Chapter 46: Visions in the Sands

Summary: Onward, to the visions portion of the Vision Quest! Also, Jawas.

Warning! Chapters 44-47 were all posted back-to-back! Make sure you don't miss any of them!

Chapter 46: Visions in the Sands

The next morning, they arrived at Watto's shop quite early. There had been just enough time the day previous to arrange for rental transports, which consisted of a beat up but functional landspeeder and a hoversled it could tow behind it. Shmi was already present, looking quite awake and energetic. Clearly, one of those very unnatural morning people.

Well, everyone had their faults.

At least she seemed interested in doing something different, as she directed them to the parts Watto had sold them. Izuku had brought along two of their old NS-13 Guardian Droids, kept specifically for instances that they needed to fly under the radar. The droids were still decent backup and, more importantly, strong enough to handle the parts loading quickly. A few of the parts were fairly sizable, being replacement components for the Jawas sand crawlers. Aayla, dressed this time in local traveling clothes that didn't make her stand out quite so much, though with a collar added to signal her 'status' still, took the time Izuku was handling the loading to address Shmi.

"So, can we expect any trouble today? I've been to Tatooine once before, but I never left the cities. I know there's a local species, the Sand People I think? That are hostile to other races. Not to mention several different forms of nasty wildlife."

Shmi considered her carefully for a moment. Aayla could tell that she was being assessed and found not to match her previous image as a vapid slave girl. But that was fine. It was, in point of fact, part of the reason she was taking the lead here. Both she and Izuku had been able to tell at barely a glance that the woman was Force Sensitive. There was a crude, instinctive cloak around that Force Sensitivity that might have made an average Jedi miss it. But Aayla and Izuku were far from average, both having been trained to see through intentional cloaking. They also knew that her Force Sensitivity would make trying to fool Shmi pointless, unless they wanted to cloak themselves fully. Which would come with its own problems if they wanted to convince her to leave.

"We shouldn't have much trouble. The Jawas are smart enough to pick their camp locations carefully, and they set up turrets to discourage wildlife. For whatever reason, the Tusken Raiders, the Sand People you mentioned, leave the Jawas alone. No one quite knows why. No more than they know why the Tusken's attack virtually everyone else when they have half a chance."

Aayla cocked her head at that, genuinely curious for a moment. Was it because both species were native? It could be, though no one was really sure where Jawas came from. She'd seen the little scavengers on other worlds before. They were one of those odd species that seemed to somehow pop up everywhere, despite there being no explanation of how they got to whatever world you found them on. Mentally shrugging at how unlikely it was she'd get any sort of answer about that, she shifted gears slightly.

"That's good, then. What about the crystals we're after? Watto implied they wouldn't let them go easily. Is that true, or just part of his wheeling and dealing?"

Shmi smirked.

"A bit of both. He was being truthful that Jawas are extremely practical-minded. They trade far more than they buy or sell. And the durindfire gems are something they need to make those goggles of theirs. I'm expecting that you'll either have to trade quite a lot of value…or possibly may only be told how to find them, rather than being able to trade for one outright."

Aayla perked up at that.

"Oh! That would actually be better for us. Simply trading for a random one won't do. We'll need one that…matches specifically what we need. So being told how to find them would be perfect."

Shmi looked at her oddly, but didn't get a chance to comment farther as Izuku called out that the loading was finished. The two women quickly joined him in the speeder as the droids loaded themselves onto the sled. Shmi was quick to direct them where to steer as they left the outskirts and headed out into the dunes…

... ...

"Something is wrong here."

Izuku slowed the speeder still farther at Shmi's confused comment. She didn't sound concerned, just confused. Which, to be fair, was fair. The camp ahead of them was teeming with activity. Too much activity. Add in the feel of a whispery presence in the Force, and Aayla and Izuku had both been alert well before Shmi said anything. Neither of them could sense danger ahead. Yet there was an odd feel to the air, and to the Force, that demanded a little caution.

"What can you tell us?"

Izuku's gentle question was met be a shaking head from Shmi.

"I'm not sure. I've never seen so many Jawas here before. Not to mention the perimeter turrets are all working. Usually half of them are barely functional. I'd say they were expecting an attack, except that's not how Jawas react to threats. They don't fort up like this. If they were afraid of being attacked, they'd already have loaded up in the sand crawler and been long gone. No, something odd is going on here."

Izuku reached out to Aayla through their bond, finding her reaching out to the Force for guidance, just as he'd expected. After a moment, she seemed to find an answer and spoke up.

"Keep going, slowly. I think someone there is…expecting us. Odd as that might be."

Aayla's hands moved up to her throat…and removed her collar. Shmi's eyes widened as Aayla did so casually, tucking it under the landspeeder's seat a moment later. Both of them ignored her radiating confusion and suspicion as they approached the edge of the camp. They slowed to a stop just outside, where several Jawas quickly swarmed them, feeling very suspicious of them in the Force. Even a little worried. They jabbered quickly, and Shmi answered back, before turning to them and translating, voice full of confusion.

"They said we were expected. To follow them. What is going on?"

Izuku shrugged his ignorance, even as all three of them got out of the speeder and moved to follow the Jawas. Izuku quickly setting the Guardian Droids to keep an eye on the cargo. Aayla, however, was more confident, seeming to have some idea what was going on.

"There's another Force User here. Among the Jawa, I think. Some sort of Shaman, perhaps?"

Shmi's expression hardened slightly, but she still felt more confused than anything, despite mention of the Force.

"The Jawa do supposedly have Shaman's. But they never leave their clan fortresses. There shouldn't be one here…"

She quickly asked a question in Jawaese, seeming startled by the response.

"There is one here. Shaman 'Iz-biz' apparently arrived yesterday, saying she'd had a vision of outlanders coming."

Aayla and Izuku locked eyes for just a moment, the Izuku rolled his and Aayla smirked. She knew the more nebulous, 'mystical shenanigans' of the Force tended to annoy him. But really, what could he expect? There were here on a Spiritual Quest! Visions were totally in keeping with that! Letting herself drop into a light trance, she let the Force guide her as they were ushered into a tent. She took the lead from Izuku, getting another pointed look from Shmi, and approached a robe-wrapped Jawa resting on a set of crude leather cushions. She bowed politely and was somewhat unsurprised when the Jawa spoke up in accented basic.

"Jedi stranger, I have seen you. Look for the Oasis, after many years. Strange to Iz-biz this is, but the Sands say you go. So I show you the way. The sand demon starts the path."

The Jawa lifted a hand, and Izuku could feel the Force radiating off of her. Tapping his connection to Aayla, he could tell she was seeing something, but couldn't experience the vision himself. It lasted for perhaps two minutes, before Aayla let out a breath he didn't even realized she'd been holding. She bowed more deeply to the Jawa Shaman.

"Thank you, Shaman Iz-biz. We brought many things to trade. They are yours in thanks for your help."

The Shaman nodded, somehow seeming to smile despite her face not being visible.

"This is good! Iz-biz caused much bother for her clan. They will be happy something came of it. May the Sands welcome you, traveler."

Aayla bowed again and backed away, the Shaman seeming to lose interest. Shmi and Izuku followed her lead, and the other Jawas quickly fell away from them now that they weren't so near the Shaman. They'd been nervous for her to be so exposed, Izuku realized. They returned to the speeder quickly, ordering the droids to unload the hoversled. As they did so, a blank-faced Shmi pinned Aayla with a look.

"A Jedi?"

Aayla nodded, producing her lightsaber from under her traveling cloak.

"We had intended to explain that on the way back, this just sped that up a bit. While we really are looking for a durindfire crystal. That is only part of our mission here. It wasn't an accident that we ended up at Watto's specifically. We planned to arrange for your freedom. Something that should have been done years ago, but Jinn's death caused events surrounding you and your son to get a bit lost in the shuffle. Something we only became aware of when a local contact mentioned your name."

Shmi's face smoothed a little bit. She still seemed a bit suspicious, but there was a kernel of hope forming in her expression too.

"Have you met my son? He's with the Jedi? Is he okay?"

Aayla smiled reassuringly.

"Anakin is doing just fine to my knowledge. I have met him, though I admit I don't know him overly well. My own former Master was close to Obi-wan Kenobi, who ended up taking Anakin as his student after Master Jinn's death. So I have met Anakin, even if only once or twice."

Shmi latched onto that immediately.

"Obi-wan? Wasn't that the name of Master Jinn's apprentice? I never met him…"

Aayla nodded.

"It is. Obi-wan was on his last mission before being promoted to Knighthood. So, when Master Jinn died, he took it upon himself to take Anakin as his own first student. He's an excellent Knight, one I know far better than I do Anakin, I admit. As I said, he and my own Master were old friends. If somewhat odd ones."

Shmi didn't hesitate to launch into an interrogation, the worried mother in her clearly overriding everything else. Aayla did her best to answer those questions. She couldn't say much more about Anakin but did share a few stories of trouble the younger Padawan had gotten up to, as well as telling Shmi a bit about Obi-wan. By the time the cargo had all been handed off to the Jawas and they got back into the speeder, the initial rush of question had passed. Aayla held up a hand to forestall more, as she pointed Izuku out farther into the dunes.

"Southwest, love. Then straight south once we're clear of the canyon. We need to find something called a Sand Demon, and they're mostly found in caves in the Jundland region to our south."

Shmi made a startled, strangled noise at that comment.

"Wait, you're looking for a Sand Demon on purpose? Those things hunt Krayt Dragons!"

Izuku, who had been accelerating the speeder in the direction indicated, gave Aayla a startled look.

"Wait, what? Aren't Krayt Dragons pretty much the Apex Predator of the planet?"

Aayla nodded blithely.

"Yep. Though I imagine the Sand Demons mostly hunt Lesser Krayt's, not Greater. Still, the Force says I need to find one. I saw a ritual of some sort, and the path to the Oasis where it takes place requires you to tame a Sand Demon with the Force first. It should be an interesting adventure!"

Izuku groaned and focused on piloting the speeder. He'd leave Aayla to calm down Shmi, who now appeared quite convinced that Aayla was crazy. Personally, Izuku just blamed it all on the Force and it's seeming love for dramatics…

... ...

As Izuku watched his lover slowly approach the six-legged giant insect, speaking in a low, half-hypnotic voice to it, he was ready to concede that Shmi might have had a point about their sanity. Specifically, the lack there of. At nearly four meters tall, half again as long, with heavy armor from tail tip to maw of vicious teeth…the Sand Demon they'd found after hours of tracking with the Force was the stuff of nightmares. Yet, unlike Shmi, Izuku was experienced enough with the Force at this point that he could tell something else important. The Sand Demon was semi-sentient.

What's more, it was responding to the Force Aayla was using on it. Slowly, it settled down, and then its skin began to peel and shed. There was quite a bit of blood, but there was something more than just blood present. Having lowered the filters between him and the Force while Aayla worked, Izuku could practically see a miasma of Force energy swirling off the creature's blood and infusing all three of them with its…flavor? Color? Tint? Mark? He didn't know the right word for it, only that it had infused something into their Force auras. Which must have been what Aayla was waiting for as she stepped back and nodded.

"There. We will be able to enter the Oasis now."

Izuku blinked.

"Um…Oasis?"

Aayla blinked back, then blushed.

"Err, yes. Sorry, forgot that you're not seeing everything I am. There is a Force Nexus nearby, but it can only be opened by those who have been marked by the ritual we just did. No idea if that's natural, or if some ancient Force user somehow made it that way. I'd guess the latter, personally, but you can never really tell when the Force is involved…"

Izuku snorted at that. Wasn't that the truth. Shaking his head, he focused on a more practical question.

"You know where we are going then?"

Aayla nodded.

"Yep! Or what direction it's in, anyway. Can't you see the miasma trailing off that way?"

Izuku blinked, then looked more closely at the clinging, smoky miasma of Force. It was all drifting in a specific direction, even if he hadn't noticed it until she pointed it out. Sighing, he waved back toward the cave entrance.

"Back to the speeder, then, I guess…"

... ...

The Force-generated mirage that had covered the entrance to the Oasis had been interesting, at least to Izuku and Aayla who could sense it interacting with the miasma of energy that the Demon Blood Ritual had infused their auras with. That interest had paled utterly beside the reality of the Oasis itself however, particularly for Shmi. It was, after all, perhaps the first time since being sold into slavery on Tatooine that the woman had seen so much green. In truth, given the rest of the planet, that green was a shock even to Aayla and Izuku. The Oasis, perhaps under the influence of the Force Nexus, was an overflowing jungle, rather than merely a bit of water and minimal life among the desert sands. It was an incredible, almost unbelievable sight.

A sight that made Izuku and Aayla a little wary, even as Shmi simply radiated delight. The entire cave was overflowing with the Force, and it was only growing stronger as they grew closer to the center of the nexus. Aayla was more comfortable with it than Izuku, still feeling the pull of the Force as it drew her onward in her personal quest for a new lightsaber crystal. Izuku's own emotions were more mixed, as he could feel the nexus reacting to him even more strongly than his lover.

He discovered why as they stepped out of the jungle. Two steps toward a standing pool at the center of the cavern…the world faded away.

... ...

Aayla blinked as her companions vanished between one heartbeat and the next. She easily shunted aside a momentary flash of concern. Not only could she still feel her lover through their bond, but she wasn't a complete stranger to the oddities of Force Nexuses. Virtually all Jedi experienced at least one, when they first made the traditional journey to the Crystal Caves of Ilum to get their first lightsaber crystal. The Crystal Caves was one of the few effectively permanent, light-aligned, Force Nexuses in the galaxy. This one felt, if anything, even older…yet she was under no delusion that it was purely light aligned. This Nexus was neutral, leaning a little bit toward the light. Something she'd never have been able to detect if it wasn't so…ancient and powerful. Radiating almost an undercurrent of defiance by its very existence, though she wasn't quite sure how exactly she knew that. Par for the course, really. No one truly understood Force Nexuses.

With her step having barely paused, she strode farther toward the standing pool. Unless they'd been turned to some malicious cause, Nexuses always had something for the Force to teach you. That she had been guided to this one, one that she doubted the Jedi Order still knew was here despite the old visions she'd seen, was only proof that it had something specifically for her to see or experience. Coming to the heart of the Oasis, formed by the pool of water at its center, she knelt and fell into a half trace, simply waiting.

"I admit that even I wasn't so blatant in my defiance of the Council of my time to outright wear fetish gear and a sex toy while on a Vision Quest."

Aayla was distracted for a moment by the unexpected female voice from behind her, though when what it had said registered, she blushed. Before she could turn to say…something, anything really, a young-looking woman that was ever-so-slightly glowing at the edges knelt beside her, an amused smile on her face. The brunette was human, and quite pretty, in a rather aristocratic looking sort of way. The amused smile seemed to rest a little oddly on that face, but the warm eyes matched the smile, at least.

"I almost wish I could see the reaction of the prudish old fools on the Jedi Council back then, if I'd done it and admitted to it afterwards."

There was an ever so slightly impish glint in the woman's eyes as she said that which made Aayla relax. Though her voice was still rueful when she spoke.

"Perhaps not my best idea. But, then, this was supposed to be a bit of a vacation. I wasn't exactly expecting to stumble on a Force Nexus and speak to…whoever you are."

The woman smiled, this time with less teasing humor as she introduced herself.

"Bastila Shan. Though I'm afraid the few in history who remember me likely do so more for my husband than myself."

Aayla's eyes widened.

"The Battle Meditation expert who defeated Revan? Wait…husband?"

Bastila seemed taken aback for a moment, then actually laughed. The laughter surprised even herself, from the look of it, and it took her almost a full minute to get control of herself again.

"Oh, that's great. My husband would be quite exasperated if he knew I'd been remembered for defeating him, instead of marrying him. He always did have a bit of an ego, though one sadly justified by his skill."

Aayla blinked, then gaped as that fully processed.

"Wait! You married him?"

Bastila chuckled again, smiling as she nodded.

"I did. Something which caused quite a nasty reaction from the Jedi Order of our time. They considered Revan and I heretics of a sort, for doing so against their decrees and lectures. But then, in some ways, they were even more sticks-in-the-mud than your own Council is. I'm glad my several-times-great-granddaughter was a bit less of a complete prude when she was Grandmaster a few centuries later. I am afraid, however, that the very oscillation of ideas that implies is why I'm here."

Aayla mulled that over for a moment.

"To speak with me about what it will mean for me to…love, I guess?"

She sounded doubtful and wasn't too surprised when Bastila shook her head.

"No. The current Chosen of the Daughter did a good job in helping you get that bit straight. Love can both hurt and heal. Many Jedi have feared it for the terrible lows it can bring one to, but others have understood that it can save you from the Dark in a way nothing else can. Just as it once did me, my husband, and many others through the history of our galaxy. No, you already understand on a personal level what it means for you. What you've refused to think about is what it, and all else you've been up to, means for everyone else. You've done your best to forget what Ood Bnar said, have you not?"

Aayla winced, immediately able to identify what the ancient Jedi was talking about. Something which proved that, despite her best attempts to ignore a possible truth, it was still always there at the edge of her mind. Apparently, the Force itself was sick of her trying to ignore it. Which…probably meant it was important. A sinking feeling filled her stomach as she nodded jerkily.

"About how we could be something…new."

Bastila snorted, the sound seeming more natural than the laugher from before. Something gave her the impression this woman had been far more serious in life than she was now in death. Or perhaps simply that she'd started out that way, and grown into the sense of humor only over time.

"The most tame possible way to put it. It's only the two of us and the Force here, so let us not play the fool. You and your lover have the potential to split the Jedi Order in twain. To shatter it, even, if things go poorly. Or to remake it into something different entirely. You aren't the first to stand at such a shatter point, nor will you be the last. Nomi Sunrider, Revan, Meetra Surik, the Barsen'thor, even the Jedi Lords if you want a more recent example. My husband fractured the Jedi order with the best of intentions, poor Meetra was left to try picking up the pieces after the Purge, and the others each had their own influences both good and bad. You do not want it, but you stand now in the same position many of them were. Yet you try to convince yourself that it won't go that way. That you're not that important."

Aayla shuddered, ill at ease at being compared to such figures.

"I'm not that important. If anything, Izuku…"

Bastila shook her head and cut her off.

"Izuku is not a Jedi. He is not the one who will cause division. Not truly. Few would leave the Order to follow an unknown, even if they agreed with his viewpoint. But one of their own? A respected young Knight doing, as Revan once did, what she believes is right?"

Aayla drew in on herself, forced to face something she was uncomfortably aware was true. Many, many, Jedi chafed under the obstructionism and corruption of the Senate. She'd been able to access more of Revan's history, when she'd been elevated to Knight. The parallels between her current situation and Revan's deviance of the Jedi Order to fight the Mandalorian Wars had not been something she missed.

"Am I doomed to repeat history's mistakes, then?"

She knew her voice was bitter, but she wasn't expecting Bastila to outright laugh in response. Half-glaring at the woman did nothing but make the ancient Jedi smirk.

"What in the Galaxy makes you think it was a mistake, dear? Revan was right. Oh, his execution wasn't perfect, and it set him up for a fall when he ran into the Emperor in a worn and war-weary state. But he wasn't wrong. The Jedi Council of his time were rank cowards, letting billions die without even attempting to help. Jedi are servants of right just as much as we are servants of the light. There should never have been a question that they should have helped. Just as your own Council is wrong for bowing to politics and allowing so much evil to fester at the very heart of the Republic."

Aayla gaped. She couldn't help it. That was not what she'd been expecting to hear from the woman who'd been forced to hunt down Revan during his Sith period, after he'd fallen and waged war on the galaxy.

"That is why I'm the one speaking to you. You're so afraid of what bad could happen that you've blinded yourself to what good could come instead. I'm here to offer you a little perspective, you might say. Now, come, the only way to face your fears is to confront them. It is never a pleasant thing, but for those such as we, it is always a necessary one."

Bastila stood, holding a hand down for Aayla even as the environment around them warped and twisted. As Aayla took her hand and stood, she watched as battle broke out between a team of Jedi and a dark figure in a mask, wielding a red saber against the Jedi's own…

... ...

Izuku froze as, between one step and the next, Aayla and Shmi vanished. Aayla had warned them that this sort of thing happened in Force nexuses, but he hadn't quite expected it to actually occur to him. Visions weren't really his 'thing' with the Force, due to his odd and rather direct connection to it. He could just get information, rather than needing to experience some sort of representative vision. Maybe it was the other two that had poofed, and he was still just chilling in reality? Sighing and not really certain what else to do, he tentatively started moving again, heading to the pool at the center of the cave.

The moment he looked into that pool, he knew that no, he wasn't just chilling in reality. Not unless someone had shoved an entire planet into a pond, since he was seeing the view of a lush jungle world from space. When his curiosity peaked and he wondered what world this was, he was abruptly certain it was…Tatooine.

What?

Confused, he sat at the edge of the pool of water…and watched as the images in the pool began to move. Even as they did, information was streamed to him through the Force, in a much more focused and coherent manner than he was used to. He watched as a civilization of aliens, yellow of skin and eyes but humanoid enough to mentally label as 'near-human,' rose from hunter gatherer tribes to spacefarers. Then, they encountered something far more familiar to him from the Infinite Engine Archives. Rakatians.

Curiosity and interest turned to horror as he watched as the species, who called themselves the Kumumgah, were conquered and enslaved. They rebelled, driving the Rakata off…only for the Rakatians to respond with an orbital bombardment that glassed the planet. The lush jungle world burned, the surface slagged so completely little but fused glass remained. Glass which, over time, crumbled and became the desert sands of the world that would become Tatooine. Survivors struggled to live in the underground as that happened, changing as they did. Centuries passed, then millenia, and the Kumumgah shifted and changed. Some, from one major group of survivors, became the Ghorfas. As the world turned to sand, the familiar regalia of the Tusken Raiders was adopted by the group, the Sand People born into this new world and venturing out into the new desert.

Another group, smaller, survived but suffered a measure of inbreeding. They stabilized but became smaller and weaker of form in the process. By the time they, in turn, ventured out to the sands…they too had donned familiar garb. The robes and glowing goggles of the Jawa. The races met, somehow recognizing that they both belonged to the sands, and went their separate ways. They interacted little, their societies having drifted to differ too much to really get along, but neither would they lift a hand or weapon against the other. The Force itself weaving into both species ever so lightly to encourage peace between them. Shamans of both groups insisting on leaving each other alone.

A feeling of sadness came from the Force itself, as the scene changed. Another world, Katarr the Force whispered this time. Destruction as Darth Nihilus wiped all life from the world in his Hunger. Pain from the Force at the loss of so much life, made worse as it was done with the Force itself. Another planet, Malachor V, destroyed by Revan. Another, another, another. Each time, sadness or pain from the Force. The message wasn't in words, for the Force could not quite speak in such a way. Somehow Izuku knew that, just as he somehow understood the message in full anyway.

Death was not something to be run from.

But there was a difference between natural death, and unnatural annihilation.

A hope. That Izuku would prevent many such fates. Admonishment, that he could just as easily cause them. Izuku breathed deeply, accepting the weight that settled onto his soul. He understood. The Force had taken a chance on him, hoping for a better fate. He would do his best not to let it down. Not for its sake, but for the fact that he rather agreed with it. Death on such a scale was wrong, the destruction of entire worlds being an abhorrence that could and should not be borne. The Force sung with agreement, and he basked in the melody until the vision faded away…

... ...

Shmi Skywalker was very weirded out when the two people currently complicating her life just up and vanished between one step and the next. Sure, the Twi'lek…Jedi she guessed. The Jedi had warned her something like that could happen. Had given her the choice to simply stay with the speeder if she wanted. But, well, Shmi had felt pulled toward this place in a way she'd long since learned to follow. So she'd come in with them anyway. Now, she just did her best not to freak out as she took a few steps more, closing the distance between her and the pool of water at the center of the cavern. She reached it and looked around in confusion, waiting for something to happen?

"Well, you're not quite what I expected, given what a little hellion that son of yours is! Still, you've got some steel to you, if you got up the nerve to come in here at all."

Shmi jumped and whirled…only to see a grinning Kiffar man sitting a few paces behind her. He was dressed in a comfortable-looking brown vest and worn brown pants, with a lightsaber hanging from a belt at his side.

"Hello! I'm Quinnlan Vos! How would you like to hear all sorts of embarrassing stories about Aayla? I've got a bunch of them!"

Shmi blinked, then simply nodded and sat down.

"I'd prefer any about my son you might have, but getting to know a little about Aayla wouldn't hurt either, given that they said they intend to free me."

The man grinned, seemingly pleased by her total aplomb.

"That's the spirit! I only met your kid a few times personally. But Obi-wan was constantly messaging me all about the havoc and headaches he caused during that first year they were together. Really, an agent of pure chaos like that would have been so much better off with me! Alas, I already had my dear Aayla. Oh! I know, I can tell you about when Obi-wan was complaining about that mouse droid Anakin reprogrammed. So, no shit, there Obi-wan was, just minding his own business…"

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

AN 1: So, the Demon Blood Ritual is a quest chain from Star Wars: The Old Republic. I modified it slightly, to make it a little bit more mystical and a little less reliant on a specific chain of events that were unlikely to still be viable after close to 4,000 years. I think the result worked out fairly well, honestly. As for the visions, I like how those turned out quite a bit. They start setting things up for events to come, while forcing Izuku and Aayla to face the reality of what the consequences for their chosen path might yet be.