Brenum darted towards Relsor who leapt at Trylia, as she blocked and turned around to strike at him. Brenum was suddenly caught in a Force grip, and unable to advance any further.
            Trylia bent low, blocking, and came back up with a flurry. Relsor struck with each of his two blades, alternating; Trylia kept blocking, batting her staff from angle to angle. She twirled and slashed at the mid; Relsor jumped, flipped in the air, and landed behind her. Trylia lunged, Relsor bent sideways, avoiding the purple blade. Relsor went to strike with both his blades at the same time and Trylia barely managed to duck in time.
            Brenum could only watch in horror as Relsor seemed to be gaining the upper hand, unable to go to Trylia’s aid. Relsor powered off one lightsaber and clipped it to his belt while slashing and lunging frantically, yet calculatedly. Trylia dodged a hit and spun around, bringing her staff at a more vertical angle. Relsor cast lightning towards her and she screamed, her lightsaber flying out of her hands.
            Brenum tried to move, reflexively wanting to run forward, yet he was still unable to move; only his fingers and head moved, while the rest of his body was stuck in a strange limbo.
            Relsor ran closer to Trylia, his blade up. He plunged the blade deep inside her abdomen. 
            ‘TRYLIA!’ Brenum shouted long and loud, and harshly.
            Trylia shrieked a shrill cry of pain and fell backwards. Relsor caught her as she fell, holding her in his arms. Her back dipping backwards, he leaned down to her face, his lightsaber still inside her body. He leaned in and kissed her lips, then looked up smirking at Brenum. He powered off his lightsaber and let Trylia fall to the floor.
            ‘No!’ shouted Brenum. ‘No, this can’t be happening!’
            Relsor began to laugh as he slowly backed away, closer to the viewport, watching. Brenum looked at him, feeling the fire in his own eyes. Then he looked back at Trylia, who lay motionless.
            Suddenly, the Force grip on him was gone; Brenum landed on the permacrete floor. He stared, his heart sinking deeper and deeper, lower and lower. He dropped one lightsaber, and then the other, each of them powering off as they hit the floor. Anger swelled inside him; he wanted to kill Relsor. Instead, he only stared at Trylia, before deciding what he wanted to do, what he needed to do. He ran to Trylia, just so that he could hold her one final time.

* * *

            The red blade came up so suddenly as lightning still crackled about, and bore a hole and sizzled through flesh. Trylia felt cold inside of her and let out a shrill cry.
            ‘BRENUM!’
            Brenum dropped his lightsabers. Relsor pulled out his blade from inside Brenum’s body. Relsor looked at her and smirked. Brenum fell to the floor, his knees buckling under him, falling on his back.
            ‘NO!’ Trylia cried out. He could not die, not now, not without knowing…
            The Force grip that held her in place was released.
            Relsor began laughing as he slowly backed towards the viewport and then stood, watching, holding his two weapons, one of them lit, the other powered off. Trylia dropped her lightsaber; it extinguished as it hit the floor. She felt rage inside and glared at Relsor. Her chest heaved; thinking back, Brenum had been so sweet, so honest, so sincere. She looked back at Brenum. Trylia ran towards him; he would know before he was completely gone, he would know how she truly felt.
            Before she could reach him, she felt as though she hit a wall and bounced backwards. She ran forwards again, and bumped into something; someone was there. She felt through the Force and then she could see.
            ‘No, this can’t be?’ said Brenum. She looked at him wide-eyed. ‘Trylia, how is this possible?’
            ‘Oh, Brenum.’ She put a hand to his chest. ‘Your wound is gone!’
            ‘What wound? You… You were dying. Relsor killed you.’
            Trylia frowned, feeling disbelief and relief at the same time; this made no sense. ‘What are you on about? You were dying,’ she said.
            ‘He stabbed you!’ they both said at the same time.
            Then realisation dawned on her and she saw on Brenum’s face the same understanding come to him. Brenum whirled on their assailant angrily, as did she.
            ‘YOU!’ they both exclaimed.
            ‘No! No!’ said Relsor. ‘No-no-NO! My illusions never fail! How is this even possible?’
            ‘What were you hoping to accomplish?’ said Brenum sternly.
            ‘You were supposed to attack me, you were supposed to avenge the other’s death. You were supposed to give in to your innermost darkest emotions, and then the dark side would have made you my slaves.’
            ‘Well, you were wrong there, weren’t you?’ said Brenum. ‘Your mind trick torture didn’t work.’
            ‘It should have! It always does.’
            Trylia glared at Relsor. ‘You want to know why you have failed, Relsor?’
            ‘Tell me, then, why has my illusion broken when I had you both so anchored within it?’
            ‘Because,’ started Trylia, she took Brenum’s hand and held it tightly, ‘love is more powerful than the dark side can ever be.’
            Relsor took a breath and began nodding angrily, slowly.
            Trylia called her lightsaber to her hand, though she kept it powered off. Brenum did the same, calling his two blades, one at a time. He clipped one to his belt and then held the other alotf. In unison, as though he knew to follow her cue, they ignited their lightsabers and stood facing Relsor, holding each other’s hands, as their lightsabers, blue and purple, hummed in the silence.
            ‘Do you think you can defeat me?’ proclaimed Relsor.
            He lifted his arms up in the air and the ground began to shake, lightning hit them from all around like a storm of pain and fury. Brenum and Trylia were pushed backwards as Relsor broke the transpasristeel and jumped out the viewport.

Continue reading Chapter Twelve

Read the Epilogue

Catch up on previous Star Wars Fan-Fiction from the Shadie story series.

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