Vancil didn’t quite know how to feel. A lot of things had happened in the past few minutes… maybe. In his mind space he wasn’t really able to keep track of the concept of time. Things just… were. He glanced over to Phoenix, the enigmatic woman who seemed utterly enthralled in what was happening.

  Vancil had to admit that he was as well, however he always watched Phoenix from out of the corner of his eye. Maybe it was his experience as a Sith, but he was almost certain that she was not to be trusted. The way she acted was akin to someone who knew they were going to die and had accepted it. Yet, the look in her eyes told of someone on the edge of desperation.

  He knew that look from the many battles he had participated in during the Great Galactic War, in the ones who were always particularly difficult to kill. His attention went back to the screen as Kandria now appeared to be getting more and more concerned as she watched the small monitor beside his bedside. The scope of vision from the ‘screen’ before him and Phoenix was quite strange. It seemed to originate from his eyes, yet not only were they closed but the peripheral of his vision was completely clear as though he were looking right at it.

  As a result, while he could see Kandria looking at the monitor, he couldn’t see what was on the monitor itself. Whatever it was though seemed to be getting progressively worse if the rising panic in Kandria’s eyes was any indication. Then something incredibly strange happened. She approached Vancil and started to ransack the inside of his cloak. He vaguely felt a hint of something akin to embarrassment at that, although the emotion itself was very unfamiliar.

  His eyes widened as she found the Storm Petal, the one he had kept since their adventure on Kavir, and he hazarded a glance at Phoenix. The woman thankfully seemed to not know its significance to him or at least knew to not bring it up. Refocusing on the screen Vancil’s eyes narrowed as Kandria finally pulled out what she was looking for; his lightsaber.

  She was in danger. The specifics didn’t matter. From what he could tell someone or something was coming aboard the ship, and for some reason or another she did not have access to her lightsaber. Vancil was surprised at how ready he was to allow her use of his lightsaber. A few of his ‘compatriots’ ‘at the Sith Academy had attempted to take it only to be rather violently rebuked. He supposed that because it was clearly a life-threatening situation and Kandria needed all the help she could get, help Vancil was happy to provide.

  He watched with bated breath as Kandria took up a position just next to the door. He felt a twinge of concern and distaste at seeing her holding the red lightsaber. He hadn’t brought it up yet, but she had touched the dark side during their battle on Concord, used it to fight and kill the Deathwatch. Vancil was a devout follower of the dark side, yet… he didn’t want to see Kandria fall to it. She was perfect the way she was, and if she delved into the dark side she would be forever changed.

  The dark side was many things, however unlike others of the same belief Vancil did not wish to impress it onto others or draw people over. People could choose what they wanted, and if they chose the light side than that was just how things worked out. It was far more understandable anyway, considering the light side had far more pleasant aspects than the dark side, or at least its practitioners had more pleasant aspects.

  He was brought out of his thoughts as he refocused on Kandria, standing up and taking a step forward to get a better view of the ‘screen’. Kandria was in a good position, clearly ready to ambush whoever dared to step through that door. Instead of opening and revealing the intruder however, something even stranger happened. What looked to be a spear pierced through the metal door which now had ice spreading across its surface.

  Then, all hell broke loose. It was difficult for Vancil to follow due to the limited vision afforded to him, but from what the Sith could tell, a blue haired woman he had never seen before in strange clothing was absolutely thrashing Kandria. Vancil was slightly stronger than Kandria, at least enough to beat her in a straight on fight but what he was seeing was so one sided even Vancil blanched at the thought of fighting the strange intruder. His shock and confusion quickly gave way to concern and panic as the woman pinned Kandria to the ground behind the foot of the bed, out of sight.

  Red eyes widening he whipped around to Phoenix, who no longer looked at the screen as she sat upright, her gaze hidden behind the fiery locks of hair which hung over her, “Okay look, I’m still not entirely sure who the hell you are or why you are in my head but you need to get me back into control of my body right fucking now.”

  This was a strange new feeling of helplessness Vancil hadn’t felt ever since his sister had been sold off. In almost every other instance of his life he had some way to fight back or at least act, even if he was grievously injured. Now though, he was stuck in his own mind, forced to watch as the person now closest to his heart got beaten down like it was nothing.

  Phoenix was completely silent as she slowly rose to her feet, both of the beanbags disappearing as she did so. Her eyes remained locked on the ground; her expression still hidden as she took a step forward. Not toward the screen. Towards Vancil.

  Vancil’s skin prickled and he instinctively took a step back as she spoke, “Sorry about this kid. You just got some really rotten luck.”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Vancil opened his mouth to retort and question, more so in an attempt to delay what was almost certainly coming than any real curiosity. He didn’t get the chance before his vision filled with flames.

  Kandria heaved in as much air as she could with the now increased airflow she was allowed. As she greedily drank in the sweet oxygen her brain quickly got to work trying to understand and translate what the woman had just said. Unfortunately, that seemed to be a near impossible task, as there had been so many voices over top of each other that she didn’t have a clue what she had heard. The most Kandria could come to was that ‘moxy’ was included.

  Thankfully, the woman seemed to notice her lack of understanding, releasing her grip on Kandria’s throat and reaching up for her own. She seemed to feel around before pushing hard on a section of her throat, causing it to shift noticeably to the side in a most certainly unhealthy way.

  The woman worked her jaw and massaged her throat for a moment more before speaking, the hundreds of voices and echoes from before disappearing, “I?????????s????????? ??????????????????t?????????????????hat better?”

  Kandria, still quite unsure of how to react, simply nodded wordlessly. Thankfully however the answer seemed to be satisfactory to the woman, who mirrored Kandria’s nod as she rose to her feet, releasing her grip on Kandria’s wrists and seizing her instead by the shoulders, bringing the former-jedi up to a standing position.

  “Right, well that’s good. I’d say I’m sorry about kicking your ass, but frankly I’m in quite a shit mood right now.” She said, brushing away the few small ice crystals which had grown on Kandria without her noticing, “Anyway, you seem like you got a lot of heart kid. You can call me Saphrus.”

  Kandria blinked before looking at the now deactivated lightsaber still in her hand, the starting trigger completely frozen over. When had that even happened?

  “I… I’m Kandria.” Was the Jedi’s slow and still confused response.

  Saphrus either didn’t notice or didn’t care at Kandria’s bewildered tone as she continued, “Right, well, I’m here because somebody tore a hole in reality. And since you and...” Saphrus trailed off as she finally got a good look at the unconscious Sith on the table, her eyes widening in recognition at something Kandria couldn’t even begin to know, “Well I’ll be damned.”

  Worry immediately filled Kandria and she instinctively stepped between Saphrus and the bed, eyes narrowing even as her hands shook at the thought of fighting her again. The adrenaline had worn off, and the mysterious burst of power had done little to improve her chances against this person. She would almost certainly die if she fought her again. Yet…

  Saphrus raised an eyebrow at Kandria’s brashness, her eyes flickering down to Kandria’s shaking hands, “Well, at least you aren’t stupid enough to not be scared. Look kid, I can already tell you don’t have a hell of a clue what’s going on, so I’ll try and explain it to your underdeveloped monkey brain.

  “That guy,” Saphrus pointed at the unconscious Vancil, “Has got a very dangerous little bitch somewhere in his mind. One which has almost certainly been watching us this entire time and knows who I am. So, if you don’t want him to die, I recommend you let me past. Once I’ve killed the little parasite, I’ll answer any questions you have.”

  Saphrus’ words did little to alleviate Kandria’s worries, and she still stood resolutely in between the two. Then, suddenly and rather violently, Vancil jerked in the bed, his arm flying out to the side and smashing violently into the medical equipment which now showed his incredibly elevated heart rate. Eyes widening Kandria turned her back to Saphrus without a second thought and rushed to his side, pinning Vancil down so he didn’t hurt himself. He jolted once again, as though he had been shocked by a particularly strong bolt of electricity. Kandria looked between Vancil and the medical equipment frantically. His heart rate and core temperature were rising, yet there were no actual issues that the equipment could find.

  Confused and beginning to panic she turned to glare at Saphrus, her eyes narrowing accusingly, “Are you doing this?”

  Saphrus in response only scoffed at her words, crossing her arms as she spoke, “I ain’t doing shit, kid. This is just exactly what I said would happen if you don’t let me kill the little shit hiding in his mind.”

  Kandria’s mind raced as she considered Saphrus’ words. The woman had only stopped trying to kill her a minute ago, and now she claimed she wanted to save Vancil? It was lunacy. Vancil jerked in her grip again, causing another spike in his medical readings. Her gaze whipped back to the unconscious Sith, the panic seeping in her beginning to seep past her Jedi training. She had witnessed people die before, sometimes extremely slowly and drawn out. Still, that hadn’t given her much panic. When it was Vancil though…

  “Help him.” She said through gritted teeth, discarding her suspicion and fully giving in to desperation. Maybe this would be a mistake. Maybe this Saphrus woman actually intended to do something truly horrible to Vancil. Why, Saphrus’ whole explanation of going into his mind to kill some woman that was in there was ludicrous in of itself. But it was better than nothing.

  Saphrus smiled in satisfaction and stamped her foot on the ground, causing her discarded spear to jump up and into her outstretched hand, “Excellent. You might also want to keep that hold of him cause shit’s about to get pretty chaotic and wacky.”

  Kandria opened her mouth to inquire further, however she didn’t get the chance as Saphrus’ eyes went completely white and she fell backwards with an unceremonious crash. Ignoring the brief enjoyment at seeing the woman who had so thoroughly thrashed her now unconscious, Kandria instead focused on the ethereal white silhouette which had been left behind by the rest of the body. It stood perfectly still, having no features at all and merely being the shape of the woman.

  After a moment of shocked silence, it moved leisurely towards Vancil, passing through Kandria as though she wasn’t even there, causing the Jedi to feel as though she had been dunked in an ice bath on Hoth. Fighting through the sudden shock she managed to watch as the ethereal projection laid a hand onto Vancil’s head… before it promptly disappeared.

  Silence reigned for a moment, Kandria still too stunned to speak. The beeping of the equipment brought Kandria back and she grit her teeth as she held Vancil down tightly.

  “You better actually be saving him bitch, or there’s gonna be hell to pay…”