Episode IX The Legacy of the Sith

Waking Up

Ben Solo and Maz Kanata found themselves trudging through the underbrush of the humid and dangerous jungle of Ryloth. It was a planet known for its deadly creatures; gutkurrs, lyleks, and even the non-native jungle rancor. The large-leafed jungle trees were dense and difficult to maneuver as the two of them made slow progress. Ben followed Maz, as Maz seemed surprisingly agile for her age.

"So, you expect to find Yoda here, even though he died over thirty years ago?" Ben questioned Maz.

"Yes, but he will not be the same Yoda that your Uncle Luke had known," Maz responded, as she slipped through a few vines.

"So he is not Yoda then?" Ben questioned. He used his lightsaber to cut up some vegetation to open up a path.

"He has been born anew," Maz said.

"What?" Ben replied with unbelief.

Maz maneuvered through another tight passage of plants. "And why not. Snoke returns at each awakening of the Force. So do we."

"We?" Ben sliced through more vines. "First of all, what do you mean by 'we?' Second, Snoke uses the dark side to return. How can we?"

"Not you, but Yoda and I," she replied. "Yoda and I are one and the same, family members you might say, but more. We are Force-beings, with no beginning and no end, destined to be born and die with each era of the Force. Watch that can-cell."

A two-foot-long red insectoid buzzed out of a tree at Ben, its four wings vibrating so fast that they were invisible. Ben stepped back and sliced it in half with his lightsaber before it could damage him.

"When we return, we carry with us only our connection with the Force. That is, it has always been that way." Maz pushed a limber branch forward to make her way. "Keep your head," she said as she let go of the branch and passed by.

Ben sliced the rebounding limb.

"As for Snoke, he uses the dark side to steal and prolong life. Yoda and I die and are born over. Snoke has used the dark side to avoid death altogether."

"So you and Yoda are born again and again for thousands of years?" Ben said in unbelief.

"Yes," Maz replied. "Though now..." she trailed off.

They began to work their way up a hill, Ben sometimes having to touch the ground for balance on the slope.

"So you remember everything from those thousands of years?" Ben asked.

"No, we forget our past lives." Maz stopped and turned to Ben. "That is why we must meet with Yoda. That is why you must meet Yoda. You both have forgotten."

"So, when do we find him?" Ben said.

Maz stopped suddenly and held up a finger for Ben to be silent. She listened carefully then looked up at the rising.

"He has already found us," Maz said pointing up the hill.

A giant gutkurr stood before them at the crest, its sharp mandibles snapping, waiting to make a meal of the two strangers; but it stood at bay, heeled. The gutkurr was one of Ryloth's deadliest creatures, impervious to blaster fire and ravenous for meat. It had been the demise of many that had wandered in the jungle. Two more of the great shelled beasts arrived, flanking Ben and Maz and focusing on them with their black soulless eyes.

On top of the first, sitting cross-legged on the dorsal carapace, was a two-and-a-half-foot tall, green-skinned boy with pointed ears and fine brown hair over the crown of his head. He had none of the wrinkles of his former self, but was smooth and limber.