Her eyes could not adjust to the darkness that engulfed the stone sanctuary. Her bare feet were numbed by the cold, marble tiles. But Sakadi only had eyes for the woman on her knees, who's silhouette was only made visible by the glowing red blade aimed at her neck. The red light cast two long shadows on the chapel's walls. She instinctively knew who the shadows belonged to. A master, and a willing apprentice. She forced her legs to move. To bring her to the top of the stone stairs, and meet the darkness. There were cries as she walked. Both familiar and unfamiliar screams. "Right, this isn't. Right, you are not. Let me help you, you must!" The voice of Yenna was the first to truly reach her. She turned, but her eyes could not pierce through the darkness. "I thought… I thought you were dead." Another voice. A man from the sound of it, but not someone she knew. Sakadi searched again, her eyes narrowing, but she was alone. Surrounded by nothing but an overwhelming fear, and a sense of failure that persisted even as she reached the top of the stairs. She tightened her grip on the white-electrum hilt of her lightsaber, but she couldn't stop herself from trembling. Not as she ignited her lightsaber.
And not as she projected her voice, soft as a whisper, to the shadows.
"I never thought it would be you."
One crept forward. Its lightsaber clashing with her own starlight blade in a flash of red. A flash shifting to orange with every hammering blow. Her battle against the darkness echoed through the chapel, until her blade struck true.
The mask of shadows fell to the ground, cut in two halves by her blade. The familiar features of the face underneath horrified her. The blue markings, dark complexion, and… sickly yellow eyes, burning with hate.
Her vision blurred, images and sounds shifting by as the world collapsed around her. She felt pain, warmth, frustration, fear, and determination wash over her as fast as the memories shot through her mind. The final scene lingered. The outline of an old temple, howling winds, and the feeling of her own heavy, wet cloak.
Sakadi opened her eyes. Rain ticked against the tall windows of her quarters, accompanied by the occasional sound of thunder. She sat upright in her bed for a moment. Was it a dream? It felt too real to be a dream. Like she had travelled a long distance, and had just returned. It had to be a dream… right? Sakadi pushed her blanket aside, leaving the comfort of her bed for the dimly lit corridors of Silver Rest at night. She needed answers.
Needed Cas Tynen.
