- I see you've found my old lightsaber.
And just like that, the dramatic silence was gone. She kept her hand outstretched, but it was starting to feel awkward.
- That must’ve been a lot of work. Too bad I don’t need it anymore.
- But…
- Oh, fine, if you insist.
The man with a beard closed the distance and put his hand on the hilt. She struggled with words for a few moments, but then managed to ask what was on everybody’s mind.
- Why are you hiding here? I mean, I’m sure you have your reasons, but the galaxy’s a mess, and everyone’s looking for you, and your friend is dead, and your sister is in pain, and…
- Ah, yes, the obvious question. Let’s just say I saw something that puts things into perspective.
- I don’t understand.
- That’s the idea.
There was a short buzzing noise, followed by a strobe of blue light. She looked down at it, puzzled at how it seemed to go directly through her chest. Then she stopped looking anywhere at all.
The Supreme Leader jumped up from his chair in a very unleaderlike way as the man with a beard slowly entered the room, accompanied by a long string of guards. Apparently, he could still feel the excitement.
- Hello, old friend. Do you remember me?
- I remember everything.
- You look good. Decades of doing nothing must have helped.
- You, on the other hand, have been busy. What is this, a galaxy or a retro party?
- I just wanted to make things exciting again. Give them an old-fashioned war where the underdog wins. I was trying to solve our problem. To keep it asleep.
- And how did that work out for you?
- Horrible. The visions are still coming, clearer than ever. They are nothing like vague hints that our seers used to get… they shove the truth right in my face. I didn't want to believe it at first… but you can't deny what is felt by every fiber of your being. No more than you can stop believing in the Force.
- Naturally.
- You saw it too. Don't deny it.
- Does it look like I'm trying to?
- There are stories about what will happen… tales of ancient things from different planes of existence, beings we can't even begin to comprehend.
- Those aren't very popular around our parts.
- No, but they managed to get the last laugh anyway. Light side, dark side - we had no idea what we were using. Midichlorians, my ass… this is just a dream. And what happens with a dream when you wake up?
- Are you done with the exposition yet?
- Tell me you know how to stop it. Tell me that years of exile gave you the answer.
- You already have the answer.
- I want a different one.
- There is no different answer, and you know it. It's inevitable and, frankly, natural. Stories end. Worlds die down.
- There has to be another way. If only we had more time…
- Time for what, to build another space station and blow up a few more planets? You have no idea what to do with time.
- Yeah, as if sitting on an island and killing everyone who stumbles upon it is better.
- Are you still using that word? For something to be killed, it needs to exist in the first place.
- Damn it all… how could this happen? We were the chosen ones.
- No, we weren't. You just liked the words.
- We set out on a grand adventure together, just you and I, like we always wanted. To explore the mysteries of the Force. To understand the very nature of this world.
- Well, we did.
- No… not like this. I never asked for this. All this yearning for knowledge, this sense of greater wisdom… what a joke. What a sick joke!
There was a flash of red light, and, in a customary manner, a limb went flying off, but the bearded man’s expression remained the same.
- How you have changed… there isn't a trace of an old galactic hero in there. You're pretty much already dead, aren't you?
- Please stop confusing yourself. I'm as alive as anyone can be in this place.
- Just tell me one thing. If you wanted to disappear, why leave a trail to follow? You knew I would use it sooner or later. It's like you wanted to be found. If you refuse to help, then why are you here?
There was a long pause, and the bearded man’s mouth twisted in a semblance of a grin. When he said the words, he was savoring them.
- To mock you.
The red light kept flashing. The man with a beard was now consisting of many separate pieces, with the amount of pieces increasing by the second, but the excitement wasn't increasing with them; on the contrary, it was completely gone. He looked down at the fruits of his labors: once a person, then a character, then an empty shell, and now a bloody mess on the floor.
He limped back to his chair and fell into it, admitting defeat. It will all be over soon enough. The Awakening will come, and the world will disappear in a blinding flash of white light. There was nothing he could do about it… just suffer and wait.
- Dude, you have got to try this stuff out.
- Eh, I don't know. I'm kinda overwhelmed with entertainment as it is. Now we don't even take a break for sleep?
- But this is so much better! And it's different every single time. Aren't you tired of all those retellings and reboots?
- Not as much as you are. Can I record it? I mean, if I really like a particular dream.
- You can't, that's the point. No more than you can record a usual dream. Everything inside it is gone. That alone makes you appreciate stuff on a whole different level.
- Is it, really?
- But that’s not even the best part. The best part is that sometimes a few key characters will realize all this too. That their world will inevitably end. That nothing they do matters in the grand scheme of things. Then you can see how this realization affects the entire story. It's a brilliant metaphor for human condition, and…
- …and let me stop you right there. I'm not really into this whole meta thing. Give me an old-school feel-good logic-defying adventure any day.
- Oh, you can have those as well. It's just that this medium is really pushing the envelope, you know? It tries to do something new.
- But there is no such thing, is it? Everything worth saying was already said before us. There are only those who embrace it and those who change a few things here or there and then pretend that it's new.
- Maybe you're right. Guess I'll settle for the latter.
