The Maw was a scar upon reality.
Even from the bridge of the Doom, it looked wrong.
Black holes spun around one another in a celestial dance of destruction, their immense gravitational forces twisting light itself into spiralling rivers of darkness. Entire stars had been consumed here over countless ages. Space bent unnaturally. Time itself seemed uncertain.
Most navigators refused to approach it.
Most fleets avoided it entirely.
For Darth Palpus, it was simply another problem to solve.
Standing before the navigation array, he studied the calculations one final time.
Thousands of simulations.
Millions of variables.
A single mistake would result in annihilation.
"The route is stable," he said.
Palpatine stood behind him, hands folded within his robes.
"For how long?"
"Twenty-three minutes."
The Emperor smiled faintly.
"Then let us not waste them."
The Doom advanced.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Gravity alarms sounded continuously throughout the vessel as spacetime distorted around them.
Entire sections of the viewport twisted and stretched.
Stars vanished.
Others appeared where they should not have existed.
The ship groaned beneath unimaginable forces.
Yet Palpus remained calm.
His hands moved across the controls with absolute precision.
Every course correction occurred exactly when required.
Every adjustment arrived before danger manifested.
The Force flowed through him.
Not guiding him.
Serving him.
The black holes shifted.
The safe corridor narrowed.
The Doom slipped between death and oblivion.
Minutes later, the impossible appeared.
A planet.
Hidden within the Maw.
Imprisoned.
Waiting.
The world looked lifeless.
Grey clouds covered its skies.
Dead mountains stretched across the horizon.
No cities.
No oceans.
No signs of civilization.
Only silence.
A prison constructed by beings powerful enough to fear what lived inside.
The shuttle descended through the atmosphere.
Palpatine and Palpus sat opposite one another in silence.
Neither spoke.
Words were unnecessary.
Both understood what awaited them.
The shuttle touched down upon a barren plain.
Wind howled across broken stone.
The moment the ramp lowered, Palpus stepped forward.
His hand moved.
The trap emerged.
Massive devices unfolded from hidden compartments.
Ancient Sith runes activated along their surfaces.
Kyber crystals glowed beneath armored casings.
Invisible energy spread outward.
The Vitae Extractor vanished beneath a veil of neutrality.
No dark side.
No light side.
Nothing.
Its presence disappeared completely.
Even the Force itself seemed unable to notice it.
Palpus nodded in satisfaction.
Perfect.
Then they walked.
Across empty wastelands.
Through valleys carved by forgotten storms.
Toward a presence both had felt long before arriving.
Ancient.
Hungry.
Mad.
Watching.
Waiting.
The Force trembled around them.
Not from fear.
From anticipation.
A figure stood atop a distant ridge.
Small.
Frail.
Human.
At first glance.
Then she smiled.
And reality shuddered.
Abeloth.
The Mother.
The Bringer of Chaos.
The wound within the Force.
Her eyes burned with impossible hunger.
"You have come."
Her voice echoed across the landscape despite barely rising above a whisper.
"So many ages..."
She stepped forward.
"...so many eternities alone."
The air distorted around her.
Mountains cracked.
The sky darkened.
"I wondered when someone worthy would arrive."
Palpatine met her gaze.
"You mistake us for prey."
Abeloth laughed.
The sound was wrong.
Every rock for kilometers shattered.
The clouds twisted into spirals.
The Force screamed.
"I will devour you."
Then she moved.
The world exploded.
Abeloth crossed the distance instantly.
One moment she stood hundreds of meters away.
The next she stood before them.
A clawed hand lashed toward Palpatine.
The Emperor raised a single hand.
The impact shattered the ground.
A shockwave raced across the horizon.
Mountains collapsed.
The planet groaned.
Yet Palpatine did not move an inch.
Yellow eyes met endless madness.
"You are weaker than I expected."
Abeloth roared.
Reality fractured.
Hundreds of copies appeared.
Thousands.
Millions.
Every direction filled with Abeloth.
Every version attacked simultaneously.
Palpatine answered with lightning.
Not ordinary Sith lightning.
Entire storms erupted from his body.
Golden-white energy tore across continents.
The sky vanished beneath crackling destruction.
Thousands of illusions evaporated instantly.
The real Abeloth emerged unharmed.
Smiling.
Then the planet itself attacked.
Mountains rose.
Stone became living weapons.
Entire valleys transformed into grasping tendrils.
The world obeyed her.
Meanwhile Palpus moved.
Silent.
Invisible.
Every step brought him closer to the trap.
Abeloth focused entirely upon the Emperor.
Exactly as planned.
Palpatine unleashed power without restraint.
Gravity bent.
The atmosphere ignited.
Force storms appeared above the battlefield.
Lightning struck in pillars kilometers wide.
Abeloth answered with equal fury.
Tsunamis of raw Force energy crashed against the Emperor.
Space itself warped around them.
Entire sections of the battlefield ceased existing before reforming moments later.
Far across the galaxy.
Sensitive beings felt it.
Master Yoda opened his eyes.
The old Jedi sat alone in meditation.
A chill ran through him.
"Danger..."
On distant worlds, Force sensitives collapsed.
Visions overwhelmed them.
The Force had become a raging ocean.
Something immense was happening.
Something unprecedented.
Back on the prison world, Abeloth finally laughed.
"You are powerful."
Her body expanded.
Growing.
Changing.
Transforming into something monstrous.
Something ancient.
"Perhaps I shall keep your souls."
The sky darkened completely.
Stars vanished.
Only her remained.
An avatar of chaos itself.
Then Palpus activated the trap.
The world froze.
Abeloth stopped.
Confusion entered her eyes.
For the first time.
The Vitae Extractor emerged from concealment.
Massive pylons erupted from the ground.
Kyber crystals ignited.
Ancient runes blazed.
Energy chains formed around Abeloth.
Her smile vanished.
"No."
Power began leaving her.
Slowly at first.
Then rapidly.
The Force itself seemed to reverse direction.
Streams of energy flowed from Abeloth into the machine.
Her scream shook continents.
"What have you done?!"
Palpatine smiled.
"My son has always been inventive."
Abeloth fought.
Reality bent.
Mountains exploded.
Oceans that did not exist appeared and vanished.
Entire dimensions flickered briefly into existence.
Yet the trap held.
Every struggle strengthened it.
Every attempt to escape drained more power.
Her confidence vanished.
Then her arrogance.
Then her certainty.
For the first time in untold ages
Abeloth felt fear.
Palpus stepped forward.
The Dagger of Mortis appeared in his hand.
The blade glowed with ancient purpose.
Abeloth saw it.
And screamed.
"No!"
Palpatine's lightning struck simultaneously.
Holding her.
Binding her.
Breaking her.
The Extractor consumed her strength.
The dagger approached.
Closer.
Closer.
Then
It pierced her heart.
The scream that followed echoed across the Force itself.
Every living being in the galaxy felt it.
A cry of rage.
Pain.
Loss.
And ending.
Abeloth's body began disintegrating.
Cracks spread across her form.
Light erupted through them.
Darkness followed.
Then both.
Her existence unraveled.
Piece by piece.
Atom by atom.
Concept by concept.
Until nothing remained.
Silence fell.
Complete silence.
Then the power arrived.
Palpatine felt it first.
A tidal wave beyond imagination.
The accumulated essence of Abeloth.
Ancient knowledge.
Ancient strength.
Ancient understanding.
It poured into him.
Into Palpus.
Into every aspect of their being.
The Force expanded around them.
Then beyond them.
Then through them.
Palpatine laughed.
Not softly.
Not carefully.
He laughed with genuine triumph.
Power radiated from him in waves.
His presence appeared simultaneously across the planet.
Then across the system.
Then beyond.
Palpus closed his eyes.
The galaxy unfolded before him.
Every star.
Every world.
Every living being.
He could feel them all.
See them all.
Know them all.
Distance no longer mattered.
Time itself felt slower.
Smaller.
Manageable.
The Force obeyed effortlessly.
Father and son stood amidst the ruins of a dead god.
Their laughter echoed across the wasteland.
Not because the battle had been won.
Not because the trap had succeeded.
But because they understood what had happened.
For the first time in history, two beings had accomplished what countless Sith had dreamed of.
They had not merely gained power.
They had seized a portion of the Force itself.
And as the prison world trembled around them, both knew one truth.
The galaxy had just become far too small for what they were becoming.