Anakin's hands are buried in the landspeeder's engine. The fighting noise prevents him from thinking clearly. On the surface, nothing seems to be wrong... it's impossible to figure out where the problem is! The boy reconnects the wires one by one, hoping that this will solve the situation. Good grief, the LEDs light up without showing any malfunction! He stamps his foot on the dashboard and angrily yells:

« Come on, start! »

The robots move forward, laughing. Queen Amidala grabs the gun Anakin borrowed from her and fires it towards the noise. The child doesn't know where she is and, in her panic, shoots without thinking. The boy can't help but notice that this little girl is doing well: five droids have been decapitated! She aims for the neck, a strip of metal that only an excellent marksman could hit.

Jar Jar Binks charges into a dozen assailants without hesitation. He smashes each of them with a mere pipe. The gungan has a prodigious musculature. One would not imagine him capable of such a demonstration, considering his thinness. The proof, if one were needed, that an intelligent person must have respect for unknown species. Nevertheless, the fact that these synthetic soldiers are in a pitiful state makes things easier. The boy must not let himself be distracted by his companions. Their situation is critical, this speeder must be repaired! So he starts to dismantle the power supply to get into the mechanism's heart, a difficult job even under the best conditions.

Suddenly, a blaster shot lands on a door. Padmé screams. Jar Jar reflexively turns around and runs to a metal plate, rips it out of the sand and throws it toward the vehicle to provide a makeshift cover. The gungan has unfortunately no time to defend his own life: he is thrown to the ground by two droids. Thankfully, a blue flash of light vaporizes his opponents before they can finish him off. It's Obi-Wan. The teenager dismembers anything that moves in his path without any strategy, driven by an uncontrollable rage. He slaughters robots by legions and gradually closes in on a collector.

The giant spheres roar and devour cliffs to produce their automatons by the hundreds. They transform the rare plants into circuits or cables. Their program must have suffered badly, because the result is awful: these « droids », if they can still be called by that name, look like stone spiders who struggle to move. Anakin thinks they're lucky, after all, the boy having heard from fellow slaves that a federal battleship carries up to sixty collectors.

Obi-Wan shouts incomprehensible nonsense, while his body... covers itself in sparks? Clouds darken the skies. The kid is stunned: a storm? At this period of the year? By what miracle? The darkness makes his repair more difficult. He lights a lamp, ties it up and goes into the machinery. Jar Jar Binks struggles fiercely as his enemies move away. They don't fear him, of course, their interest simply shifts to Obi-Wan Kenobi. The gungan cannot deny that the young man is becoming terrifying. What's wrong with him? Why is he roaring with such anger? This is not the attitude of a fighter on a mission, but of a bloodthirsty killer!

The nearest collector turns his attention to the teenager: three red eyes appear on its surface, its weapons crackle. The machine doesn't get a chance to shoot, however, as a tornado lifts it up and smashes it heavily to the ground. The mechanical sphere tries to move away but a second whirlwind sucks it in, then a third... in the end, they are like the five fingers of a hand! Jar Jar collapses to his knees: it's... a divine intervention! Gods have come to rescue him! He frantically whispers prayers.

Anakin manages to discover what caused the malfunction: a loose component. When he sticks his head out, he sees an apocalyptic sight: a federal collector is raised in the sky by a titanic whirling hand! He immediately starts the landspeeder. His vehicle reacts. A reassuring purr. Unluckily, the road is blocked by droids. The kid notices a federation rifle sitting on the front hood. He grabs the gun and shoots without aiming to clear his way. The robots move to better block the path, but refrain from firing back. They just lift rocks and debris to build a barricade.

Padmé snaps nervously. This is too much! She throws herself under a bench seat, presses her hands against her ears and cries. The boy is impressed that she has held out so long. As a born-slave, he would be killed if he were to lose his mind in adversity, but this child is from another world. She's no different than the kids the Hutts capture on a daily basis. How many of them would have been brave enough to pick up a gun and fight? He doesn't like at all the idea of her being upset, however, and settles down beside her, not knowing what to say to reassure her.

« Wesa not dead yet! » Jar Jar Binks shouts, as he runs towards the barricade.

The child refuses to let a companion face such danger without covering his progress. He shoots. The gungan seems exalted. For him, a deity has just joined the fight. It is unacceptable to make a bad impression in front of a god ! The huge, swirling grip crushes the collector like an empty box. Obi-Wan levitates above the sand. Every time he extends a hand, lightning bolts fly to wipe out droids. The second sphere chooses to run away. It activates its weaponry and, rather than attacking the young man, spits its multicolored rays towards Jar Jar Binks to make an exit.

All the robots that were building the barrier are annihilated in an instant. The gungan manages to hide himself in extremis behind some rocks. The cliff explodes. Stone spurts out in all directions. There is now enough room for the huge machine to pass. Obi-Wan bursts out laughing. The world loses its substance. All that remains is an endless anger, a hurricane of hatred. The teenager doesn't even remember what brought him here. The lightning is a drumbeat, an invitation to the eternal night, where everything become easy. A gasp and he will join the abyss.

The attack of the collector was so violent that part of the ground turned to lava. Jar Jar Binks is not afraid. He fought before the divine. A glorious way to announce his coming in the other world! The gungan gives Anakin a peaceful face. The boy jumps out of the vehicle and shoots the sphere. A decision he knows to be foolish. Why the hell did he let his pride get the better of him now?

« Yousa run away! Mesa not important! »

The sphere stands still, its weapons targeting Anakin. Jar Jar throws himself in front of the boy as cover. It is far too late. The mechanical colossus could level a mountain. His body alone will protect nothing. A green flash passes at that very moment. The collector stops moving. Its legs fall off, then the shell. Qui-Gon Jinn stands, lightsaber in hand. Jar Jar Binks and Anakin can't believe their eyes: how did he get here? In what vehicle? Did he run? Nonsense! The knight walks towards Obi-Wan.

The young man panics: someone is approaching, tearing through the darkness! The teenager throws lightning bolts at him, but can't stop his approach. Finally, the stranger comes into contact and Obi-Wan recognizes the face of his master. He gives a beautiful smile. There is no judgment in his eyes, not even a reproach, just benevolence. The knight turns toward a ghostly figure, which the padawan has the sensation of discovering for the first time: a shadow of at least two meters. It holds him by the hand... no, it seems almost... absorbing him! He resists, without success.

« A Jedi. Surprises just keep on coming! »

« Go away! » Qui-Gon curtly orders to the wraith.

« Ho? Don't you... »

« I don't care what you are: go back into the night! Release my subordinate! »

« Release him? Stop playing ignorant, knight! You should know that such a power outburst can only come from him. I simply opened a door. Your disciple chose himself to pass through it into the darkness. He belongs to the Dark Side. »

Qui-Gon touches the apparition and finds himself catapulted into the middle of a gigantic hall, with walls of shining obsidian. A throne sits prominently in the center, while six figures watch. Their faces seem hidden under hoods. A long, red drapery falls from the ceiling. It is covered by glyphs of mysterious meaning.

The ghost metamorphoses into a white humanoid with four arms and an insectlike face. His eyes are yellow. The mandibles on his face stand out, revealing a human mouth and a strangely friendly smile. This is its true form, with nothing to hide it. The knight realizes that he is in fact holding Obi-Wan's hand and, more specifically, a vibroblade that the teenager clutches between his fingers. This is where the corruption comes from!

« My respects, noble guest. It's amazing... I sense a magnificent gloom in your aura! I don't know what you did, but it must have been wonderful. »

« Silence! »

The tall one sneers, before whispering in the master's ear:

« Since you are familiar with the darkness, then you already know that it never comes for free. Obi-Wan has incurred a debt to the Force. No padawan could ever pay it back because of your teaching. I can... »

« Our teaching is not in question. » He interrupts, before continuing:

« Power devours its children, that's all. What are you going to teach him, that will help to keep the darkness under control? That he can sacrifice his own essence in exchange for temporary freedom, with conditions? No, I refuse to see my apprentice become a prisoner of the Dark Side. I will pay for him! »

Qui-Gon grasps the black smoke between his fingers: the darkness breaks away from the young man and leaps at him like wildfire. It consumes his « light », his soul. The poor man grunts, but does not let his padawan go. The white humanoid seems disappointed. He reaches out his palm to catch the teenager. It goes through his head, tearing off a translucent thread in the process. The knight grabs his lightsaber and slices the vibroblade. The smoke explodes, covering everything, but finally leaves its place to the desert. The sky clears, as Obi-Wan collapses into unconsciousness. Qui-Gon holds his disciple before he falls. Jar Jar Binks loudly waves from a distance:

« Qui-Gon our savior! Mesa happy! Mesa happy! »

Anakin looks flabbergasted. Why is the sky getting clear again? What's going on? The Jedi returns the gungan's courtesy with a wonderful smile. His face glows. Yet he closes his tunic so no one will notice his burned skin. What the Force gives, can also be taken away. Whatever, the decision was not in vain: Obi-Wan Kenobi is free of the dark side. His debt has been repaid. The master is aware of this transaction's price: his soul is irreparably torn apart. He has only a few months left to live.