Chapter 41: Hallucination?

The energy field hummed persistently in my ears. Everything on the other side of it was blurred by electromagnetic distortions and dyed a shade of red that was grating on the eyes, making it difficult and painful to focus on anything.

Instead of trying to look through it, I simply kept my eyes closed to save myself the headache. There wasn't much to look at anyways.

Damaging a training droid every now and again was expected, usually because a student put too much power into a swing or something.

But I had taken out fifty, many of which would require extensive repairs to get them functioning again due to the manner of their incapacitation.

The two I had subverted were on lockdown until the academy technicians could erase the back door in their programming that I'd forcibly made with Mechu Deru.

That was if the droids could be salvaged at all. Setting the droids on maximum strength for that long had managed to overtax their servos.

A decent droid power core could go for anywhere around five hundred credits at minimum to a thousand for top-of-the-line stuff. Each of the training droids had been equipped with two.

I had been told that it was estimated that I'd caused at least fifty thousand credits worth of damage, just to replace the power cores.

That didn't include the price to replace any other parts that I'd accidentally destroyed or the cost of repair for the droids that got bisected.

I would have been more than a bit proud if they hadn't immediately thrown me into a force cage after telling me that.

They didn't want to kill me since that would encourage others not to excel, but they also didn't want to encourage a repeat performance. In the end, they decided on solitary confinement.

For the past three days, I'd been stuck in this cell, a five by five square surrounded by a ray shield. There was just enough room for me to sit down, but not enough to stretch out, which forced me to sit with my legs folded under me.

I tried to swallow some saliva to wet my ungodly dry throat. Nobody had come in or out since they put me in here. No food or water had been provided.

Reminding myself of that made my empty stomach growl.

My eyes felt like they were full of sand. On the first day, I'd tried to sleep a little bit, but the constant buzzing of the ray shield kept me from resting. Then the aches in my arms and legs from being unable to stretch kept me awake on the second day.

Today, I discovered that purple was loud. The fact that I could now hear colors would be a bit more concerning if I wasn't so goddamn tired. Worse, I couldn't even figure out where the purple was coming from. There wasn't anything purple in the room.

Everything was red and it was driving me nuts.

I couldn't even delve into the Force to block out everything or sustain myself. The collar on my neck made sure of that. Every time I moved my head, I could feel the light scratch of several needles pressed against my skin.

If I tried to use the Force, it would detect it and inject me with lethal doses of some kind of toxin. I wasn't told what kind in particular, but I didn't really want to risk finding out the hard way.

Devices such as this were used to ensure captive Jedi stayed in their prisons instead of disassembling their cages with the Force and fucking off.

While I had learned to counteract poison thanks to dealing with the Pelko bug venom, I couldn't do it quickly enough to keep it from potentially killing me. That was something I would be rectifying once I got out of here.

In the end, the best I could do was meditate somewhat and wait. Or pass out from exhaustion and put my head through the ray shield. One of the two.

Over my head, the lights flickered. Once. Twice. On the third, I realized that I was no longer alone.

"My, such progress you have made since last we spoke, Heretic."

It had been nearly nine months since I heard that voice, but it was unmistakeable. Unlike last time, there was a rasping hiss to it.

I forced opened my aching eyes slowly. Beyond the field "stood" the imposing form of Marka Ragnos.

As in the tomb, his aged form was enveloped in his all-emcompassing blood-red robes, concealing all but the lower half of his face and his hands, which still clutched the metal cane. From deep within his hood, his fiery eyes stared back at me, unblinking.

Unlike last time, the exposed skin of his hands and face was dessicated and leathery, closer to a dried-out husk than a living creature.

The hair that spilled out from his hood looked brittle, like dry straw. Despite his presence, I could still see the door behind him by looking through his translucent form.

For a moment, I wondered if I was hallucinating. After nearly seventy-two hours of continuous consciousness, it was an all-too-real possibility. But as the weight of his presence hit me, I knew that he, at least, was real.

I didn't reply, instead glancing at the corner where I knew a security camera was. Through the hazy distortions of the field, I could see the slowly blinking light that indicated it was active. I didn't want to talk where I could be observed.

The ancient Sith followed my gaze. The light on the camera went out just before it was ripped away from the wall by an invisible hand. I winced at the noise as it clattered to the ground.

I was going to be in trouble for that later.

"I've been a bit busy," I finally spoke.

"Indeed, you have been. Growing stronger, gathering allies," Marka Ragnos commented, "All the while, your enemies have been doing the same, their roots delving ever deeper."

"I'm one person," I shot back, exhaustion and irritation wiping away any terror I really should be feeling at this moment, "I'm not a seer! I need leads to work with."

"You have been stagnant!" The Sith Lord hissed, jabbing a clawed finger towards my face, "You have been content merely to build and wait, not bothering to seek them out!"

"Because there is nothing to be found yet!" I growled. I would have stood up, but my legs were cramped from days of sitting, "I have searched! Countless hours of datamining and surveillance, yet nothing!"

As he lowered his arm, the phantom smiled. It was a cruel thing, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth, "Nothing to be found? Oh, how wrong you are, Heretic. You need to look and think, not be led to it by the nose like a beast."

"Thinking right now is a little hard," I grumbled back.

"Then you will have to change that and quickly if you hope to survive, though it may be too late," Ragnos chuckled. As his smile grew wider, a chill went down my spine, "I trust that you remember that your errant acolyte was not working alone. Did you think they would not take notice of you?"

Barely audible over the buzzing of the ray shields, a series of hisses sounded off from the vents as clouds of gray gas started filling the room. I highly doubted it was non-lethal.

"I suggest you hold your breath," The ancient Sith laughed as he stepped back into the mist. The echo of his voice reverberated as he dispersed into the gloom.

With little other choice, I followed his advice, sucking in as much air as I could. Without the Force, I had a few minutes at best.

Exhaustion briefly gave way to panic as adrenaline surged through my body. My fingers felt at the collar, searching for a gap between metal and skin on which to get a better grip to pull on. When that fail, I fumbled at the clasp. It would be the weak point.

Gripping the metal collar as strongly as I could, I pulled. My fingers slipped and scraped as they tried to hold on. By now, the gas had covered most of the room, but hadn't entered my cell yet. I couldn't see the doorway now.

I needed to breathe. I didn't think even a minute had passed and my lungs were already starting to burn.

The gas was getting closer fast and it would be on me soon. The ray shield wasn't air tight and would provide no protection.

I had a choice to made. I needed the Force but using it to free myself would cause the collar to inject me with poison. But inhaling the gas would poison me as well. One poison, I could possibly neutralize with effort. If I injested two, I had no chance.

It was an easy choice. Drawing on the Force, I snapped the collar in half. A grunt escaped my lips as the needles dug into the skin of my neck before falling away.

Power flowed into me, restoring strength to my limbs and reinvigorating my mind. It was a far cry from proper rest, but it would allow me to survive.

Survive.

The stale air in my lungs stopped burning and the itch to breathe faded just as the cloud rolled over me, blocking out my sight.

Closing my eyes, I delved inwards, seeking the poison now running in my bloodstream. I followed the trail of veins and arteries down to my heart and up to my brain. Like fire, the Dark Side burned as it began to purge the poison from my body. Sweat started to form on my skin as it heated up.

I hadn't practiced this skill for a while, so it was slow going. But I didn't need all of it gone, just enough to make it non-lethal.

My lungs started to ache again after a few minutes. I couldn't tell if I had gotten enough of the poison, but it would have to do. Around me, the field projectors crumpled as I crushed them with the Force.

With a piteous whine, the ray shield winked out of existence.

A wave of telekinetic power pushed the wall of gas away, opening a space of clean air around me. I gasped in the fresh air I desperately needed before the gas had a chance to come back.

I needed to get out of here.

Survive.

Taking another deep breath and holding it, I shakily stood up and reached out with the Force again. The unseen door ahead of me groaned as invisible hands grabbed hold. It held on stubbornly until, at last, it was released with the great screech of tearing metal before crashing to one side of the room.

As the gas flowed out of the prison room through the new opening, I saw a figure at the end of the hall, clothed in dark robes. Their head turned towards me, their face concealed completely by their deep hood. Their frame was obsured by the robes, so telling gender or species was impossible.

Was that them? The assassin? If it was, I was going to kill them. If not, they were just in my way.

As I stalked out of the gas cloud, I tore chunks out of the wall with the Force and hurled them at my target. The figure ducked and weaved, nimbly dodging each projectile. Some of the smaller pieces of stone were deflected with their forearms, revealing the presence of vambraces.

Ceasing the storm of projectiles, I raised a hand and unleashed a burst of Force Lightning. To my surprised, they simply raised a hand. Where the electricity met flesh, a blue barrier of energy blocked it.

Growling, I lifted my other hand and pumped as much power as I could into my lightning.

Violet lightning cracked as flesh began to burn and peel as the dark figure started being physically pushed back.

"Acolyte."

I grinned. I was doing it. I was overwhelming their defense!

But my success was short-lived. The figure's other hand rose. Electricity cracked again, but it was I who felt its familiar effects as my own lightning arced back towards me.

"Acolyte."

I screamed as it struck me full in the chest, sparks crackling and dancing across my skin. My strength fled my now nerveless limbs, leaving me to collapse to the floor in a twitching heap.

As the edges of my vision started turning black, the figure regarded me for a moment before turning their back and walking away.

...

"Acolyte!"

My eyes snapped open and I gasped. The familiar buzz of the ray shield was the first thing I heard. I shook my head, feeling the needles of the collar poking at my neck.

I struggled to bring my breathing back under control as full wakefulness and alertness returned. I looked around wildly, only to find that I was back in my cell.

I massaged my eyes. I must have passed out from exhaustion.

"Finally awake, are you?"

I looked up to find the unpleasant mug of the jailer leering down at me. I was so tempted to smash his face in with the Force, collar be damned. It'd honestly be an improvement.

When I didn't reply, he continued as he entered a few commands on his datapad, "You're getting let out. Up on your feet, rat."

I glared at him but did as I was told. He probably had a remote control for the collar and I'd prefer if he didn't set it off.

He fiddled with his datapad again, shutting off the ray shield. After that, he picked a control off his belt and pressed a button. There was a click from around my neck as the collar disarmed. Pulling it off my neck, I roughly shoved it into his hands.

"Alright, grouch," He grumbled, "Get the hell out of my jail."

Without another word, he left the room. I followed soon after, but not without a glance behind me.

How much of that had been a hallucination? And how much of it had been real?

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