The sky was blood red, as was the ground Lyna stepped on. It was sand. Wet Sand. Sand soaked in blood. Lyna walked up and down the blood soakedsand dunes. The sand began to give way to the wind, revealing the bodies that had been buried beneath them. Lyna soon tripped over one and rolled down into the pile. She shuddered and got back to her knees. She looked forward and saw him, standing amongst the dead. He stood there in front of the red sun, long black hair, waving in the wind, his black clothes covered in blood. His red lightsaber in his hand. Everything was red, stained with blood….

Lyna awoke from her sleep, sweating and gasping for breath. One of the other Padawans looked at her from the bunk across the room. "Bad Dream."

"A nightmare." Lyna answered wiping sweat from her eyebrow.

"You've been having a lot of nightmares." The concerned Padawan stated. "You should speak to Master Jarvis about it."

"I know." She knew the other padawan was right. Especially since it wasn't nightmares she was having, it was a nightmare. It was almost the exact same nightmare every night. She had to tell Master Jarvis about it. But Lyna wasn't sure how to do that. Master Jarvis had changed so much in the two years since the mission. The mission that ended in failure. A failure he clearly saw his own personal one, despite what the other Masters have told him.

After getting out of bed, Lyna showered and prepared herself for another day of training. In addition to getting into her training robes and grabbing her lightsaber, she also needed to retrim her hair. It had grown out a little too much, she had to get it back down. It was the standard for a padawan. Buzzed hair with the single braid down the side. Lyna could remember what it was like before joining the Jedi order, her long brown hair ran down most of her back. She had gotten used to the Padawan look but she did look forward to the day she was knighted and could grow it back out.

Once she was all ready, Lyna left the sleeping hut and strolled through the fields towards the main Jedi Temple. She did like looking up at the sky to see the gas giant of Odo above, the planet this moon orbited around. It was the fourth moon of the planet, simply named Odo-4. It was the home of a prosperous farming colony that supplied crops to Coruscant and now the Republic Army.

Things haven't improved much since Marrick disappeared beyond the outer rim. General Raynar was still missing though the Republic forces had managed to halt the Mandalorian advance. The fighting seems to have bogged down to a stalemate from what Lyna had heard. There was talk that maybe it could end with a truce but there was concern among the Jedi that the chancellor won't accept anything less than victory.

Lyna entered the temple and saw Master Jarvis meditating with Master Jende, his lesson would come later. First, Lyna went through sparring practice with some of the other padawans. A good way to wake up in the morning. She grabbed one of the wooden sparring swords and waited her turn.

One of the other padawans, a blue twi'lek girl named Sabrene, walked over to Lyna and pointed . "You think you can beat me today?"

"I will certainly try my best."

"Nah-ah." Sabrene, who was 16 like Lyna, teased waving her sword. "Do or do not. There is n-"

"Don't start with that." Lyna laughed while swatting down Sabrene's practice sword. "I will definitely kick your ass."

"Alright. Watch your language, padawans." Jedi Master Maya, a black human woman, stated to the class. "And lets get started."

Maya was one of the most skilled duelists in the Jedi Order as well as Sabrene's Master. The Republic actually wanted her to serve in the war but the Council had convinced the Chancellor that her skills were better served training dozens of Jedi at a time. This was apparently done at the behest of Maya herself who shared the Council's initial concerns over wading into the conflict. Despite what her lightsaber skills may tell you, Master Maya was a pacifist. She believed a Jedi should only draw their lightsaber in the defense of themself or the innocent and only after negotiations had failed. She detested the idea of jumping into a battlefield. Such an uncivilized place for a Jedi to be.

"Everyone pair up." Master Maya instructed. "Younglings, take a seat. Watch and learn."

The younger padawans yet to receive a Master would watch and observe while the older apprentices would hone their dueling skills. Lyna paired up with Sabrene like she always did. The two had a very competitive drive when it came to the duels they had with each other. They were often evenly matched but Lyna was off today, distracted by the memory of the nightmare that had been haunting her every night. Sabrene was aggressive in her attacks. Lyna tried to defend herself but, with one quick move, Sabrene's practice sword connected with Lyna's gut with a thud.

"Lyna!" Master Maya yelled out. "You need to keep your guard up. If this was a real lightsaber battle, you'll be in pieces right now."

Lyna strained to get air in after Sabrene's hard strike. "Yes, master. I'll work harder, master."

"Yeah, much harder." The victorious Sabrene declared.

"Sabrene." Maya said to her padawan. "You're still being far too aggressive. If all you do is attack you'll never be able to defend yourself."

"But if I attack fast enough, I can end the fight quickly."

"Ok." Master Maya extended her hand and called force-pulled a practice sword into her hand. "Then attack me as fast as you can."

The rest of the class went silent and turned to watch as Sabrene took up position to attack while Master Maya kept her sword flat to her side. Sabrene charged but her attack was quickly parried and countered by Master Maya who moved like lightning, striking her padawan on the back. "Dead. Try again."

Sabrene did and once again found her master striking her again, this time in the leg. "You've lost your leg, padawan."

Master Maya then turned to the rest of the class. "It does not matter how fast you move or how hard you hit, someone, somewhere will always be faster and harder. That's why defense and countering are key. Because, in the end, it does not matter who kills the most. Battles are simply won by the one who is the last left alive. Now, back to work."

The rest of the padawans went back to their sparring while a bruised Sabrene asked. "Does it matter? You know I'll never be as good as you."

"Being a Jedi is more than being the best fighter." Master Maya sternly explained to her apprentice. "Don't believe me? There is only one Padawan learner who has ever bested me in sparring. And there isn't a man, woman, or child in the Order who would dare to speak his name now."

Lyna had heard that story before from Master Jarvis who took great pride in the fact that it was his apprentice that had beaten the legendary swordswoman, Master Maya. He would actually tease her about it from time to time. Master Maya always insisted that Marrick had simply taken her by surprise. But that was a long time ago and, as Maya said, no one spoke of it anymore. So the fact that Maya just did certainly got the point across to Sabrene who promptly apologized to her master and motioned to Lyna that she was ready to return to sparring.

Once the sparring session was over, Lyna moved on to her daily lesson with Master Jarvis. She returned to the main Jedi Temple where Master Jende informed her that he was waiting for her in the forest. Master Jarvis had always appreciated nature, he would often hold his lessons out in the forest. But ever since the mission beyond the outer rim, he had taken to lingering out into the wilderness for hours alone. He didn't like to be around the other masters, he only meditated in the temple at the insistence of his friend, Master Jende.

Lyna walked through the forest and came across a clearing where large stone figures rested. Ruins of a long dead civilization that neve managed to break free of the moon's orbit. At the center of the clearing was her master who sensed her presence as she walked up behind him. "You're early, Lyna."

"I'm on time."

"Indeed." Master Jarvis nodded. "A rarity for you. You usually linger with Sabrene but today...something troubles you."

Lyna was slow to speak but, thankfully, Jarvis was a patient Master. He sat silently while she walked around him. "I've been a nightmare."

"Just the one?"

"Yes." Lyna sat herself down opposite to her master. By virtue of being a Padawan, Lyna's has changed very little over the past two years other than simply becoming a 16 year old girl. Master Jarvis, on the other hand, was basically a different person. His once neatly trimmed grey beard and hair had grown out and become disheveled. His eyes had become sullen and, while it was well hidden by his robes, there no mistaking that he become less fit.

Jarvis was a shell of his former self, haunted by questions of what had happened to Marrick on that battlefield. Questions of what errors Jarvis had made in his training. Questions that had made him cautious when came to Lyna. He left her to learn fighting with Master Maya. To learn history and language from Master Jende. Delegating as much of her training as he could. There was a silent understanding that once he had fulfilled his commitment to her, Jarvis would retire from the Jedi Order and spend the rest of his days in meditation. But he still tried to listen and teach as best he can. And listened as Lyna as she explained her nightmare to him.

"You could see the lightsaber?" Jarvis asked after processing the details of her dream. "Anything about it that stood out to you? Beyond the red blade. Did you see the hilt."

Lyna wasn't sure why he was asking for details about the lightsaber until she remembered that Jarvis had seen the lightsaber of the warrior he saw in the force-echoes two years. It was the only detail he could make out of whomever came to Marrick in that pyramid. She hadn't considered the figure in her dream could be the same person. Lyna thought hard. "I'm sorry, Master. I didn't get a clear look of the hilt."

"Did you-" Jarvis hesitated. "Was there anything familiar about the figure in the nightmare?'

Lyna was taken back by that question. Was he suggesting that she was possibly seeing a vision of her future. That she was warrior surrounded by bodies. That isn't possible. The figure had black hair, Lyna's is brown. "No, I didn't recognize the warrior. Though see anything other than his hair. Marrick has dark hair, doesn't he?"

"Yes." Jarvis answered. "But it wasn't long hair. Though it has been two years."

Jarvis sat there thinking it over. "It was probably just a dream, Lyna."

Lyna was sure it was more than that. "Master Jende has spoken about Jedi having visions from the force. Isn't it possible that's what this is? A vision of death?"

"We are at war." Jarvis explained. "I'm surprised more of us aren't having visions of death. And I'm sure plenty of us are having them, Lyna. It's possible that's all this is. If you keep having this nightmare, I will speak to the other masters about it. For now, you must train. You see the boulder over there."

Lyna turned and saw it. "You want me to do force-levitation, Master? I already know that."

"You are troubled, Padawan. A Jedi must learn to overcome the things that weigh down their mind and focus on the here and now. This nightmare plaguing your thoughts is a good opportunity for you to do just that."

Taking a deep breath, Lyna reached out with the force. It was difficult with the memory of the nightmare fresh in her head, but she was ultimately able to levitate the boulder. After that, she would perform several other force-use exercises with Master Jarvis. After a couple of hours, Jarvis looked at the sky and said. "I think that is enough for today. We will resume tomorrow at the same time."

"Very well, master." Lyna stood up and started to walk back to the Jedi Temple while Master Jarvis remained sitting at the center of the clearing.

"What about the bodies?"

Lyna stopped right at the edge of the trees. "Master?"

She turned and looked to her master who asked again. "What about the bodies? You spoke at length about the figure in black, the red sky, and dunes of blood. But what about the bodies? Were they Commandoes? Civilians? Jedi?"

"I don't know." Lyna answered honestly after thinking hard about it. "I fell right on top of them but I didn't see them."

"Didn't see or didn't look?" Jarvis asked rhetorically. "If it is a vision, If the force is trying to tell you something, then it is important to take in all the details you can. No matter who unpleasant they may be, you must understand the full context and meaning of it. Understand?"

"Yes, Master."

With that, Luna left. And Jarvis sat there silently...