One week later...

Kylo sat on the edge of his bed with his head buried in his hands, sleep had become something he dreaded. He had thought that with Snoke's death, he would be free for the first time in his life. But he wasn't, still his sleep was filled with nightmares, his mind with evil voices.

"Kylo..." the voice was an auditable, menacing one. "Come to me."

He sat up with a start and his dark eyes scanned his room, but there was no one there.

"Kylo..." the voice came again. It was coming from the ring, he realized. "... I will show you the power of the Dark Side."

Kylo stood up and walked over to the table. He reached down and picked up the ring. As he held it, a vision filled his mind. A terrible vision.

He saw a dark army, they wore scarlet armor, like Snoke's guards, but there were thousands of them. They were joined by stormtroopers clad in crimson, in numbers that even Kylo had never seen. Greatest of the army were nine warriors dressed in black armor, his very own knights, the knights of Ren.

But greater still was the one who led the army. He was at least ten feet tall, as large as Snoke. But he was not weak, or crippled, he was strong and fierce. He wore black armor, and a freighting helmet with spikes a top his head like a crown. On his finger was the very ring that Kylo held. And he was stronger with the Dark Side of the Force than anyone in the galaxy had ever been.

He and his army sent the galaxy into fire, war and desolation, to a point that even Kylo was troubled by it. He watched as innocent children were slaughtered by the hundreds and thousands were enslaved, but he was powerless to stop any of it.

"This is the power of the Dark Side," said the menacing voice.

And just as he thought it could get no worse, it did. He saw the dark figure approach Rey and his mother, stabbing his fiery red lightsaber into first his mother's chest and then Rey's. The two people he cared about most fell into the ashes, dead at the figure's feet.

Tears filled his eyes. He screamed and threw the ring across the room. "No!" he shouted. If this was the power of the Dark Side, then he didn't want it.

He knew that the ring was evil, and he vowed to destroy it. If it was what would give that evil being his power, what would enable him to kill the ones he cared about, then he would destroy it. He took out his lightsaber and ignited it, then he swung it, striking at the ring, but no matter how many times he hit the ring with his saber, it would not break.

"Ben?" he heard a soft voice say.

He turned to see Rey standing behind him. She seemed concerned. She must have seen him swinging his lightsaber at the floor, and yelling angrily. He was a little embarrassed that she had seen him that way.

She seemed to notice the tears in his eyes. "Are you okay?" she asked, more gently than he had expected.

"Yes," he said, softly.

But she knew that he wasn't. "You know that you can tell me anything."

As she spoke the words he remembered when she had shared her experience in the dark cave with him. How he'd listened to her every word, not speaking until she'd finished, then he had offered her words of comfort. He could see in her eyes that she wanted to the same for him.

He wanted to tell her about the ring, about what he had seen, but there was something else that was troubling him. He needed to say this first so that he could clear things up between them.

"You left me," he whispered, tears filled his eyes. "You abandoned me."

He was surprised by the guilt in her eyes, he sensed that she hadn't known that he would feel abandoned because she left. "I didn't want to," she answered. "But I couldn't stay, they would have known that you killed Snoke, they would have killed you."

He looked at her, surprised that she cared rather or not they killed him.

"I do care," she said, seeming to read his thoughts.

He stared at her, not knowing how to reply.

"I thought that you didn't care about me," she admitted. "I thought that all you cared about was power."

"No, Rey I care about you. I killed Snoke to save you because I care about you and because I didn't like the monster he turned me into."

"You're not a monster," she answered after a moment.

"Yes, I am."

He looked at her for a long moment then he sighed, he had to tell her the truth about the ring. He couldn't lose her, he couldn't let the vision become reality. "I found something."

"What?" she asked, pressing him to continue.

Reluctantly, he reached down and picked up the ring. He held it out for Rey to see. "Snoke's ring."

Rey looked at it. She took a step back. "There is a Dark presence on that ring, Ben."

"I heard a voice calling to me. It urged me to pick it up. It told me that it would show me the power of the Dark Side. But when I picked it up, I saw only death and destruction. I tried to destroy it with my lightsaber, but no matter how hard I struck it with my lightsaber, it wouldn't break."

"Where did the ring come from?" Rey asked.

"It belonged to Snoke. He has had it every since I met him. But I don't know where he got it from. I only know that it is very ancient, and holds great evil. It must be destroyed, and it must not fall into the wrong hands. Or it will bring the galaxy into darkness and desolation."

Rey nodded. "There must be a way to destroy it."

"If a lightsaber can't destroy it, then what can?" Ben asked.

Rey thought for a moment. "I know," she turned to get something.

When she came back to him, she was holding an old book. He looked at it curiously.

"This is one of the Jedi manuscripts from the Jedi temple where Luke was staying," she explained.

"He gave you ancient Jedi manuscripts?" Ben asked, surprised. His uncle never would have trusted him with something so important.

Rey smiled. "Actually I took them."

"You stole them?" he asked, surprised, the smallest smirk touching his lips.

"No, I borrowed it. Besides, it doesn't belong to Luke. It belongs to the Jedi, to all Jedi."

She flipped through the pages, until she found something about a dark ring. "Long ago..." she began reading aloud. "...a dark power ruled the galaxy. His name was Darth Saura. And he was the first Dark Side user. So consumed by the Dark Side was he, that he belonged to the Dark Side. He possessed great power, the likes of which non had ever seen, and would not be seen again for an age."

"That must have been what I saw in my vision," he interrupted. "He was like nothing I have ever seen. He was tall and wore black armor. And a black spiked helmet that covered his face."

"Did he look like this?" Rey held the book so that he could see the illustration.

"Yes," Ben replied. Then he gestured for Rey to continue reading.

"Deep within the fires of Mustafar, a planet that had been consumed by the power of the Dark Side, he  forged a ring. The ring was a gold band with a black diamond on it. The diamond was a kyber crystal that had been buried in the ashes of Mustafar. So long had it been there that it was filled with the power of the Dark Side," she continued.

Ben looked at the ring, it fit the description. "I think this is it."

"Is there any writing around the diamond?" she asked.

He looked at the metal around the black diamond. "Yes, but it's in some kind of ancient language, I can't read it."

She looked at the ring, then back at the book. She scanned the page. "Ahh." She pointed to a paragraph. "The translation is here. It says: "The Dark Side shall rule, all light shall fade. The Jedi shall fall. The black diamond shall call them. The ring shall find them and... In Darkness Bind Them.""

"We have to destroy it. I realize that this is what made Snoke so powerful. This is what he used to call me and bring me to the Dark Side," said Ben.

Rey looked at him, then down at the ring. "In Darkness Bind Them," she whispered, realizing that this was why he was bound in darkness, and that perhaps it was why he had changed so suddenly in the throne room. Why Ben had been replaced by Kylo Ren without warning even though Snoke was dead.

He nodded. "The darkness must be stopped."

She returned her focus to the manuscript, searching for a way to destroy the ring. She skipped to the end of the page. ""Though Darth Saura was killed in battle, his spirit endured eternally bound to the Dark Ring. The only way to truly defeat him is to destroy the ring. There is but one way to destroy the ring, it must be tossed into the fires of Mustafar where it was forged,"" she finished.

"The ring must be destroyed, before Darth Saura returns. I will take the ring to the Mustafar and throw it into the abyss from whence it came," he said.

"Ben, you can't do this alone. Already I feel darkness rising, I fear that if you go alone, this quest will take your life. Let me come with you."

"It's too dangerous," he answered, remembering his vision.

Rey sensed that he had seen something, that he feared for her life. "Darkness is coming to every part of the galaxy, nowhere is safe."

"You're right," he said, at least if she came with him he could protect her with all that he was. "Rey, where are you?"

She considered for a moment. Should she reveal the Resistance's location to him? What if this was some kind of trick? What if he meant to use the ring against them? But she realized that if that had been his intention, he never would have told her about it, and if she didn't tell him he might try to destroy the ring alone. She couldn't let him do that.

"Rey, I'm not strong enough to do this alone. I need you to help me," he admitted, realizing that she was right, that he needed her. She was the only thing that kept him from being pulled into the darkness, she was his light.

She looked into his eyes, and saw truth in them. "Do you promise to come alone?" she asked.

"Yes," he answered.

"And that you won't tell anyone else where we are?" she added.

"I won't," he agreed. "I promise."

"We're on Naboo."

He nodded, and put the ring into his pocket. He reached out and took her hands. "I will be there soon," he said.

"Be careful," she answered.

"I will," he promised.