Work Text:
Immortal Peril
Nia stood and raised her hands to her eyes, as is trying to wipe away the light that was piercing her retinas. She tried closing her eyes but the light seared into her eye, making it harder to see. Nia felt a force, not the Force, the one she recognized and cherished, but no, it was another force, something unimaginable and, to be honest, unnatural. It felt as if something foreign, something great in power, was forcing her to open her eyes and look into the light, the bright blue and white light that seared her eyes and made her legs wobbly. ‘Wobbling legs?’ Questioned Nia, curious and frankly, she was also a tad frightened. ‘When in the hell did I start trembling?’ It was foolish for her to do this, really. She was part of the new Force Order, not some snot-faced eight year old brat.
Nia felt a sudden pain wash over her, yet as quick as it came it was gone. Nia felt like something had changed on her, particularly her body, but her eyes were still shut so she wasn’t able to look, even if she wanted to and she wasn’t about to risk the frying of her eyes by looking at whatever that light was. It was odd though, and she knew there was no way it could be an ordinary light as it was almost visible through her eyelids, and it seemed like a regular light as she could see it now, but she knew that if she were to open her eyes, the light would increase by a tenfold. Nia felt a sudden rush of fear and while that may not seem too odd, it wasn’t just any regular fear, this was a type of childish fear, childish anxiety, that she had not felt since she was a little girl on Coruscant, all those years ago. It was this childish fear that scared her. Perhaps that brief pain from earlier..? ‘No,’ she pushed that thought from her head, ‘it was impossible for something like that to happen..’
It was at that exact moment that she heard a voice. This voice was not a gruff, hard voice, nor did it have a gender. It was a neutral, soft, and gentle voice, one you might use with a sobbing child when trying to sooth their young nerves. ‘Child,’ said the voice, words directed at Nia, ‘open your eyes.’ The voice was not commanding, nor did it seem like it really wanted her to, it was more of a gentle, yet indifferent, suggestion. Nia felt herself opening her eyes as she could no longer resist. She felt obligated to do it, and there was nothing wrong with that. She knew that she could trust this voice, for such a soft voice could never lie…
A small, innocent smile spread across Nia’s childish features as she opened her eyes. She gazed forwards and grinned. The light that she had been scared of had been nothing but a friendly person. How naive her thoughts were, but, after all, she was a child, how much could somebody really expect of an eight year old? She watched as the bright light condensed and took the form of a middle aged female with kind features. The woman smiled at her and Nia folded her hands in front of her and smiled shyly back at the women. The woman leaned forward and tickled Nia under the chin, which, in turn, caused Nia to resolve into fits of childish giggles. She felt her small body being lifted off of the ground and being swept into the woman’s arms, who held Nia close to her chest. Nia closed her eye’s blissfully and leaned into her warm embrace.
Nia felt herself being lifted higher and then… well then she started to hear a sucking sound. Nia suddenly snapped out of the trance and found the kind-faced woman trying to stuff Nia into her toothy jaw, which grew larger by the second. Nia shrieked in fear and rolled out of the woman’s arms. She instantly transformed back to her regular age and she grappled for her saber, whipping it out and flipping it on. Yet she found that the lightsaber did not help as she had lost sight of the woman. The bright light, exactly the same as when she had first opened her eyes enveloped the space in a bright light which forced Nia to cover her eyes. She felt her lightsaber vanish from her hand, and she foolishly reached out to try and grasp it, leaving the coverage of her eyes completely open. Her eyes widened, the light burning into her skull. Nia stumbled back unsteadily and fell back onto the ground. When she recovered and stood, opening her eyes, she found that she was staring straight at a mirror, but instead of her own reflection, it was the reflection of the woman from earlier, her smiling, unhinged jaw seeming to look exactly like how Nia now looked. She stumbled back.
“Who am I?” she cried out, her mind confused over exactly who she was. Was she Nia, the New Force Order battlemaster, was she an eight year old girl, naive beyond belief, or was she the woman, a monstrosity, a freak of nature? Shit, it was confusing, and she couldn't straighten her mind at all. She collapsed to the ground, her body and age shifting back and forth between the three forms. She could hear the sadistic laughter of the woman who had tried to consume her, her soft.voice filling the area. She shoved her eyes shut and cupped her hands over her ears. It was then that she felt it again, the seating pain of the bright light. She knew it was in her mind and she started to hear the woman's voice.
"You cannot stop me, child," said the woman's voice, "I am a celestial, an immortal being so powerful that I could devoir the entire galaxy and still not be full. I eat the Force and I particularly love to consume those who are sensitive to it. They always taste better; sucking the essence of their very souls from their bodies, turning them into soulless husks, mindless fools."
Nia felt a cool breath on her neck. She slowly opened her eyes but didn't dare to look back at the creature. Instead, almost as if instinct, she began to scream, and tears flowed from her blue eyes, her cheeks becoming red and swollen. She screamed and screamed until the woman reached out a hand and began to stroke Nia’s hair, her cold fingers undoing knots and yanking. Nia suddenly became aware and she tried to turn around and punch the woman in the face, but when she turned around, nobody was there.
“It’s all going to be fine..” whispered the woman as a cold sense began to form in Nia’s chest. It grew and the air felt like it was sucked out of her lungs. She began to feel light-headed and Nia was no longer to stand. She collapsed to the ground in a heap, her breathing stilled and her hand cold.
Nia was shocked awake and was startled to find that she was sweating and her adrenaline was running. She quickly looked around her room in the New Force Order base on Vestar and sighed. It hadn’t been real. Just a bad dream. She closed her eyes and layed back down straight on her bed. As she did so, Nia thought she heard a voice.
“Sleep will, child..”