“Yes, actually. Are you still willing to teach me Force Purification?”

“Hmm. I don’t see why not. It’s not like you’ll have anything better to do while you recover.”

That’s not exactly true, but it’s close enough. You still need to clear your Bloodlust but it’s not like you’ll spend all your time on it. Actually, maybe you’ll want to hold off on the rest of that until you’ve learned Purification? You’ll think more on that later.

“Could you also teach me Healing?”

She’s silent for an uncomfortable amount of time when you ask that. You’re almost about to tell her to disregard that before she finally responds.

“That one’s still a maybe. Like I said last time, I will consider it if I have extra time. Though I’ll be here to check on you often, that doesn’t mean I’ll be free to teach you. Anyways, you wanted to first learn Purification, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Learn that first, then we’ll talk more about Healing.”

“Yes, Master Corr,” you say with a nod. “By the way, have you heard anything from my friends?”

“Those noisy brats? Yes. They came to visit you while you were asleep. Chattered away at you, despite you not being able to hear them. I kicked them out after a bit, but they’ve been coming to visit you every day.”

Aw, that’s nice of them. You’ll have to thank them later.

“That’s all the questions I had. Thanks, Master.”

“You’re welcome, Xena. Now, I’m going to get a few things ready— Oh bugger. Nevermind.”

The two of you can clearly feel a shifting in the Force as two more individuals walk down the hallway. Two masters of the Order. Two people with a discernible weight in the Force. And as they stroll closer, you can hear them too.

Whispers at the edge of your mind, chattering softly to themselves. Each one ever so confident, at peace with the world around them.

One of them is ancient. Yet, his thoughts are no slower than that of his colleagues and he still retains a childish sense of curiosity. Clearly, this is Master Yoda. His presence in the Force is as familiar to you as your own. Everybody in the Temple knows Master Yoda for he takes a personal role in helping teach the basics to all Younglings.

The other one is stern, no weaker in the Force. His presence is somehow darker than the first, but his mind exudes discipline and strength. Though you have never met him face to face before, you know of only one person who could fit this description. This is Master Windu.

“Here, let me put your headband on for you. Best to be safe, yes?”

Master Corr rushes over to the table to retrieve the headband. As she moves, you track her with each of your senses. You hear the shuffling of her feet and the whisper of her thoughts, feel the brush of displaced air on your skin and the movement of her presence in the Force, see the after-glow of her true-self hidden behind a cloud of cheer.

Are you truly blind?

Master Corr fixes the headband in place upon your head, covering your warp-eye completely. But, as always, it serves only to protect others from looking into your eye. Your witchsight and your gaze can never be hampered by mundane means after all.

A knock rings out and Master Corr bids them in with a “Come in!”

Just as you thought, it is Master Yoda and Master Windu. You hear the hum of Yoda’s power chair and the light footsteps of Master Windu following only a step behind. The two of them pause in front of Master Corr, likely trading bows, then close in on you. You sit up at their attention and bow to them as well, causing a slight glow of amusement to radiate from Yoda.

“Doing better, I see. Feeling better too, I hope?”

You swallow your nervousness then nod in his direction. “Yes, Master Yoda. It hurts, but it is bearable.”

“Good. Good.” Master Yoda nods to himself. “Concerned we were. Face such tragedy, no Youngling should. Protect you better, we must.”

You’re not really sure what to say to that so you just give a small nod as Master Corr drags over a rolling chair for Master Windu. She then moves off to sit in the corner feigning being absorbed in her work, but obviously listening in.

“Thank you, Master Corr. Now then, Youngling. You may have an idea of why we are here.”

Again, you say nothing, opting to just nod.

“Come to ask you for advice, Master Windu has. Very good scalp care you have. Share it with him, he hopes?” Yoda interjects.

Yoda chuckles to himself as Master Windu shakes his head in exasperation. You giggle along, nerves no longer strung so tight.

“Yes, yes. But, you mustn’t neglect yourself either, Master Yoda.” he says, playing along. Master Yoda reaches upwards to stroke his own thinning hair, earnest mirth only blooming in your sight.

“I too would like to know your methods, Xena!” Master Corr calls from the corner, prompting you to fully burst into laughter. It takes you a minute to calm down from the laughter, but now the tension is all gone. Master Yoda truly is a Master for a reason, you suppose. Even Master Windu is slightly bemused now, but nevertheless, the two of them are here for a reason.

“Initiate Xena, we need to know what happened that day. What is it that caused you to be injured? But first, we’d like to hear what led to it all.”

“Um, didn’t Master Masbau already tell you?”

“Yes, but we’d like to hear it from you. After all, you are both the source and the victim.”

Well, that is true. He is right. But, you don’t like the way he phrased that. You can tell both Master Yoda and Master Corr agree from the way their emotions twist, but they keep silent, awaiting your response. You sigh, purely in your mind. You made your choices and you paid for them. Now it’s time to explain it to the “adults.” You were expecting to hear from the Council much earlier anyway after Master Nu said she would bring this to their attention.

You breathe out, then begin.

≡][≡ ⬦⬦⬦ ≡][≡

Several months ago—

Wait, that’s not right. Sorry, nearly a year ago, I had a strange dream.

There was a storm. A massive, transdimensional storm. And, in the storm were monsters.

That dream felt completely unlike any other dream I’d ever had and I thought that maybe it could have been a vision. A Force vision! But, it was so confusing — so unclear!

I spoke with Master Masbau after that and he advised me to meditate on the vision, and so I did. Under his supervision, I meditated on it and broke through. Neither of us was expecting that, and I had no idea what was going on. I still don’t really know what happened, but I’m guessing that I somehow transferred my mind into another dimension.

Yes, another dimension. It’s called the Empyrean. Sometimes it’s called the Warp or the Immaterium.

…

I don’t know why it’s called that. I somehow just know.

This dimension is… I guess it’s like hyperspace in a way. You can use it to travel great distances in much less time. But, it’s also far more. The whole realm is pure concept. The fabric of irreality. Abstraction defined. A paradoxical place of immeasurable taste and color. And, the home of daemons.

I’ll get to that very soon.

Anyways, it felt like yet another vision. I started looking around for something: a light. Not a torch, a specific light — a beacon. Just like how I somehow knew what to call the Empyrean, I also knew that the light should’ve been there, and yet, I couldn’t find it. But then, I realized that I wasn’t looking properly. I shouldn’t have been looking with my normal eyes. I should have been looking with my warp-eye.

Yes, that’s what this is called. And, I think that’s partly why people are so poorly affected when they look into it. This eye is meant for looking into and making sense of something that makes no sense. Staring into it is probably bad for your soul or something. I dunno.

Since I couldn’t find the light, I decided to go ahead and open up this eye. And, I guess that was a mistake. While I could see much more clearly, I also went and woke up a bunch of sleeping daemons. That’s daemons with an ‘a’ by the way. Again, I don’t know why I know that. The daemons came after me and after dodging a bunch and hiding, I eventually got caught and almost eaten.

But then, I was saved. Master Masbau used Force Stanch on me when I started bleeding. I had been hurt by the daemon that caught me, which somehow made me actually start bleeding out here, in the Materium — Realspace.

The Force Stanch obliterated the daemon. I get the feeling that that’s not supposed to happen, and yet it did. The daemon blew apart, leaving me just floating there. Safe.

But also not. I looked around one more time for the light, but still couldn’t find it. Instead, what I saw was something… else. This is something I told Master Masbau and Master Nu, but they couldn’t find anything about it. I saw another set of storms — three enormous storms — but far, far away. And when I looked at them, one of them looked back.

The eye of the storm indeed.

I don’t know what it was, and I’m afraid to find out.

I woke up… here, I guess. In the Halls of Healing, that is. And for some reason, I just felt angry. Enraged.

I know. It wasn’t right. That dip into the Warp corrupted me in a way. It’s not the Dark Side, it’s something else.

With my warp-eye, I can see—

Actually, let me back up again. I’ve always been able to see other people’s emotions. It appears like a cloud, tinged a color with… texture. A feeling. This isn’t actually related to the Force. It’s something called witchsight; again, tied to the Force. And, just behind the cloud of emotions is what I call a person’s true-self. When I look at someone, I can see their desires, their passions, their secrets. And when I use my warp-eye, I can see even deeper.

The true-self becomes clearer. What’s the word? Diff— No…

Disparate? No.

Discretized! The true-self is discretized into events — experiences that form a person’s psyche. I can see what makes you you, so long as I use my warp-eye. I’m not doing it right now, by the way. It isn’t blocked by the headband.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I mean, I can see normally with my warp-eye. The headband blocks that fully, but my view of… everything else, isn’t blocked at all. It’s the same with the witchsight. I don’t need, um, eyes to see with witchsight, but it really only shows me people. I guess I’m still half-blind considering I need to keep this eye hidden.

Anyway, back to what I was saying. I can see warp-taint with my warp-eye. After that first incident, Master Masbau’s clock was damaged. It rusted away. When I looked at it, I could see that it was tainted by the warp. I don’t really know what else it did besides destroying the metal, but I could see it lingering.

I asked Master Masbau to try using Force Stanch on it, which banished the warp away. I watched it just disappear.

Yes. Banished. Again, I don’t know why I know that. It’s just another of those things.

Master Masbau recommended that I use my warp-eye while meditating to do some, uh, introspective meditation. I looked into myself, into the layers that make the composite of me, and I found something. Bloodlust.

It’s like a tumor of warp-taint. Identifiable and removable. It’s why I learned Force Stanch; I wanted to purge it more easily. I’ve spent months working at it, trying to clear it away. I think I’m getting close. Force Stanch seems to help due to its purifying capability, which is why I also want to learn Force Purification from Master Corr. That way, I can purge the taint without having to cut myself. That’s why I had all those cuts earlier, Master Corr.

Um… what next?

Oh, right. I was on that last trip to the Gathering, and when I was on the ship, I had another dream. When we jumped to hyperspace, something just felt really wrong and I passed out. When I was asleep, I had another dream.

And in the dream, there was another ship, The Golden Doctrine. The biggest ship I’ve ever seen. Probably bigger than any battleship in the entire Galaxy.

What made it even weirder was that it felt almost like… a temple. A religious place. I - I don’t really know what made it seem that way. Maybe it was the design of it? Or maybe the way it just… felt.

Whatever. What really stood out were the guns and the skulls. There were cannons on the thing, ones that shoot actual projectiles, each one larger than most fighter craft. And for some reason, there were skulls everywhere. Maybe whoever built it was trying to seem threatening, or maybe it’s religious. I don’t know.

But what I do know is that it felt familiar. It felt like I’d known that ship for centuries.

It felt like I’d piloted the ship before. Like I was the Navigator.

When I saw the ship, it was returning to the Materium after traveling through the Warp. There was a rift in space allowing the ship to pass on through, yet daemons could not follow it. Somehow, a ship that big, could generate a big enough hole in realspace to pass in and out of the Warp.

And as I said, it felt like I was the Navigator — with a capital “N.”

I had that dream several more times while traveling to Ilum, but couldn’t see any more than that. That’s partially why I’m here. There’s still more to cover, though, so I’ll get through that first.

I’ve always been afraid of droids. I talked with Master Binaj and a couple others about it, but nothing could be done about it so I’ve just learned to live with it. Droids are… soulless. I see the life in everyone and everything — through the Force, through my witchsight. But, droids? Droids are just so empty. Empty shells, moving and mimicking sentient beings. It just feels disturbing. But, that’s not what made me fear them.

It was an irrational fear. Just because I don’t like droids doesn’t mean they’re scary. No, it was something else causing this droid-phobia.

I went searching for it, just like how I went looking for the Bloodlust. I followed it inside myself and I found where it led. But, I decided to leave it be until I got some advice.

But then, I found something else. I went looking for that dream again, the one with the golden ship, and I found it within my true-self. Well, at first I only found the memory of the dream. But, I tracked this down through my true-self and found it. I found the whole ship, or some sort of representation of it, within my true-self. And what’s stranger is that the fear of droids led here too. It was the same exact place. And, something felt really wrong. The ship was surrounded with an ‘aura’ of fear. Not the droid fear, but something else.

At that point, I decided to stop doing anything else and get advice from Master Masbau before proceeding. He recommended that I leave it alone, or find another way to attack the droid-phobia without having to go near.

But, I didn’t listen. That’s why I ended up here. And that’s why it’s not Master Masbau’s fault!

≡][≡ ⬦⬦⬦ ≡][≡

“Yes, he did give you good advice, but that does not absolve him of responsibility. He should not have let you do anything by yourself.”

“But—”

“No. Xena, you are a child, not yet even a Padawan. It is our responsibility as Masters of this Order to protect you, even from yourself. And he failed in that. What he should have done was not let you be alone in your struggles. He should have either been there himself, or brought all this to our attention.”

“But, we talked to Master Nu, and she said she was going to do that!”

“That is true, but again, that doesn’t absolve him. It means nothing when you still wound up injured. And yes, I know he can’t be there all the time, which is why part of the problem is you. You should not have done any of this without supervision, or better yet, not have done any of this at all. If we had known, we could have possibly helped you with your ‘Bloodlust’ and fears without you having to do anything but lie there. But, again, Bren made the wrong choices, and so he must be punished for it.”

“I…” You can’t think of what else to say, having been so thoroughly shut down by his statements. It’s still not fair. But, what can you do? What’s done is done.

“Will he be back?”

“Eventually, yes. It isn’t truly punishment. His duties have simply been… extended. He still serves the Order, and when his path leads back here, he will follow it. Now then, please continue with your story. I believe we’re still missing the critical part.”

≡][≡ ⬦⬦⬦ ≡][≡

Oh… alright.

Well, I decided to go ahead and do some scouting first. The first time I was there, I couldn’t see the ship very well. It was clouded by warp-stuff. Ah, I forgot!

When I look into my true-self, I can see that there’s warp-stuff everywhere. But, not everything is malicious. Not everything is corruptive taint. But, the warp-stuff used to prevent me from sensing the Force within me. Now, I can easily see within and observe the flowing Force inside me using my warp-eye.

This warp-stuff just seems to grow naturally within me, but not within anyone else. I’ve compared my true-self with others’ and never seen it outside of me.

During that time Tera and I, uh, went star-gazing, something changed. My vision — my warp-sight, that is — improved. I don’t really know what caused it. It just happened.

Because of that, I could see through the warp-stuff and into the ship. I could actually spot the source of the droid-phobia as well as what was causing the other sense of fear.

It was a daemon.

I… made a mistake. I wanted to get rid of my fear. I wanted it gone! So, I went in despite seeing the daemon so close to it. And when I got to the source of the fear, I did something stupid. The source of the fear was a console, which somehow had power and gave me the option to restart a part of the ship.

Which I did.

And that woke up the daemon.

It was some sort of pink monster which just kept changing shape. It’s almost impossible to describe. But, what happened was that it threw fire at me, which is what burned my arms. And then, it caught me…

And, it took out my eyes too.

≡][≡ ⬦⬦⬦ ≡][≡

You sit, quiet, as you remember. The pain…

Brightness, and then dark forevermore.

“I was finally able to hit it with a Force Stanch after that, which destroyed it. And… yeah. That’s what I can remember. Before I woke up here, I had yet another dream though. I saw the light I was searching for long ago in my vision — the beacon. Someone or something came up to me and gave me a gift. And then I woke up.”

The room is quiet as the Masters sit in stunned silence. Internally, their minds are whirring with activity. Confusion reigns across their spirits, as well as overwhelming concern. Concern for you? Or perhaps concern for something else.

Finally, after what seems like hours, you feel Master Yoda lean forward.

“Much pain you have felt. And much worry do we have. Hmmm, yes. Missing one thing, we are. What is the gift you speak of?”

“I think it’s… telepathy. Or something. I can almost hear people’s thoughts. It’s like ants tapping at the edge of my mind, or a faint whisper from a room away. At times it grows louder, at others it’s quiet. It’s difficult to pick out one mind from the other at the moment, but when I compare it to the emotions I can see and the presence I can sense in the Force, it’s much easier to identify whose thoughts it is.”

“Youngling, you speak the truth?”

“Yes.”

“Hrm. Believe you, I do.”

“And incredibly concerning it all is,” Master Windu interjects. He sits forward as well and you can just imagine him resting his head upon his clasped hands.

“Initiate Xena, this ‘corruption’ you mentioned — the ‘warp-taint’ — this could be a manifestation of the Dark Side —”

“No!” you interrupt him. “It’s not the Dark Side. It’s not the Force at all. I can feel it. I can feel the differences. I can see the separate streams of Force and warp. Warp is not of the Force, it is outside of it.”

“That’s impossible. The Force exists everywhere.”

“It’s what I saw.”

You turn your head toward him and open your eyes, giving him a good look at what now lies within.

“Master, this isn’t of our Galaxy. It’s not of our dimension. It’s just… different.”

You close your eyes again, suddenly self-conscious. What are you doing! Contradicting one of the highest ranking Masters of the entire Order? That’s practically suicidal!

However, to your surprise, he doesn’t immediately rebut your words. Instead, you can feel him and Yoda sharing another look, both of them radiating the same concern.

“Xena, what you’ve described is… outside of our knowledge. If even Master Nu couldn’t find anything within the Archives—”

“— and the Holocron vault.”

“Even there? Well, if she couldn’t find anything at all, then this is truly alien to us. Alien to our Galaxy. And, what worries us even more is that it is clearly threatening.”

“The daemon? But I destroyed it.”

“Not just the daemon. This whole thing. This other dimension — an entire realm of monsters, whose path to reality seems to be through you. We will have to discuss this with the rest of the High Council, and we’ll have more questions for you later.”

At that, he stands. He is clearly shaken by your revelations and disturbed by his inability to make sense of it. After all, he has known only the Force, with its sides of Light and Dark. You suppose that if you were in his shoes, being told that there’s something else out there, you too would be antsy about it.

“Masters, what will happen to me?”

Yoda turns to you, his croaking voice ringing out in the small room. “Rest and recover, you must. Master Corr will guide you as you do. Also, eyes you have lost, but see you very much still do. Train your senses, you should, for great turmoil you will face. This, I foresee. Heh!”

“But, how do I train?”

“Practice, of course! Nothing better than continued practice, especially when no master exists to guide you in these strange arts.”

“So… you think I can continue? Even after all that?”

“Yes. As said by Master Windu, you are the source and the victim. Executioners, we are not. Snuff out the source we cannot, so strengthen the victim we must. But, it seems we cannot do anything. Only you, the victim, can. Train yourself, but communicate. Support you, we all will.”

You hear the slight whine of his power chair as he turns to leave the room.

“Thank you, Master Yoda.”

“You are welcome, young Xena. A new Master will be joining the Temple soon. Meet her you should. Arrange a meeting, I shall, for she can surely help you in her own way.”

And with that, he putters out of the room.

≡][≡ ⬦⬦⬦ ≡][≡

“Well, that was quite a lovely meeting!” Master Corr says as she walks over.

“Can I get some water? That was a lot of talking.”

“Of course. One minute.”

You relax as you hear the sounds of a cup being filled with water. At her prompting, you open your mouth and take small sips while she holds it in place. Once done, you hear the tap as she places it onto the countertop to your left.

“Is there anything else you wanted? I’ll be heading off, otherwise. You need your rest and I need to get back to work.”

“Ah, yes. Is there anything else that Master Masbau left for me? It’s not just the mask, right?”

“Oh, right. Here.”

She heads over to the cabinet and pulls some… things out.

And as she walks over with them, you feel a sense of familiarity.

“There’s some sort of uniform here. It’s red, and—”

You hear the sound of fabric sliding against fabric.

“— it’s about your size. A bit bigger though. Where did he get this? Hm.”

“What’s it look like?”

“It’s red with gold trim. Hooded. Weird symbols all over it. Looks almost like a fancied up version of our cloaks. I’ll lay it out for you to look at later. There’s quite a bit more to it.”

“Okay. Thanks, Master.”

“There’s another thing here. It’s… a bird? I think. It has two heads though. It’s made of metal. I’ll leave this out too.”

She reaches over and removes your headband for you. You keep your eye shut, though. You’ll open it once she’s gone. You hear her turn to leave, but then she turns back.

“You’ve gone through a lot, Xena. Whatever it all means… I don’t know. But, remember that we will be here for you. This is your home.”

And then, she is gone too.

But not before pasting a sticker to your cheek — again! — cackling at your woeful inability to remove it by yourself.