~More than anything he wanted to know her. This yearning, so agonizing threatened to devour him whole.~Anakin Skywalker
Cassandra Pierce is hunted by a powerful evil, putting everyone in danger. Kamar Taj reaches out to the Jedi Temple for aid. Newl...
Verdant green hills rolled into a lush forest that stretched beneath a steel gray expanse. A lazy river meandered along the bank disappearing around the bend. Cassandra was dreaming. It was the most vivid dream she'd ever had. The hem of her long white gown fluttered behind her in a ghostly breeze as she climbed the nearest hill. Bands of mist rolled over the grass, twining around her bare feet.
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She gazed around in confusion, wondering where she was. There was nothing familiar about the countryside. Cassandra was confident she had never been here before.
Clusters of boulders graced the top of the hill. Seated on one was an old man in long wool robes, dyed with vivid blue woad.
Who was he? The question flittered through her mind like a butterfly on swift wings. Curious, she crept up the well-trod path, the grass worn down to dirt from centuries of travelers.
A simple silver circlet rested on the stranger's white head and his gnarled fingers gripped a familiar long wooden staff.
Her staff.
Cassandra's heart pounded as she stopped in front of him, the grass tickling her soles. "Who...are you?"
The old man stared at the horizon for a moment longer before gazing up at her with the piercing, bluest eyes Cassandra had ever seen. They were filled with wisdom and age and a great deal of sadness.
The hairs rose on the back of her neck as an impossible notion formed. "Emrys?"
A melancholy smile curled his thin lips. "That is my given name, Cassandra of Pierce. I have been calling out to you for a long time. It appears for a willful spirit like yourself only death would compel you to answer my summons."
"I'm dead?" Cassandra glanced around at the beautiful scenery. "Is this heaven?"
It would be her luck to be trapped in the afterlife with the man who ruined her life.
"You died for an instant before the power saved your life and I seized the opportunity to bring you to the heart of the astral plane." Emrys said.
"I'm on the other side of the universe! How did you reach me here?"
"Time and distance have no meaning in death. All I had to do is think of you and you appeared." A boulder materialized across from him. He gestured toward it with a wrinkled hand. "Have a seat."
Stunned by the revelation of her near demise, Cassandra obeyed. A cluster of white flowers popped up from the ground. She watched the delicate white petals bob as a beetle crawled up a slender green stem. The shiny carapace on the insect's back glinted with blue highlights.
Cassandra forced herself to meet her nemesis' gaze. "I despise you."
"I don't ask your forgiveness. I ask you to listen." Emrys replied serenely.
