Star Wars Rebels - Gleam of Hope (English Version)

The darkest day

WARNING: This chapter contains a lot of violence and brutality! Sensitive readers might find this disturbing! The following chapters should be enjoyable for everyone, this is a rare exception.

Three years ago at the Sith Academy:

Everything just went by in a blurr.
Today was really not her day.
As always, when she saw the recordings, deep empty grief arose in her and a sheer endless sea of ​​tears spilled from her eyes. But today she had cried much less than usual, because something completely new had woken up inside her and left her screaming. However, it was not a scream of pain, as one would expect, if one saw for hours, over and over again these recordings in which one's own parents were murdered. No, it was rage that filled her up.
Pure hatred devoured Salya and when she finally was free, she just wanted to cut off the heads of those who were responsible for her pain! Oh, how good would it feel to see them all dead, their heads disembodied on the ground.
It was already the second time that day she was haunted by this devouring hatred.
Salya walked ahead. The others would say that they had managed to break her that day and she was willing to prove them right.
The day was gray, as was her soul. All hope had been lost, gone from her mind, and from her heart. Either emptiness or hatred had taken the place.
Salya had sworn long ago to never lose hope and the light inside, but she simply had no other choice left. Her hope to one day escape from this place unscathed, both physically and mentally, was lost. Any confidence in escaping gone.
She just wanted to take revenge on everyone who was responsible for her suffering. She wanted blood and only blood and suffering! They should take their last breath with agony and then decay. Salya's heart screamed and demanded that she finally deprived them of all their vitality! They really had it coming!
The gang around Dave didn't deserve it any other way and she had let them do what they wanted for far too long. She had always just defended herself, but now she had enough.
Salya hoped that he would cross her path today!
They had been allowed to kill other Sith apprentices as long as a duel was agreed, no matter how many stood against each other or whether the challenge was fair. After all, they only wanted the best at the academy.
At age eleven, Salya was the youngest contender. Most of the others were between fifteen and nineteen years old. In the beginning, their group consisted of twenty-one people, now there were only seven remaining. Dave's gang consisted of five people. The other members of the gang just survived this long because they had teamed up with him.
As for Salya ...
There was one other contender ... Naz Kynnovan, who had been her best friend and ally until this morning. But when Salya thought of him, all she could think of was his cold betrayal and his sudden attempt to kill her. She had seen it in his eyes right then, that spark during his attacks that told her he was serious about what he was doing. Exactly this spark was now in her own eyes to find.
The spark and the glimmer that made clear that one couldn't expect any mercy.
Her hatred grew with every second that went by. Later, if Naz would cross her path, he would never again try to attack her, he wouldn't even be able to do anything anymore...
Oh yes, this idea pleased Salya so well and soon it would become reality! The blood would flow, her desire for it was getting bigger and bigger.
Her eyes were so much darker than usual, they had something truly sinister about them. Salya could see that on her face when she looked at the puddles on the ground. She was on her way to the library, as usual. It used to be the only place where she had been able to rest, but now she deliberately took her time on the way there, because she wanted someone to cross her path.
"Hey", a deep voice said behind her. The word contained so much aggressiveness.
She knew exactly who it was.
Perfect.
Salya had just stopped and stood with her back to him. It suited her old defensive self perfectly.
"Well, who have we here? The little Antana! Well, why are you so alone? Did your friend betray you? Turned against you? That means no one is there to protect you anymore!", Dave said in a dark voice that apparently should intimidated her. But it didn't work. At least not today.
Any other day, Salya might actually have been a little scared. She would have tried to keep a cool head and think of a plan for how to escape, which would certainly have worked in the end. This time, however, she wanted the direct confrontation.
The corners of her mouth formed an almost crazy smile.
She didn't turn to Dave, because he should think it would be the same game as any other day.
"She's frozen. How sweet, but soon she will be freed from her fear!", he said and his words seemed to fit perfectly with his voice. Cold and unfeeling.
Salya wondered why he didn't realize what feelings really were rising inside of her. Maybe he was not as powerful as he liked to think. That he was going to die because of it was ironic. Malicious joy was spreading in Salya.
She sensed that Dave wanted to attack, but she wanted to take care of his henchmen first. Eyes closed, she felt everything in her surroundings. With the force she formed a choking hand around the boy's neck, which was on the far left.
She heard his strangled sounds that sounded like music in her ears.
Dave immediately attacked her to let go of his pet dog, but she was much faster than him. All these years she had been trained to get the most out of herself and in her rage her powers were even stronger.
Effortlessly she dodged Dave and didn't even need to loosen her grip.
The sounds became quieter with time ...
"Are you going to do something!?", Dave shouted furiously at his companions. It was almost sweet to watch.
His eyes were still that weird unnatural yellow, but not Salyas. Hers had gotten a dangerous red glow.
His followers finally reacted and tried to kill Salya. They drew their lightsabers and tried various forceabilities, but nothing seemed to stopp her.
There were still a few strangled sounds, then everything was quiet for a moment ...
Salya's gaze wandered to the boy's corpse. Her eyes widened, fascinated and eager for the force that was building up within her. But another attack interrupted her.
She threw the attacker away with the help of the force, as if it were just some worthless toy no one wanted to play with anymore. Then she turned to the next one.
She gazed madly at the one who stood outside on the left.
He was about to attack her with his lightsaber but she countered by dodging him at the last moment and pushing her own lightsaber into the young man's chest. She managed to find a spot that would make his death as slow and agonizing as possible. She had acquired this useful knowledge in the library. Not such a useless place after all.
The young man laying behind her made miserable groaning noises. It felt good and Salya wondered why she hadn't done this much earlier. She enjoyed the sight for a moment, warding off further attacks. There were only four of them left.
But slowly it became boring to her. She needed a new prey, careful to see that Dave was not getting too close to her, for the main prize she wanted to keep until the very end.
In the meantime, her opponents had changed their tactics, now attacking as a team together. It was annoying rather than dangerous.
Salya targeted probably the tallest of the group, who was strong but not very intelligent. He might have been powerful, but he didn't know how to use his powers skillfully enough.
The last of them survived only because of Dave. Without him, he would have long ago followed his colleagues into the hereafter.
Salya gathered the force in her hand, a faint crackle grew to a tingling and became stronger, the more anger, hatred and rage Salya felt.
When she realized that it was enough, she opened her hand and a bright beam jolted from it, which targeted the last two companions of Dave and caused them screams and a fight against their own muscles. Finally, both of them fell to the ground lifeless.
Then it was finally Dave's turn to look down on his fallen comrades, unmoved. But Salya sensed that there was no such peace inside him. There was fear and panic.
"Who is mightier now? ", she said cynically, followed by a dark, crazy laugh.
"Just because you slaughtered them doesn't mean you can do the same with me!", Dave said quite confident of victory and apparently wanted to convince her to not believe the feelings she sensed inside of him. Or maybe it was just his poor attempt to convince himself.
"Ohhh, is someone scared?", Salya said and took a step towards him. She realized that he really had to pull himself together so as not to back down.
"Me and fear, that ...", he started, ever falling silent, when Salya's hand closed around his wrist and was flowed through by an incredible cold. She had read in a book that with help of the dark side of the force one was able to absorb the vital energy of a living being. It seemed like it was true.
After a few moments, Dave had already fallen to the ground, shaking. He had initially tried to fight back, but soon lost all strength. Salya tried to make the process as slowly as possible, so that it was as agonizing as possible for him. She, on the other hand, enjoyed every second of her triumph.
"Now you see who won here", she said cold. "That you underestimated me was a mistake that unfortunately means your end!"
She thought she saw some kind of gratitude in Dave's eyes when it was finally over.
Suddenly doubts arose in Salya. Was it just a relief not having to withstand her torture any longer, or was there more to it? Had he not been able to bear the agony of this place aswell? Maybe the empire had broken him, too.
She had never thought about that before, and without her being able to do anything about it, she felt sorry for him. Maybe she had just made a huge mistake!
Fearful and uncertain, she looked at the field. Everywhere was death and the heat of the fight still seemed to be tangible. It was unbearable!
"Salya ... what have you done?"
A shocked boyish voice ripped her out of her trance. Salya immediately knew who it belonged to and the hatred in her rekindled. She gritted her teeth and all the compassion, the doubt, had disappeared.
"So? Is the kind gentleman frightened?", she asked provocatively and her voice sounded strange even in her own ears. At that moment, she didn't even care.
"Salya! Take a look around! That's not you!", yelled Naz, her former friend. Was that his tactic? He wanted to confuse her, to persuade her of insecurity so that he would have an easier game!
"Oh, that's ME! The REAL me!", she screamed and turned to him elegantly.
"No no! You're not! You are compassionate, helpful, good ... you have never belonged at this awful place!"
Her activated lightsaber was her answer.
"Maybe I was all that once ... maybe you're right."
She lowered her eyes and made it look like she was beaten. Naz looked relieved, hopeful.
"But now I am Darth Drisae and nobody can stop me!" She took a step towards him.
"I don't want to fight! Not against you! ", exclaimed Naz, desperately taking a step backwards. He sounded terribly anxious, but also convinced of his words.
"Oh yeah? This morning you were singing a different tune!", she smiled bitterly and kept on walking towards him.
"I just wanted to prevent you from them brutally torturing you!", Naz screamed helplessly. It was pathetic to watch.
"I dont believe a word you say! You wanted my death to prove yourself in front of the others! But that won't happen!"
She switched to the attack. He parried, he had no choice. His defense was precise and not to be underestimated. Many had thought less of him, but not so Salya, who knew her former friend and partner well. She knew his tactics, his weaknesses, his strengths.
His mistakes.
She tried to force him into a corner. When she finally succeeded and broke through his defense, he tried to push her away.
It should be his downfall.
He couldn't hurt her from a distance, but Salya was powerful enough to do it from her current position. With a quick hand movement, Naz was in the air and fidgeted helplessly. Salya watched him amused.
Then she controlled his right arm, in which he held his lightsaber. Slowly, very slowly, he cramped, moving it more and more in the direction of his throat.
"Any last words?", she asked with that crazy smile, leaving the blade just a hair's breadth beside his throat.
"I'm sorry Salya ... that I ... was such a bad friend to you ...", he said and closed his eyes before his own arm cut off his head.
Now only Salya was left. Everyone else was dead. She was apparently destined to be a Sith.
But Sayla was also dead, actually she had died in the square just like the others. The fight was won by Darth Drisae and she had nothing but revenge in mind. She would rise to become a Sith Lord and overthrow the empire that had once killed and replaced her by this monster!