:::4000 years ago: Eocho Mountains::
Dawn rose over the forested landscape of Ossus and as usual, Ryssa Kilvaari was practicing her Force Abilities in a forest not far from the temple, running at speed, jumping high in the air or jumping from branch to branch should it be able to support her weight. It was a daily ritual for her and it was all not only for training that she did this. She did it to reach her favourite spot to watch the sunrise. Day turning to night and night turning into day always fascinated her and always took the opportunity to watch both when she could and meditate on their meanings.
On this day, however. As she watched the dawn, something terrible was on the Horizon. The Force told her of a great darkness approaching Ossus and before long, a call on her comms alerted her to its severity.
"Ryssa! We need you back here. The Sith have arrived!"
A gasp escaped her as she realised what this meant. They were intent on destroying the Jedi. This was confirmed by a faint communication through her bond to her master, Jael Karas, who was fighting them in the Cron Cluster. "Ryssa...The Sith...have destroyed stars in the Cluster... You must leave..."
And with that last attempt... Her master was dead. She felt the bond rip from her heart. Grasping at her chest, she momentarily mourned Jael's loss but knew she had to help the others. Activating her purple lightsaber, Ryssa ran as fast as she could back to the Jedi Library to assist the rest of the Jedi defeat the Sith on the ground. When she dispatched her group of Sith, Ryssa heard the cries of younglings, whose master and protectors had been killed by a Sith and had now turned his intentions on them. Leaping to their defense, Ryssa blocked his attack and countered it by slicing him in two through his abdomen. Another of the Jedi Padawans soon joined her and they watched as the shockwave could be seen in the sky.
"Ryssa... We won't make it to the ships before that thing arrives.... We need somewhere to go!" the Padawan spoke.
Ryssa trembled at the thought of facing death like this but with little choice, Ryssa knew there was only one other possible way to save themselves and the younglings in their care. "Get to the library! The deep archives should provide us with cover once that thing hits!" she barked to the Padawan. "You take point. I'll make sure no one lags behind and seal the doors." she then looked to the younglings. "Run with him to the Library as fast as you can. Don't look back!"
The Padawan and younglings did as they were told, running in the Force to the Library, while Ryssa brought up the rear. As they entered the library, Ryssa sealed the doors behind her. They needed to get deeper underground... And that meant they needed to go into an area where restricted artifacts were kept. If it weren't for the urgent need for shelter, Ryssa would not dream of defying the Council and going deep in there but they had no choice. Remembering the code Jael once used, Ryssa opened the door that lead them in the deep archives. Urging them all to enter quickly, Ryssa heard a loud explosion outside and as she briefly looked toward a window on the side of the Library, she saw Ossus' atmosphere burn. As she ran into the deep archives, the glass shattered and in the intense heat, Ryssa managed to close the doors and seal them in...but in saving the others lives, Ryssa had sacrificed her own. She cried out in pain, screamed even as her skin burned from the intense heat. Once the shockwave passed and the quakes died away, Ryssa could barely breathe. Her lungs burned as badly as her skin as the toxic air added insult to injury, poisoning her body within. Knowing that she'd given the others their best chance for survival, Ryssa allowed herself to slip away and become one with the Force, should it be willing.
Yet as she lay dying from her wounds, the ones she saved would change destiny forever. Death would not claim her today. Not for many, many years as her saviors froze her in time. She would wake up four millennia later with her injuries mostly healed by those who took her from Ossus and took the time to heal her while she was sleeping.
:::4000 years later, several months after her escape from Hoth:::
Today was the day she dreaded most, but knew she needed to do. Ryssa Kilvaari had finally come home. It had taken her four millennia, a battle with imperials to escape Hoth and many months spent raising funds and finding out what had been going on in the years since her long enforced sleep. She had found out quite quickly what happened to her beloved Ossus, but had a hard time believing the Ossus she knew had dramatically changed. Her last memories of Ossus were blocked by the trauma she'd endured asked the fragments she did recover of the moments after the planet's destruction were to traumatic to believe and she dismissed them as nightmares.
Yet as she stopped to look around, her heart sank within. The memories she'd dismissed as nightmares were true. Ossus had turned from a beautiful forested world into a barren world. Worse still was she was the only one to remember. They were secrets she kept within. She had to keep her past secret, even here, amongst this new group of Jedi. Should they find out...they'd either think she was crazy or worse.
As the shuttle she came in on, took off Ryssa took a few steps to distance herself from the back draft of the shuttle before simply staring at the environment around her. Her eyes tinged with sadness at what Ossus had become.
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