Luke couldn't see a thing as he fell. Without the Force, his landing was completely unexpected. He hit the floor and his knees buckled, causing him to roll on the solid ground. He rose shakily to his feet.

He found himself in a passageway dimly lit by grimy white lights in the walls. For extra light, Luke Skywalker ignited his green saber.

"Han? Leia? Chewbacca?" Luke called to find out if any of his friends had fallen down here with him. An echo was the only voice to respond. Unable to go back up the way he fell, Luke cautiously walked forward, wishing more than ever he had access to his ally, the Force.

His boots made soft clanking noises on the metal floor. As he slowly walked, the young Jedi passed rows of doors made of thick, solid steel. The doors were covered in rust and multicolored bloodstains, but were still strong and impenetrable.

Suddenly, Luke heard an electric sound activating behind him. He whirled around, lightsaber ready. Four tall droids emerged from the shadows twirling long staffs with purple electricity crackling at the ends.

Luke recognized them as IG-100 MagnaGuards from the Clone War. The droids' movement were slower and choppier than how they should be due to rust and lack of care, but he doubted they were any less dangerous.

They zeroed in on him with red eyes. They surrounded him instantly, delivering fast, decisive blows at the Jedi.

Luke quickly learned his lightsaber could deflect the purple electricity as though it was another lightsaber. Without the Force, Luke relied on his combat training to dodge the MagnaGuard's blows. He sliced the first one in half.

One of the staffs clipped him on the shoulder, which he in turn lopped off the droid's head. With only two droids left, Luke found himself being pushed back, unable to deflect both droids pouring everything they had on the Force-less Jedi.

One MagnaGuard thrust forward and caught Luke's hand. He hissed in pain as his prosthetic reacted to the electrocution. Ducking and switching to his left hand, Luke trusted the length of his blade, and swung out as far as he could reach. The top halves of the droids clattered to the floor and Luke decapitated them.

The young Jedi deactivated his lightsaber and leaned against the wall, panting. He stared at the sparking droids in bewilderment. What was all of this for? he wondered. Why did Sidious separate him from his friends just to attack him with outdated droids?

Having caught his breath, Luke pushed off of the wall and continued walking, hoping to discover the answers for himself. 'Cause I am not about to ask a dead Sith Lord's spirit for answers.

The row of heavy doors was broken by an open alcove. There were no lights inside to illuminate the recess, so Luke turned on his green saber once again and slowly entered the dark room.

Shelves lined the walls and built up from the middle of the tiny room, creating a maze of storage. Luke cast the green glow onto the dusty objects. At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, just boxes of spare parts. As Luke traveled further down, he found deactivated sphere droids and broken syringes. Even further in were small bottles labeled "Truth Serum," "Hallucinations," "Pain Illusions," and other horrible things he didn't even know existed.

Shuddering, Luke drew away and focused the light onto the wall behind him. It was decorated top to bottom with lightsaber hilts and Padawan braids. Not knowing what compelled him to do so, Luke reached out and gently touched a brown braid.

Screams, sobs, and crackling electricity filled his mind. He could faintly feel a familiar pain. A pain he felt on the second Death Star. Palaptine standing over him, shooting Dark Side lightning from his fingers and laughing while his father looked on silently.

Luke drew back, gasping as the screams and pain faded away.

"Now, young Jedi, you understand." The Sith Lord's voice had returned, booming from all over the room now.

"This was a prison specific for Jedi," Luke whispered, his throat dry with horror.

"Many of the Jedi before you were taken here to be tortured to a slow and painful death," the Emperor cackled in triumph. "Can you not hear the cries of your brethren?"

Luke didn't want to, but the Sith Lord didn't need him to use Skywalker's powerful gift of psychometry. Luke wasn't even in control the first time as he was unable to use the Force here. He was only a puppet, and Darth Sidious the puppet master.

From each lightsaber and braid came the tortured cries of their dead owners. Children begged for mercy, Masters begged for mercy for their Padawans, some begged for death. Pain, fear, sadness, loneliness, anger, and hate consumed him.

Luke felt it all.

He was drowning. Drowning in the tidal wave that crashed down upon him. He gasped for air. Emotions cut through him so fast, it was overwhelming. It was all too horrifying, too terrible to process, and yet he couldn't turn it off.

One by one, the past of each relic faded away to the silence of death.

Trembling, Luke backed into what felt like cages. On shaking legs, he slowly turned around and discovered that they were cages, each with a small animal inside. It was too dark and his vision too blurry to recognize the creature, but it looked like a decently sized lizard. They were skinny from starvation and some were laying so still, they appeared dead. Others were trying frantically to escape, clawing and bitting at the locks with whatever energy they had left. By the broken doors and empty cages, some have succeeded.

The strangest thing of all was that the Force-resistant bubble he felt surrounding the base, surrounded each of these creatures, creating a Force-resistant sanctuary. Even Palpatine had gone silent.

Luke made a mental note to study Obi-Wan's texts for these Force-resistant creatures when he got out of this hellhole.

If I get out, he corrected grimly.

Still reeling and senses overloaded, Luke stumbled away from the animals and out of the cursed trophy room. He tried to run, his knees buckling with nearly every step. The row of cells was endless

"You have no where to run, young Skywalker." The Sith Lord had returned.

Luke didn't respond and just kept running, his face set in determination.

He rounded the bend and skidded to a halt. Two more MagnaGuards, arguably in better shape than the past four, stood in the way with their backs turned. At the noise of his lightsaber igniting, the two droids turned and faced him. Purple electricity crackled.

Luke charged first, taking the offensive. The MagnaGuards worked as a team, one blocking Luke's attacks while the other attempted to strike the Jedi's vulnerabilities.

The droid locked electrostaff to lightsaber, and its partner attacked Luke's side. He cried out as the electric pulse burned against his flesh. He fell away two moments shy of five seconds. He knew from his Jedi studies that an electrostaff could stop one's heart after five seconds. He also knew that those weapons were made to kill Jedi.

Having downed Luke, the MagnaGuard struck again before pulling away. They were toying with him, programed to kill Jedi in the slowest and most painful way possible.

Through bleary eyes, Luke watched both droids raise their staffs to finish him off. In a last desperate attempt to save his life, Luke pushed out with his left hand and yelled. Purple lightning zapped from his hand and slammed into his attackers. They were thrown violently against the wall, kicking and spasming until Luke dropped his hand in exhaustion. They fell to the floor, smoking and charred.

"That's a new one," Luke moaned. The effort of hot-wiring the MagnaGuards with the Force left him drained and exhausted. He was surprised something even happened. There must not be any of those creatures nearby.

"Good, good," Palpatine's voice crackled with glee. "Use your anger. Give in to the Dark Side!"

Horrified, Luke remembered when the Emperor had done something very similar on the second Death Star. The Sith had tortured Luke with a slow death by the blue-white Dark Side lightning that zapped from his fingers.

But it didn't feel like that. The young Jedi knew what the Dark Side felt like. Luke's electric pulse had been purple, not blue-white. This new Force ability did not feel wrong. Or did it feel right because it was a sign he was submitting to the Dark Side?

He didn't feel any anger or hate. Maybe afraid and frustrated, but not enough to give in. He was stronger than that, and he knew it. Skywalkers were more stubborn than that.

"No." Slowly, he pushed himself up onto his feet. "No. I will never turn to the Dark Side. I am a Jedi, like my father before me. You will never succeed, Your Highness, so stop trying."

Luke braced himself. Last time he underestimated the Emperor. If a ghost can shoot Sith lightning, he was ready for it.

"So be it, Jedi."

Instead of being electrocuted, Luke was shoved by the Force into the open cell behind him. He fell onto the bloodstained floor as the door shut with a fatal boom. He was trapped with the only source of light was a bared window in the door the size of his hand. The young Skywalker scrambled to his feet and ignited his blade, illuminating the cell with soft green light.

He jabbed his saber into the thick, rusted door. The blade bounced right off.

"What?" Luke whispered in shock and sinking horror. He slashed at the metal and examined it with the light. There wasn't even a scratch.

"This prison was built for Jedi like you, young Skywalker. The cells are impervious to lightsabers. Now you can join the Jedi that died here before you."

Palpatine's cold voice grew louder with each word. Luke futilely covered his ears. The torturous wave of pain, fear, hate and death from the past returned in greater fury. He fell to the ground.

The young Jedi lay in the middle of the cell, in the circle of light, covering his head and helpless to stop the torment.