Silus rolled over, bringing his lightsaber up to deflect the attack on his face. He brought a kick to the Jedi's stomach, causing him to bend over and allow the Sith time to stand up. He brought his lightsaber up in front of him, listening to the humm of the blade. The Sith laughed.

"What's this? The mighty Jedi is angry? Oh no, this will surely lead him to the dark-side!" Silus said, mocking the voice of a Jedi master, "You are weak, Vodo, even for a Jedi. Why not cleanse yourself of your weakness!" Silus tossed his lightsaber aside, spreading his arms.

Strike me down in your anger! Let your hatred flow through you, embrace the power that should be yours! Kill me!

Vodo looked at Silus with hatred. The other's gloating voice made it worse.

He realized that he wanted nothing more than to kill Silus, to end his pathetic life. End the life of another evil man. But that same age-old battle came into his mind, was it worth the life of one to save many?

Blinded by fury, the insect-like Jedi Apprentice raised his hands and let loose a stream of white-blue Force lightning, striking Silus and send the Sith reeling. Silus was unarmed and the feat was easy. Acting on impulse, Vodo raised his hand and Silus's discarded lightsaber ignited itself and headed straight for the Sith.

Silus roared with laughter as the lightning struck him, sending him flying. He managed to land on his feet, igniting his second lightsaber in time to block the attack. The Sith's laughter faded to a grin as he gripped the cool handle of his lightsaber.

"Good, very good! Embrace your anger, don't discard it! Use it against me, leave behind your weakness! Embrace the darkside, and kill me!" Silus shouted again, dropping to his knees. He deactivated his sabers and spread his arms. The Sith silently prepared himself for the attack.

As the Sith Apprentice's laughter faded, Vodo dropped his stick, shocked at what he had done. He didn't even hear what Silus was saying, all he could see were his hands, still heated with little tendrils of blue-white lightning still crawling over his brown-reddish skin.

He looked up at Silus, who stood with his sabers deactivated. The Sith wore a big grin on his face.

I let him! I allowed the Darkside to take control!

Inside, he screamed at himself. Picking up his stick, he stood in a loose guard position, ready to fight, but filled with doubt.

The Sith's grin slowly faded, as he rose to his feet. The Jedi was weakened mentally, shaken from the events that had just occurred. He stood on a cliff edge, only needing a push in the right direction.

"Shame you still embrace your Jedi teachings. Don't you see what they do to you?" Silus smiled, "The Jedi are like emotionless drones. You are nothing but a tool, a tool to what you claim as your masters. Is that what you wish to become Jedi? A tool? Forgot your false principles of light and dark. Embrace what is not the Darkside, as your teachings would tell you. Embrace the Force, Vodo. Become what you were meant to be."

Vodo's mind, and head, was swirling. Doubt seemed to claw at him, the darkness chipping away at his reserve of strength. He barely managed to stand on his feet as he faced Silus.

The Sith was injured, no doubt about that, Vodo had hurt him as much as he, in turn, has hurt Vodo. But the Jedi Apprentice did not know how much longer he could stand it.

"Leave me be, filth." He said raising his stick tiredly, "You seek nothing but death and destruction upon others. I do not need the Force to know you are evil. Even if I were not a Jedi, I would never join you." He said with certainty. As he spoke he began to gain a new confedence.

He stood tall and the Force flowed through him anew, the light-side was strong wthin him.

"Be gone." He said, "You leave now but you will not be so fortunate next time."

"Pitiful. After all our progress, you still believe in those lies," Silus said, "Tell me, why am I evil? Hm? Because I follow what you call the Dark Side? Because I don't hide my feelings like some pitiful slave?"

Silus deactivated his lightsabers and placed his hands behind his back. "The light will always win. Darkness will fail," he said, mocking the Jedi teachings, "Tell me, Jedi, when has the Light triumphed over the Dark? You may have won battles, but you're still losing the war. Your members are few, still trying to hold onto a failed memory, a dream. And you want to know why?"

He took a few steps forward standing a few inches from the Jedi's face. "Because your Light Side of the force will never triumph over the Dark. It can't. Why is that, Jedi?"

Because there is no Light Side, no Dark. You are nothing but a slave to a religion. A mindless, emotionless, tool, used to do your master's bidding.

"What you call the Dark Side, I call the Force. That's all there is. This Light Side of yours is nothing but your inability to grasp the power that has been granted to you. Tell me, in your whole life, how many Sith have you killed, defeated? How many lives have you saved? A few, perhaps." Silus nodded to himself, turning around and moving away from the Jedi, "But imagine this Jedi: Imagine what you could, no, will accomplish, if only you would accept the power that lies before you."

He turned and extended a hand to the Jedi, "No more hiding you emotions, no more pretending to follow something that isn't real."

Vodo slumped to his knees, Silus's words sinking into him like stones on water. Could it be true? Could there be no lightside? Could the Jedi teachings be wrong?

Questions swarmed him, and doubt moved through him to touch his very core. He felt a deep pain at that, almost as if the Force had left him. Silus's mocking tone filled his ears and resounded throughout his mind.

"But imagine this Jedi: Imagine what you could, no, will accomplish, if only you would accept the power that lies before you."

What power? The Dark Side was just anger, hate, suffering. Silus had already demonstrated that. But what was the lightside?

Suddenly, as if over a great expanse of time, Vodo heard voices...


Luke... join with me...

I'll never join you!

"...together, we can rule as father in son..."

More voices...

"Give yourself to the darkside...it is the only way to save your friends..."

"Take it... I am unarmed...take your Jedi weapon and strike me down with all of your hatred and your journey toward the darkside will be complete..."

Silus's voice cut into his thoughts...

"No more hiding you emotions, no more pretending to follow something that isn't real."

Long ago, a Jedi was faced with the biggest decision of his life, turn to evil to save those he loved, or die as a true Jedi of the Lightside.

"Never...i'll never turn to the darkside...you have failed your highness...I am a Jedi, like my father before me..."

Vodo opened his eyes slowly, and stood up, walking stick in hand, extended in a guard position.

"I am a Jedi. Now let us finish this!"

Then he struck.

Silus let his smile fade, looking on Vodo with pity. "As you wish."

Vodo was thrown back by the Force, slamming into a nearby wall. Silus' lightsabers left their places on his belt and flew to his outstretched hands. Their black blades ignited, as the Sith charged to the weakened Jedi.

"I tried Jedi. I see that you shall still remain foolish and blind, just like every Jedi before you," Silus said, thrusting his blades forward at the Jedi's middle.

Vodo twisted his walking stick around, so the tip of it was facing downwards. He blocked the left blade outward first, then instantly pulled the stick back and blocked the right blade, both of them splitting. Vodo then turned his stick upward, so it's tip was facing toward Silus's middle, where he thrust it.

"If the Jedi were follish and blind, then they would not have survivied the Jedi purge." Vodo said.