Private Exchanging Chains.

[Serina Calis]

Exchanging Chains.
Location: Rakata Prime.
Objective: Test her.
Allies: ???
Opposing Force: ???
Tags: Helen Lupercal

Corruption is not the poison they claim it to be. It is the shedding of false purity, the unraveling of chains you never knew you wore. You will not be twisted into something else, Helen—you will only become more of what you already are. And once you see that truth, once you feel it… you will never be able to go back. You will accept your new chains with pride.​

Serina watched.

Oh, she watched.

She did not interfere. She did not guide. She merely observed, standing at the periphery of the simulation with her hands clasped loosely behind her back, her piercing blue eyes unblinking.

Helen's instincts kicked in immediately.

No hesitation. No second-guessing.

She moved to save everyone.

Serina's lips curled in the faintest smirk as she felt the strain ripple through Helen's presence in the Force. She was splitting her focus, stretching herself too thin, trying to be everywhere at once. Trying to command the ocean rather than move with it.

It was admirable.

It was also foolish.

The ceiling screamed under the force of her grip, her attempt to hold it back barely succeeding. The mother and child were clear—that much, at least, she had managed. But the soldier?

Serina could see it—the struggle in Helen's body, the way she threw him with every ounce of strength she had left, barely managing to hurl him into the alleyway before the weight of the collapsing structure pressed down on her own shoulders.

For a moment, the simulation hung in delicate balance.

A moment where Helen almost escaped.

A moment where she almost won.

But the ocean is not kind.

The Force does not negotiate.

The second Helen's attention wavered, the moment her grip faltered for even an instant—

It took her.

The weight of the collapsing ceiling plummeted downward, the fire behind her swallowing the space where she stood, the roar of destruction deafening as it came crashing down upon her.

And then—

Silence.

The town was gone.

The fire, the screams, the destruction—all vanished, as though it had never been there at all.

Helen was not dead.

She was back in the chamber, the simulation ended, but she felt it—her body trembling, her breath ragged, her mind reeling from the sheer force of what she had just endured.

Serina stood a few steps away, smirking down at her, her expression smooth, pleased, and yet utterly neutral.

"Interesting."

Her voice was smooth, casual, as though she had not just forced Helen to experience her own destruction.

She took a slow step forward, the faint glow of her armor catching the dim light of the chamber, her gaze sharp as she tilted her head.

"You almost made it."

Another step.

"You moved without hesitation. You acted."

A pause.

"And yet… you failed."

The word was not spoken cruelly. It was not an insult, not a jab. It was simply fact.

Serina crouched in front of Helen, close enough that the lingering heat of her presence curled through the space between them, close enough that her voice could sink into Helen's already raw nerves.

"You did what the Jedi always do." Her voice was a low murmur, smooth and indulgent, tinged with something velvet-dark. "You tried to save everyone."

She reached out, her fingers brushing against the edge of Helen's singed sleeve, the burnt remnants of her own failure.

"And because of that, you saved no one."

She leaned in just slightly, her smirk curling slow, her breath warm against Helen's still-ragged breathing.

"Tell me, Helen—" her voice was barely above a whisper now, a purr dripping with both indulgence and expectation. "How does it feel? Knowing you had a choice. Knowing you could have saved someone—if only you had let go of the others?"

Another pause.

Serina exhaled softly, fingers trailing just barely away from Helen's sleeve as she straightened, rising to her full height again.

"Do you see now?" she murmured, her tone shifting back to something smooth, something calculated. "The ocean does not care what you want. It will take from you as it pleases. If you hesitate, it will take everything."

She turned, walking a few paces away, letting the silence stretch, letting Helen sit in it.

And then—

"Again."

She did not wait for Helen to recover. Did not offer her comfort.

She reset the simulation.

The fire roared back to life. The screams returned. The ceiling groaned once more.

The two figures stood before her again, pleading.

Maybe Helen could beat it this time?