the air in the center of the forge and hung there. The forge's glow intensified and the air began to thrum with sound so low it was almost inaudible, but shook bone and stone alike.

And the crystal began to twist, contort. Fractured light danced across the dark ceiling, the walls, across all their faces. Blue light.

The pressure in the room shifted. Kylo's helmet hissed as it adjusted accordingly, and he knew the other Knights' were as well. Except Ceada. The Knight of Freedom, of course, hated the confinement of a mask. The acolyte worked his jaw, but did not wince.

The crystal did not shatter. It caved, submitting to the reconstruction. Red bled out from the center, overtaking the blue. Hints of purple turned crimson, then settled in a bright and vibrant scarlet. The forge released it, and Kylo caught it.

Shove it into his brain. Fury wouldn't stop me. No one would.

He turned. The acolyte waited, his pale yellow eyes wide with desire.

"Make your oath, acolyte."

He did.

We don't need him. No one needs him.

"Then abandoned your servitude, and stand as a Knight of Ren."

.

"In the name of Ancient Ren, the lord of the Arisen, the sleeping darkness, I make this pledge on my life and blood.

"For you will I breath, until you breath.

"For you will I act, until you act.

"For you will I rule, until you rule.

"I, nameless, reclaim my name. I shall be Terror to those who dwell in ignorance. I shall be Destroyer to those who stand in my way. I shall be Lord of those who grovel at my feet. In my wake there will be death, and before me there will be death-to-come. I will be your Sword, your Wrath, your Hatred. I shall be, and am, your Knight."

.

"Arise, my Knight of Ruin."

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