"Stormrage." Even though Obi-Wan couldn't see my face, he felt the anger that had consumed me. He didn't know what I had seen, all that he saw was the blinding light that disappeared in almost an instant. He had been thrown back to the ground and when he opened his eyes I was standing there, in front of the tree, and the orb was gone.
"Lyanna?!" He stumbled as he tried to get back on his feet. "Are you all right?!"
Even though I heard his voice, I didn't exactly hear him. Or, I didn't listen. All I knew, all I felt was that same anger that burned wildly inside of me, that seemed to consume everything I had ever felt before. And it was all directed towards that one name.
Stormrage.
The person I had known to be my father all these years had lied to me. He cared for me as if I was his own child but at the same time it was him that had killed my real father, it was him that had tried to eliminate him so that he could take Valeria for himself. But he didn't just lie to me. He had rewritten history to his own liking, and so manipulated the entire kingdom into following him while it was him that killed their king. While it was him that had betrayed his own brother, his friend, his most loyal leader.
The very thought that I had once loved him disgusted me. I balled my fists, feeling the hot anger transforming into literal flames that burned with an intensity that was so much stronger than before. While past times it was just a small ball of fire around my wrists, now it crept up my whole body, and into my wings which lit up slowly. They stretched as they were engulfed in the flames and suddenly they weren't made of any fabric anymore, they were just this red-hot flaming substance that lit the entire room and burned the tree before me.
"No, Lyanna!" Obi-Wan noticed the transformation and knew all too well what it meant. He tried to shield his eyes from the heat, the rims of his clothing already blackening. "Concentrate! Think!" He groaned as he felt his skin burning and stepped back slowly.
Concentrate. Focus on the force. There was a distant memory, a feeling, the one from yesterday that flashed through my head. The softness of his hands on me and the smiles he had given me. It was soon replaced by the power I felt. I scoffed as I turned around and looked at him. Obi-Wan's eyes were widened in fear but it didn't bother me. All I could hear, feel and concentrate on was that same goddamn name that continued to echo in my head.
I walked down the steps towards him as my wings dragged behind me and blackened the floor, almost turning the stone into lava. I could hear him swallow loudly and see his eyebrows draw together as he tried to reach out to me. "Don't let it change you, Lyanna." Obi-Wan begged. When he felt the flames dim and the heat subside he walked closer carefully. "This isn't you!"
Something tucked at my head, just a notion or a thought that told me that he was right. But the anger continued to blind me and stopped me from thinking rationally. "You have no idea who I am!" I blurted out. A surge of heat came from me as I yelled and moved my arm, making the jedi jump back slightly in fright as the ground beneath his feet burned.
"Lyanna, calm down." He spoke soothingly but desperately as he lifted his arms in defeat. His ocean blue eyes were filled with tears and his kin was covered in the ashes that flew around us. "Let me help you, please."
"Help me?" I looked him up and down. "You? You're powerless against him, against us!" I continued to walk towards him while he backed away with his arms raised before him, trying to soothe me still. "Arthas wasn't the problem, he never was. It's the Stormrages that betrayed everyone, that killed my father and I will avenge him."
"Lyanna." He spoke slowly when he neared the edge of the bridge. He stalled his movements, sighing deeply as he looked at my eyes and saw that they had transformed into what he'd always feared. "Don't do this. You're better than this."
"Better?" I growled and reached for his arm, but the moment I'd touched his skin I was overwhelmed by different images. I was dragged into a pool of different memories, it seemed. They morphed together into one big blur, but I could make out different jedi in different places, Anakin when he was younger, another jedi with brown long hair and a woman with silver hair. I heard the voices flow together into one big chaos. That until I saw Eric and focused on his image.
"You needed to speak to me?" The more I concentrated, the clearer the image became. I was looking through Obi-Wan's eyes as he neared the king as he was sitting on his throne, his hand still rubbing his head after he'd suffered another attack. I heard the door close faintly behind Obi-Wan as past me left.
"There's something you need to know, about Lyanna." Eric sighed deeply and closed his eyes. "I know you care for her, I've seen it."
"Your majesty I am a jedi, we don't-" Obi-Wan started to protest but was quickly interrupted by the king.
"Spare me the lies, jedi." Eric opened his eyes again and looked at Obi-Wan fiercely. He sighed again as he thought about what to say. "I've never liked you jedi. You have a history of meddling in affairs that aren't yours to deal with. It is with the best intentions you do it, I'm sure, but here on Valeria you've only managed to make things worse."
Obi-Wan cleared his throat awkwardly and looked down at his feet. "But that makes you perfect for what I'm about to ask you." Eric stood up and walked down the steps towards him. "I know you have felt the anger in Lyanna, and it will only get worse. Whatever happens tomorrow I have to be sure someone knows what to do." Eric came to a halt before Obi-Wan. Even though his eyes were filled with pain, all I could feel was a burning hatred as I continued to concentrate on the memory.
"Her father was what you call a sith. And he was a powerful one at that." Eric explained. "He was sick. A sickness of the mind, so to speak. It ran in the family and I'm afraid Lyanna has it too. Now I have managed to take her powers away for the time being but when I'm gone she will find it, and I'm afraid she might lose herself along the way. If that happens I'm afraid there's nothing that will stop her."
Obi-Wan sighed deeply and shuffled on his feet. "What do you want me to do, your majesty?"
"I need you to look after her." Eric put his hand on his shoulders, forcing him to look him straight in the eyes. "And if the time comes that she loses herself I need you-" His voice broke but he composed himself quickly. "I need you to kill her, before she hurts anyone else."
Obi-Wan hesitated for a moment. He had already felt himself falling for the woman, but he also knew that there was something inside of her that he couldn't explain. He was afraid, for he knew that when the time came he was possibly the only one that could stop her. He just wasn't sure if he could do it when he had the choice. Yet at the same time, he was a jedi. He had his duties and his principles that he couldn't let go off, even for the princess.
Obi-Wan nodded, looking back up at the king. "I will do what I must."
As soon as I heard those words I let go of his arm in shock, pulling back and watching as Obi-Wan seemed to recover. He had relived those moments with me, and his eyes tried to adjust to the world around us. He was confused, but soon that turned into fear when he saw the angry scowl on my face and my hand reaching for his neck.
"No, Lyanna, that wasn't what it seems!" He protested but soon gagged as I glasped my hand around his throat.
"It's exactly as it seems!" I growled, feeling betrayed as the man before me had apparently promised to kill me. Even if my heart hadn't been broken already, it was now turned into dust. "You are with him. You are all with him." The hold I had on him tightened as tears streamed from my eyes.
In a reflex his hand went out to his lightsaber, using the force to pull it into his palm. My eyes flickered to the motion and saw it pointed towards me while his thumb went to the button on the side. I looked back at him as my glare deepened. "Well, then. Go on. Do it." I wasn't sure if I wanted him to, yet the pain I was feeling was too much for me to handle.
Obi-Wan frowned deeply as his other hand grasped for his throat. "Kill me." I growled and tightened my grip as I pulled him closer. Obi-Wan watched in horror as the green of my eyes transformed into the yellow and red, his whole body shaking and trembling when his worst fears came true.
"Lyanna, it's me." He managed to muster out. Obi-Wan let go of his lightsaber in defeat and listened as it collided with the ground, raising his hands before him. A single tear escaped from his eyes as he looked at me desperately. "I won't, I can't hurt you."
For a moment the anger wavered. Obi-Wan had completely surrendered himself even though he might get killed, and for what? Why would he willingly give up his own life while he had promised to kill me before? All the air was knocked out of my lungs and I felt like I couldn't breathe anymore. He had always managed to confuse me with the little words but this was something else entirely.
He felt my grasp on his throat subsiding and softly took my hand, cradling it in his as he tried to hold my attention. "Lyanna, it's all right. Let me help you." He whispered.
"Master!" Anakin yelled from behind us, appearing on the other side of the chamber while dust circled around him. He narrowed his eyes at us, trying to see what was happening until he saw my fiery wings and my hand that was still around his master's throat.
"No, Anakin, stay there!" Just like that I snapped again. My hold tightened, holding Obi-Wan up while I used my other hand to literally throw a ball of fire towards Anakin and his troopers. They had to dash away and were thrown on the ground as it exploded against the walls. While I tried to see if I had blocked Anakin's path, I heard Obi-Wan's lightsaber activate and immediately turned around to face him again.
Before he even had the chance to use it I threw him on the ground, hard, and watched as he groaned and tried to get up. Placing my foot on his chest I pushed him down, preventing him from doing so. "Don't follow me, or I will kill you." I growled.
"No, you won't." Obi-Wan looked up at me with the same determination as before. "I know you."
"You get the hell out of here." I unwrapped my wings and blasted the ceiling open, debris falling down all around us. "You stay the hell away from us and get back to your republic. I don't want to see you ever again."
Obi-Wan struggled against me but as I lifted my wings, he reached out again. What he was saying I couldn't hear for I was already ten feet up and flying away. Anakin had emerged from the debris again and his troopers were shooting at me, but I was already too far away for them to reach. As I flew to the sky and out of the caves I was greeted by the orange light of the sunset, my wings creating flames with each swing they made, matching with the colours of the sky.
Taking in a deep breath, my eyes focused on the city in the distance and anger filled me again. The last Stormrage was there and he was sitting on my father's throne, the one they had betrayed and killed. Before I could make another swing and go that way, another voice interrupted me.
"So, you were his after all." I heard the strong swing of his wings over the crackling of my own. He landed on the top of the mountain and watched as I followed suit, my back still turned towards him. My eyes were widened as I thought about what to do. If I was truly Anduin's daughter, which my wings were making perfectly clear right now, I was nothing to Arthas. Maybe the daughter of his love, but not his own.
"I could've known." Arthas chuckled, making me turn around to face him slowly. He cleared his throat and looked at the ground, clearly disappointed. His black hair hung before his eyes as he scratched at the dark stubbles on his chin. "Still, a man can always hope."
"Arthas." I spoke his name carefully as if it was the first time I did. At least it was the first time I saw him for who he was, and not the monster most people made him out to be. He noticed it and looked at me too, his eyebrows furrowing together as he studied me.
"Why did he kill her?" My voice broke mid-sentence as I stepped closer. Arthas eyed me carefully, but he didn't seem hostile yet. Instead he seemed to eye me more as someone like him, someone he understood. "He loved her, just like you did. So why did he kill my mother?"
"Because she betrayed him." Arthas simply answered. He bit his lip and looked down again. "She left him for those damned jedi. And because of that and because I couldn't let her go and stood with her, Anduin decided to kill them all."
I nodded in understanding. "I'm going to kill the last Stormrage, Arthas." I said, determined.
Arthas only smiled smugly as he looked back at me. "And then what, Fireheart?"
"I can't let you take Valeria." I balled my fists at my side, anxious to see his reaction. "And I won't let you hurt those jedi."
"Then it seems we're at an impasse again, my little dragon." His eyes darkened remarkably but he didn't make any move to attack. The nickname he used felt like a dagger to my heart, remembering he was the one who raised me till I was three.
"So it seems." I did my best to remain composed, to seem strong, but the anger was still throwing me off balance.
Arthas chuckled again, but then did something I never expected him to do. He bowed slightly in respect and nodded at me. "I will see you on the battlefield, dear one."
As he turned and flew away, I stared at his passing figure until he was just a small spot on the horizon. Then, I turned towards the city in the distance and knew I had more important things to do.
Taking back my throne.
Don't worry my lovelies. It will be all right soon.
Hope you're all doing okay! Stay healthy and I love you!