Chapter 14 A Strange Man

When I got back to the room, I was almost falling over. I decided not to approach the closet this time, in case someone else came, but to immediately hop onto the bed.

As soon as my head made contact with the pillow I instantly heard the voice of a small ghostly splinter:

"Have you already made a decision?" MeiMei asked me.

"This matter has already waited a few days, it will wait for another one," I decided to reply. At this moment, I was completely unable to think. 

"It won't wait. He is expecting you. The one who is responsible for you ending up here."

That sentence struck me like a blast of icy water. The sleep immediately vanished from my eyes. 

"Who is he?"

"I cannot tell. Moreover, I have neither the right nor the power to speak on his behalf. But I can tell you one thing, this being can grind your soul to powder and cut you out of the fabric of both the material and non-material worlds. Make it as if you had never existed. The ultimate oblivion..."

"Is he that powerful?"

"If there was one God who created everything, he'd be one of the closest beings to it."

"What happens if I refuse?"

"You and I will be erased. As a mistake."

"So it's not like there's a choice. Am I understanding this right?"

"You've been putting it off too much. A couple of days ago, you could have refused without repercussions. Now, refusal means death."

Things are bad.

I thought for a moment. In the light of new knowledge, perhaps such a thing as a system would benefit me instead of hindering my progress. I could see with my own eyes that power means everything. It is quite possible that with the help of the system, I will be able to ascend even easier. 

Eh, it's better to think the glass is half full rather than empty. 

"Since there's no choice, I accept."

"Great! Beginning the initialization process!"

At that very second, my vision went black. 

***

I was floating in the void. While still conscious and at the same time seeing absolute darkness, I, like all force-sensitive individuals, realized that I had fallen asleep. Few people talk about it, but all force users, due to constant training and of course the influence of the force itself, are very good at sensing where reality is and where our mind starts playing tricks on us. The more practical application is that we, especially the Sith, train and use this ability to protect our minds from illusions and mirages that the enemy can cast upon us. 

Suddenly, I heard the sound of clapping hands. They were slow and heavy applauses, the kind of applauses that are usually given to ordinary people by the more influential and powerful individuals. Only those who have neither power, nor resources, nor a lot of personal time applaud quickly and rhythmically, and therefore even such emotions as delight they try to "consume" as quickly as possible. But these people, they are not like that. They always want to show their superiority with their whole existence. They do everything exemplarily slowly. So that people linger on them. So that they get their full attention. Sidious has always behaved this way, even hiding under the guise of Chancellor Palpatine, he couldn't hide this aspect of his personality. All of these figures always want to show that they have the most important resource on their side: time. You're all insignificant, you'll all die, but I'll stay. Even if I die, my name will live forever and reverberate in history, while your grandchildren will remember you not even on holidays, but once every 10 years, just out of decency. 

Finally, I heard a voice out of the void, velvety, slow, and lingering. It could have been described as incredibly pleasant, were it not for the audible mockery of the speaker.

"Uh-oh, what a deduction, or was that induction, like that kid used the word wrong and slipped up? Not the point, my friend. What I'm getting at is that I didn't doubt you."

How? The voice spoke out of nowhere and everywhere at once, and echoed in a way that would easily bypass the main hall of the galactic senate.

"You read my mind? Who are you? Show yourself!"

In front of me materialized a male figure in scarlet tights, a black cloak, and a scarlet pointy-eared cap. In his hands he held the simplest straight black cane that you can only imagine. His face was very expressive-a long bony pointed chin, the corners of his lips permanently raised, a deep triangular nostril, slanting red eyes, his eyebrows drawn apart over two folds, from which protruded a hooked nose, and a wedge of short light-blond hair between the large bald spots. 

"The voice took on an appearance at once, and so ceased to sound from everywhere and began to come from a single point, which is known as the mouth, and at once began to sound normal."

"What?"

"In the name of all that is holy, my sweet friend. You're like an open book to me, though perhaps a light novel is more appropriate? Or maybe even a fanfic, it's not for me to decide. By the way, haven't you ever heard the phrase - If you stare into the abyss long enough, it's bound to look into you, hmm?"

"What those words are, I don't understand..."

"You don't have to, it's not for you. But, I feel we got off on the wrong foot, yes. Shouldn't you and I, like true gentlemen, begin by introducing ourselves? Will you tell me your name?"

"If you are that entity, you know who I am. I am Maul, in the new world where I understand it was you who threw me, my name is Sheng Jian. Now it's your turn. Tell me your name."

"That's where we might have a little complication..." the creature said and deliberately pondered, pretending to contemplate his next words, "The thing is, my dear friend, if I said my real name, even in your dreams, the mere sound would shatter and destroy your entire universe. And we don't need that, do we?" he said and winked, as if sharing a secret with a child.

"So what's the purpose of...?"

"Don't interrupt!" the creature suddenly blurted out, and I suddenly felt as if the weight of the entire cosmos had been heaped on my shoulders, and I involuntarily fell to my knees. Even though it was a dream, I felt a swarm of cold goosebumps run all over my body, like a herd of nervous and disheveled wild horses frightened by the appearance of a pack of wolves, who in the turmoil had managed to kill a couple of foals. 

What herd of horses? What wolves? These are not my thoughts...

My heart started pounding violently. My lungs felt as though they were caged in ice. Every cell in my body trembled. The midichlorians in my blood went wild and started howling and screaming. I had never felt such fear before. If Sidious was a single grain of sand, the creature in front of me was like the entire planet of Tatooine, perhaps even more. 

"Understand friend, I don't want to scare you for nothing. And I did not shed the previous words because I want you to worship me, no. I do so out of courtesy. Treat others as you would like to be treated. I believe we all have an obligation to live by those rules. So I just wanted to warn you that I'm going to give you the alternative to my name. You can call me Leamas. It's nice to finally meet you in person!"

The creature said in a brisk and casual tone. No, my new comrade - Leamas. 

Once again, these are not my thoughts...

"Why am I here?"

"Oh, nothing really, there's no particularly good reason for it. It's just that I really really wanted to meet you. You see, I feel a connection between us. How to describe it to you," Leamas began to speak faster, as if he wasn't a superior being but an old friend you hadn't seen in a long time, and with whom you'd finally met and were eager to share all the news as soon as possible, "You and I are like characters from the same culture. If we were imaginary characters from some fictional work of literature, you and I would have the same source material, most likely of a religious nature, you know what I mean?"

"No, absolutely, I don't get it. Where are you coming from?"

"You are a demonic child who never knew his father, who was abandoned by his own mother, who from infancy was taught hatred, atrocities, murderousness!" Leamas very emotionally, like a theater actor, raised both hands up, "But then, you lost everything. In the end, you turned out to be just an instrument, and a very poorly made one at that, which was immediately thrown away as soon as a new model appeared on the market. In this respect, your previous teacher is a stereotypical human being. I can already see him standing in a huge queue to buy a new, only announced gadget, the updated version of which comes out 2 times a year. But I'm getting distracted."

He smiled sweetly.

He's pushing thoughts through my head!

"As for me, brother, I am part of that power which eternally wills evil and eternally works good. It is as simple as that."

He shrugged and spread his arms on either side of him and made that face with which people usually say 'I don't know' to those who asked them for directions. 

"Well, I wish I could chat with you some more, but you've already got the system booted up. I think you're going to like it a lot! Oh, and in general, you and I will meet many, many more times. Until then, get stronger, grow, have fun. You can do whatever you want, you have complete freedom. You can even commit genocides, you're under my protection! In the meantime..."

Snap.

***

I came back to reality. As soon as I opened my eyes, a transparent window of a blueish hue appeared in front of me with a message: 

System successfully installed! 

Would you like to open a character sheet?

1. Yes.

2. No.

What has my life become? It's Kenobi's fault. Wait, what the hell…