The Emperor sat in the cushioned seat of his shuttle as his pilot announced their approach of the planet. He closed his eyes and let in the darkness. He felt the overwhelming power of a dark presence on the surface from afar and when his curiosity had gotten the better of him, he decided to investigate. The spacecraft set down with a jolt and a loud hiss filled the air as the landing ramp lowered. The Dark Lord of the Sith stood at the top of the ramp, pulled the hood of his cloak over his head, partially covering his face…
Gandalf the White sat atop his horse, Shadowfax, as the strange ship floated towards the ground out of the sky. His brow was furrowed and his eyes narrowed as he watched the ship settle upon the ground. Jets of steam issued forth and a ramp began to drop from the bottom of the ship. A cloaked and hooded figure in a robe of black made his way slowly downwards and out into the dark and cloudy day. He raised his head and glared at Gandalf across the wide meadow…
Gandalf could feel the darkness emanating from the hooded creature and knew it must be some unknown servant of Sauron. He would destroy the creature and then the armies of Gondor and Rohan would face one less enemy when the time came. A rumble of thunder sounded and Gandalf reared his horse as it let out a loud cry. Then he spurred the noble horse forward and at full gallop threw back the grey cloak covering him. It seemed as if the clouds thinned and world grew brighter. He raised his staff and a powerful beam of light blasted at his enemy, who raised his hand to cover his face and staggered backwards a few paces and Gandalf charged towards him…
The light blasted him in the face and he felt as if some powerful force was hammering him back. With the hand not shielding his eyes he reached forward and let the Force flow through him. Blue lightning coursed from his arm and he could feel the power flowing from him as it struck the horse, causing it to fall forward and throw its rider off its back…
Gandalf hit the ground hard, rolling several times before stopping. He began to stand, gripping his staff in his hand when he was pushed backwards by an unseen force. From his back he looked at his enemy, who laughed manically. Gandalf gritted his teeth and returned to his feet, raising his staff at his enemy as he did so and was ready this time when he felt the power coming through his foe. He countered with his own magic and felt his own power pushing against the power of his enemy, as if the two were in a wrestling match attempting to fling the one another out of the ring. The power grew so strong he could barely hold it any longer. With one final push of everything he had, the energy building between them loosed and both combatants were sent flying in opposite directions…
Darth Sidious slammed hard into the grass-covered earth and he growled in frustration. He rose to his feet and watched his enemy rise as well, halfway across the large field. Sidious crouched down and leaped nearly the entire distance between them, landing only a few yards from his adversary. Gandalf raised his staff and shouted something in Elvish. A lightning bolt came cracking through the sky as Sidious raised his hands skyward. It was as if the lightning forked and blasted into his open palms. Blasts of sparks exploded in every direction and the Sith Lord seemed to sink slightly under the blast. He turned toward the white-clad sorcerer and blasted his own blue lightning at him….
Gandalf held out his staff, pointing it towards his sinister opponent. The lighting seemed to break around him, like an ocean wave crashing against a rocky shore. The electricity blasted past him on all sides, before the Sith Lord desisted. Gandalf took the opportunity and slammed his staff down with both hands, sending a wave of power in a circle outwards from himself. The Sith Lord shot upwards and backwards into the air, and Gandalf was shocked when in midair, his enemy back flipped and came down on his feet.
“You have no power over me, you old fool!” Sidious shouted and laughed.
“Do I not?” Gandalf shouted in response. “Be gone from this place! Take your dark ways with you and be gone!”
Sidious was taken aback. He felt a great urge to do as the White Wizard demanded of him. There was an internal struggle raging and he would have appeared to an observer to have a slight twitch. Then his internal constitution found some strength and he let out another evil sounding laugh…
“You sly old man, you believed me beaten? But your power is nothing next to mine! Nothing!” he screamed.
“Your taunts mean nothing to me. You cannot begin to understand my power and a comparison to your own is nothing but a waste of your breath,” he replied with a look of anger on his face.
Darth Sidious bared his teeth as he let out a blast of Force lightning. Once more, the wizard thrust forth his staff, and the lightning broke around him. This continued for a moment, Sidious laughing as he shot forth the blue energy from his hands. He watched as the wizard appeared to struggle to hold back his power. Sidious put even more power into his lightning and the white-robed man skidded backwards, though never moving, as if he were a statue being pulled back by harnessed beasts. Gandalf then waved his staff around and above his head, almost as if he were holding some kind of two-handed whip. White flames burst forth from the end of the staff now pointed at Sidious. The two powers, fire and lightning met midway between the adversaries…
A look of intense concentration was on the face of each duelist. Both stood for a moment, blasting their great powers at one another, the brightness of the place where their two spells met growing with each instant. Until finally, the energy became too great and both arcane masters were blasted from their feet and flew backwards, arms and legs flailing wildly. Each slammed into the ground and tumbled backwards several times before coming to rest. Sidious was on his feet before Gandalf, but not by much. He snarled as he once again flew through the air toward his foe, extending his crimson-bladed lightsaber as he did so…
Upon his enemy’s landing, Gandalf felt himself pulled towards the Sith as if gripped by an invisible fist. He held forth his staff and sent his enemy floundering before landing back on the ground himself. He drew his sword Glamdring from its scabbard and ran at his rival. The Dark Lord rose, igniting his weapon once more. He sprinted at Gandalf with incredible speed…
When the two warriors met, their blades clashed together, sending sparks flying from where they collided. With a whir of his blade, Darth Sidious began to slash left and right, Gandalf countering his attacks any way he could. Eventually, seeing an opening, he struck out with his staff and smacked his enemy on the shoulder, dashing him to the ground. From the ground, the Sith reached out with the Force and grabbed a nearby tree. He pulled it and though its roots were strong, he ripped it from the ground and sent it flying towards the wizard…
Gandalf turned as he heard the tree torn from the earth. He held up his staff, but couldn’t stop the tree from moving. It slowed a bit, giving him enough time to jump spryly out of harm’s way. He recovered quickly and glared at his enemy as he snarled in frustration at the wizard. Once more, the combatants leaped at one another, clashing blades…
A few quick strokes and slashes and suddenly Sidious’s blade sliced through Gandalf’s staff. Gandalf appeared stunned, but quickly cast the piece he still held aside. The two swordsmen crossed blades and began to hack and thrust at one another. Sidious jumped high into the air, spinning as he did so and when he came to the ground on the opposite side of his enemy, he slashed and his blade collided with Gandalf’s wrist. The blade did not penetrate, but bounced off, as if it were a small stone thrown against a giant tree. He was stunned to see this and stood still for a moment in complete shock…
Gandalf used this opportunity and raised his arms over his head, clutching Glamdring in both hands, he came down with his blade at his foe’s head. Sidious swung his blade in time to block the blow, but the blade of Gandalf’s sword seemed to glow brilliantly bright. When the weapons met, the blade of Sidious’ lightsaber exploded, turning into millions of red sparks. Stunned, the Sith Lord jumped backwards, spinning as he went…
The handle of his lightsaber was suddenly hot to the touch and his fingers recoiled from the heat and it fell to the ground. The White Wizard suddenly jumped forth, his blade arcing above his head, coming at the Sith Lord. He ducked the blade, but already his enemy was coming in for a second attack. He stretched out his hand and let out a barrage of Force lightning as the blade met his wrist, severing his hand. He screamed in agony and stumbled back away from his enemy, who had also fallen backwards when hit by the blue lightning…
Gandalf stood and watched as the Sith Lord clutched his stump of a wrist in pain. The same blood now flowing from the wrist of the man was dripping down the blade of his sword…
“You are finished! Return to your world of shadow and dust!” Gandalf cried.
The wizard was surprised when the hideous man, if he even was a man any more, stood before him and began to laugh.
“You haven’t beaten me!” he laughed as he raised his hand and pointed at Gandalf.
Suddenly, Gandalf heard the hum of a lightsaber behind him and spun on the spot. Darth Sidious' lightsaber was floating in the air and swung at him. Gandalf deflected the first blow, the second and the third. The lightsaber tried to stab him and he dodged aside…
Darth Sidious jumped forward, blood trailing from where his missing hand should have been, and grabbed the lightsaber as it spun halfway around so that the blade was facing away from him. Still in the air, he buried the lightsaber in his enemy’s chest, who fell back with the force of the attack. When they landed, Gandalf fell backwards over himself, while Darth Sidious landed on his feet. The lightsaber hummed as it retracted back into the handle. Sidious put it into his robes and stared down at the now coughing figure lying before him. He watched as the wizard tried to rise to his feet several times, before lying on the ground gasping for breath. Sidious raised his hand and Gandalf floated into the air as if standing, but his feet a few inches from the ground…
“You old fool! How could you ever hope to defeat me?” he asked, almost chuckling as he did so. “I am a Dark Lord of the Sith!”
And with that, his extended hand balled into a fist and Gandalf’s chest seemed to implode and his body fell to the ground limp and broken…
Sidious walked towards his shuttle, thinking about this dark presence he felt. He remembered back to what the wizard had first thought upon seeing him. So the creature he was looking for was called Sauron….
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