The Verdict 3

As If rehearsed, all council members gave a solemn nod of approval before all eyes turned to the Grand Master, "Meditate, you shall. Take care of the rest, we will." The small alien stated, reaching out with his three-fingered green hands, Yoda pulled the blackout blinds down, bringing absolute darkness to the council room.

Deprived of sight, my other remaining senses went into overdrive, making the approaching footsteps of the council members sound like sonic booms - especially since they all moved in unison.

Over the years, whatever Magik bullshit the nightsisters pulled on this body had slowly been fusing with my flesh and bones. Now when I'm injured, I can barely notice the green fumes of ichor leaving my body.

While I'm not totally sure what it means, even after asking Ros Lai for her input. I'm positive it's what's been causing me to grow so much, and in the process refining my body to its utmost limits.

Heightened senses are good for combat situations - not so good for mediation. Especially so when I've never been good at meditation in the first place. Still, I sat cross-legged on the ground, shut my eyes and tried my best to meditate.

When the footsteps went silent, that was when I heard Yoda say, "May the force, be with you."

All of a sudden the force surrounding me started to go haywire, no matter what I did I couldn't regain control of. It was like trying to catch a leaf in a tempest - an impossible task.

Then came the worst part, I gradually started to lose control of my body. Nerve endings began going numb, muscles started to go limp and I felt my consciousness begin to disperse. My remaining sense's began to disperse one after another in rapid succession, leaving me with nothing but the faint sound of internal organs churning away inside me.

The experience was horrifying, never before had I felt so out of control. It took my all just to barely stay awake, but even my best efforts couldn't stop me from slipping into a world filled with nothing but the sound of a beating heart.

Slowly, light began to return, as did my senses, but the thumping beat remained the same. The ground beneath my feet was replaced with a shallow layer of murky water that went on for as far as the eye could see.

Directly above my head was a ginormous ball of light, that I no doubt would've mistaken for a star had the heat radiating off it not be so lukewarm. Nipping at my nose was a scent reminiscent of antibacterial wipes, bringing my attention back to the source of the smell.

Crouching down, I dipped my finger into the puddle and sampled the liquid. Immediately after tasting, my tongue was assaulted by the harsh burn of potent alcohol, smacking my lips to really get a bring the prominent flavour out of the beverage.

"Definitely absinthe." I nodded.

Shit, and I thought this trail pish would be hard. Turns out it's an all you can drink buffet.

At the sight of so much beautiful alcohol surrounding me, I couldn't hold back the incorrigible Scottish urge to drink poison. Whipping my flack out - that somehow followed me into this wack dream - I filled the baby up to the top.

Though when I finished topping up my flask, I felt a disturbance from behind me. Upon turning around, I was greeted with an unpleasant surprise, eerily staring at him where tens, if not hundreds of helmet-less clones standing upright with various lethal wounds littering their body.

"Fucking hell man." I said, heaving a deep breath and taking a brief moment to calm down from the fright before saying "Where'd you cunts come from?"

Nothing, they just stood there like a bunch of hyper-realistic halloween mannequins. Feels like I'm in one of those VR movies I tried out on one of my off days, stuck in the Star Wars equivalent of dinosaur movies and ended up giving myself Dathomir flashback.

What a fucking time that was.

Something drastic changed when I became unbothered at the sight of the undead clones. The ground they were standing on sank into a deep pit hiding them from my vision, that was when the sound of a ravenous beast reached my ears. Managing to send my mind a job back to that dreaded red planet.

Almost timidly I walked to the edge of the pit to get a glimpse of what was going on inside. Maybe it was a mistake, because beneath my feet was the scene of pure carnage. The mutilated clones were torn asunder by the carnivorous monsters hailing from Dathomir, blood and flesh pooled on the floor, managing to turn the light green absinthe to a rich ruby red.

It was a demonstration like no other, a true showing of the brutality of Dathomirian wildlife, and one I was seeing for the second time. But while the showing was unpleasant to watch, it still never felt like my trial.

Or maybe this whole thing was my trial.

The beasts from Dathomir were possibly a bit of lingering trauma I got from my inhospitable stay on the planet during my arrival in this universe. I'm not going to lie, the experience fucked me up a good bit, I'd been in some sticky situations during my previous life, but nothing as hardcore as that. In hindsight I was likely not far away from losing my mind, instead of getting off with a couple loose screws.

Even with a slap on the wrist, it ended up taking me months to not wake up in a cold sweat, paranoid of what could've been seconds away from turning me into dinner. And even longer to not go completely neurotic at every noise that surprised me.

I don't even blink twice when it comes to blasting someone's brains out, I've killed sentient beings on multiple occasions and I've not lost a wink of sleep over it. It's like my brain doesn't even register what I've done, suppose that might be because I had to claw meat off those savage creatures's bones with my bare hands just so I could get a damn meal.

The clones were probably symbolic of the men I've led into battle that sadly weren't able to make it out alive. However I realise that going into a war and expecting to come out without any losses is nothing but a dream. So whilst it brings me no happiness, I can live with myself knowing that those men died following my lead.

I really should've asked a few more questions about the trial so I wouldn't be standing around like a total dobber.

Once the slaughter was finished, the pit rose back up to become level with the rest of the world's surface, at the same time the brutish lifeforms faded away, giving a final roar before disappearing for good along with the mess they created.

Relishing in the renewed quietude of the realm. Nevertheless, nothing ever lasts forever.

After a brief respite from the world's attempt to scare me. I was once again startled by the familiar humming of a lightsaber, dodging to the side I narrowly avoided the vertical slash that no doubt would've sliced me in two had I been any slower.

During my recovery roll, I shot a fleeting rush of yellow lightning at the attacker in an attempt to create some distance. Unsurprisingly, the bolts of force judgement were absorbed by the assailant's crimson blade as he successfully blocked.

Though it did manage to slow him down, giving me time to take in his large, feral frame. Sporting the same skin colour and near identical tattoo patterns, I realised there was a high chance I was facing a version of myself that had fully surrendered to the darkside.

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