In the First Order base medical room, Kylo lies unconscious. But suddenly, the Force begins to stir inside him once again. He sees himself in the darkness again, but this time, he’s alone. Then a mysterious figure fades into his view. A cape droops down, but its entire body is masked by a haze. But though Kylo can’t see its face, he senses that it is staring straight into him. Does he want him to speak? Does he want him to kneel down before it?

“What do you want?” Kylo asks it, standing upright. The figure has a familiarity. But one that is still too foreign, too obscured, to become known.

It speaks with a deep, booming voice: “I sense a great disturbance within you. You must resolve it.”

“Disturbance?” Kylo looks within, and then, he remembers. “The crystal. I gave it to her.”

“And now you will face its consequences.”

The words send a tremor through him. “I am prepared. If the Resistance has captured me, then it is my fault alone. I should never have trusted her. I knew it from the start.”

“Do not make such hasty assumptions,” the figure speaks in a commanding tone, “You are being connected back to the Force. Awaken, and see.”

Suddenly, a jolting pang throbs in Kylo’s head. He feels himself pulled out of the darkness, falling. And then he opens his eyes. He’s not in the Resistance base, but in the First Order. How? He sees a medical officer, who says, “How are you feeling, Supreme Leader?”

“Where is she? That girl from the Resistance?”

“We don’t know. On Inimoni, we found your unconscious body, alone. We do not know what transpired in your battle, but we assumed she must have gotten away.”

Kylo thinks to himself: She saved him? He thinks back to Nissidha- when he gave the crystal to her. When he took her hands in the jade light, and the energy surged through them both. He remembers her warmth, as they held together, their bond being the only thing keeping them alive against the shadows stalking around them. He whispers, “I was wrong.” And then, upon their escape, she could’ve turned him over to the Resistance. But she didn’t.

The jolt. He had to find what it was, and where it came from. He stumbles out of the medical bed, and into the open armory outside. Serei and Hailden spot him.

“Hey,” Serei calls out, “Just woke up?”

Kylo groans. “I sensed an aching pain. Damn it, something’s not right. Keep an eye on me. Don’t let anyone else follow.” Serei looks at Hailden and shrugs. The two generals follow Kylo into an isolated room.

“Damn it... the Force... what’s happening?” Kylo mutters.

Then he hears a voice, “Hey, you there?”

Kylo shuts his eyes. And he senses it.

“Who is that... why... why are you here?” Then Kylo spots him. “The traitor!”

Finn turns around. “Kylo Ren? Rey gave me the coordinates to KYLO REN?!?”

“Rey. Rey gave you this?” Kylo seethes. He looks ready to kill his former soldier.

“Whoa, whoa, hold up!” Finn says, “I had no idea it was gonna be you.” But then he pauses. His face grows solemn. In a serious, grim voice, he tells Kylo, “You have to see this.”

“See what?” Kylo says, his voice growing more subdued. Finn apparates the spherical artifact, and says, “I’ll have to open up a bridge to you so I can show you this. It’s about Leia.”

“Leia?” Kylo says, his voice almost cracking.

“Just trust me.”

Kylo is thrust back into the physical world. Next to him, a dark rift in space is forming, and growing ever larger. A deep voice calls to him to touch it. There’s a message he needs to see. Kylo reaches his hand out. His eyes close as he reaches in, to protect against the torrential darkness blasting against his face.

“Kylo!” Serei shouts, “What the hell are you doing?”

Hailden says to her, “Something’s not right. We have to stop him!” The two generals rush towards Kylo, but are caught up in the dark rift.

The next moment, Kylo opens his eyes. He’s not in the isolated chamber anymore, but in pitch black darkness. Serei and Hailden are there, too. They look around, and see Finn and Kylo.

Hailden says to Finn, “Who are you?”

Just as Finn is about to answer, he’s pulled out of the world. Back in the physical world, several Resistance soldiers have opened up the escape pod, and are dragging him out. Finn looks over and sees Merilia being dragged from her escape pod too.

“You have to listen to me!” Finn shouts. He sees Poe and Chewbacca standing in the same room. There are around twenty five soldiers. Poe motions to the soldiers holding onto Finn, “Whoa, easy there!” Poe turns to Finn, and states, “I’m on orders.”

“Poe, I’ve gotta show everyone here what I found! It’s about Leia!”

Poe freezes, like a deer caught in headlights. “What? What did you find?”

Finn shuts his eyes again, and tries to make the artifact appear. Reach in, that distorted voice tells him. Reach in and trust me. Finn feels the apparition alongside him, and together, they gather enough strength to pull the message into the consciousness of everyone in the room.

A dark rift forms in the hangar, and now all the soldiers find themselves in the pitch black darkness, next to the three First Order generals.

“It’s you!” Poe fiercely shouts at Kylo.

Kylo glares at him. The two sides are ready to fight. But before they can, each of their consciousness is transported out of the darkness, and they are now in a white room.

A massive globe hologram appears in the center, teeming with information, big enough to separate everyone.

“What’s that?” Poe asks Finn.

“All the evidence Leia found. Enough to expose what’s really been going on.”

Everyone is eyeing the globe in awe, and Poe reaches out and touches it. The others follow suit. Suddenly, a flood of information is relayed into each of them. Evidence of what happened.

Then, each one reaches out of the globe.

Kylo yells out in pure rage. “IMPOSSIBLE!” Serei can’t believe what she saw, either. Hailden is astonished, not knowing what to say.

The Resistance soldiers start shouting and murmuring amongst themselves. Merilia has shut her eyes, deep in thought. Chewbacca roars.

Poe’s heart is pounding erratically, and he can hardly catch his breath. Exasperated, he asks Finn, “What am I even reading? This- this is what she knew?”

“And that’s not all,” Finn replies. He shuts his eyes again, and works with the voice inside to change the scenary. Now each of them finds themselves in this individual projection, each one being a lone audience member watching this past event unfold.

A figure is in a dimly lit, royal room. The shadows obfuscate her face. Another man walks in through an entrance, standing above a higher platform with stairs that lead down. Gnovian. He says to her, “General Leia Organa.”

In a distorted voice, as if speaking through a hologram, Leia responds, “I know what all of you have done. Now the galaxy will know, too.”

Leia raises her hand to grab a faraway sphere, and it is pulled towards her. But suddenly, Gnovian raises his hand, too. And the sphere is tugged towards him. Leia notices and pulls with even greater might, so that the sphere is suspended in between her and Gnovian. But then, another figure walks in next to Gnovian. It’s Citho, and he also grabs hold of the device with the Force. And then another figure. And another. Soon, six figures have appeared to join Gnovian, and snatch the sphere away.

Citho raises his hand. Out of thin air, a plasma dagger materializes, levitating above. He strikes his hand down towards Leia, and the dagger is thrown. But she stops it in the air.

One by one, five other figures materialize daggers, and hurl them towards Leia. She stops each one, suspending them in the air. Gnovian stands by, not moving, only watching. But soon more daggers materialize, and she becomes overwhelmed. She grows weary, tired. And finally, she loses her grip, and accepts her fate. The first dagger flies into her. She clenches her teeth, not wanting to scream. A second one. A third. And one after the other, they all find their way in her. She gasps, and can hardly say a word.

Finally, at long last, Gnovian raises his hand. A dagger apparates above, but then, he pauses. “For the Resistance,” he says with pride. And then, he strikes his hand down.

Everyone is thrust back into the pitch black darkness again.

“No!” Poe screams, “Why... JUST WHY?!” All the other soldiers have lost their minds, too. Some can’t contain their anger, others have been drained of all hope.

Kylo is kneeling on the floor, his palms holding himself up with intensity. A pale terror reigns upon his face. He can hardly speak, he can hardly whisper. Serei and Hailden see him. Serei kneels down next to him, while Hailden puts his hand on Kylo’s shoulder.

The darkness is dissipating. In the next moment, everyone has found themselves transported into a mental projection of the dimly lit, royal room they just saw. Finn looks towards the entrance. And standing before them all is Gnovian, Citho, and the other five figures.

“YOU BASTARDS!” Poe shouts. He fires his blaster at them, but it goes through, hitting the walls behind them.

Kylo yells out with fury, and thrusts his hand out towards them, shaking. But nothing moves. The Force does nothing.

Merilia shouts at them, “You said she died from an illness. But you killed her!”

Citho chuckles. “It was an illness. We were slowly poisoning her. But it took far too long, so there was a change in plans.”

Gnovian curtly follows through on Citho’s words. “We could not let her expose us. All that we had ever worked for, all that was needed to achieve our new world- she wanted to take it away.”

“New world?” Finn yells at them, “When everything was crashing down around us, the Resistance gave us hope- but this whole time, it was just a lie!”

“The First Order,” Hailden coldly says to the seven figures, “It was never real.”

Citho smirks, and boasts, “A perfect plan.”

Merilia scoffs. “Perfect? Leia was going to out you all.”

Gnovian replies, “We thought we could trick her, but instead, she caught on. In secret, she had gathered nearly all the evidence needed to expose us. And then, we discovered that she had found the smoking gun. We didn’t think anyone could do it.”

Kylo glares at the seven. In a low voice, he mutters, “But that doesn’t explain it all. Unless...” His eyes widen. Inside, the pain boils so intensely. He’s unable to control himself anymore, and yells out, “THIS WHOLE TIME!” He runs towards the seven, igniting his lightsaber, prepared to slash at all of them with every inch of his soul. But just as he is about to get to them, the entire scene becomes distorted, and everyone is thrown back into the pitch black darkness. Kylo is knocked down to the ground, rendered unconscious. The seven figures still stand before them, joining them in this non-physical realm.

And then, there is a sudden emergence. It wakes Kylo up, and still on the ground, he opens his eyes. Sandals. A robe. He looks above, and towering above all that stand in the darkness, he sees that ghastly man.

Snoke.

“You faked your own death!” Kylo seethes at him.

The deformed tyrant chuckles, “So now you know the truth, Skywalker. I will tell you all the rest. Some of you may understand. Some of you will realize I have been in the right the whole time.”

He continues, his voice booming now: “I orchestrated the events that would lead to the rise of the First Order! I foresaw that a Resistance would rise in response. Those who were devoted to our cause infiltrated these movements from within, ascertained everything went as I had wanted, and waited to take over when the time was right. Unfortunately, I could not stop Leia from joining as one of its main founders.”

Finn yells at him, “Why did you do it? For power? Greed?”

Snoke laughs. “No. To unite the galaxy. The New Republic was a failed system. It had allowed in-fighting to plague the galaxy, it had dissolved trust and camaraderie with the societies it had vowed to keep safe.”

“You underestimate the people,” Poe tells Snoke in defiance, “You can’t unite everyone. There will always be a rebel!”

“You are the ones who underestimate my power! You cannot fathom the strength that is growing in me. Rituals to drain wills- they are nearly within my grasp. To make those who wish to rebel see the error of their ways. To outcast them, to let them join society only if they comply. For it is far better to be at peace than to fight.”

“I don’t get it,” Finn mutters, “If you have such a power, why did you have to get everyone to trust in the Resistance? In the Neo Republic?”

“Because the rituals will only work when the Force is broken down. The Force wills itself into cyclical patterns. It carries them out by puppeteering all things- even the trees and the rocks. To usher in a new era of patterns, the old must be destroyed. Trick it into its old routine, but let it flow into the wrong bodies. Confuse it into creating wars it was never supposed to create. Eventually, it lose its sense of control. Like domesticating a wild animal!”

Merilia thinks for a moment, and then says, “It’s driven by belief. You disguised yourself as the Force. As the dark, and the light. So that whenever others look for the light and see the Neo Republic, it wouldn’t be the real Force- it would be you, instead.”

“Yes, YES! I am the galaxy’s new savior! The new will of the Force! The old Force was flawed; it empowered the misguided, the cruel. Because of it, all hope had nearly been lost forever.”

Hailden realizes what he means. “Luke Skywalker had failed.”

Snoke grins. “I had to destroy the Skywalker name to get the people to turn towards ME. Well, it wasn’t hard; the Skywalkers had already done most of the work themselves. But I found the perfect, finishing blow. One who was already torn by the darkness within. You, my ‘young apprentice.’ You would be the one to prove that the Skywalkers could not be trusted with their power.”

“You used me,” Kylo hushes in a low voice.

“The First Order was always meant to lose,” Hailden remarks.

Snoke, filled with pride, answers, “Yes. I could not micromanage every aspect of this massive organization. But its fate is well under my control. And I have planned it so that the entire galaxy will eventually turn against it and its unforgivable crimes, and support the Neo Republic.”

And then, Kylo realizes there is something amiss. An even greater secret was being kept hidden. His face grows blank, and he looks straight at Snoke. “You used us.”

Snoke raises his brow at Kylo. “So. You know.”

Finn senses something is wrong, too “Us?” he shouts at Kylo, “Who?”

Kylo whispers, “Rey.”

Snoke glares at him. “I did no such thing.”

“She believed in you!” Kylo yells back.

“And so I protected her!”

With his suspicions now confirmed, the truth dawns on Kylo. “The Force. It was never the one that came to us in our time of need. It was you.”

Finn’s eyes widen. He remembers what Rey had told him about Jakku.

Snoke snarls at everyone standing before him. Kylo continues, “Snoke was never real. Who are you, really? Show yourself!”

Snoke begins to sink down, his head falling, his arms dropping. The soldiers clamor and gasp, but Gnovian, Citho and the five figures stand steadfast and motionless. And then, there is a sudden shatter. Snoke’s chest is broken open, but nothing can be seen inside. His neck and skull crack apart, and the pieces begin to tumble down. Finn can only stare in awe and fear at this shattering doll. And finally, every piece has fallen to the ground. Standing before them all is a tall, middle aged human male, royally dressed, with a sharp, pointed face and a rugged beard. “My name is Alstaire,” he proclaims. “Alstaire Obsidian.”

From the shadows, out steps a tall, middle aged human female with kind, caring eyes. “And I am Kiyla.” Two other figures appear but wait in the shadows.

Kylo shouts at them, “Every time I was alone. Every time I wished for someone to be there. I thought it had its own soul. But it wasn’t the Force I saw. You were the ones who came to me.”

Kiyla gently replies, “We needed to get you to believe. So you could trust us.”

“So you could manipulate me! Why us?” Kylo growls.

Alstaire booms, “It was an unforeseen consequence of the rituals we used to imbue our Chosen ones with the Force. The Chosen would lead our new world, and be the saviors that people pray to. But our Chosen did not receive it. The Force had tried to escape, running towards whomever it could find, with no reason in particular. It found her, and the other children. But it was too much for your young minds to handle. Children need hope, they need protection! We gave that to you!”

Kylo steps back, “I knew it. It wasn’t just me and Rey. But the others, too.”

Alstaire says, “You met them on the bridges we had summoned, that we used to interact with each being’s connection to the Force. We did not know you children found a way to sneak into them. It is hard to restrict access to bridges, but we are getting stronger at doing so at every passing moment.”

Kiyla looks at Kylo with sincere sorrow, and says, “We wanted to help you all. We saw there was great potential in all of you, and we wanted to nurture it. But the others were too afraid, too doubtful. They could not handle the power gifted to them.”

“What did you do?” Kylo whispers, and his voice grows louder, angrier, “What did you do to them?”

Kiyla softly tells him, “Now they smile all day, and are at peace.”

“Smile all day? It can’t be...” Kylo, reaching deep into his connection to the Force, realizes the truth. “I know what happened. They couldn’t handle the Force, so the only way to save them was by severing their connection to it. But you cut in too deep. You erased their minds. They don’t even think anymore!”

Alstaire steps in, and says, “We deeply regret it. But... there was one girl who could handle it. From the moment we met her, we believed she could. Out of all the children, she believed in us the strongest, never wavering.”

“You used her. She’s nothing more than your pawn, your figurehead!” Kylo shouts.

“We gave everything for her! She was a nobody, abandoned by her junk trader parents. And now she has hope. She has meaning. She has guidance!”

“Guidance?” Kylo shouts. And then, he whispers, “Guidance.” He tells Alstaire, “You couldn’t control the rituals. You don’t know how to manipulate everything the way you want. You’re all in over your heads. The Force has spiraled out of your reach and that’s what’s causing all the disruptions.”

“Yes,” Alstaire admits, and then asserts, “But with every passing moment, we are improving.”

Kylo scoffs. “By the time you realize it, the universe will have torn itself apart.”

Alstaire booms at him in anger, “Luke had already done that himself! He came back to his home, promising that he would save its children from those native scoundrels. When nearly all of our people rejected his message, we were the only ones who stood up for him. But that whole time, we had been lied to. He was a madman, blindly devoted to that hopeless ideal. Do you know what it’s like to lose your future? To hear the younglings’ screams, begging for mercy?”

Hailden shuts his eyes. In a austere tone, he says, “You lost someone.”

Kiyla quickly whispers, in despair, “He couldn’t save her.”

“That’s why we had to get him to realize what he had done,” Alstaire coldly says, “To punish him for his mistakes.”

Finn, puzzled, asks, “What did you do?”

Alstaire replies, “To enact the rituals, we needed to tear the Skywalkers from the Force. We went to him, asking him why he couldn’t save her. Ashamed and guilted, he let us into his world. And slowly, we were able to bring him down. Just as he had done to us.”

“He trusted you,” Merilia whispers, “You took advantage of that trust.”

“That blind trust is what had hurt us. He needed to feel just how torturous its consequences can be. But in our new world, we will not make the same mistakes.”

Poe steps in. “People like me will never agree with your new world.”

“That’s why we needed the war,” Alstaire counters.

“A fake one,” Serei scoffs, “The only way you can get people on your side is by tricking them.”

“People are too short sighted to see the big picture. They don’t know what’s good for them. Sometimes, the only way to get a child to take their medicine is by hiding it in their food.”

Serei raises a brow at him. “So you think of us as children? Man, you guys got some issues.”

The former Resistance fighters poise themselves up against the Watchers. Without a single shred of doubt, they are prepared to fight against their new enemy. Nothing that Alstaire says can sway them. He sighs. He looks towards Kiyla, who nods. Alstaire then looks at Kylo, “I was there for you when no one else was. I felt how much you hated Luke. We will be able to bring him down.”

Kylo refutes them. “You’re right, I do hate him. But I hate you all even more.”

“We had hoped one of you would understand. But now, you leave us with no choice.” Alstaire’s voice reverberates outwards. “You will become enemies of the entire galaxy.”

Finn counters him. “Once they see what Leia had found, they’ll join us against you. We’ll expose the truth!”

Alstaire roars a mighty laugh. “You still underestimate our powers!” Kiyla reaches out towards Finn, and Finn chokes. Above his chest, the spherical artifact apparates. The others rush to stop her, but she pushes them out of the way. However, Kylo is able to hold on, as he is slowly being dragged towards the spherical artifact, as if it had its own gravitational pull.

“What?” Alstaire snarls, “How are you doing this?”

“I feel the resonance of it,” Kylo says, his mouth agape in amazement, “I know it. My mother.”

Kiyla turns to Alstaire and says, “That artifact’s protection spell must be have a special connection to the Skywalker blood!”

Kylo is snapped into the artifact, and he gasps. Finn is released and he catches his breath. Kylo looks towards his chest and places his hands all around, confused as to what just happened. And then, it dawns on him.

“I feel it inside me.”

“Then get it out!” Finn yells at him.

Kiyla speaks, “The artifact is now sealed within him. He has the power to show it to others, but now there are only two ways to take it from him. If he willingly sacrifices his own life, or if he is killed by one whom he loves.”

Kylo stares at her, dread descending upon him. Kiyla continues, “If he is killed any other way, no one can predict where the artifact will apparte in the galaxy.”

Finn looks at Kylo, and says, “Hey. We can’t let them win. You have to come with us.”

Kylo looks around him. At Finn. At Poe. At the entire Resistance. There is not a single drop within him that cares for them. To him, they are nothing.

Alstaire laughs. “Ah, killed by a loved one. Yes, I sense it. I know. She is the one.”

Kylo growls at him, “She will never join you!”

Alstaire laughs even harder. “You cannot escape the Resistance. We will get the entire galaxy to hunt you down. Unless you want them to kill you, you will be forced to fight back. And she will see that you have chosen yourself over innocents. She will turn on you!”

Kylo yells back, “You’re wrong. You know nothing of Rey!”

Finn is surprised. He looks at Poe, who is also in shock. He thinks to himself: Rey, and Kylo?

Kiyla shakes her head. “No, you are the one who doesn’t know how much all this means to her. The hope that we have given her is the only thing keeping her happy. You can’t ever tell her the truth. If she finds out, she’d be devastated.”

Kylo wants to refute her, but he can’t speak. He tries to deny it. But deep down, her words pierce at him. Could Kiyla be right?

Finn shouts back, “I don’t know what any of you want with Rey, but she doesn’t deserve to be caught up in any of this!”

“Rey knows we care for her,” Alstaire says coolly. “She gave us this gift by her own free will.” Before him apparates a ruby cube.

“A soul artifact!” Finn exclaims. “She couldn’t have...”

Alstaire smiles. “Its power... you cannot even comprehend it.” He clenches his fist and shatters the ruby cube. A red mist seeps out, and disappears.

“What did you just do?” Finn yells.

“Now, no matter what you say, no matter what evidence you present, no matter how much you plead to anyone, even the ones who love you, if they have even a hint of doubt, they will never believe you!”

Kiyla continues speaking for Alstaire, “Anyone who has not yet seen what is inside the spherical artifact will now doubt it. And over time, paranoia and distrust will be inflicted upon the galaxy. There will be only one that they will never doubt: the Neo Republic.”

The Watchers begin to fade away. “Hey!” Finn runs after them and yells, “I’m not done talking to you!”

He looks towards Kylo, who is fading away too. “Poe! We can’t let them get to Kylo! We gotta protect him.” Kylo glares at him, looking down on someone he sees as inferior. But he knows there is no other choice.

Poe, with great reluctance, nods. “We won’t let them win.”

The former Resistance fighters fade from the pitch black darkness. They find themselves back in the physical world, in the looming dome of the hangar bay. The seven figures are gone, and so are the First Order generals and the Watchers. But suddenly, an alarm blares out.

“ALL UNITS, THERE ARE TRAITORS IN THE BASE. GET TO YOUR POSITIONS AND CAPTURE THEM.”