Chapter Two: Who Are You Really?

Darryl and I walk into a shop that is filled with all sorts of parts for ships and droids. Items hang from the ceiling, are cluttered on the shelves and larger parts are on the ground.

“What is this place, a junkyard?” I say callously. There is a loud thunk followed by some shattering noise of something breaking and then a light voice swearing in an alien language. I move my head around to see a figure moving around behind the main counter in the shop. It finally emerges and revealing it to be an ugnaught; having a bit more hair than most I have seen and less flappy skin. Its skin seems to be tanner as well. It is wearing a normal white tunic and thin blue fabric pants. Waddling over to us and I can see that it has a rounder belly then I was expecting from an ugnaught.

“I’m sorry! Did not hear the alert that someone had arrived.” The voice is light with hidden squeaks being some words, and from it I can tell that the ugnaught is a female. Possibly pregnant? “Welcome Di’onhs Parts. It looks like junk yard, yes, but holds the parts you looking for.” She smiles big, closing her eyes even and revealing her spaced out teeth. Then she returns to a normal happy face and motions one arm to the whole shop. “Please, take look around.” Darryl smiles at her.

“Thank you, and no need to worry. You know technology and how they fail sometimes, even the simplest things like a door alert.” He chuckles and she joins in with him, snorting with her laughter. I smile a little. “I actually have a list of the parts we need; would it be much trouble if you could tell me where they are?” He hands her a data pad and she looks it over.

“I go get these! Happy to make customer happy.” she squeals happily.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to impose...” He motions his head slightly to her growing belly and she only snorts a laugh, patting her belly gently.

“No need to worry about little one. Parts small. I be back.” She turns around and heads off in the cluttered mess of parts before Darryl could protest again. He only sighs and turns to face me, shaking his head slightly.

“I forget how prideful some women are when they are pregnant. On Csilla, mothers enjoyed being pampered and taken care of in any way possible.” He scoffs a little. “That is, until someone questioned their authority. You don’t want to stand in the way of a pregnant Chiss woman.” I can sense a little bit of... nostalgia.

“Do you miss being there? Your home planet?” My mouth gets ahold of the words before I can actually process them through my brain. “I’m sorry. That was too forward of me.” He only smiles at me.

“It’s okay. I don’t mind, I mean I was talking to you while you were unconscious.” He winces a little at his words. “I hope that didn’t just come out as... disturbing.”

“Hmm... Maybe a little.” I smile a bit. How can I be so relaxed around him? I swallow and motion my hands for him to continue. He crosses his arms in front of himself. He takes a bit before making a clicking noise from his tongue.

“Sometimes, but I’m not ready to go back. Not yet.” He wants to say more but he hesitates, narrowing his eyes and giving a scowl. Anger and precision, an odd combination of emotions, washes over him.

“What is it?” I mouth to him. He moves his eyes slightly, as if aiming them somewhere and then turns around to face where the ugnaught went to. I sense for other beings and then feel their emotional state. A few... angry and disturbing creatures lurk by with intent on focusing on Darryl. They haven’t made their move, just watching us. I bite the inside of my lip, wanting to confront them to warn them off but I know I can’t just be walking around anymore as a Jedi, I have to be more careful. A dull ringing noise then comes through my head, and I let out a slight groan, holding my head with one hand. I can sense Darryl’s concern but before he can turn around, the ugnaught returns with a box, bigger than she is, full of the parts.

“Here you go sir!” She comes over to him and he quickly grabs the box and she lets out a hefty sigh. “Got you good parts.” She nods happily and goes back to the counter, Darryl following behind her. She pulls out a different data pad, tapping on it. “That come to... 375 credit. I give discount to you. For being so nice.” She smiles softly and Darryl pulls out a cred stick, handing it to her.

“Thank you.” He tilts his head to the side to gesture a thank you and turns around to come back to me. “And please, keep the change.” She squeals a thank you back to him and goes back to working on whatever it was she was working on before we came in. Darryl reaches me and gently grabs my right arm, leaning down a little to my ear. “Act blind again.” He whispers in it. He straightens himself again and we start walking, I keep my arm linked through his, putting my other hand on his rather strong bicep. I walk in step with him, and turn suddenly, causing me to trip a little at the sudden change in direction.

“What is it?” I whisper.

“Bounty Hunter.” He whispers back. Fear rears its ugly head in my mind and I quickly try to shove it down. Then I sense something ahead of us and two Twi’leks step out from the shadows of the alleyway, blocking our path. They both stand with hands on their hips, opposite of each other. Both are female with one being teal skinned and having white thick horizonal stripes, wearing a plain leather band headdress and a simple tight-fitting outfit with a blaster pistol on her left hip. The other is blue with yellow thin jagged stripes, wearing a silver and gold metal headdress, clothed in a small tunic and short pants, having a blaster pistol on her right hip. They both wear matching necklaces of some sort of family crest, I can only presume. I can feel the distrust and angry seep off of them.

“Friends of yours?” I whisper. Darryl shoots me a sideward glance and then looks back at them.

“Ladies,” He carefully let’s go of my arm and sets the box down beside him. “It’s been so long!” He motions his left hand to the teal one. “Aelir, you’re looking rather good. New morning regime?” He then motions his left to the blue one. “Erak? Is that a new headdress?” He flirts casually with them. They remain unwavered though.

“How dare you think you can just waltz back here.” Aelir hisses, her accent light.

“Especially after what you did to us!” Erak yells. Oh great. The person who rescued me is a womanizer. Erak comes closer and slaps him across the face. Darryl takes it, looking shocked.

“Okay, yeah. Probably deserved that.” He looks back at her. Aelir comes over next and slaps him across the other cheek. He looks a little more shocked from this one, putting his hand on his cheek. I tilt my head down to hide a smile that is containing a laugh. I hear Darryl think among the lines of don’t you dare laugh. “Ladies, ladies. No need to for further aggression.” He looks back them. Aelir becomes enraged. “Perhaps I can help alleviate the tension between us? Say with dinner the next time I came back? Or I can give you some credits now and I will make sure to never return to this sector again.” He starts to pull out a cred stick and Erak now becomes enraged.

“Do not think you can simply buy your way out of this! You left us without saying a word!” Aelir accuses, curling her fists now.

“And you took all the credits from the mission we were supposed to do together!” Erak points out. Oh, this is too rich. “How could you leave us like that?!”

“We had to find a way back from that awful place!” Aelir says.

“Luckily, some kind old transporter man took pity on us and brought us back here.” Erak spits out.

“Unfortunately, you weren’t here for us to take back what you stole.” Aelir says, calming down it would seem.

“So, we waited for you.”

“And here you are.” Satisfactory takes place on Aelir’s face and something else takes place in her anger, almost like... triumph. Darryl raises an eye brow and tilts his head to the side. She slowly starts to walk around him, placing a finger on him to trace slowly. “We will take those credits, and more.” She scowls and as soon as she is in front of him, she shoves him. He only stumbles back a little, now he shows a scowl.

“Oh? Is that how it’s going to be then?” He retorts. He’s about to reach for his pistol when Erak aims her pistol at me. He tenses his jaw and straightens again, smirking. Aelir becomes angry again.

“What are you smiling for?! We are threating you and your blind friend here and you think this is funny?!” She pulls out her pistol and aims it at him. He raises his arms slightly, still smirking though. She nods her head at Erak. “Shoot her, maybe he’ll take us seriously then.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that.” He warns. Aelir narrows her eyes at him and then shrugs. “Alright, don’t believe me.” Erak shoots at me and I dodge quickly, not lifting my head yet. Erak gasps a little and shoots again. I step forward quickly and dodge at the same time. Erak backs up now, shooting at random. I drop to the ground to dodge and sweep her legs from underneath her. She lands on her butt with a thud, the pistol flinging out of her hands. Aelir starts to shoot at me, panic in her shooting as well. I flip back up, still dodging and then she stops as Darryl puts the barrel of his gun against her head.

“That’s why.” He takes her pistol and leans in close to her ear. “My ‘blind’ friend there is well... an assassin I hired. She only wears that cloth covering to give herself... a challenge when faced with opponents. I thought something like this would happen so I brought her from my protection. Thought, if I give the word for her to take it off, well let’s just say Erak wouldn’t be suffering from a sore butt.” Erak then gets up slowly, growling a little. Darryl raises an eyebrow and she only lowers her head in submissiveness. “Now, I would drop this petty idea of revenge and leave. Or I will have her kill you two.” Fear spikes in Aelir now and she scrambles to get away, grabbing Erk. I hear them swear in Huttese as they run away but I’m not sure what it was. I look over at Darryl and he is putting away his gun and picking up the box of parts.

“Assassin?” I question, he walks over to me and loops his arm through my right arm again. He chuckles.

“Yes, well did you want to continue dealing with them?” He continues down the alleyway. I can sense something behind us but it is... eluding from me. I shake my head a little, the headache still there.

“You are going to have to tell me who you really are at some point. Two lies in one cycle? I don’t think I’ve ever met someone so deceptive.” A sense of pride kind of comes from him and then some regret.

“Well, in my line of work, lying is probably the only way to get things done. At first, I did tell the truth but it ended up just not getting me around certain obstacles so I started to tell little white lies. Not like they’re harmful or anything.” I shrug my shoulders a little.

“Okay, I can understand that...” We get to the ship finally. He clicks a button on his wrist and the ramp comes down. He then looks at me for a moment, a feeling of confidence spouts out from deep within him and I turn my head to look at him.

“Listen, I know we just met, and this is bold of me to ask but...” He pauses, seeming to try and find the right words. “Would you like to join me? I can try to help you with that mission you are trying to follow. The one that your Jedi friend told you to stay on?” I purse my lips together. I'm about to say no, because I should do this alone but something in the back of my mind tells me... no screams at me to say yes; even though I have barely known him for a day perhaps, my mind is telling me that this is the path I need to follow. He waves his hand in front of me. “Hey, take your time to think about it. I’ll fix up your ship and you can give me your answer then, okay?” He smiles slightly and his red eyes show a gentleness to them and I nod my head.

“Okay. Thank you” I smile back. He heads for the ramp and then, I feel the flow of time slow. I sense it first, a blaster bolt coming towards us. I turn around to deflect it with my hand and ringing sensation happens through my head. Time returns to normal and instead the blaster bolt shoots straight into my shoulder and I get knocked onto my butt, holding onto my shoulder. What just happened? I groan in pain and Darryl turns around, pulling out his blaster pistol. He shoots at where the blaster bolt came from and I get up, looking to see where the blaster bolt came from. A figure stands at the end of the landing pad and is wearing sleek black heavy armor and holding to what looks like a modified blaster rifle. The figure dodges Darryl’s shots effortlessly, evading behind some large containers.

“Get on the ship!” Darryl commands, heading up the ramp. The figure is taking aim again and shoots at Darryl. I quickly grab my lightsaber, igniting one side and deflecting the bolt back, aiming for the cover they hide behind. The bolt barely hits the bottom of the containers but succeeds in making the assailant jump back. I then quickly extinguish my lightsaber and run into the ship, climbing up the ladder and running into the cockpit where Darryl is already at the pilot chair, getting the ship ready to make a quick escape. I hear the ramp close up as he starts to take the ship up into the atmosphere, and I jump into the co-pilot chair. When we hit space, Darryl jumps into hyperspace. I let out a sigh, leaning back in the chair and feel the stinging sensation in my shoulder, wincing at it. Oh, right. I grind my teeth. First, I electrocute my left arm, then powers are on the fritz probably. A dull ache pushes forward through my mind again. Oh, and how could I forget these stupid headaches, which probably why my powers are on the fritz, allowing me to finally hurt my right shoulder. Ugh! I need to meditate.

“...Is that okay?” Darryl asks.

“What?” Kriff, I'm not doing so good. Darryl looks at me suspiciously.

“I said, I’m gonna take you to the medbay and clean that wound for you, is that okay?” He narrows his eyes at me now. “Are you okay? What happened back there?”

“I’m... not sure.” I rub arms a little, feeling cornered but not because of Darryl but because I’m trying to answer that question myself. “I’ve been having headaches but I... didn’t realize it would affect my powers. Or maybe it didn’t. I don’t know!” I flail my arms now, grinding my teeth when the pain comes from doing so. “Everything seems to be going wrong and I don’t understand why!” I yell now, standing up from the frustration and then look away, panting. Calm down. Darryl didn’t do anything wrong. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. I’ll... take care of my arm on my own.” I leave before he can say anything else and search for the medbay.

After a bit of searching, I finally find medbay and start looking for a kolto stim or a medpac of some sort. Frustration crawls over my skin and I grind my teeth again, curling my right hand into a fist. That frustration turns into anger and I growl after not finding anything to possibly help and I swing to punch a wall, stopping short by just a few centimeters. What I am doing? This isn’t me. I relax the tension in my shoulders and my hand falls to my side. I let my head hang in defeat. I feel more lost now than before this journey. I walk over to the bed and sit on it. I hold my head in my hands. Confusion, sorrow, chaos, it all feels like too much. No wonder Jedi aren’t supposed to feel emotion. I can’t hide it anymore. I can’t shield or suppress it anymore. I need to find those texts; they are the answer I seek. But first, I need to meditate, maybe it will help me find the texts or why I keep getting these headaches.

I pull myself up onto the bed more and sit cross legged, setting my hands on my knees. I start with my breathing, slowing it down and bringing all the chaos rambling through my mind to a calm. Then, slowly everything starts to go dark and I feel myself start to float. Everything around me is in sync; the thrumming of the engines, the hum of the lights, the plant life on the ship I’ll make a side note of that for later, the whirring of the computer terminals. Then, I see an image start to form. A person is running from... a cloud of darkness. I focus more and see that the person is me. I know this vision now, usually I try to hide from it, afraid of what the outcome might be like but not this time. I must see this through.

I see panic on my face as I run away from the dark cloud; a hand is now forming from within it. The darkness seems to nip at my feet, the hand so close to grabbing my arm. I feel my heart start to race now. No, calm down. Just a little bit longer. Too late. I fall, losing my concentration, hearing other objects falling as well.

“Whoa... Did you just... float?” Darryl said with admiration. I shake my head trying to see now. Kriff, how long has he been there for? “I’ve heard that Jedi can do it but to actually see it... I’m not sure I still believe it.” My surroundings start to slowly come to my vision. I sit up, turning to see Darryl at the doorway, his face matching the awe stuck voice he had.

“Yes, well, that tends to happen when one is trying to balance their... uh mind.” I say carefully. I don’t want him to know the mess I’m in, though I'm pretty sure from how I acted earlier, he might have an idea already. He nods, coming into the room.

“Looks like you haven’t found the medpac yet.” He goes over to one of the cabinets and opens up a drawer, finding one after a bit of rummaging through it. He comes over to me and hands it to me, “Here you go” I take it and start to pull out the supplies to clean my wound. He’s about to walk about out but stops at the doorway. “Listen... that bounty hunter we encountered on the dock? I’ve encountered him before. He’s after me, not you. At least I don’t think he is.” I tilt my head to the side, curious. “I’m not going to bore you with the details at the moment but I’ve been trying to avoid him for quite some time.” He turns to face me, putting an arm on the frame for the door, using his other hand to rub his chin. “He must have of expected me on Nar Shaddaa after our last encounter. I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize he would even think of that.” He sighs annoyed, I’m guessing at himself. “I hate not knowing his moves, but I know so little of him.” He then looks at me. “I want you to know that I’m still offering to help you but I would understand if you don’t want to be chased by not only bounty hunters after you but after me.” I smile a little looking at the medpac, taking out a large bandage and putting on the blaster wound.

“I would think you wouldn’t want to help me knowing more bounty hunters would be coming after you and your ship.” I tilt my head to face him now and he only smirks.

“I’m always up for a good challenge.” I nod my head.

“I see. Well, I think I want some time to think still, if that is alright?”

“Of course. I said give me your answer after we finish your ship.” I nod my, getting off the bed, walking past him. “In the meantime, where are you headed to? Just so we can at least start heading that way and not get you too far off course, should you choose not to stay with me.” He follows, walking next to me.

“Oh, well... the next place I was headed to was Lothal.”

“Lothal? Whatchya looking for there anyway?” I hesitate to answer. Should I tell him? He’s already proven himself that he isn’t going to sell me any bounty hunter or crime lord. I bite my lip and stop just before the cockpit, standing next to the ladder for the exit ramp.

“I’m looking for something...” I sigh “I might as well tell you. I’m looking for-” Before I can finish, the ship disengages from hyperspace and we both look at each other. Oh no, not again. Darryl quickly rushes over to the pilot chair and I go over to the co-pilot chair. Suddenly a large asteroid comes in view and we are about to smash into it.

“Hold on!” He dips the ship to go under the asteroid and we barely avoid it. He pulls the ship up back up after passing it and looks around. As he does this, I'm holding onto the console in front me to hold steady.

“What happened?” I say, trying to calm down the alerts that bare blaring.

“I’m not sure...” He looks out the viewport for something. “Probably ran into that asteroid because it veered off it’s normal course?” I finally calm down all the alerts and he flips’ a switch near him. “Scan the area, see if there are any mining ships or freighters out here.” I start to scan and I hear him mumble. “Probably some idiot lost control of it.” Something blips on the scanners.

“I see one. It’s headed... straight toward us?” I turn my head to the viewport and see a small ship coming into view. Then I see red streaks coming at us and realize it’s the turbo lasers from the ship.

“Kriff!” Darryl exclaims, trying to turn the ship to dodge them but is too late. I cover my face from the sparks exploding from the console and then look back at it.

“That was a direct hit to the front deflectors. We’re at 50% already!” Another spit of sparks comes out again. “And the scanners are offline.”

“Karabast.” He gets up quickly, going over to the navicomputer. “We need to take care of that ship before we can escape; navicomputer is down as well. Do you know how to handle a gun turret?” He walks back to the pilot chair.

“Yeah, the basics are pretty simple.” I say, slightly nervous. Though I’ve never actually had to use them.

“Good,” He points to the ladder that is descending down just in front the cockpit. “I need you at them.” I head over to ladder. It’s fine. I’ll be okay. I've had basic training. I climb the ladder and get into the chair, pulling the communications device over my head. The targeting system beeps slowly, showing parts of the ship ahead of us. I twist the chair to start aiming at the ship. It starts to beep faster as I center the ship in the middle of it and I press the buttons to shoot. The other ship dodges away though. Stupid ship. I swivel around to aim again.

“Hold on up there!” Darryl yells from below. The ship takes a sudden turn; planting my feet and gripping the handles to try and not fall out of the chair. I see why he had to, there are a bunch of asteroids coming close to the viewport of the gun turret.

“Are you sure I shouldn’t be the one piloting?” I yell down to Darryl.

“Oh yes, let the girl who caught her ship in a nebula be the pilot in a gun fight!” He teases me.

“One time!” I say with bitterness. The targeting system beeps at me again and I turn the chair to follow the ship again. I shoot once I get some of it in my sight and get the tail wing.

“You hit it! Try to-” He cuts off and I see why. Another ship comes into view, being a little larger than the other ship. “Well kriff, I know that ship.” He growls. “How did it find us though...” He trails off, mumbling too low for me to hear now.

“Darryl?” I say, trying to take aim again.

“Keep shooting at the first ship. I’m gonna try to lose the other one. I’ll try to help with the dorsal turrets.” He makes the ship take a sharp turn, putting in perfect alignment with the first ship. I take aim and shoot at it, this time hitting near the ships’ engines. It makes a small explosion and it seems to look like it powers down. “Nice hit!” He takes another sharp turn and I see the turbo lasers from the other ship head towards us, hitting one part of the turret I am using; the barrel flinging off.

“Darryl! I lost part of my turret!”

“Dammit!” He grumbles loudly. The second ship continues to keep shooting at us. Without warning he flips the ship upside down. Trying to hold onto the handles, I slip from the seat and into the viewport of the turret.

“Darryl!” My face slams up against the glass, my left arm pinned underneath me and pain shoots through my arm. I can see the dorsal turrets fly past towards the second ship. After another volley of shots, he finally hits the second ship; damaging its guns and wings. He flips the ship back over and before I fall, I grab one of the rungs of the ladder with my left arm, pain searing through arm and going up my neck.

“Get working on fixing the navicomputer. Yell at me later.” I purse my lips together and head over to the navicomputer. I start pulling files up and tapping on the control panel to bypass the problem. “Hurry! That second ship is still able to partially fly.” His voice is hasty. I tap faster. Come on... Finally! The navicomputer finally accepts the bypass and I quickly put in a destination.

“Got it!” I yell, jumping into the co-pilot chair. He pulls the lever and we spring into hyperspace. I lean back into the chair, letting out a sigh of relief. “Who the hell was that? And how did they find us? We barely got out of hyperspace. No way they could’ve found us that quick unless...”

“Unless they were tracking us? Yeah... I think I might’ve known it was. Dammit, I thought we got away from him just in time. He must have put a homing beacon on us as we left the landing pad. I didn’t recognize that first ship though. He might have recruited some help. That’s the only way to explain that...” He leans back and huffs. “They were waiting in orbit. He planned for us, well rather me, to escape. He wanted to track me. Ugh!” He sits up straight again and slams his fist on the console. “Fool! I knew it was too easy.” His frustration seethes off of him and his thoughts ridicule himself

“Hey...” I tilt my head slightly, trying to stay calm. “It’s okay. There was no way of knowing. Sometimes it’s hard to plan out every move.” He lets out an annoyed sigh.

“You’re right, I know. I was... just hoping to stay one step ahead of this guy. Now I have to worry about two of them.” He mumbles something else but I don’t quite hear it. I’m about to ask him what he said but he continues talking instead. “Where are we headed to anyways? Lothal?” I nod my head. “Why are you headed there anyways?” I bite my lip once again at the question and sigh.

“I’m looking for some ancient Jedi texts...”

“But I thought everything was on computer terminals for you guys?”

“Well, for some things, yeah. But these texts are from a very long time ago. They are still in physical written form.” He nods his head slowly, slightly beginning to understand.

“I see... but why are you searching for them?” I tilt my head down to look in my lap. The question I don’t really want to answer but I know I have to if I am to trust him fully.

“I’m... lost.”

“Lost?”

“Yes... or I should say I'm caught in between knowing what I thought was right to wondering if what Darth Revan says is true. My feelings are in... chaos.” I stand up finally, starting to slowly pace. “I read in my research about these texts, talking about ‘balance’ and ‘better understanding the force’ so I decided to leave before the war.” I look at him and the realization hits him.

“That’s why that Jedi was telling you to stay on your path?” I give a small smile.

“Yes. He was my master. Master Dauula. He is the one who taught me to trust in my feelings and to always consider all options.” I look out the viewport, watching the swirls of hyperspace. “I didn’t realize my emotions would get out of hand though. I apologize again for that outburst I had earlier.”

“It’s alright. I mean, I don’t begin to even understand all that Jedi nonsense but I do understand about feeling lost.” He looks out the viewport as well, something haunting shows in his reflection but then he looks back at me. “I was gonna actually ask what was taking so long after you left to find the medpac, but then I saw you floating and was just so amazed...” he trails off.

“What do you mean? I wasn’t gone that long...” Was I?

“Uh, you were gone for about three hours. I thought maybe the wound was more serious and you were unconscious or something.” I put my hand to my chin. Three hours? I didn’t even finish the vision...

“I was having... a vision. I didn’t realize the time. I didn’t mean to make you worry.”

“I wasn’t worried too much, just figured I should check up on you.” He smiles, then gets up. “Come on, let me take you to your quarters so you can get sleep. Or maybe finish meditating or whatever there.” He starts heading out of the cockpit and I follow after him. He comes up to a door and presses the button. It reveals normal size room for a ship with a bed in the wall, a dresser across from it in the opposite wall and a counter with a mirror near the entrance of the room.

“Thank you” I say as I walk in.

“No problem. Get some rest. Your arm must be killing you at this point.” I remember the pain from earlier and nod my head.

“I will.” He winks at me and he leaves, the door sliding shut. I walk to the middle of the room and sit down, beginning my meditative state.

Darkness surrounds me. I hear cries of pain and begging. I look around to see if anyone is here but I am all alone.

“Hello?” my voice echoes, but no one responds. I hear a low growl and soon a dark cloud is forming in front of me. I scream and start to run away from it. It follows suit, a hand forming from it. I turn to look and trip. Turning on my butt to see it, the clarity of the hand begins to form. It’s pale, showing only four, largish, lanky, fingers. More of the arm start to extend out. I scramble backwards and a body starts to form. I panic and try to run when the arm grabs me. I turn to see who it is but hear my name in the distance.

“Mikacele!” The voice is familiar. I try to yank my arm away. The hand only grips tighter.

“Help!” I yell, struggling to get free. It’s pulling me now, towards the dark cloud. “No! Someone please help!” I scream.

“Mikacele!” The voice is getting closer. “No!” Darkness is clouding my vision now. I try to scream again but I cannot. The darkness is swallowing me. My hope and sense of self starts to drain quickly. Is this it? Is this how I die? Or rather, how I let my fear take over me?

Suddenly, I feel warmth grabbing my arm. It’s trying to pull me from the darkness. I hear from behind me a hiss.

“You can’t have her!” The voice is filled with venom and, it too, sounds familiar.

“She doesn’t belong to anyone!” The other voice argues. The hand keeps pulling me. “Come back to me Cilla! Don’t let the darkness overcome you!” Cilla... Cilla? That’s not my name.

“Her name is Mikacele! And she will be mine!”

“Don’t listen to him! Come back to me!” I see light forming in front of me, my hope and sense of self coming back. I see a tall figure forming in front of me.

“NO! Mikacele! Don’t fall for his tricks!” The venomous voice is now starting to fade away.

“Yes! Come back to me. Come back to me Cilla!” The light blinds me and I can’t see anything in the force, but I feel... warmth. I feel strong arms around me.

“You did it, my Visahot...” The voice echoes.

I sit up in bed, panting and sweating. I wipe my forehead. When did I get here? I swallow, shaking my head. Then, I slightly remember falling asleep after meditating, but I don’t remember going to bed... Then I remember feeling... something picking me up. Or maybe someone...

“Darryl...” I whisper.