The dark-side energy was unlike anything Maul had ever felt. It pulsed from the planet like a diseased heartbeat constant, mechanical, alive.
Maul stood alone aboard his ship, the Scythe Talon, as it descended toward the dead world that orbited a dying star in the Unknown Regions. The coordinates had been pried from a shattered Sith holocron hidden deep beneath the surface of Malachor. Palpatine had found them, of course. He always found everything.
"You will seek out the Star Forge," his Master had hissed. "It is the key to dominion beyond war. A forge of stars and blood. Bring it to heel, or do not return."
Now, as the ship pierced through the planet's withered atmosphere, Maul beheld the monolith for the first time. The Star Forge.
A construct of impossible scale, stretching like a mechanical god across the horizon. It hovered above a massive hyperspace rift, tendrils of energy spiraling into its belly, drawing on the Force itself. The Forge was not built it was born. Alive with hunger.
Maul's eyes narrowed. Power. More than he had ever felt.
He landed in silence, stepping onto a barren surface scarred by millennia of ancient battles. The Forge loomed above like a sentinel of judgment. Around him were wrecked vessels and rusted bones remnants of fleets and civilizations that had come seeking control… and failed.
He activated his double-bladed saber, red plasma casting long shadows. Not out of fear but respect. This was a graveyard of ambition. And he had come to conquer it.
Within the Forge
Massive doors opened at his presence, reacting to the dark side within him. As Maul entered the forge's inner sanctum, the walls shifted no gears, no mechanics. The structure was alive, pulsing, aware of his presence. Black stone merged with obsidian steel, carved with ancient Sith runes, glowing faintly like blood beneath skin.
Then, a voice.
"You are not the one."
Maul froze, lightsaber ready. "I am the apprentice of Darth Sidious. I have come for the Forge."
"No apprentice controls me," the voice boomed genderless, ancient, unbound. "Only one who commands both sides of the Force. You are… incomplete."
Maul snarled. "I am Sith. That is enough!"
He pressed forward, storming through the halls. But with each step, the pressure mounted. The walls whispered, showing visions of past Sith: Revan, Malak, Nihilus wielders of immense power who had all failed to bind the Forge.
A platform rose before him. At its center, a control nexus the heart of the Star Forge.
He placed his hand on it. The metal was warm. It drank his energy like a leech.
Pain.
A jolt ripped through him, and Maul dropped to one knee. The dark side surged, but it was not his to command. The Forge was ancient. Intelligent. And defiant.
"No…" he growled. "You will obey!"
But the Forge answered with images. Not of submission, but of rejection.
Maul saw himself broken, cast aside. He saw Vader future heir to the Sith throne rising above the stars. And in the shadows, the face of Sidious, always watching, always controlling.
"No!" he screamed. "I will not be replaced!"
He tried again, channeling every ounce of rage, hate, and ambition into the forge's core.
For a moment, it responded. A hum like recognition.
And then it lashed out.
The Fall
Energy exploded from the nexus, sending Maul flying into a pillar. Blood ran from his mouth. His lightsaber hissed as it skidded across the floor. He gasped, bones shattered, muscles screaming.
Above him, the Star Forge loomed, indifferent.
"You are nothing but a shadow of failure," it whispered.
Maul lay there, broken, unable to rise.
The forge began to pulse faster now, rejecting him completely. Systems locked down. Energy flows reversed. If he stayed, it would kill him.
With the last of his strength, Maul crawled to his saber and limped back through the halls, each breath a dagger. The Forge allowed his escape not out of mercy, but contempt.
Return to Darkness
Maul's ship limped away from the world, the dark construct vanishing behind him in hyperspace haze. His body was broken. But worse his purpose was shattered.
He had failed.
Returning to Coruscant, he stood before Sidious, bowed and silent.
Palpatine's eyes narrowed as he approached the kneeling Zabrak. "You did not bring me the Forge."
Maul, battered and humbled, gritted his teeth. "It rejected me."
A long silence followed. Then, Sidious chuckled softly. "Of course it did."
Maul looked up, confused. "You knew?"
"I suspected," the Sith Lord replied coldly. "But even failure is a lesson. The Forge cannot be controlled by brute strength. It requires… balance. You were never meant to wield it. But you drew it out of hiding. That is enough."
He turned, crimson robes trailing behind him.
"One day, another will claim its power. A Chosen One. Perhaps Skywalker. Perhaps not."
Maul's fists tightened. But he said nothing.
As his master left, Maul remained kneeling in the dark, not as a warrior… but as a phantom of ambition unrealized.
And in the void of space, the Star Forge slumbered once more, waiting.