Chapter 77 - Differences between Dreams and Nightmares

The next day, Ash got a surprise call from the Council for her to meet them in the Chambers immediately. Ash rushed up to find Xiang already waiting outside the doors.
“Do you have any idea what this is about?” she asked.
“It sounds serious, whatever it is,” Xiang replied and the doors slid open in front of them. Only 4 masters sat in the room. Windu, Shaak Ti, Mundi, and Fisto. Ash and Xiang walked to the center of the room as the masters gaze’s followed them in.
“We have a recovery assignment for you,” Windu said. “Two of our Knights have gone missing on Oblis. We need you to find and recover them as soon as you can. We haven’t had word from then in a day and their transponder codes are non-responsive.”
Ash thought for a second, but then a sinking feeling formed in her stomach.
“If you don’t mind me asking masters, who were the Knights?”
Mace looked from one master to the other and then looked to Ash. He seemed hesitant to tell her.
“Knights Kiro Dysnk and Echo Chi.”
Ash almost let her posture slip. Her hand started to slowly go towards her mouth, but she stopped it halfway. She had had a bad feeling when Kiro and Echo had left, and now she knew why.
“We need you to leave within the next day. You may want to take a day to recoup and figure out a plan,” Mundi said.
“Very well,” Xiang said promptly and started to usher Ash out of the chambers.
“May the Force be with you,” Windu said.
“And with you too,” Xiang and Ash said, although Ash barely whispered it.
When the door slid shut behind them, Xiang looked at her.
“I know that hit you hard, so I want you to go back to your quarters, rest up, relax, and I’ll take care of the other preparations,” Xiang said.
“Are you sure?” Ash said, still a little shaken.
“It’s fine. Now go and meet me in the hangar bay tomorrow at oh’800 hours.”
Ash smiled and took a deep breath.
“Thank you Xiang.”
He nodded and was on his way. Ash walked slowly back to her room. Out of all the Knights that had gone missing in the past months, they had been sent on a recon mission for her own sister and Kiro. She didn’t even want to think about what could’ve happened to them.
So she did what Xiang had told her. She went back to her room, turned off the lights, closed the curtains and got out the parts needed to construct her lightsaber. She remembered every part of her designs, and now she just had to put them together, which meant complete connection with the Force.
She sat down on her bed and used the Force to float the spare parts in front of her. She closed her eyes and imagined the parts together; whole. She imagined every screw being bolted in and every bolt twisted tightly until she could see the complete form of the handles. Tonfa style blades with an extra handle on them for better defensive positions, something Ash had never created before.
After hours that seemed like minutes, Ash slipped into a sleep so deep it was only guided by the Force.
That was when she got scared. Slowly a picture began to form in front of her eyes. At first all she saw were blurs of 4 people. As she focused in more on the picture, she could see clearly the expressions on the faces of the back 2 people. Kiro and Echo were standing with nothing but extremely amazing, awed, and angry looks. Echo looked like she was about to ignite her lightsaber with tears streaming down her face and hair tangled into many knots. Kiro looked like her hand no strength to stand. He was on one knee with his hands to his mouth and eyes wide. A sparkle of a tear was in his eyes as well, slowly falling down his face and leaving drips on his arms.
Ash couldn’t imagine what they were looking at, but then the picture suddenly became as clear as if she were standing there watching it as it happened.
At first all see could focus on was her face. The smile on her face with an evil glint in her eyes and a red glow on her face from a crimson red blade she held in hand.
Right in front of her was the face of Xiang, his draw dropped as far as it could go and his gaze fixed on Echo. Through her chest was the crimson blade that Ash held in her hands, still smiling.
Ash jumped up from her bed and her attention quickly returned to the real world. She woke up in a sweat, her lightsabers finished in front of her. She wondered how long she had been out. She had been so engulfed in her nightmare that she hadn’t realized that she had already finished her blades.
Her attention slipped back to her nightmare…
She had killed Xiang with a smile on her face…
Her nightmares had been known to come true, but this one…she couldn’t imagine it ever happening. It scared her just to think about it.
Her heat was pounding through her chest and she didn’t think it would ever stop. The looks on Echo, Kiro, and Xiang face would haunt her now. She couldn’t get them out of her mind, staring at her. They looked heart-broken; seemingly falling apart from what they had just saw.
Ash tried to come back to reality and looked at her blades. Now all she saw when she looked at them was Xiang’s body through them. She closed her eyes and tried to shake it off. Somehow, she had to make sure this dream was just a dream.

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