Elonia picked her way over the ruins of the Jedi Temple at the entrance of the Crystal Caves. In reflection, bombarding the Imperial camp hadn't exactly been respectful to the ruins, which were now even more, well, ruined.
The entrance to the Caves themselves loomed dark and ominous ahead. Elonia felt a sense of foreboding as she stepped into the shadows. Something was wrong here, but she couldn't seem to identify the cause.
The Caves seemed to be faintly illuminated; Elonia could see even to the far wall of the entrance cave despite the shadows. As she turned the first corner, she discovered why. The walls of the caves were lined with softly-glowing crystals, translucent and sparkling in the dim light.
Elonia pushed aside her unease as she strode through the silent Caves, the scraping of her boots against the sandy cave floor the only sound audible. Now and then, she brushed her fingertips against the crystals on the wall. They were cool to the touch and some resonated through the Force on contact, but she didn't know which to make her choice.
Then, she spotted it: a crystal that glowed much brighter than the others. It was the regular blue that most Jedi favoured for their lightsabres, and not particularly large, but its energy called out to her and she answered, instinctively placing a hand over the glowing crystal. This time, it was not cool but warm, and came off in her hand. Elonia cupped the crystal in her hand, the glow casting her palms in blue. She stared through the rough facets and into the vibrant blue deep inside...
And suddenly, she was no longer in the Crystal Caves. She stood on a walkway overlooking the shadowed skyline of an oddly familiar city. Lightning forked across the stormy sky, and the wind howled around her, sending her hair and dark robes billowing. Behind her loomed the dark mass of...
The Citadel, Elonia realized with a jolt. She was on Dromund Kaas. And moreover, she was glad to be there. Even though she was soaked from the rain, even though Kaas City still showed the marks of the war, things had not gone badly at all.
Suddenly, something tripped the delicate web of her Force sense. Elonia ducked, trusting instincts honed from years at war, as the something flew over her head. Immediately, her purple-bladed lightsabres were in hand. She searched the air for attackers, already drawing up a shield around herself.
The object returned, with three others. Elonia blasted them all back with the Force, smashing the droids into the wall of the Citadel hard enough to turn them into scrap metal. She realized just how much more powerful she was. Every motion was stronger, faster, more accurate. She had reached her prime.
More came for her, and this time they had a chance to fire. Elonia deflected the bolts easily and sliced the droids in half, but the droids' weapons seemed more powerful than regular blaster lasers. Who was attacking her?
When the next group of droids came, Elonia noted the direction they had come from before destroying the droids: the rooftop of a skyscraper somewhere to her left. She turned invisible and ducked into the Citadel, jogging past the familiar statues on the wall. Her pride urged her to deal with the threat on her own, but that was a fool's mistake. Until she identified her attackers, she could not afford to underestimate them.
Elonia noted with some surprise that the entrance of the Citadel was unguarded. So, there would be no help forthcoming from there, but surely Darth Ialus would not be as easily turned against her, if that was indeed the reason for the guards' absence.
Elonia turned a corner into Darth Ialus's office, and was unceremoniously dragged out of invisibility. She swore softly. Stealth detectors.
Elonia tensed as the door slammed shut behind her, igniting her lightsabres. She had walked into a trap. Droids came through the walls and who-knew-where, dozens at a time. Elonia slashed and blasted frantically, but they quickly overwhelmed her. Bolt after bolt of the strange blaster lasers hit her Force shield, until it had finally worn down.
Elonia stared the closest droid full-on in its glowing red sensors just before it fired the killing shot, trying to discern who had sent it. Its polished metal shell gave no clue as to its origin, a strange disappointment. She would have liked to know who had finally gotten her, where so many others had failed. Then, the laser came, and everything went...
Blue. Elonia gazed into the azure depths of the lightsabre crystal, but she could still see the final seconds of the vision replaying in her mind. So, that was how she would die: trapped in the confines of her friend's office, deep in the Sith Sanctum on Dromund Kaas. Elonia wondered if it would be this Darth Ialus that would plot to kill her, or if the room was simply a coincidence.
In any case, she had many years ahead to figure it out. But not enough, thought Elonia grimly. She couldn't have been older than thirty in the vision. If she failed to foil the attempt on her life, she would die young, like so many other ambitious Sith. She would be no better than the inexperienced Lords that survived only for weeks on the Dark Council, and she couldn't allow that. She couldn't possibly die without creating a life for herself, without leaving her mark upon the world.
The knowledge of the circumstances of her death set Elonia ill at ease. She didn't particularly want to live for thousands of years as the current Emperor had, but she hardly wanted to die this early. Still, knowing when she would die meant that she also knew when she would not die. Somehow, she would survive challenging the Emperor, one way or another. Considering the low probability that the Emperor would let her live if she failed, she would probably succeed to reign for a time at least. There was no reason to hold back in her ambitions, then. She stood to gain so much more than she could lose by attempting to become Emperor.
Elonia tossed the lightsabre crystal in her hand as she considered this, then finally dug through her bag to find the lightsabre materials she had been given. The time was right to craft her lightsabre; she could feel it.
She placed the components on a crystal-free rock in the cave and drew upon the Force, sending energy into what would become her lightsabre. The materials responded to her nudges with the Force, lifting into the air and slowly settling into their finished positions. With a final twist, the hilt came together, encasing the crystal in bright metal.
Elonia took the completed lightsabre in her hands and ignited it, watching the brilliant blue laser blade come to life.
"This weapon will be a light against the darkness," she said, holding the lightsabre high.
Elonia realized with a sense of déjà vu that that was exactly what the Jedi Knight had said... before being attacked by a beast. She deactivated her new lightsabre, clipping it to her belt on the other side, and glanced around warily. The sense of dread was growing stronger... and nearer.
Elonia slid into invisibility, trying to pinpoint the source of the wrongness. She moved as silently as possible through the Caves in the direction of the feeling until she reached the entrance to a narrow passageway. The darkness she had sensed lay ahead.
"You may as well come out where I can see you and show yourself," said a light voice from deep inside the passageway. It had a standard Republic accent.
Elonia tensed, ready to spring towards or away from the mysterious entity. She checked her cloaking of her Force signature, but it seemed seamless.
"How did you know I was here?" she asked when the voice repeated itself.
"You may be decent at Force camouflage, little Padawan, but you can still be heard. The sound of your footsteps - and even your breathing - disturbs my web of Force sense."
"I am not little!" snapped Elonia.
"Be realistic. It's difficult to deny."
"How do you even... Who are you? And what's with the web reference? Are you, like, a spider?"
"No," said a voice behind her. "I was a Jedi. I could be your future."
Elonia jumped, spinning around. A beautiful woman in all-black armour leaned lazily against a cave wall. It was the first time she had seen the corruption of the Dark Side. It shadowed the former Jedi's face and made her eyes glow light orange, but if it suited anyone, it suited her.
The woman smiled.
"You need to work on that Force sense."
"You're a Dark Jedi," said Elonia.
"I won't deny it."
"What are you doing here?"
"What, you aren't going to charge at me with lightsabres outstretched?"
"Speaking is quite distracting during a fight... and it would be rather difficult to ask a corpse."
Elonia leapt out of the way of a stream of blue Force lightning. She gripped the lightsabres clipped to her belt, but by now she had realized that this Dark Jedi meant her no harm.
"Don't get cocky, now, girl," said the Dark Jedi.
"I haven't lost a fight yet. I believe I can best you."
"I believe you, 'cause if you had, you'd be dead."
"My question still stands: who are you? What do you want with the Caves?"
"I'm no one of note. Once, I was the Jedi Consular Legatuh Lee. Now, I am more powerful, less respected. It's a tradeoff, I suppose. As for why I'm here? Same as you: I need a lightsabre crystal."
"So, Dark Jedi Legatuh... I kind of wonder why you aren't charging at me with lightsabres outstretched."
"Well, one, because I don't even have one completed lightsabre as of now. Two, charging at someone with lightsabres outstretched is one of the worst ways to start a duel. And three, I like you. You're not like them, with their emotionless compliance. I can sense the darkness in you."
"Am I about to get a lecture?"
"No, by all means, be free! We're not so different, you and I. You could embrace the darkness. Maybe you will, one day."
"I will never be like you," said Elonia softly.
"Believe what you like, little Jedi."
And with that, she vanished. Elonia stared at where Legatuh had been standing just moments earlier, casting out her Force sense for any clues, but the dark presence had also disappeared. So, Elonia said her next words to herself.
"I may refuse the Light Side, but I also refuse the Dark. I am neutral, and proud of it!"