THE APPRENTICE ➛ Kylo Ren

⁽ ¹³ ⁾ ❝ ᴛ ʀ ᴀ ɪ ɴ ɪ ɴ ɢ ❞

Jana walked blindly through the dark room, perspiration dripping down her forehead. It was as hot as a plasma beam, and her skin-tight training suit wasn't helping at all. She had been training normally when all of the sudden, the lights had been extinguished, and Jana was forced to make her way through the maze of equipment. Without illumination of any kind.

She had an idea of what was going on. And it was making her very antsy.

That was when she felt the clench in her gut, heard the screech in her head, and was given only seconds to wheel around, clumsily grabbing the weapon on her belt and igniting it, sending a sharp blast of light from the hilt. She raised it over her head, and red clashed on white as the two sabers met, splitting the still air with a loud crack!

The impact sent her stumbling backwards, but her attacker was relentless.

She avoided the next strike by rolling to the side, then getting her feet under her. She jumped up, swung the lightsaber in the direction of her enemy, which was easily deflected, then sprinted in the opposite direction, praying that she didn't trip on anything else.

She'd barely made it three steps when she felt the danger looming over her once more. She quickly spun, blocked another forceful hit, and executed an attack of her own.

Downward slice, left-side block, duck, jump, center jab, upward slice.

The battle field was now glowing with the flashing of the two lightsabers.

But all her efforts at returning her foe's volley proved to be pointless when a painful blast abruptly struck her chest. She was blown backwards, eventually slapping a wall and sliding down it in a heap.

Her saber had been knocked from her grasp. She lay defenseless and injured as he towered over her. The crimson blade of his lightsaber lowered to hover beside her cheek, humming with a deadly vibration. Heat radiated from the weapon, singeing her skin.

She was dead.

Figuratively.

That was when the light in the gym snapped back on, and she could see her "Master" clearly.

Anger shot into her throat as the lightsaber was cut off, and Ren crossed his arms.

"Sloppy," he commented.

Jana's mouth opened, and she spluttered for words. She couldn't believe him.

"What the hell was I supposed to do?!" She demanded. "I wasn't prepared -"

"There is no preparation for an ambush!" He suddenly yelled, making Jana jump, then scowl. "How long will it take you to understand..." He dropped down to one knee, holding a hand beside her head as if he wanted to crush it.

"...you have to be ready for anything at any time!"

Jana continued to glare as Ren sighed through his mask. He calmed himself, then rose again.

"Consider today another failure," he said, giving her a lingering stare before turning. "You still have too much to learn. And you can't do that if your mind isn't clear."

Then he left in a billow of his cape and robes, and Jana leaned her head back against the wall.

The last two weeks had been hell. Constant training that did nothing but get worse every day. Ren was right. She couldn't learn if she was focused. And she wasn't focused on learning. She was focused on not giving herself away.

She was focused on escape.