((Why is everyone killing me? ))
Javir's words were striking a cord with Varik. Did he really kill him for the good of Onderon? As much as he told himself, maybe Javir was right. Maybe it was just excuses he made to cover up the fact he slew him.
Varik snarled. He was trying to trick him. "You snake. There was no other option! If you had been jailed you'd have been free within weeks!"
"And what if I wasn't jailed? Did you ever think of that?", he shot back. "If I was found guilty of treason I would have been executed. Or did that little detail slip your mind?"
Varik froze. That little detail did slip his mind! He never thought of that.
"No, you're lying. That wouldn't have happened. You would have covered your tracks. Many of the politicians who were sided with with Republic strongly were already dead. You would have... you would have gotten a lesser sentence. You had too much pull. What if you weren't found guilty? You would've found a way to...", he stammered.
"You acted without thinking of the consequences, or what could have been! You murdered me out of your misguided crusade of revenge!"
"It was not revenge, it was vengeance!", Varik exhaled. "You took everything from me, Javir. My family, my home, and even my planet. And for that, there could be no quarter."
His surroundings changed, and suddenly they were in a large estate. The floor was littered with the bodies of Javir's personal guard. Javir was kneeling on the floor, his hands amputated. Varik was standing several meters to his left. This was Javir's estate. And all the damage, all the carnage, was by Varik's hand. This place was in his dreams, his nightmares, his thoughts when he couldn't sleep. This place haunted him.
Off in the distance, two figures emerged. Varik was unable to discern their features due to a dark veil surrounding them. As they moved closer, the veil began to lift. One was a man in a brown cloak, the hood draped over his head. The other was a twi'lek in light armor, his blaster unholstered. It was Kif. Then that meant...
The man in the robes lifted his hood, it was Varik, although something was off about him. They stopped just in front of Javir. He ignited his lightsabers.
"Varik.", Kif counseled. "You can't strike him down. No matter what destruction he's wrought, he still needs to stand trial. Killing him won't bring them back. You know this."
Without warning, Varik struck Javir in the arm, he cried out in pain. Varik kicked him onto his side, and pressed one of his blades into his shoulder, as far as it could go. As he left it there, he started delivering light strikes with his other saber, Javir screaming all the while.
"That was for father, that was for mother, that was for...", the dark Varik muttered after every strike. His robes slowly got blacker after each one.
Varik jumped. This never happened. He remembered it plain as day. He decapitated Javir, swiftly and cleanly. He didn't draw out his death like this, torturing him and relishing every strike... Or did he? As he watched, he wasn't so sure.
"Varik, what are you doing?", Kif cried out. "Stop this nonsense!"
The dark Varik turned towards Kif and sneered. His eyes were a sickening yellow, and he brought his blade diagonally through Kif's collarbone, cleaving him in two and killing him.
That was what snapped Varik back into reality. Now he knew this was a trick. He heard whispers around him, and suddenly everything around him stopped.
Varik.
Varik froze, that voice was very familiar. "Who is that? What is going on?", Varik asked, bewildered and looking around.
It is Korre, your father. I am here to help you.
"F...father?", Varik stammered. "It's been so long, father. Please get me out of here."
I cannot. And I will not. The demons that you face here is unresolved guilt from your past, and you must overcome them if you are to become strong enough for what is yet to come.
"What is yet to come... do you mean the Entity?"
If that is how you refer to it, then yes. It seeks to turn your fears against you, use them to break your spirit and finally consume you. You must accept your guilt and fight that which you fear most. I will help you however I am able, son, but you must break through this illusion by yourself.
Varik knew what he had to do. He ignited his lightsaber and turned to face the dark Varik.
Time came back to normal as the dark Varik turned towards the all-but-dead Javir. By this point, its robes were completely black and its skin was a sickening gray. It pulled out its lightsaber from Javir's shoulder, and it ignited both of its lightsabers. Both of its blades seared with heat in a shining blood-red color. It brought up both its blades to bring down upon Javir.
Varik jumped and intercepted it at the last moment, his violet blade locking with the two blades of fiery crimson.
This time, Javir wasn't going to die.