I stumbled into the main gym after the day's training and I found myself extremely exhausted. Weeks of dismal strength conditioning had left me completely out of fighting shape.

Scrimmage-style fighting had consumed most of our activities, where the only other events consisted of force training and agility. My shots were off and my blocking was weak, and the most frustrating part was the fog that spent most of the day clouding my thoughts. Master Ren's presence was a weight in my head that I couldn't relieve myself of, even after I had left the dojos.

I drug myself into my chambers and tossed off each piece of my gear until I was reduced to an undershirt and leggings. I poured myself a cup of tea and crawled into bed, disregarding the pile of metal I had left in the kitchen and falling asleep faster than my drink could cool.

...

I stepped grumpily into the dojos just before 7 and waited for the rest of my group. As soon as we began sparring I could sense Ren nearing the room. We had been sparring for close to ten minutes when Kylo Ren entered the room. He walked to the main mat and spoke.

"Surround the mat" Everyone did as he commanded. His mask focused on Syan. He reached a large dark arm out and pointed at him, then pointed at the open area of mat in front of the group. Syan stepped forward.

His arm moved towards another Knight, Umbre, who then stepped forward.

"Five seconds with both shoulder blades pinned. No weapons" Umbre and Syan looked at each other, but everyone knew what he meant. They each removed their swords, knives, and blasters from their holds and hiding spots, and took waiting stances.

"Go."

While I don't know the physical status of many of the Knights, I knew that Umbre was a tall, broad, blue-skinned Twi'lek man whose tentacles were often resting together underneath his back plate. Umbre was usually one of the first Knights at the cantina on Friday evenings. I almost never visited the cantina, however Umbre had been on the First Order recruit ship that had picked me up from Jakku. He was one of the few who had seen me without a mask. We used to practice together a lot during training days, but he quickly became too large to work with someone my size so we found new partners.

Syan was on the ground before he realized that Umbre had moved. Umbre was larger and quicker than Syan, and Ren knew this when he picked them both.

"Enough" Ren growled as soon as Syan's back hit the floor. Both Knights rose, and the Master's head motioned to his left. Umbre stepped in the direction of Ren's head, and Syan moved to his right. He was doing what I had done with the Knights; He was wrestling them off.

He selected more Knights, and the winners went to his left and the losers went to the right. I was the last to fight, leaving me only with Lestros, a Knight taller than I but not nearly as quick. I was the fastest of the Knights of Ren, anyway.

He attacked too eagerly and I side stepped him just in time to see him lose his footing and fall. He spun onto his back and kicked his legs at me, but I leaped over them and landed hard onto his stomach. This caused him to heave, and I pushed his shoulders against the mat. When Ren grumbled, I rose.

There were five people to the left of Ren, so we watched two matches and I was allotted the by, since I was the fifth person to win a match.

Round three produced 3 winners, and the by was given to Umbre. I was faced with Shono, who didn't approach me as I had hoped. After moments or circling one another in attempts to stay on the defensive, I lunged at him and grabbed at his head. He was much stronger than I was, but I stuck my leg in between his and wrapped it around. I pulled him forward and he fell to the ground, and I counted my take down successful.

What was harder was getting him on his back. There was a power struggle for some time, but I decided to let him up just enough; I spun my legs around and pried his chest open, getting his shoulder blades to touch the floor. I barely held him there long enough for Ren to grunt. I let him up with short-lived relief, for I would have to face Umbre next. He who was twice my size.

Umbre wasted no time trying to pin me down, as I thought he might. He pounced over and over, and I leaped around him each time. This continued until one moment he lunched forward and I did a back handspring that sent my foot straight into his jaw. He gargled through his mask and grabbed my arm, swinging me hard into the mat. I rolled out of the way a second before his fist hit my helmet, and I kicked his side. I scrambled to my feet and he popped up, sending his fist at me again. I ducked and spun around, launching my right foot across his helmet. He reached for me but I grabbed his fists and redirected them down, which exposed his chest. I roughly pushed him backwards. I kicked his ankles and he stumbled, but not without grabbing my leg and pulling me down with him. I landed on his legs, which I punched down on while I blocked his fist with my forearm. I punched his helmet again and forced his shoulders down; as soon as they grazed the floor Ren grumbled and Umbre smacked me off of him. I crumpled down and hit the ground with a thud, yanking off my mask in a search for air.

The Knights were staring at me, and so was Ren. As soon as I found my breath my helmet found my head, but so did the signatures of everyone in the room. I growled through my voice filter and sat up.

"At the end of this week, each of you will fight Rey individually. If one Knight can defeat her, that Knight will fight everyone the following week. There will be no objections." Ren announced. I let out a moan and flopped backwards. This was going to be a long week.