Soon enough, we returned to the fortress where Count Dooku's palace was located. We disembarked, with General Grievous leading the way, followed by Ventress and me. Ventress brandished her lightsaber as we escorted Master Koth. As we entered the throne room, Count Dooku rose from his seat.

"I see you have brought the Jedi as planned. Well done, all of you," he said. Master Koth was bound in electro-cuffs, suspended helplessly.

Dooku waved his hand dismissively, and we were all promptly dismissed. I trudged off, my mind heavy with the day's events, and headed straight to my cell—knowing full well that we were not permitted to wander the palace's labyrinthine halls. I entered my dimly lit cell and sank onto the cold, unforgiving bench, drawing my knees to my chest in a futile attempt at comfort.

The silence was soon broken by a rasping voice that sent a shiver down my spine. "You don't seem like the typical warrior," it said. I glanced up, startled, to find General Grievous looming outside my cell, his mechanical frame casting ominous shadows on the walls.

"I thought the Count wouldn't keep his prized pet behind bars," he continued, his tone mocking. His eyes, glowing with a sinister light, seemed to pierce through the darkness and into my very soul.

I sighed deeply. "It's not a cell," I said, my voice tinged with resignation. Grievous tilted his head, his mechanical eyes narrowing.

"No?" he challenged, slamming his claws against the bars that ran from ceiling to floor, the sound reverberating through the confined space.

"Then why aren't you allowed to go out?" he demanded.

I shook my head, my frustration mounting. "Just leave me alone."

Grievous's growl echoed through the corridor. "Maybe you're afraid of the outside world. This was your first mission, right?"

"Don't try to understand me," I snapped, my patience wearing thin.

Grievous let out a harsh yell before succumbing to a fit of coughing. "I would never dream of understanding a Sith," he managed, his voice dripping with contempt.

He shook his head slowly. "You're far too mysterious in your accustomed ways, but I can tell you're not happy here."

"Which one of us is?" I barked back, standing up abruptly, my eyes burning with a fierce, red glow.

"You're not happy with my master, so why should I be? But for one thing, Dooku saved me from a fate worse than being behind bars," I snarled, my voice trembling with the weight of past horrors.

Grievous shook his head again, his expression one of disdain. "He made you his pet, someone he can command at his whim. Is that really a life for someone as powerful as you?"

"What do you know?" I demanded, my voice rising. "Didn't Dooku help you with this?" I waved my hand at his cybernetic body. "You're no less human than I am. You're as much his pet as I am."

Grievous sighed, a sound that seemed almost melancholic. "Aren't we all subject to a higher order?" He then bowed his head slightly. "I'll go now, but next time we have a mission together, let yourself go, okay? Don't hold back unless you want to ruin the real mission."

He turned and walked off, the clacking of his metal feet echoing through the corridor long after he had disappeared from sight.

"He really gave you something to think about, didn't he?" Ventress's voice cut through the lingering silence as she approached the cell.

"What do you know," I said coolly, curling up once more, trying to shut out the world.

"I know he was right that we're not happy here, and that we should be let out into the world more," she said, sitting down and leaning against the wall next to the bars.

"Who knows what's really out there?" she continued, her voice softer now, almost wistful.

"I know one thing, and that's that we're too stupid not to be behind these walls," I muttered, bitterness lacing my words.

"Maybe," she conceded, "maybe not."

She stood up and sighed, looking down at me with a rare flicker of empathy. "Look, I don't care much about feelings and stuff, but let me tell you this—you're not meant to be a pet. You're bigger than this."

With that, she turned and left me alone, her words lingering in the air, challenging the confines of my reality.

◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥

A heavy feeling settled on my chest as I walked through the dark tufts of grass. The landscape around me seemed dead, devoid of life and hope.

"This is all you have been, all you can be," whispered a voice in the silence. I spun around, my heart racing. "Show yourself!" I barked into the void.

Out of the mist that swirled around the dead trees emerged a creature. She was white and had wings, looking like a spectral version of myself, only much larger and walking on all fours.

"Who are you?" I gasped, my voice trembling.

"I am you, I am me, I am who you're meant to be," she said, lowering her head to reveal a row of spikes running down her neck. Large black horns curled outward and toward the sky, her red eyes staring intently at me.

"But most of all, I am what might come if you don't let go of yourself," she continued, sitting down gracefully. "We all are."

More creatures emerged from the shadows, all as white as the first. Among them, I saw a white Indoraptor with red eyes crawling toward us. She sniffed at me and smiled. "So you're the real Nyx, huh?"

I looked down at myself and saw claws and scales where there had once been human flesh.

"Good, that's the only one we want to talk to, not the human weakling," said a wolf, dropping down from a branch and coming right up to my face, her nose fading into the mist.

"You're only one thing, Nyx, and that's not human. Dr. Wu never wanted you to take the form of a human, and neither did we. Yet you did," she said, taking a step back. "And for what? For Dooku to make it easier for you?" she mocked, sitting back on her haunches.

"All you do for yourself is make yourself weak," said the beast with wings.

"All you're doing is not showing what you really are," added the white Indoraptor.

"Don't be something you're not," warned the wolf with wings, her voice echoing with a haunting finality.

They all smiled, and suddenly, the creatures began to circle around me, their voices rising in a cacophony of shouts and whispers. "Be yourself, it's the only way out of here!" they chanted, their words piercing through the fog of my confusion.

Overwhelmed, I hunkered down, whimpering, trying to block out their voices and the truth they carried. The noise grew louder, a relentless torrent of reality crashing down on me.

Until I woke up with a jerk, my heart pounding and my body drenched in sweat. The remnants of the dream clung to me, their words echoing in my mind:

"Be yourself, it's the only way out."