(Author's Note: Hello friends! Had to take time off for work in life. Things have been a bit frustrating:/
superpierce: We shall see. I promise nothing.
doraemax: I tried to fix that issue in this chapter. No, I have no intention of redoing this story. Perhaps, but Anakin is FAR from a "perfect" Jedi (at least when compared to other Jedi Masters). There are some kinks to work out, and some future plans to be had.
Hope you guys enjoy:)
Chapter Eleven: Mind Games
"So…you're just gonna carry that thing the entire time?"
Anakin rolled his eyes (for what felt like the tenth time today), "For the last time Valkyrie…YES!"
Valkyrie held her hands up in surrender, "I'm just saying…I don't see the point."
"It'll make more sense later on, especially once I manage to fix him."
"And you're certain that you can because…?"
Anakin chuckled, "Please, I perfectly rebuilt a protocol droid before I was nine years old. He's," he lifted Huyang's form up slightly, "gonna be a synch."
"Whatever you say Skywalker." Just then…Valkyrie stopped moving, a confused expression on her face.
Anakin, after noticing she had stopped moving, turned to her, "What is it?"
"I…hear something," she commented slowly, a hand on the hilt of her blade. Anakin's eyes widened slightly before they narrowed as he set Huyang on the ground. He couldn't sense anything, but the serious of Valkyrie's face told him that this was NOT something to just brush off. He slowly took his lightsaber from off of his belt, and, looking around into the trees surrounding them, ignited the weapon.
In that exact moment…a large figure leapt from the shadows towards Valkyrie. The battle maiden ducked and swung her sword, but missed…whatever attacked her by a few inches. When the creature landed, the two warriors were able to get a good look at the creature.
It was a canine-like creature, with "darkened" white fur with black fur and stripes running along its back. It had razor sharp fangs and claws, a swinging tail, and a large fang that sat on its bottom jaw that was held out of its mouth. One of its eyes were a piercing yellow, while the other was a milky white with a massive claw-shaped scar that ran from the top right of its forehead to the bottom left of its jaw. It was also missing its left ear.
The canine glared at Anakin and Valkyrie, snarling as it took a menacing step towards them. Anakin held his lightsaber up with both hands, "Just one? Well…it could be worse." Hardly three seconds after Anakin's sentence, no less then a dozen other canine-like creatures leapt from the trees. They all growled, closing in their numbers so that their "prey" was surrounded. Valkyrie turned her head and glared at Anakin with a look that seemed to be a combined of "I blame you for this" and "I will fucking kill you if we survive this". Anakin chuckled a bit, "Well…at least they're not a group of Gundarks." Based on the look on Valkyrie's face, this wasn't a situation he was gonna lighten with humor.
At that moment, the larger canine (the presumed leader of the pack) decided that he was done waiting. He roared in a sheer primal fury before rushing forward, tackling Valkyrie to the ground. Then, the rest of the pack acted as well.
Anakin quickly maneuvered his body, dodging one creature before ducking underneath another. He swung his lightsaber in an arc towards three others, who quickly moved out of the way of the laser blade.
Just then, one of them straight-up head-butted Anakin to the ground…the resulting attack sent Anakin's lightsaber out of his hand. They attempted to bite Anakin in his neck, but the Chosen One placed his hands on the ends of the cabinet's jaws…using sheer physical might to keep them apart.
Grabbing two fistful of fur, Valkyrie threw and kicked (what she assumed to be) the leader off of her into the trunk of a tree. She quickly moved to her feet, just in time to avoid the tackle of another canine. She delivered an uppercut to another creature, before grabbing ahold of the neck of yet another canine that attacked her.
She slammed the creature into the ground before tossing it into two more attackers. She quickly grabbed ahold of her sword's hilt and pulled her blade out, letting her out form of a battle "roar" as a small group of three canines moved to challenge her. These three canines snarled viciously at her as two of them moved to her opposite sides and their third comrade stayed in place, no doubt making an attempt to surround her.
Valkyrie smirked, twirled her sword, and held it in a two-handed grip in front of her, "Come on then," she challenged. To put it plainly…the canines did NOT need any further provocation.
Anakin placed the bottoms of his feet to the stomach of the canine and kicked it off of him. He quickly picked himself up and spotted his lightsaber. He threw his hand out, and summoned his lightsaber to his hand…
…only to yell in pain as one of the canines leapt up and sunk its fangs into Anakin's (organic) arm. He had to grab ahold of his arm and kept himself close just to keep the appendage from being torn clean off.
Clenching his artificial fist, Anakin gathered up his strength (combined with a little Force-augmentation) and let forth a single mighty punch straight to the canine's eye. The creature opened his mouth a bit to let out a whine, which proved to be more then enough time to Anakin to remove his arm from the creature's mouth. Moving quickly before his attacker could have a chance to react, he threw his hand out and sent the canine flying with a powerful Force push.
Hearing a low growling behind him, Anakin slowly turned around and saw the largest canine from the group standing there. The creature glared at him murderously, snarling viciously as he clawed ferociously at the ground.
Anakin flinched a bit at the pain in his arm (as one would when they had holes in their arms, including a larger one), but didn't allow himself to be dealt with that easily. Anakin looked forward and glared into the eyes of the leader of the pack, not showing any form of fear or hesitation as he did so. The canine seemed a little surprised at first (their eyes seeming to widening a bit), but took another step forward in preparation to attack.
The two figures simply glared at one another for a few moments before throwing his hand out to his lightsaber, the weapon flying to him through the Force. The leader chose that moment to attack.
He leapt off of the ground, baring his fangs and claws menacingly at the Chosen One. The moment Anakin felt the touch of his lightsaber, he activated the weapon's yellow blade as the leader was directly over him.
SLASH!
THUMP!
All of the other canines in the area immediately ceased their actions and looked towards Anakin. All of their eyes widened and they each took a few fearful steps back.
Why you may ask? Because each of them saw the sight of their pack leader having been cut clean in half by Anakin's lightsaber blade, each of the halves sizzling with heat. The leader's eyes were glazed over, and his body (well…both halves of it) was motionless.
Both Anakin and Valkyrie noted how all of the other canines were now backing up and looking at Anakin and his lightsaber with fear in their eyes. Anakin took a look at his blade and (hesitantly) took a step forward, to which all of the canines took a fearful step back. As he waved the lightsaber, he noticed how their eyes (fearfully) followed the yellow blade.
Moving quickly (in hopes of moving quicker then the other two could follow), the other canines sped away in terror. Within seconds, Anakin and Valkyrie were alone again.
"Huh," Valkyrie moved to Anakin's side, sheathing her blade, "What the hell was that about?"
Anakin looked to the corpse of the only fallen creature, noting its larger size and scars. He deactivated his weapon and knelt down to the canine, "This Anooba must have been the pack leader."
Valkyrie raised an eyebrow, "Anooba?"
"That's the species' name for these creatures," Anakin explained, "The pack leader is supposed to be the fiercest and strongest member of the pack. If it was killed by me, then what hope would the others had? That was their line of thought."
"And you couldn't have done that earlier?" Valkyrie commented with crossed arms.
"What about you?" Anakin shot back. Valkyrie's eyes widened a bit, opening her mouth to make a retort…but couldn't come up with any, and shut her mouth. "I didn't think so," Anakin scoffed. He stood up and walked up to Huyang, picking up the robot's body. "Come on, we should keep moving. There's no telling what else is on this island."
"Wait a minute," Valkyrie called out. Stopping, Anakin turned to Valkyrie just as she cut off a piece of his shirt.
"Really?"
"Oh, stop whining. We can't let that wound get infected, because I'm certainly not carrying you and that...metal monstrosity." Sheathing her blade, Valkyrie grabbed ahold of Anakin's arm and (with some care) wrapped the shirt cloth around it. Once she was done, she stood up, "It's not perfect, but...it'll do for now," she patted Anakin's wound, causing him to flinch and her to laugh.
"Very funny," he said sarcastically, "Now...let's go."
"Just remember our talk Skywalker…I'll follow you, as long as you don't get us killed."
"Yes, yes…I remember. But I can't control what happens next, or what else may be on this island that might come after us. I can hold my own…and as long as you can as well, we should be fine," Anakin shot back, taking a hit at Valkyrie's pride as a warrior (as he knew full well that Valkyrie was a capable warrior).
"I'm sorry…what was that?!" Anakin merely chuckled at Valkyrie's anger.
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The pack of canines were running as fast as their legs could carry them in order to escape from the demon that had struck down their leader. By this point, they were over a mile away from the demon and his pack mate.
Upon realizing that they were not being followed by the demon, the pack (after some communication between one another) had finally stopped running away. The pack all moved to each other, in an attempt to keep themselves protected in the safety of numbers.
A multitude of eyes, ears, and noses were constantly scanning every slight inch around them for the slightest trace of danger.
After a few moments of silence (excluding their heavy breathing), one member of the pack snarled ferociously as he took a step forward. He clawed furiously at the ground, livid that they actually ran away from a fight (which their pack hadn't done in generations)!
One member of the pack (the one that he had been fighting earlier) stepped forward, snarling a bit as she tried to calm her packmate down (them being volatile wasn't going to help any of them in the slightest).
Her packmate, however, was already too emotional to be calmed down so simply. Without any degree of hesitation (just like earlier), he lashed out against his packmate.
The female grunted in surprise as she was suddenly tackled to the ground, looking up into the feral eyes of her "brother". He tried to sunk his fangs into her neck, but she quickly moved her head to the side and drove her legs into the his stomach.
The male packmate was sent off of her, but didn't go flying too far. He shook his head out a little bit and let out a roared to her as the other packmates watched on. Just as he was about to attack again, however, another member of the pack suddenly tackled him to the ground. This new member placed his paws on the chest of the "angry" canine and let out a massive roar directly in his face. A roar that took both the packmate underneath him and all others by complete surprise.
He snarled a few menacing words in their own tongue, his brother underneath him staring up in shock. After a few moments of this angry snarling, the packmate removed himself from his brother. This canine looked around at the rest of his pack, snarling a few more words. Words of question and of challenge, asking if any others wanted to try something as their brother had.
None stepped forward. In fact, they all shook their heads. This packmate motioned his head to the side, signaling to his pack to follow him. They did so without any complaints, the feral brother from before was the last one to leave. He shook his head out a bit before (slowly) following his pack, the female he had attacked from before watching him for a moment before they followed after their pack.
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After the attack by the Anooba pack, both Anakin and Valkyrie were more on edge then they had been earlier. Valkyrie, in particular, didn't remove her hand from her sword's hilt since the attack.
"I don't like this island," Valkyrie commented.
Anakin rolled his eyes, "I know, you've said so on more then one occasion."
"I just want to make sure that we're perfectly clear on that fact."
"You know…this might be a bit better if you didn't decide to complain every minute and a half."
"Well sorry…but I tend to be a bit "frustrated" after crash-landing on some…gods forsaken island, and being attacked on two occasions. Tends to leave a lady in a…real annoyed mood," Valkyrie deadpanned.
"You don't say," Anakin sighed, clearly not amused by Valkyrie's complaining (this is not even MENTIONING the deactivated robot that he was making himself lug around this island. And he was NOT exactly a light machine, either).
"You're not even listening to me right now, are you?"
"Well…given the fact that all you seem to want to do right is complain, can you seriously blame me for such?"
Valkyrie scoffed, "Okay, you know what? You're such assho-." Valkyrie suddenly yelled out as she suddenly disappeared from Anakin's view. Looking down, he saw her tumbling down a hill that…didn't…seem to be there before?
Anakin raised his hand and tried to call out with the Force to save his ally, but, suddenly, the ground underneath him crumbled. He crashed face-first to the earth below before he started tumbling down a (sudden) hill as well. The motion caused his grip on Huyang to loosen until the robot went completely flying from the grasp of the resurrected Jedi. Anakin tried to stop himself from moving, but found himself unable to.
After almost a full minute of falling/rolling, Anakin had FINALLY stopped moving. He was about to get up…
…
…
…until the motionless body of Huyang collapsed onto the back of Anakin. "Ow," Anakin muttered through gritted teeth. He threw the robot off of him and (slowly) picked himself back up. He reached to his belt and let out a sigh of relief when he could still feel his lightsaber there. He figured he'd lost enough lightsabers for one lifetime.
Anakin grabbed ahold of his weapon and ignited it, the shimmering yellow blade illuminating the area that he'd found himself in. It looked as if he was (somehow) in some sort of cave. Looking around, he saw himself surrounded by dirt and rock. There was a multitude of torches that lit the "cave" that Anakin had suddenly found himself in.
Anakin draped Huyang over his shoulder as he turned around to see the path where he'd arrived from…only to find himself staring at a wall of solid rock. "What the hell?" Anakin walked up to this wall and placed his hand on it, testing to see if it was some manner of illusion.
The rock was real, and solid.
Anakin set Huyang down and stepped up to the wall. He looked upwards, but didn't see any kind of hole or entrance/exit point. This, naturally, completely confused him. The way he had fallen downwards…and yet it was as if he'd just…"appeared" into this area.
This is a problem, he thought to himself in annoyance. "Valkyrie!" He called out to his ally, but, after a few moments of silence, didn't hear anything in return. So he called out louder, "VALKYRIE!" Still…nothing.
He turned back around, seeing a long and narrow walkway…which seemed to be the only way for him to travel. "Great, like that's no suspicious at all," Anakin muttered to himself. As he turned around to pick up Huyang…the robot was (suddenly) gone. "What the hell?!" He was about to call out…until he remembered that Huyang was a deactivated robot. Obviously, one that couldn't call back.
Just then…all of the torches that surrounded him suddenly went out all at once, leaving Anakin with his lightsaber as his only source of light. No less then five seconds later, however, the yellow blade of his lightsaber suddenly began…short-circuiting, essentially. It began a quick process of the blade quickly return and emerge before it deactivated completely (1).
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Anakin shook his lightsaber a bit and smacked it on the palm of his hand, "Come on! It was just working a minute ago!"
Just then…the pitch blackness of the cave was illuminated by some slight light. Anakin looked down the pathway, and was able to barely make out the sight of some light blue light. Raising an eyebrow, he placed his lightsaber on his belt and (with some hesitation) began walking towards this light.
After a few moments of walking, Anakin had to actually shield his eyes from an intense bright light that he found himself suddenly blinded by that light.
When he was finally able to drop his arm, he was a bit caught off guard by way he saw. The pathway that he walked through had suddenly turned from stone to…metal? In an instant, the area around him went from one under the earth to one inside of a ship. He quickly spun around, but saw the same metal hallway as before.
Now, Anakin was tense. His lightsaber was useless, and now he was certain that there was something wrong. With either him or this island.
Just then…he heard…something. Turning around again (to where he was facing originally when he walked over her), he was barely able to make out a door to the right a little while away. Narrowing his eyes a bit and placed his (now useless) lightsaber on his belt and take a few steps towards the door.
As he walked closer to this door, the noises that he heard grew louder and louder. Out of nowhere, Anakin actually flinched when a loud scream suddenly brought through the (near) silence of the hallway. Even though he knew that it wouldn't help right now, Anakin's hand couldn't help but reach for his lightsaber.
Taking a bit of a step back, Anakin shook his head a bit before he started walking further towards this door. As he finally reached this door, he stared at it for a moment before placing his hand on the metal door.
When he did so…he was left shocked, and horrified.
Why, you may ask? Because he was greeted with the sight of dozens of beings being held in cages. From all manner of species, from humans to twi'leks and from wookies to gungans. Men, women…, and children! This last thought made Anakin's fists clench in fury.
Suddenly…he heard a maniacal laughter break through the (near) silence of this room. Turning his head, he saw a dark-cloaked figure walking from the shadows. The cloak that covered this being concealed their entire body…with the exception of the figure's eyes, which glowed yellow in the darkness of their hood.
The figure held up their hand (allowing Anakin to see the teal-colored fur on their hand), revealing a small, dull silver orb in the palm of their hand. Anakin didn't know what the orb was, but he noticed that all of the prisoners flinched and cowered in fear at the mere sight of this orb. Without halting their laughing, the figure placed their other hand on top of the orb and twisted it to the left.
Just then…something within the orb started to glow orange in color. In a split second, this orange glow glowed at such a bright intensity that Anakin had to cover his eyes with his arm to protect them.
When he lowered his arm, however, he nearly jumped back in shock as he saw his surroundings. He went from a metal room (probably on a spaceship or some degree of facility) to s jungle-like planet. He was standing on a tall rock, which allowed him to see miles upon miles of trees and plant life.
Suddenly…an explosion tore through the silence of the area, one that shook the rock that Anakin stood on. Looking below him, Anakin's eyes widened as he looked to the left and saw a literal army. But it was what (or who) composed the army that took him off-guard.
Most of then was apart of a group that Anakin hoped he'd never see again (second only to the Sith themselves). "Stormtroopers," Anakin muttered in shock as he stared at the legions of white-armored troopers standing in preparation for combat. Accompanying them were dozens upon dozens of tanks on the ground and ships in the air.
Spread throughout the ranks of the Stormtroopers were being dressed in dark cloaks, similar to the one from before. Anakin's hands clenched into fists as he saw each of these cloaked figure bring out red-bladed lightsabers, the color of blood.
Anakin then heard further loud noises emerging from the opposite side of Anakin's eyesight. Turning his head, Anakin's eyes (seemingly) widened even further.
It was another army, marching towards the Sith and Stormtrooper army without fear or hesitation. This army, however, was more…"unique" (for lack of a better term) and diverse then the army of Sith and Stormtroopers.
There were perhaps hundreds of figures dressed in dark grey armor with black coats and brown hearts. Anakin also noticed that all of these figures had firearms in their hands (obviously), but these particular weapons (pistols, rifle, machine gun, etc.) had orbs of glowing light placed around the weapons. These orbs ranged from blue to green, and from yellow to purple.
There were other figures spread throughout this (seemingly makeshift) army, another multitude of figures dressed in dark blue cloaks of their own spread throughout these forces. These beings had objects similar to the hilt of a lightsaber, but these hilts were curved.
The figures that really took Anakin by surprised were figures that marched without tops and dressed in shorts. Even more so, he couldn't see any weapons on their person.
Finally, stepping a little bit in front of these others, there sixteen more beings. Unlike the others, however, these ones' bodies were completely concealed by their cloaks. To the point where Anakin couldn't see anything about them, with the exclusion of their height.
Most of them were dressed in brown cloaks, with the exception of two…one was dressed in black and the other was dressed in the white. The latter of these two also held a long wooden staff in their hands, slamming the end on the ground as they stopped walking.
Just then, blades of pure energy emerged from the hands of these cloaked figures. Lightsabers, Anakin thought to himself as his eyes never left these forces. He saw a multitude of colors, including blue, green, purple, yellow, and even white.
Just then, the figure dressed in black with the yellow blade slowly stepped forward. They raised their lightsaber into the air, and swinging it down with a yell of "ATTACK!" in a deep voice.
That word was the trigger for all present beings. No less then as soon as he said the "k" in "attack", everyone on both sides charged forward as quickly as their legs could carry them. Anakin watched as the two armies charged forth at one another, neither one of them hesitating in the slightest.
Just before the two clashing forces reached one another, Anakin's vision was suddenly turned to complete white. The young man quickly covered his face with his hands before he could be blinded.
When he lowered his hands, he suddenly found himself on a rocky planet. It was pouring raining, nearly blinding Anakin from his surroundings. His placed his arms above his eyes, trying to make out…anything within his surroundings.
Just then, three figures suddenly ran by him. Looking upon this beings (as well as he could), he noticed that they looked near identical to the blaster-wielders from the last time. Unlike those ones, however, these ones had glowing lights on their bodies/armor.
These figures raised their (glowing) rifles and began firing multi-colored blaster bolts at…something behind Anakin.
Turning around, Anakin was barely able to make out a figure standing a few feet away from Anakin and these three figures. The thing that caught Anakin's attention was the black-bladed lightsaber that this being held in their hand.
This figure moved quickly with their lightsaber, deflecting each and every bolt that was fired their way. In an instant…this figure took off.
The three figures didn't stop shooting, but this being was successful in dodging and/or deflecting all of the bolts shot their way. Just, this being leaped into the air and landed behind the three figures. Quicker then any of them could react, this being impaled their lightsaber through the back of one of the three figures.
The remaining figures quickly pointed their rifles at the being, but they quickly swung their lightsaber and sliced their weapons in half. This being slashed one of them across the chest before thrusting their lightsaber through the skull of the last one.
Anakin watched as the remaining figures collapsed to the ground. In that moment, lightning struck. Anakin's eyes widened in horror as the lightning illuminated his surroundings. This single being stood in the middle of dozens upon dozens of corpses, corpses that they no doubt created. This being's eyes seemed to glow dark red in the rain, far darker then even the red blades of Sith lightsabers.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" A scream suddenly broke through the air, diverting Anakin's attention away from the (brutal) scene before him.
Anakin's eyes widened, "VALKYRIE!" In an instant, the world around him faded…reverting back to the cave from before. Anakin's head darted side-to-side quickly before he paused, shut his eyes, and reached out with the Force in an attempt to detect his comrade.
Her presence was…faint, but he could still detect her. Without any hesitation, he raced forward.
Underneath the island was a veritable maze. By this point, Anakin had lost count of how many rights and lefts he had made. His detection of Valkyrie was the only thing keeping him possessing any clue as to where he was going.
Eventually (after gods only knows how long), he came across the form of his comrade. Valkyrie was on her knees, her head in her hands, and breathing very heavily. "Valkyrie," Anakin knelt down to Valkyrie's level and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Are you alright?"
Valkyrie looked back to Anakin, who himself was shock when he saw that her eyes were red and puffy. She had been crying. Valkyrie didn't make a comment to Anakin's question, she merely threw her arms around Anakin's neck and buried her face into his neck.
Anakin was completely caught off-guard by this action, and even more so when she seemed to start crying quietly. A bit slowly, Anakin wrapped his arms around the battle maiden.
She then spent a few moments just clinging to Anakin like a child with their blanket. "Valkyrie," Anakin questioned after those few moments of silence (excluding some sniffles from her), "What happened?"
She pulled herself from her comrade before meeting his eyes, the dead look in her eyes was so unnatural for her that Anakin actually flinched back in shock. "I…I saw something," she replied hoarsely.
"Saw what?"
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(Seven Minutes Earlier)
Valkyrie spout out a multitude of curses in almost a dozen different languages as she tumbles down the hill. When she had FINALLY been brought to a stop, Valkyrie picked herself up from the ground and spit out some dirt. "Gods dammit," she muttered to herself as she stood up, wiping and patting down dirt from her body. "I totally blame you for this Skywalker," she commented to…no one.
She looked around for a bit, trying to get some kind of clue as to exactly WHERE she was. BUT, the issue was that she couldn't SEE anything. The area she had landed in was coated in complete darkness. "Fan-fucking-tastic," she muttered to herself.
Just then, however…she was able to make out the BAREST sliver of light a little while away from her. Valkyrie placed a hand on the hilt of her sword (just in case there was something…unfriendly over there and causing this light) and began to (slowly) make her way over to this strange light source.
As Valkyrie continued her walk, the light source was growing brighter and brighter. However, Valkyrie began to notice that she could hear…noises. Ones of combat. Roars, screams, explosions, and more.
Without hesitation (and now completely on edge), Valkyrie drew her Dragonfang blade as she continued her way towards this light source.
After about another ten seconds of walking in silence (well…silence from HER, not so much from the noises that she could her), Valkyrie came up to a large rock sitting in front of the light source that she was following. Placing both hands on the rock, Valkyrie (with little effort) lifted the rock and threw it out of her way.
Immediately, she had to cover her eyes with an arm as the light source immediately increased in intensity (nearly blinding her).
When the light had FINALLY died down, Valkyrie set her arm down and examined the sight before her. And when she did, her face paled and her eyes widened in shock and horror as she glanced onto the land before her.
Why you ask? Because Valkyrie recognized the land that was before her. It was a city of gold, ranging from the buildings and all kinds of towers that stood mightily in the distance. There was a multitude of vegetation and bodies of water that was spread throughout this land, further adding to this place's beauty.
There WAS, however, something that took away from the beauty of these lands. The "something" was quite simple…war.
This entire land was engulfed in war and chaos. Two massive armies clashed. Fires raged throughout the land. A MASSIVE storm raged overhead, ferocious winds raged and dozens of lightning bolts struck the ground. It was the exact definition of anarchy.
Looking down…Valkyrie found herself standing on a bridge that appeared to be…a rainbow.
"Asgard," Valkyrie muttered in shock and horror. "B-But…t-that's…impossible." This couldn't have been possible. Asgard was gone. It had been destroyed. This couldn't actually-wait a minute. Valkyrie recognized this. The fire…the chaos…the destruction…only ONE thing came to mind.
Ragnarok, the twilight of the gods.
Valkyrie took a fearful step back from the chaos, before she suddenly saw something large in the air. And this "something" was coming to the ground at a VERY fast rate. Valkyrie took a large JUMP back as this "something" landed on the bridge, cracking it. The resulting shockwave knocked Valkyrie off her feet, and she landed on her butt.
When she gazed upon exactly WHAT had landed, sheer TERROR spread across her face.
It was an actual being that had landed on the bridge. The being was nearly three times larger then a normal human being, and stood at over seven feet tall. Their skin was a (slightish) light brown(ish) color, no hair, and pupil-less red eyes. They were dressed in a red and dark gold top with red shorts, a dark gold belt, dark gold bracelets with red markings on them, and a dark gold helmet with a red "U" shaped object on the front.
"No," Valkyrie trembled in fear, desperately crawling back from this large, intimidating figure that stood (impassively) before her, "No!"
She hear a loud "THUMP!" behind her, and slowly turned around…only to meet a sight that filled her with both joy, nostalgia, and grief.
Standing behind Valkyrie was an entire ARMY of women dressed in white and gray armor with golden accents and blue capes, riding pegasi, and wielding swords almost identical to Valkyrie's Dragonfang. One woman with long blonde hair raised her sword into the air and, with a yell of "ATTACK!", these maidens charged forth to meet their foe.
Valkyrie wanted to tell them to stop, to not engage. She KNEW who this being was. She KNEW what was happening, and KNEW what WOULD happen if they tried to fight against this enemy.
But they didn't acknowledge her presence in the slightest. As a matter of fact, they and their steeds phased right through her body as they reached her. As the women neared this large figure…everything seemed to turn to slow motion for Valkyrie.
Even through the…"odd" showings of her surroundings, Valkyrie could still see everything. This massive figure was smacking away these women with ease, like they were nothing more then nats to him. He was punching them HARD in the head, no doubt each of one-shoting each of the battle maidens. There was a few women and pegasi that he just grabbed and snapped their necks like twigs.
Valkyrie remained standing as she watched (in horror) the carnage play out. She stared around numbly as the legions of female warriors charged (unknowingly) to their deaths in combat.
There was one thing in particular, however, that REALLY caught Valkyrie's attention above all else (and that was REALLY saying something). There was one of these women who Valkyrie's gaze focused on. It was her.
Yes, THIS particular warrior WAS her. She wore the same white armor as the other women and her hair extended down past her neck. The "past" Valkyrie was charging forth to this large being, a furious expression on her face as she held her Dragonfang at the ready. The being noticed with and raised his fist to attack.
Another warrior, however (the blonde from before), who was in-between the two of them, was running over towards the past Valkyrie…yelling something inaudible. The "present" Valkyrie's eyes widened and her hands shook as she recognized the scene before.
This blonde woman pushed the past Valkyrie to the ground…but didn't have enough time to react to the large fist that was charging at her quickly.
Valkyrie watched her past self scream with a hand outstretched as she flew back, watching as the being's large fist collided with the blonde warrior's chest. The sheer force of the blow severely cracked the blonde's armor, and sent her soaring through the air. The women's eyes locked as she flew and the past version of Valkyrie noticed the lifeless gaze in the blonde's eyes. She was helpless to do anything as the corpse of her friend was sent over the Rainbow Bridge and down to the waters below.
Valkyrie's (the PRESENT Valkyrie's) hands suddenly went to her ears, desperately trying to block out the madness from around her. "Stop it!" She screamed, desperately hoping that someone…ANYONE would hear her pleas and stop this.
Nothing changed, and she could STILL hear the commencing carnage. She fell to her knees and threw her head to the heavens, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
…
…
…
…
…
Suddenly…everything was silent.
Opening her eyes, Valkyrie found herself back in the cave from before. Her hands fell down to her sides as she just…stared in front of her. Then, her head fell into her hands as she could feel tears welling up in her eyes. She couldn't stop them. She didn't even try.
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Anakin's eyes were left widened as Valkyrie finished her tale. He knew she was some form of warrior in her past, but he didn't expect her to be part of a literal army! He had placed a comforting hand on her shoulder at the mention of her "sisters" falling in combat (he doubted that they were actually related, so that shows how much she cared for them). She didn't go into the hugest of detail during the story, but she'd said enough for him to understand her emotional stance (to an extent).
"I'm sorry," he said, before feeling stupid for saying so.
"Don't be," Valkyrie commented as she stood up, "It's not like it's your fault," she sighed, "To be frank… that's not exactly everything I should tell of that."
"Yeah, I do have some questions after all of that," Anakin answered.
Valkyrie let out a little chuckle, "Yeah, I know. Well…you did tell us more about your own past, so I guess it's only fair that I do the same. Especially given the fact that who knows how long we'll be…together," she turned the other way, before quickly turning and pointing at him with a (slight) glare on her face, "Don't get any funny ideas by that word choice, by the way Skywalker."
Anakin chuckled and held his hands up a little bit, "Not a problem. Are you able to walk and talk?"
"Yeah," Valkyrie answered, "Get ready Skywalker…you're in for a doozy."
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"That sounds exciting," Anakin's voice rang out, but it sounded more…echoey (for lack of a better term). The reason for this? Because it wasn't REALLY Anakin that was speaking. But rather…it was a smaller version of Anakin and Valkyrie comprised of sand.
There was a low grumbling sound, one that almost sounded like a…scoff?
Two massive eyes, dark purple in color, watched these versions of Anakin and Valkyrie with an impassive expression of this being's face.
These two were certainly…interesting. The warrior maiden possessed great power, and had no connection to the Force in any capacity (although….that wasn't TOO much of a surprise, given her divinity).
And then…there's he. Anakin Skywalker. Darth Vader. The Chosen One. The Slayer of Jedi Knights. That man has carried many titles throughout his lifetime. He was a…unique being, to say the least. In more ways then one…and not focusing only on himself.
His lightsaber…wasn't common either. Well, the khyber crystal wasn't. He knew so not long after they landed on the island. That crystal…was divine in nature, a crystal forged by the gods themselves.
Yes, he was well aware of the gods. The goddess of light Ashla, the god of darkness Bogen, and the god of balance Nirva. Essentially, they are the Force itself. The khyber crystal had to have been forged by the gods. Automatically, it wasn't something that he could detect instantaneously.
Oh, he could still sense it fairly easily (he knew that his Force ability is mighty). But he knew that the slight divinity within the crystal made it…special. He was certain that many weaker Force sensitives wouldn't even be able to detect the crystal itself, even if it was right in front of him.
So…color him impressed. Alone, the Chosen One of the Force would be special…but now? Him having the gods at his back (even when many weren't even aware of their existence)? Now…he was very interested.
He lifted his finger ever so slightly, causing the moving sand image before him to collapse. He'll have to keep an even closer eye on Skywalker then he anticipated. Both him and his traveling ally will need time before they're ready. The goddess needed to face her past, the Chosen One…needed to face his future.
(Author's Note: Annnnnnnnnd scene! Hope this turned out alright.
So…because there was no attempt at the little thing I did last chapter for choosing future Sith, I'm just not gonna do that again then:/
We've had Anakin and Valkyrie against the Anooba pack, Anakin seeing some visions (wonder what they mean?;), Valkyrie having some visions, and some more thoughts from our mysterious entity.
Valkyrie's vision was a combination from her backstory in the MCU and the (limited) information I have about Ragnarok (the event, not the Thor robot) in the actual comics. I'm WELL aware that the vision wasn't perfect, I tried my best. I'm apologizing in advance, I'm not a fan with how it turned out.
Now, I am WELL aware that Valkyrie is HARDLY the kind of person to just burst into tears. Especially in front of someone. But her motivations and thoughts are different here then in the MCU. In the MCU, she was depressed over her sisters' deaths and furious at Odin for sending them to fight Hela. Here? There's not AS much anger, and MUCH more sadness. Plus...I think her reaction is understandable, given the circumstances. Forced to rewatch as her home and family was taken away from her? There's NO way that wouldn't bring a tear to someone's eye.
To make things clear, this mysterious entity is very ancient and very powerful in the Force. He's been alive for billions of years, so his power is (understandably) immense. His power in the Force extends past the likes of Yoda, Darth Sidious, and even the Ones. Though…I'm certain that I'll be able to make him work in the future. Just know...that he'll probably seem pretty OP.
Next chapter will be the finale of this little "island arc".
Review, favorite, follow, and I'll see you guys next time:)