Till there are no stars left in the sky

Part 8

Kylo Ren withdrew from her abruptly, breath ragged as his chest heaved compelling air to re-enter his lungs. The encounter proved to be significantly more draining than he anticipated. He had never before shared such a connection, but his experiment paid off in an exponential way. The girl absorbed his knowledge and understanding of The Force with such eagerness. She openly lusted after the unmatched strength the Dark Side would surely bring her. It lured her toward the endless quest for power like gravity. There were a few uncontrolled moments he didn't know where she ended and he began. Their thoughts and desires, for a brief moment, were completely in sync, and he was unable to pinpoint each notion's origin. Of course, it was a momentary lapse as he quickly regained control. It was all intoxicating to him. She fought through the pain and agony of her own awareness with ambition to uncover that which he sought for, a secret held so deep in the labyrinth of her mind she herself didn't know it existed. He brought his gaze upon her eyes once more. They were open, full with fire. The energy surging through her had put her in a state of ecstasy. He didn't need to read her thoughts to see the thrill that exuded from her. Her focus was fixed on him. A sly smile befell his lips. He shook the moment off and addressed what was on his mind. "It appears you may not be so new to the ways of the force like you have let on." Unease touched her face at his words, replacing the short lived excitement.

"I swear, I haven't...I couldn't have... My life..." she choked as panic edged its way into her voice. She pushed herself up propping herself up on her elbows. "How?" was all she asked knowing he was not wrong in his accusation.

"Those memories were taken from you. Repressed, never to be accessed again." The words came smugly and matched his posture perfectly. "It appears whoever did so was not as strong as he or she thought, wouldn't you agree." Kylo Ren stood walking to the nearest wall and claimed two of its weapons, both simple sabers of metal, smooth and blunt. "Shall we see just how much skill you have obtained? Attack me." He tossed her one of the weapons and readied his stance for her advance.

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The saber floated toward Aurora, and she reflexively snatched it from the air in a swift, smooth motion. She was taken aback at how natural it felt to hold in her hand but quickly regained her composure and charged. Her feet carried her swiftly toward her opponent. She lifted her sword high and, using her momentum, brought the sword down hard toward Kylo Ren's head. He quickly brought his saber to meet hers, stopping her blow mid strike and thrust her backward. He followed with a sharp lunge to her mid torso to which Aurora pivoted on her right foot and spun, deflecting his attack. Before she could process what was going on, she was on the offensive again, this time with a series of parries and a thrust. Again Kylo Ren effortlessly countered her volleys and answered with a barrage of his own. The man was incredibly agile and in his element with melee combat, though Aurora was doing pretty well herself. She reacted quicker than she could think, and before she was finished her current action, her body was already moving seamlessly forward for the next. Their swords clashed, making loud clangs in quick succession. Parry. Parry. Thrust. Aurora spun and hit Kylo Ren's sword, creating an opening in his defenses. Quickly, she lunged toward him, saber moving in for the kill. She had him for sure this time. In an instant, Kylo Ren vaulted several feet over Aurora's head, somersaulting and turning so that he landed facing her back. Aurora stared in disbelief, but only for a second as Kylo Ren shoved his hand toward her. She was well out of his reach, but an unseen force collided with her and sent her flying across the ring. She shook off her surprise and rolled to her feet and was back on the offensive as quickly as she had fallen. Curiosity itched at her. Could she do the things he was doing? She swung her sword up and brought it back down slanted to the left then straight across to the right using her momentum to swirl around, ducking and sweeping her saber toward his feet. He effortlessly jumped over her once more, but Aurora anticipated his move and spun back around with lightning speed. She closed her eyes for an instant and felt the world slow. She focused her efforts to moving the air between them and thrust her hand toward Kylo Ren, who was just about to land. She felt an inarguable power surge from her and watched in disbelief as her assailant was thrown off in his landing, causing him to fall on his back. She audibly laughed at the sight of the mighty Kylo Ren ungracefully sprawled on the floor. The sensation felt foreign to her. When had she last felt anything resembling joy? She brought her focus back to the moment at hand. Aurora seized her opportunity and charged once more. She leapt through the air, brought her sword high for the final blow and swung down with all her weight. Kylo Ren rolled out from under her landing as her weapon slammed into the floor where he lay and knocked her feet out from under her, sending her crashing to the floor instantaneous with his saber at her throat. He had won. His face was red as though he was fighting slight embarrassment and anger. "Never assume you have won. It leaves you open for errors," he said through slightly labored breathing. "No more lessons today." With that he briskly walked to the door without turning around. His hand turned and was met with his mask flying across the room back to its owner. He put it on his head, and the air sealed in it with an audible hiss as he turned the corner. "Take her to her room," he ordered. His voice had returned to its previous deep and mechanical sound.

Aurora lay breathless on the floor for several moments longer until the stormtroopers came hastily in to escort her back to her quarters. She was awestruck by the events that just transpired. She fought well; at least that's what she told herself. She made it through her first day of training with nothing more than some bruises, both physically on her body and mentally. She had held her own. A wide grin she couldn't contain crept on her face. She bested him, if only for an instant. He was the most feared man in the galaxy, and she managed to knock him flat on his back! She would not soon forget the image burned to her mind of him falling through the air, his face plastered in surprise at her skills. He rebuked her and put her swiftly in her place, of course, but she was a nobody who came from nowhere important. She dismissed the questions which arose from her hidden memory for a later time. If she could do such a thing now, what would she be able to do when she had better control of this new power..err..The Force. She needed to refer to her new power properly if she was going to master it. Her mind drifted toward her painful, yet beautiful, transfer of knowledge from Kylo Ren. She began to wonder about her suppressed memories again.

Her concentration was broken when the guards grew impatient with her and heaved her to her feet. She didn't resist them and followed them silently back to her room. She was eager to clean her sweat laden body and curl into a ball on her soft bed. After she was clean, dry and she had run the brush through her tangled hair she lay on her back closed her eyes, reminiscing her personal victory of the day and all the knowledge Kylo Ren had given her. It occurred to her this was the first day she had smiled since she had been taken captive by the First Order. She truly felt good. The thought came as a drink of cold water after a long day of sweaty labor on the farm. She still hated the man behind the mask, she decided; revenge would be hers, but she couldn't deny that her very enemy had indeed given her a very precious gift. He restored something that belonged to her, a memory... a power, a life she never knew she lived. Questions and more questions surged through her mind. Who was she really? Was her mother really her mother? Her brother? Where did she learn these suppressed memories? The lines on her forehead creased as she pondered who would have sealed those memories and why. Anger reared its head at the idea of a person taking such a gift from her. She quickly pushed the feeling aside, that's wasn't who she was. She was better than that. A couple hours later after a droid brought her a tray full of food, which she mowed down rather ungracefully, and after she had read a couple holo tab articles on the history of the Jedi provided to her at her request, she crawled into her blankets and fell fast asleep.