Lightning poured through my veins, the pain of it exquisite. Identity fled and I simply existed in this moment, an instant eternity awash in amethyst.

Then I fell gasping to my knees, my eyes trying to focus on the blood spattered there. His hand twisted in my hair, drawing my head back. “That is merely a taste of my displeasure,” he murmured, “Should you fail me ever again, I assure you, you will endure such torture that you will beg me for death.”

He thrust me away from him, and I knelt there sucking in a succession of ragged breaths. With limbs trembling, I pulled myself into a meditative posture, head bowed. “Yes, my Master,” I said, forcing the words through a throat raw from screaming.

“Now, you will procure for me a Force sensitive child, whom I will begin training.”

I pressed my face to the floor. “Yes, my Master,” I said, then rose and turned to begin my task. Making sure I was out of sight, I smiled and whispered, “My Master, I will be your last apprentice. You just don’t know it yet.”