"This planet is crying. She's wounded."
Pressed up against the viewport of the Kom'rk, Ralkai Wren stared at the violent lightning and storms raging through the upper atmosphere, then at the bottomless fissures cutting across the surface below, and murmured the words under his breath.
"Another fine piece of Sith handiwork." Max Vizsla kept his hands on the controls as he answered. "Long, long ago, Exegol was fertile land."
"Can you heal her?" Ralkai asked, turning his head.
"I can try. But I'm afraid my will may exceed my power."
"Can I help?" Ralkai asked again.
"We can try."
The Kom'rk settled smoothly onto the floor of a deep chasm. The hatch opened, and three Mandalorians stepped out.
"That fortress up ahead..." Ralkai shivered. "It's really creepy."
Looking at the grim, clawing silhouette of the ancient fortress before them, Max's expression grew exceedingly grave.
"This is a Sith citadel—one of the oldest and most malevolent creations ever wrought by the Sith."
"Chief..." Christopher Wren hesitated.
"You sensed danger?"
"No. I haven't foreseen any specific danger." Christopher Wren shook his head. "But this place leaves me deeply uneasy. More than that—almost afraid."
"The Force guided me here, and it seems to want me to uncover the mysteries of this place." Inside his helmet, Max's brow had tightened into a hard frown. "But something feels wrong."
"The will of the dark side?" Christopher Wren asked.
"Very likely. The secret hidden on Exegol is the secret of immortality. And immortality..." Max let out a dry laugh. "That has been the eternal pursuit of the Sith through all ages."
"Immortality?" Ralkai Wren scratched his head. "Is it really that tempting?"
Max reached out as if to ruffle the boy's hair, then remembered the iron gauntlet on his hand and changed the motion into a gentle touch delivered through the Force instead.
"That depends on who you ask. Across all directions and through all time, countless heroes and mighty figures have driven themselves mad chasing immortality."
"Chief, do you want to chase it?" Ralkai asked, tilting his head up curiously. "Father says you're a great hero of the Mandalorians."
"At the moment? Definitely not. Every last one of those great figures who chased immortality ended badly in the end. I've no desire to follow in their footsteps." He paused, then added, "Though once I grow old... who knows."
"Why?" Ralkai pressed. "Because you're afraid you'll go senile?"
"Mm." Max nodded emphatically. "A great many famous figures ruined their final years precisely because they went senile."
As they spoke, the three of them drew closer and closer to the citadel.
At the entrance, Max halted and spoke in a serious tone.
"Whether it's the will of the dark side or the will of the light, if it is the will of the Force, then we should give it at least that much respect. So let's go inside and explore. But if any one of us senses danger, we all withdraw immediately. Understood?"
"Understood!" // "Understood!"
Once inside the citadel, all they saw was desolation and decay. Several towering statues lay toppled nearby, though it was impossible to say what beings they had once represented.
"Chief," Ralkai asked, shrinking in on himself a little, "are there Sith in here?"
"Keep your lightsaber pistol ready. If a Sith shows her face, send her on."
"Her?" Ralkai caught the important part at once. "A female Sith?"
"Mm." Max studied the ruins around them as he explained. "The Sith Lord Darth Noctyss pursued immortality here and, in the end, transformed herself into an unspeakable monster."
Ralkai instinctively tightened his grip on the Model B lightsaber pistol and asked nervously, "Was she powerful?"
"She was, once. With her scythe-shaped lightsaber, she carved a crimson road of destruction, annihilated the civilization of Ivis, and ruled the entire Inner Rim."
Max began recounting to the father and son the tale he had read before coming to this galaxy, from the canon short story collection Dark Legends.
"Later, in pursuit of eternal dominion, Darth Noctyss set out on her quest for immortality..."
"Then tell me, traveler from another world," a woman's voice suddenly sounded in Max's mind, "do you truly not desire immortality?"
Snap-hiss!
Max ignited his lightsaber and shouted a warning.
"Careful!"
"The life force in those two is strong. They could help you complete the final rite I failed to finish." Hooded Darth Noctyss stepped out from behind one of the fallen statues. "As you can see, I came closer to success than Darth Sanguis. With my knowledge—and those two superior specimens—you could truly succeed."
It's an apparition.
Max deactivated his lightsaber, sat down cross-legged on the spot, and began reciting the Heart Sutra.
"Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, when practicing deeply the Perfection of Wisdom, clearly saw that the five aggregates are all empty, and thus crossed beyond all suffering and affliction."
"Ky Narec and Asajj Ventress spent fifteen years and still failed to unify Rattatak," Darth Noctyss said as she walked closer. "And you, my great hero—you want to restore Mandalore, unify the galaxy, and bring balance to the Force. Is a lifespan of one hundred years enough for that?"
"Śāriputra, form does not differ from emptiness, and emptiness does not differ from form. Form itself is emptiness, emptiness itself is form. The same is true of feeling, perception, volition, and consciousness. Śāriputra, all dharmas bear the mark of emptiness: they are neither born nor destroyed, neither stained nor pure, neither increased nor diminished."
Max continued reciting as if he had heard nothing.
"Oh, come now." Darth Noctyss stopped before him. "You and I both know there is no Avalokiteśvara in this world."
"...Therefore, know that Prajñāpāramitā is the great transcendent mantra, the great bright mantra, the supreme mantra, the unequaled mantra, able to remove all suffering. It is true and not false. Therefore the mantra of the Perfection of Wisdom is spoken thus: Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha."
After reciting it through once, Max opened his eyes.
"What's the matter?" Darth Noctyss smiled. "Giving up already?"
"You're not Darth Noctyss." Max smiled back. "You're nothing more than a product of my own consciousness after being tainted by the dark side of the Force."
"An interesting idea." Darth Noctyss reached out and lifted Max's chin with her fingers. "But you aren't certain of it. That's why you're probing."
Smack.
Max slapped her hand away.
"I'm certain now."
"Really? I don't believe you." The smile on Darth Noctyss's face deepened as she watched Max's hand move toward his belt. "What is it? You suspect I have physical form, so you want to settle this by force?"
Snap-hiss!
-
-
-
-
STAR WARS: THE RISE OF MANDALORE
🛡️🔥 STAR WARS: THE RISE OF MANDALORE 🔥🛡️
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📢 FOR MANDALORE! 📢
Star Wars: The Rise of Mandalore has 100+ chapters ahead available on Patreon! 🌌🔥
Witness the resurgence of Mandalorian power before the public release.
In a galaxy filled with war, betrayal, ancient grudges, and rising factions…
🛡️ Mandalore will not remain silent.⚔️ The armor remembers.🔥 The clans will rise.
If you want Mandalorian honor, galactic conflict, brutal battles, and the return of a legendary people…
This is the way.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🛑 ALSO AVAILABLE ON PATREON:
🌃 Cyberpunk: Dogtown Legend🔥 Cyberpunk: The Relentless👩👦 Cyberpunk: Lucy Adopted Me and I Got a System🧠 My Cyberpunk 2077 Simulator🤖 My Girlfriend's a Cyberpsycho—Who Knew?🌌 Star Wars: Relics of the Past🏰 Game of Thrones: Secrets Beneath the Dreadfort⚡ The Rebirth of Harry Potter🌹 R18: Reincarnated in Her World
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🔗 Patreon: www.patreon.com/c/MrMagnus👤 Patreon Name: SrMagnus🐦 X / Twitter: https://x.com/SrMagnusBook
⚠️ The novel with the most Power Stones rises first!
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━