-From the perspective of Lily-

  We have been walking through this dark and narrow corridor for some time now. It didn’t really bother me, quite the opposite. I was excited about this, finally we were going somewhere iing.

  I didn’t pin earlier, but I was getting bored with standing as a guard in that empty corridor.

  You are being watched.

  I stopped for a sed being surprised by the ued voice speaking up in my head.

  Oh, yes… it’s him again. I almost fot about the Overmind residing inside my head.

  Being distracted for a sed, I felt an impatient hand push me forward slightly. With an annoyed voice sounding behi beloo Kalifa.

  -Argh, get ys moving Lily. I don’t want to be stu this tunnel all day long.

  I instinctively stepped forward tain my band tio walk downwards into the rarely used tunnel system.

  The ohat arrived retly is clearly ied in us. I sense her gaze more often than not burrowing into your back. She is pnning something, and I don’t io figure out what that is.

  As I listeo the warning of the Overmind, I immediately wao turn around and look at the i-looking girl who retly joined us.

  Unfortunately, my neck seemed to stiffen on its own and I couldn’t turn around. This was weird. Why ’t I look back?

  Don’t be so careless, my foolish child. We ot allow her to suspect that we have realized something. If you die now, I don’t have the power to resurrect you any longer. I hope you uand what that means.

  The muscles inside my neck rexed slowly, and I could move it once again. I reached up one of my hands and massaged it lightly. The sensation of losing trol over those muscles, if only momentarily, was very annoying.

  Who is this girl, then? And why would she attack us, not eveioning to kill me… I never bothered her before this, what reason would she have to act so violently towards me.

  Based on your earlier life experiences, I would say that there is little to no need for any reason for people to try to harm you.

  Ugh… you… might be right about that. I guess… I don’t want to get ensved again… And the Jedi were kind to me all this time. What reason would she have to do otherwise?

  I do not know, but there is a surprisingly dense psionic aura hidden arouhe only reason why I se is because the aura is making the energies naturally ter around her. It’s simir to the teique terran ghosts teo use to cover their psionic tracks. It would work just fine if she didn’t stand this close to us, too. From this short dista is impossible to miss the residual energies moving in a whirlwind like pattern.

  I don’t think I uood all of that, but what you basically mean is that she is pretty strong?

  Yes, she is dangerous.

  Then… I will be careful to not get separated from the others while she is around.

  That might be a good idea, still… your supposed friend’s presence wouldn’t make much of a difference against a being with such psionic power.

  I couldn’t help but gn the dire of the mysterious guest, who was supposed to be so troublesome, at least based on the observations of the Overmind.

  Our eyes met. Her eyes were pink, but held an unfortable depth which was strikingly different from the other children that I met iemple. Something was clearly different around this one.

  Still, she gave me a warm smile, and that was all for our brief iion. Our attention was suddenly attracted by something else, a ge occurred in the surrounding structure.

  It was at that time when the narrow tunnel finally ended and the space surrounding us turned inte chamber. We were suddenly surrounded by a bunch of other people. Most of them were ioo old or too young to participate in the fights outside.

  This was a hiding pce while also being a warehouse at the same time. If you looked at it carefully, you could see that there were a bunch of things pced around here, some covered in dusty old sheets, while others pced on simirly dusty shelves.

  Everything ced down in systematic order as most things in the jedi temple were. It’s only that they were never cleared from the dust, most of these items were left behind and fotten after all. A cemetery of old memories, untouched for who knows how many long years.

  Driven by a sudden and unexpinable urge, I stepped closer to one of those shelves. It was one of the boxes, among many others, that has seemed to attract my attention.

  I reached out my right hand and touched the dust covered small metal box. Sweeping my fingers over the smooth surface. They were leaving behind a sharp trail in the dust which covered the top of the steel box.

  When my fingers rested on its surface, I felt a strange resonation pulsing through my palm. It was a fortable sensation, warm, eager? It left me surprised and awed, as I had never felt anything like this before.

  I could feel that even the Overmind was fbbergasted by the ued turn of events. This showed in the silehat currently filled my mind. He had no expnations or snarky ents for once, and I was very happy about this. I have been forced to listen to his never ending monologs over the past few days. It was really tiring, at least in the long run.

  The only reason I had been forced to reduce myself to such roles was your extreme ck of reason and knowledge. It is necessary to enlighten you to an acceptable degree, as without a suffit level of intellect, our iions will remain shallow. I have already been forced to degrade my speech pattern to your current level of uanding. I refuse to further simplify my unication.

  Of course you do…

  I rolled my eyes, feeling annoyed by the plicated words he teo use. However, what annoyed me the most was the fact that he had adapted to being in my mind so quickly that I could only feel my inferiority as I was left in the dust over the span of a few short days.

  He also had trouble uanding basic emotions and words that were pced in a text that carried an underlying meaning, which I still often miss in general unication.

  He had learned and started to use those very sentene so quickly that I could only frown. His early stiff unication was now o be found. He was almost as fluid in the ways of humanoid unication as any human was.

  It is only natural for a being of my standing. I have witnessed aed upon enough intelligent beings to have the raw information long stored in my mind. However, I never o actually utilize this knowledge. You say that I only o practice for a short time to activate the already existing information.

  Whatever you say…

  I guess I am just jealous. I sighed lightly and reminded myself where I was iy. I looked back to the box that was now lifted up and held in my hands.

  When did I even pick this thing up? I ’t seem to remember. Anyway, since we were this far, I might as well open it.

  My curiosity overwhelmed me, and I opehe small box without further ado. As I ope, I saw a clear and glistening silver colored der like objeside the box. It ced on a dark red velvet cushion.

  The object seemed brand new and was in plete trast to the box’s outside look. The inside erfectly preserved and cleared, there wasn’t a single drop of dust i. My gaze was focused on an object that I immediately reized as a lightsaber. It would be impossible to do so after spending so much time in the jedi temple. Especially in the pany of my new friends, it was one of their favorite activities to linger around the dueling field and watch the others participate in friendly duels.

  If they were not the ohat were actually dueling, that is. I didn’t really like it though. I never fought for sport, nor did I want to. They also realized it after the first time they pushed me into a duel against one of them. It was only a fist fight, since I didn’t have a lightsaber.

  That day all of us learned something important.

  The girls apparently learhat I am not really familiar with the cept of holding back.

  While I learhat punches and kicks reinforced by psioniergy, or as they call it, the “force” be surprisingly painful, at least when I am not hit over my carapace.

  Still, I won that fight as Barriss backed down when I was about to chop off her arm with my bded appendage. Sihen, they told everyone iemple to never ask me for a duel, because I was crazy.

  I didn’t uand what was wrong with that. I naturally told them that I urposefully just trying to chop off her arm because it was a mock battle. I could have gone for her neck, as that was the more logical choice.

  They gave me a pale and horrified look. So I added expnatorily that we always fought like that with the queens in my . To sharpen our skills, after all, a few limbs could be regrown easily.

  It was at that time; they started to se, pointing out that they ’t just regrow a limb so casually. I puffed out my cheeks and told them that I khis already, and for that reason, I offered them trow it for them. The process took some time, but it wasn’t something I wouldn’t do for my friends. Sitting in a pce for a few hours was not that much of a sacrifice.

  In the end, they got even angrier and forbade me from dueling with anybody for the time being.

  This led to my current situation in which I felt generally bored. I was a zerg after all. I loved hunting and moving freely. It was how I was, aher of those things were allowed to me ihe jedi temple.

  This was the only thing that really bothered me here, otherwise everything was good. I was treated fairly, got enough spayself. I had friends ted me as a zerg-terran hybrid, which I always longed for.

  Behind you.

  I heard the warning spoken inside my mind and immediately turned around. Now that I turned around, I saw that girl standing a few steps in front of me. She was looking at the box still ched in my palms.

  I was too surprised by the sudden turn of events, and I didn’t react wheepped even closer while fog on the lightsaber pced in the dusty box.

  -How iing…

  Said the girl, and reached towards the silvery der, then just before she could touch it, I saw her hand froze in midair, her eyes winced in disfort and she drew back the outstretched arm.

  There was a shadow passing over her expression as she momentarily struggled to accept something.

  -I see you have chosen a new master. To be more precise, it was ruly me who wielded you. Still, let’s hope that your new master won’t e to a simir end. Yes… let’s hope…

  I was a bit scared by the strange words that this girl was telling me. I couldn’t really follow what she meant by half of those words, and that didn’t make me feel aer.

  Who was she even talking to? For a sed I thought she was talking to me, but she didn’t even look at me while speaking… she was just staring at the lightsaber hilt. Was she talking to that thing? Is it alive? EH?!

  From the very thought, I almost wao throw away the entire box. How could something like that be actually alive, something that was made out of metal and such things? It was disturbing, especially because I couldn’t uand how it worked!

  My internal thoughts must have been shown somehow, as the girl answered them as if I had spoken them out.

  -You have o worry… the crystals which are pced ihe lightsabers are the ohat have a certain will. However, it is not their own, in any way. It is merely borrowed or, better yet, it is an intermediary that focus the mysterious energies that we call force. It els and reinforces the will of the force, but it's will still belongs to the forot to the crystal. Even if it might seem the other way around, at least for the untrained eyes.

  I was a bit fused by the sudden expnation, but the ideas still picked my i. So I asked while my body posture rexed a bit.

  -What is this will you are speaking about? Who does it belong to? Is it the will of a higher being that trols things from the shadows? I am familiar with a simir cept… cough…

  I felt as if my throat suddenly became parched.

  You fool, have you not learned anything?

  Ugh… so it was you again… stop interfering with everything I do! I didn’t pn to reveal anything important…

  You already told her more than it is necessary!

  The girl smiled at me and said with a curious expression.

  -Of course, you are a zerg after all, your hive miructure is pretty simir to what I was talking about. However, it is also very different. The force you see, it is hard to describe. From my perspective, it is something like the particles of scattered memories. Each of those particles has certain memories attached to them. Some might be good memories, others ral, while they could also be horrible or all at the same time as well. It is all based around the i of which the item received at its creation, or which was attached to it through some inally unintended use. It is just like that with people too…

  -You see, memories, broken down and splintered over the entire world, most long fotten. Some of them are surrounded by bright energies. These tend to gather more of the same, while those with a dark nature do so simirly with dark particles. The extremities tend to attract the most attention on both sides, while in truth there are many different shades of gray between them, a mixture if you like, made from the bination of both energies. I believe that staying in the middle is the wisest choice. As, it is only my personal opinion.

  I listeo the words of this strange girl, her name was Nizzal, I memorized that much.

  What she said was iing, if irely clear to me… However, I didn’t sense any obvious threat from her and thanks to that, I slowly became used to talking with her… the Overmind ued ent still put me on edge, but it’s effects were waning somewhat.

  She spoke to me once again.

  -I see that you fancy this lightsaber, that is good, because it is yours now.

  I was surprised by the ued statement.

  -Are you sure? I mean, isn’t that stealing if I just take it without telling it to anyone?

  She sighed and said.

  -Teically, yes. However, I actually know who that bde inally beloo. And I khat he would have no use of it, not anymore. That is why it decided to choose you as its new master. It wouldn’t do such a thing if it still had oer all.

  -Does that mean the one who this beloo is dead?

  I asked matter of factly.

  The girl was a bit surprised by the straight question, but she answered with a shrug.

  -He is, teically, anyway… Does that bother you?

  -Eh, uhm… no! I think I like the look of it… It’s so shiny.

  - That’s good then, it’s yours now. So take good care of it.

  -I umm… thanks I guess.

  The girl smiled sweetly once more.

  -You are wele. It is better this way, then to let it lie around. Now try to activate it, but before you do, point it towards the roof. We don’t want to create any trouble…

  I nodded silently and turhe oer at the reended angle. Just before I could activate it, I heard two pairs of light steps run up to us, while asking with eagerness.

  -Hey, hey! What did you find there?! Asked Kalifa while looking at the glinting obje my hand.

  Barriss arrived right after Kalifa and also looked at the item. There ark nition inside her eyes, though.

  -Is that a lightsaber?! Where did you find that? Put that down Lily. It is not something you are ready to use just now. Yoing to injure yourself!

  Kalifa rolled her eyes and said exasperatedly.

  -Oh, stop ag like a mother hen Barriss! She is not going to enter a lightsaber duel; she is just going to ig to see what color this bde is. Right!? Now let’s see it!

  Barriss sighed… but she eventually gave in. She was also curious, after all.

  -Fine, but only to check the bde’s color. No swinging around!

  -Yes, mother!

  Chirped Kalifa, in an iionally stretched out tone. Which mao annoy Barriss, even if she tried her best to hide it.

  I listeo their argument, and after they fi, I refocused on the hilt and pushed the activator button.

  I saark of purple, which blinded me momentarily si retty dark in the chamber where we resided. As, the bde didn’t ma in the end.

  Something ged.

  I heard the ominous voiside my head. I tried to look around, but my eyes were still a bit hazy from the sudden bust of spark that occurred after the failed ignition of the saber.

  I looked arouatingly and saw the others still standing by my side, which rexed me somewhat.

  I heard Kalifa pining.

  -Damn, this cursed thing hurt my eyes! What was that spark all of a sudden?

  Barriss was also rubbing her eyes as she tried to clear her blurry vision. While also expining what might happened.

  -My guess is that the battery must have been weakened over the years and igniting it simply melted it… We are lucky that it didn’t blow up… I should have thought about this, we have lear so many times that lightsabers are fragile structs. Still, that took me by surprise…

  My eyes seemed to be the ohat cleared from the blurriness first, no doubt because of my zerg like regeion. However, when I looked around, I saw a very differey cave surrounding us than the earlier one was. This made me doubt my eyes for a time. I looked around ier detail to make sure that my eyes didn't mislead me. This cave was not nearly as ahere were little to no signs of human activity either. It was dark ay except for a barely noticeable trail passing by our current position.

  -Wait… where is this?

  I heard the first fused question ing from Kalifa.

  It was followed by a tense silence, as nobody seemed to have a good ao that question.

  Eventually, Nizzal spoke. She was looking around with wide eyes, her expression portraying disbelief and doubt. As she whispered to herself silently.

  -Teleportation? Mass teleportation? But what was the activator? Wait, could it be?

  She stormed up to me and ripped the silver lightsaber hilt out of my hand. She held it in hers, closing her eyes, sensing the beautifully glinting object.

  Then her eyes burst open with a sense of wild fear, as her features were overe with obvious worry, her body tensing up as if she was an animal preparing for a bloody battle.

  Soon, distant steps began to echh the cave system. Whioroved themselves to be less empty than inally anticipated.

  Nizzal gulped down her accumuted saliva, then stated loudly and grimly.

  -Prepare for battle… if you want to live…