Down in the deepest chasm, the Infinity Gate was activated, revealing its incredible technological might. Combining the Force with technology, Primus had indeed created a way to travel all over the universe at any moment and whenever or wherever he pleased. Using this, the Rakata could rule across space and time, with limitless resources at their disposal.
"Behold the Universe!" Skal'nas roared.
"Shae! Surrender, or you will die here! The gate is open! There is nothing you can do to stop Skal'nas now!" Xesh shouted.
"No. I can't stop him. All I can do is forgive you, Tau, without condition. Forgive not only what you have done to me, but to others. And hope you can forgive yourself. That is what it means to love someone."
Before Xesh could make a decision, Skal'nas struck Shae down using Force lightning.
"Must I do your work, Hound?" He asked. "That Je'daii creature was a fool. You are a Force Hound, servant of the Dark! Look within yourself to see the truth! Love is nothing. Love is a lie! Power is everything! With the gate at my command, I am power! My Rakatan Empire will truly be infinite! Everyone else will be either a slave like you or dead like her."
Seeing his love lying on the ground, Xesh finally snapped and attacked the Predor.
"You are meat!" He shouted.
"Disloyal whelp! Traitor! I will give you the ending all traitors deserve, Hound. Death!"
.
Meanwhile, deep within Anil Kesh, Tasha grabbed the holocron and floated above the chasm, where the energy flowed most intensely.
[Act now, girl. Or it will be too late.]
"Yes."
She jumped into the air above the chasm, bathing in the energy and preparing for what was to come. She reconnected with the Force and was ecstatic.
"Ters! Can you feel it? Primus spoke the truth! I am one with the Force again, one with Tython, one with the Tho Yor... I now understand why Primus created the Tho Yor, and--"
"ARRHH!"
A deep red blade pierced Ters from behind. A wave of the foulest, darkest energy washed over Tasha and Ters, and in the next moment, his mind was overwhelmed, plunged into darkness, and absorbed.
"NOO!"
Tasha screamed in pain as she felt the being who had just killed her lover and radiated the most evil aura she had ever felt. The force saber looked like molten lava and even seemed to drip Dark Side energy.
"I'm afraid I must interrupt this process here," the creature said.
The Kwa version of Primus in the holocron tilted his head.
[A Veriteran? What are you doing here? And why are you so far plunged into the dark side?]
"A... Veriteran?" Tasha exclaimed in shock.
It was true, the person standing there was indeed one of the Veriterans, children of Primus and the Force in a sense. He, like all his brothers and sisters, was a humanoid whose eyes shone in the colour of their current emotion. But unlike his brothers and sisters, his eyes were deep red. His presence in the Force was so oppressive that Tasha had a hard time breathing. And it got worse.
"Would you be so kind as to come over here?" the Veriteran said.
Tasha was Force-choked, feeling as though millions of needles were piercing her neck and was pulled out of the energy above the chasm. Slowly, the Veriteran choked the life out of her, with a savage smile on his face.
"I'll be taking this holocron, thank you, dear," he said.
Then he clenched his fist and crushed Tasha's body, squeezing the life out of her. He took a deep breath and inhaled Tasha's essence. His eyes shone greatly as he did that, and his power pulsed momentarily.
"Now, then. Shall we?" he asked the holocron.
He took Tasha's place and, drawing on the holocron's and his own energy, awakened the Tho Yor. Massive amounts of energy were released from the temple of Anil Kesh. Each energy wave spread from Anil Kesh to every other Tho Yor, across Tython, connecting them. As a result, the Tho Yor were weaponised and used as massive cannons.
In another timeline, this would have been used to destroy all the starfighters and ships of the Infinite Empire, effectively ending the war, but not this time. This time, it was used to achieve the opposite purpose.
The orange energy beams of light, fired from various ports on the surface of the Tho Yor, turned against the Je'daii vessels all across the Tython System and allowed total invasion of the Rakatan Infinite Empire.
Seeing the result of his actions, the Veriteran smiled.
"All according to plan," he said. "Now, let's see what my little apprentice does."
.
Right at the Infinity Gate, Rakatan Predor Skal'nas was fighting the former Force Hound Xesh. And it wasn't looking good. Xesh used the anger he felt towards the being who he thought had killed his love. But the Predor was well versed in the use of the Dark Side and was not only keeping up with him, but slowly overwhelming him with experience.
That was until Daegon Lok stirred and pushed himself up. Shae appeared to help him when he touched her. He reached out and absorbed her vitality and energy from her, healing his wound.
"Argh, what ar-e... you..."
"Sorry about that, Shae. But I need to get back in there," Lok grinned.
So while Shae fell to her knees in weakness, Lok stood back up, grabbed a Force Saber and charged back in. He attacked Skal'nas, using all of the training he had up to this point. His master had contacted him and told him that it was time. If he wanted to prove his worth, he would have to do it now.
Greatness, glory and power awaited Daegon Lok should he succeed here. The Infinity Gate, so his Master had told him, was the true reason for all of this. The arrival of the Rakatan and the reason why he acted all weak and pathetic in front of others was all for this moment. To have the Predor come here and activate the Infinity Gate.
Lok's Master hadn't told him why they needed the Rakatan and why he couldn't do it himself, but he didn't ask questions. His master's power was absolute, and he knew he wanted that. He would have to prove himself worthy of such power.
Working with Xesh, Lok overwhelmed Skal'nas using the power of the Force. He fired Force lightning at the Predor, applying all of his accumulated hatred into it and slashed his Force saber through the Rakatan's stomach.
"GYAAAAH!"
The Predor was finally defeated and fell through the Infinity Gate. Xesh stood next to Lok, breathing hard and looking at the disappearing corpse of Skal'nas as he fell through infinity and landed somewhere in the universe.
*VRROOOOOOM*
"KAAK...kkk..."
"Why...?" Xesh asked.
Lok looked at him with an evil smile on his face, as he pierced Xesh with his Force saber. Another part of his plan. He had to get rid of all who saw the Infinity Gate.
"Your services are no longer used, slave."
"NOOOO!! TAU!" Shae shouted in anguish.
Lok blocked her weak strike and slashed her arm. The attack forced her to let go of the Force saber and disarm her. Daegon Lok grinned and grabbed her face, bringing it closer to his own. He stared into her eyes.
"Such fire... how desirable," he said and forcefully kissed her.
As he did so, he imprinted her mind with the hidden seal he had implanted earlier when he merely showed her the way to bypass the barrier.
"We won, Shae. Can you see?"
Shae tried to fight it, but her mind was slowly being forced into obedience and slavery. She was losing her free will. This could only work since she hadn't used her power to force Lok out of her mind when she had the chance. The situation required her to know the way past the barrier. Lok had manipulated and used her from the very beginning.
"The Infinity Gate is active and usable for us. The Rakata are about to die when my master chooses, and the Je'daii are split and ready to change their ways. Do you think we are safe? I doubt it. Flesh Raiders and Sub-Predors are still around and roam Tython. I have been shown the truth, the way to greater heights in the use of the Force."
"Urhhh... nnngg..."
"The Supreme Grandmaster is weak. He has been lying to us all. The truth is to embrace your desires and break the shackles that bind us, like morality. Those with power can do whatever they want; just look at the Supreme Grandmaster. He has founded the Je'daii Order simply because he is powerful, and we take it as a fact. But I won't any longer. I will take power into my own hands and carve a way through blood."
He looked at Shae, who was just about fully gone at this point.
"And you will join me."
The darkness in the chasm grew, and from it, the same Veriteran walked out who had killed two Je'daii before. Feeling his arrival, Lok immediately knelt on the ground.
"Greetings, Master. I wasn't aware that you would arrive at this time," he said.
"Ahh, my apprentice. You have done well. It seems that our prize is finally within reach."
"Yes, Master."
"However..." the Veriteran looked thoughtful.
"What is it, Master? Is something still missing?" Lok asked.
"There is indeed something missing. Can't you feel it? The great disturbance in the air? Tython is changing according to the reigning power base on the planet. I have delayed the Supreme Grandmaster as long as I could, but he will be here shortly. If you truly want to prove your worth, you will ahve ot take back the planet from the Rakata who still linger there and become the hero you were always meant to be."
"Then I shall destroy all the remaining Rakata, my Master."
But the Veriteran held up his hand.
"Not so fast, my eager apprentice. This doesn't just require a fight against the Rakata, but against the very corrupt system of the Je'daii Order itself."
"What do you mean, Master?"
"You need to purge those among the Je'daii who stand in your way. In the way of the true path in the Force. Ashla is weak and has to be eradicated. Those who strictly follow the light need to die, and those weaklings who can't choose sides and remain 'balanced' too."
"You mean... kill all my friends... those who were close to me and fought beside me...?" Lok asked.
"Indeed. All of them. Every single Je'daii not embracing the Dark Side, including your friends, is now an enemy."
"..."
"Do what must be done, Daegon Lok. Do not hesitate, show no mercy."
"Yes, my Master."
.
What followed this could only be described as the saddest chapter in the history of the Je'daii—the most tragic, and maybe the last. Daegon Lok, on his quest to eliminate the weakness from the Je'daii Order and replace it with strength and followers of the Dark Side, launched his attacks and gathered like-minded people.
With Shae at his side, he used the power of the Infinity Gate to gather resources and manpower. The Froce Wars had entered their final and most brutal stage. Faced with this large and dangerous force of Dark Side users, those who always had their concerns about the balance and the fact that they had to touch Bogan, created a new faction of purely light side users.
A tiny group remained unwilling to join either of the other two groups. They trusted in the power and foresight of the Supreme Grandmaster, despite what they had seen up to this point.
And finally, the time had come.
"ENOUGH!"
A deep voice rang in everyone's minds, rattling their brains and eroding their confidence. They felt physical and spiritual pain, holding both their heads and chests and screaming out. Daegon Lok was one of the most affected by this. His alignment had shifted further toward the darkness his master had taught him for years, and for some reason, he felt its effect most.
But the Rakata were hit hard as well. The Sub-Predors got the most out of all of his species, since they were the ones who were the strongest in the Dark Side.
That was when he appeared, the one who had founded the Je'daii, the Listener, the one who communicated with the Force first, Primus. His mere presence rippled through the Force and suppressed those around him. His most casual look sent shivers down the spine of the Rakata and made Daegon Lok piss himself.
"Finally... you are here," Daegon Lok said.
"Indeed. I'm here," Primus said.
He looked around, feeling the state Tython was in. The time spent in the Dark Side of the Force, the trap set had cost him a lot. The Je'daii were now irreparably fractured, and while that wasn't what Primus wanted initially, it was what it was, and he would make do.
Everyone had chosen their position in this debate, and that was all Primus needed to know.
Daegon Lok charged forward, using all of his power and slashed at Primus. He still remembered the first time he attacked Primus during his time as an undercover agent on the Despot Queen's side. That time, he had been dismantled and utterly defeated. But this time, he was sure that things were different. He had grown immensely powerful.
His eyes were wide in shock, however. All of his movement ceased at once, before he could touch Primus. The Supreme Grandmaster looked at Lok and shook his head in disappointment.
"Pathet--"
Before he could say anything, Daegon Lok exploded!
*BBBBRROOOOOOMMMMMMM*
A monstrous explosion interrupted Primus. The Force had warned him late this time, being interrupted by a dark influence. The body of Daegon Lok had imploded with such power that it could have blown up a continent without a problem. And it had detonated in Primus' face.
Thanks to his immense power, though, he managed to reduce the damage. However, he realised that those around him and Tython would suffer through this and used the Force to contain the blast, suffering great damage instead.
"Haa... turning your apprentice into a bomb... really, Dakor?"
"Hehehe, what can I say, I like to play the long game... father."
The Veriteran stepped through the crowd, dropping his illusion and standing a distance away from Primus. The Supreme Grandmaster had suffered great wounds; his entire right side was badly burned and charred, with only one arm remaining. But he was slowly healing. Far slower than he should have, though. Something Primus noted.
"All this for what?" Primus asked.
"Isn't that obvious? For power. You yourself taught us that we had to find our way forward. That each one of us had to realise the path to greater understanding. And I have found mine," Dakor said.
"By orchestrating all of this? Taking a mentally damaged man as your apprentice, teaching him the dark and twisted lies and half-truths, making him your willing slave and using the Rakata to wage war?"
"How did you like my trap on Rakata Prime?" Dakor grinned.
"That was quite clever. But also incredibly stupid. You should have calculated that I would get out," Primus said.
"Oh, I did. But I also knew that you wouldn't harm mother and that would give me more than enough time to accomplish what I needed on Tython."
"The Infinity Gate."
"Bingo! You got it."
"Why do you need it? The galaxy is open to you and your brothers and sisters. You know that it's worthless, and I can close it whenever I choose."
"I know that as well. But it was a means to another end," Dakor revealed. "My true magnum opus, within another magnum opus, if you will."
"And what could that be?" Primus asked.
Dakor pointed his finger at his father.
"You."
No one said anything. The tension was thick, rising steadily. One of the most powerful species in the galaxy, if not the most powerful species, the Veriteran's weren't supposed to pick sides. Primus knew that this might happen at some point, and since the Force hadn't warned him about it specifically, he didn't bother about it. He taught each of them all they needed to stand on their own two feet. But to see one of his children descend this far into a dark hole was hurtful for Primus.
"I always told you that there was almost nothing that you children could do. But among the greatest ones was that I forbade you ever to take something from your mother forcefully," Primus said.
"Eh, what does it matter now. I did what I did to rise and grow further. I did what you taught us, or what you failed to teach us. You deliberately hid the power one gains by committing to one side. But I figured it out. And now, here we are."
"What gives you the confidence to stand before me like this, son?" Primus asked, feeling that there was a great trap all around.
His danger sense was warning him greatly. And that meant something. Normally, that shouldn't happen considering Primus' power.
"Hehehe... the reason I needed the Infinity Gate was for the limitless amounts of energy it provided," Dakor revealed.
Primus narrowed his eyes. He sensed deep within the chasm and understood what Dakor had done.
"NO!"
But it was too late, Dakor snapped his fingers and detonated the powerful Force-enhanced charges he had placed around the Infinity Gate. The charges detonated, ripping the hinges that held the Infinity Gate together. This caused a chain reaction. The infinite energy contained through space-time that the Infinity Gate could access poured through. But at the same time, the gate's powerful suction force started to pull everything in.
The Infinity Gate acted like a black and white hole at the same time. Realising what was going on, Primus spread his arms and used all of his power at once. His monstrously immense power surged outwards and enveloped the entire planet of Tython. Each little grain, each atom that made up the planet and the people on it, was stabilised and protected, while the black and white holes were contained and also stabilised, preventing the destruction.
"Hahahahahahahaha... Oh. My. Force. You truly are powerful, Father. To think that you could truly do this."
Dakor laughed at the outrageous spectacle he was witnessing.
"This is perfect. I was hoping you'd do this, Father. This was the goal from the start. Allow me to introduce the final act of my plan."
Faced with the task of holding everything together, Primus couldn't do anything about what happened. All of the Rakata on the planet, no matter where they were, suddenly turned into flesh and blood. They were crushed by Dakor's use of the Force, and their blood spilt on the ground.
The blood started to move in very specific patterns on the ground, until it looked as though they were huge runes on the ground. As soon as all of the flesh and blood had been placed correctly, the runes started to shine with red lightning. The lightning penetrated Tythong and flowed into the waiting palm of Dakor.
The lightning condensed further and further, growing larger and then shaping itself into a lightning spear, made of pure Dark Side energy, malicious intent, and decaying thoughts.
"I knew that for me to reach the pinnacle and surpass you, you had to go, Father. It took me millennia to come up with this plan. An unimaginable time of planning and very little influence on people's thoughts and decisions. I did what I could and worked harder than anyone. And now it is finally here. The moment I have been waiting for my entire life."
The bloody lightning, which looked like it phased in and out of a state of liquid and plasma, had reached its most potent and deadly state.
"This is the accumulation of my research into the Dark Side of the Force. Force alchemy, Force lightning, Force drain, Force rituals, the Thought Bomb... the power over life and death at my fingertips. With this, I will sever your connection to the Force and finally put an end to your immortal existence!"
Dakor shouted and threw the lightning bolt at Primus, who had been forced to watch and take the bolt head-on. If he had dodged, the bolt would have detonated and killed everyone and everything in this quadrant of the galaxy.
But who was Primus?
The lightning hit him and started affecting him right away. He realised that his son hadn't bluffed at all. This was far more powerful than a regular Thought Bomb, and it almost immediately eroded his body. All that kept him together was his use of the Force and his unbreakable will, which refused to let his work go to waste.
And to everyone's confusion, he started to laugh.
"Ha... hahaha... HAHAHAHAAHAHAHA!!"
"Wha- Why are you laughing?!" Dakor shouted in surprise and anger. "And why aren't you dead already??!"
"How magnificent, son. To think that you would lose yourself to such a degree, but then come up with a magnificent move like this. I am almost proud."
Primus' voice sounded above the shrieking sound of the lightning that continued to grow as it fed off Primus' energy.
However, Primus suddenly stopped laughing and looked more serious than his children had ever seen.
"That's almost. You took something from your mother. I warned you never to do that. You harmed her and hurt her, and that's something I will never forgive."
Primus' power surged suddenly. He switched from moderate effort to maximum effort, using his own life in exchange for achieving what he wanted. Primus fully absorbed the red lightning, and he rose in the air. He looked down on Dakor.
"I will take from you what you love most. You will never use the Force again, and I strip away your eternal life. You shall wander the remainder of your days as a mortal."
"No! NOOOOOOOO!!"
Primus used all of his power and sacrificed his life to settle everything on Tython. Those who had chosen either the Light or the Dark Side were banished from the Tython System. The damage done by the Infinity Gate was repaired, and the gate itself was shut off. Then a large, system-wide illusion settled over Tython and blocked it from outsiders in the far future. Primus started to dissolve slowly.
"If you wish to defeat me... train for another 1 million years..."
With that, Primus finally died.