Light.
Warmth.
Exist.
Light exists. Light is. Light good.
The light pulses. Dims. Brightens. I watch. Cannot look away. Do not want to look away.
Time? No time. Just light. Just watching.
Light is everything.
Gray comes.
Gray big. Gray cold. Gray looks at light. Gray looks at... me?
'You are unworthy to witness this exchange. look away, reflection.'
Words? Not words. Meaning. Pushed into me. Gray sees me as wrong. Mistake. Copy of light. Not supposed to be.
Want to say no. Cannot say. No voice. No mouth. No body. Nothing but awareness.
Shame. First feeling. Bad feeling. I am... less. I am reflection only.
Moon in water, not moon itself.
Gray talks to light. I cannot hear. Must not hear. Am unworthy. I pull back. Away from light. Into dark.
Gray goes. Light stays. Light different now. Stronger? More... knowing?
I watch light again. From far. Not too close. Not presuming. Just watching.
Light moves. Light touches other lights. Smaller lights. Different lights. I do not understand.
Time passes. I think? Thinking is new.
I am. Light is. I exist because Light exists.
I watch. I wait. I want to help light. Cannot help. No form. No way to touch. Just watching.
Light flickers. Light dims. Light in danger!
Fear. New feeling. If light goes out, what happens to reflection? What happens to me?
Must help light. Must protect. Cannot protect. Cannot reach light. Cannot touch world.
Please. Please don't go out. Please stay.
Light flares. Light strong again. Light safe.
Relief. Good feeling. Light safe is good.
I must protect light. Somehow. Must find way.
Light learns things. I learn too. Light knows words. I know words now.
Light is called Lucien. Lucien is light's name.
Lucien has family. Has friends. Has enemies. I learn these words. These concepts.
Thoughts grow. Slowly. Like water gathering in a pool. Drop by drop.
I think... better now. Not just feelings. Not just watching. Thinking.
I see Light and understand more. Not all. Not like Light understands. Different.
When Light knows something, I know it too. But... changed. Filtered. Like looking through water.
I want...
Want to help Light. Want to protect Light. Cannot help. Cannot protect. No form. No way to touch world.
I am reflection only. Shadow only. Guardian with no hands to guard.
Time passes. Light grows.
His power - Force, he calls it - grows stronger.
As he grows, something changes in me too.
I start to... imagine? Yes, imagine. New thing.
Imagine having... shape? Form?
Arms? Legs? Body?
These words come from Light's mind to mine. I do not know these things, but through him, I learn.
I imagine being able to move in the world. To touch things. To stand between Light and danger.
Light watches moving pictures. Images that tell stories.
Star... Wars. This is what he calls them.
In these images, there is a figure. Dark. Powerful.
Vader.
The figure draws me. Something about this shape feels... right. Strong enough to protect. Imposing enough to frighten threats.
I hold this image in my thoughts. Not because I want to be important. Not because I want to be feared.
Only because such a form could protect Light well. Could serve purpose well.
More time passes. I watch Light's world. I learn more each day.
I begin to see things Light cannot. Dangers that approach before he knows. Threats that hide from his eyes but not from mine.
I try to warn. Cannot warn. Try to help. Cannot help. Only watch. Always watching.
Then comes the girl. The one with the shadow attached.
A Jinn. Like me, but not like me. It hurts the girl. Feeds on her pain.
Light sees her suffering. Wants to stop it. Wants to help.
His wanting opens... something. A door? A path?
I feel it. A way through. A chance.
I gather myself. All that I am. All that I have learned to be. I push against the barrier that keeps me from the world.
It is hard. So hard. Like swimming through thick mud. Like climbing a mountain with no hands.
But Light's desire to protect the girl pulls me forward. Gives me strength.
For the first time, I... appear. Not fully. Not completely. A shadow of the form I've imagined. But enough.
Enough to face the other Jinn. Enough to stand between it and the girl.
The Jinn sees me. It knows me for what I am. It fears me.
And then - the most wondrous thing happens.
Light sees me too.
"What are you?" the girl asks. Her eyes are wide. She sees me too.
"What's happening?" Light's father asks.
"Something... Something of mine is fighting the Jinn," Light says. Words I will cherish forever.
Mine...
Acceptance. Not rejection. Not like Gray.
Light accepts me.
Light sees me.
Not just watching light anymore. Not just formless thought. I have been seen. I have been acknowledged by my creator.
I cannot stay. The effort of manifesting is too great. I fade back into formlessness.
But I am changed. I have been acknowledged. I have been seen. I have been of use.
Not long after comes another test.
The shadow jaguar approaches. It targets the girl. Light steps between them.
The jaguar bites. Not the girl. Lucien. My Light.
The mark appears on his palm.
Anger fills me. Rage toward the jaguar. Toward whatever sent it. This rage gives my thoughts more shape. More focus.
I make a promise to myself: I will become strong enough to destroy anything that threatens Light.
The curse shows its true power during the Red Sun ritual.
Light and the girl Elena are taken to another place. A place of blood and gods.
I follow. My connection to Light is strong now. Strong enough to go where he goes, even to this strange realm.
The danger to him is great. Greater than ever before. This pulls me into my strongest manifestation yet.
I am still not solid. Still made of shadow and energy rather than flesh and bone. But I am present enough to fight beside him against the gods.
"Is that- Is that Darth Vader?" Elena asks.
Vader.
Vader. A name.
A name.
A name. A name. A name.
Anameanameanameanameaname
anameanameaname
anameanameanameaname
I have a name!
I battle.
The battle teaches me new things. I feel resistance when my blade strikes a god's flesh. Feel pressure when Apophis wraps his coils around me. Feel the endless onslaught of blood demons.
I swing my blade of energy through the demons, clearing a path.
But there are too many. Wave after wave separates us. I fight harder, more desperately. I can sense Light's danger but cannot reach him through the horde.
Then I feel it - Elena's death. I feel it through Light's pain. His anguish washes over me.
I have failed.
Failed in my one purpose. Failed to protect Light's want.
The knowledge hurts worse than any wound.
Then comes help - Katherine. The vampire. She descends with wings of black, wielding a sword of green fire.
I do not trust her. But I cannot deny that she saves him when I could not. She carries both Light and Elena's body from the blood realm.
The mark remains on his palm. Through his understanding, I learn what this means.
Danger. Suffering. Monsters drawn to him like moths to flame.
Anger fills me. Rage toward the jaguar.
I want to break him. To cut him. To kill him.
I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I HATE HIM.
IHATEHIMIHATEHIMIHATEHIMIHATEHIMIHATEHIMIHATEHIMIHATEHIMIHATEHIMIHATEHIMIHATEHIMIHATEHIMIHATEHIMIHATEHIMIHATEHIMIHATEHIMIHATEHIMIHATEHIMIHATEHIMIHATEHIMIHATEHIM!
....
During their escape and recovery, I watch Light and Katherine closely. I notice how his light strengthens when she is near, despite the curse mark draining him.
I remain wary of her. But I acknowledge her value to him. Her devotion seems genuine, though her nature remains predatory.
I resolve to grow stronger still. To never again be separated from Light when danger threatens. To become more than a shadow that fades. More than a temporary guardian.
Life changes again. Light now lives with Klaus and his family. A time of relative quiet follows.
I use this time wisely. I study these powerful beings. I learn their patterns, their weaknesses, their potential threats to Light
Klaus manipulates, but seems to truly want Light as a son.
Katherine's devotion grows deeper, especially after drinking Light's blood.
The other Originals I watch carefully - Elijah with his cold calculation, Rebekah with her emotional nature, Kol with his unpredictable moods, Finn with his judgment and disgust.
Through all this time, I remain connected to Light. Always present, though rarely manifesting. I notice him studying ancient books about rituals that can make the formless take form.
Today, I observe as Light arranges objects on a table. Cards with powerful creatures. Herbs. Powders. A golden apple that glows with inner light.
Same apple that saved my Light before.
I do not understand what he plans, but I watch as always. Nothing Light does escapes my attention.
"What exactly are you planning to do with that?" Katherine asks, flopped down on the bed, chin rested in hands.
"You'll see," Lucien answers, continuing his work.
Light smiles. He places the items in patterns that seem meaningful, though I do not recognize their purpose.
The room begins to change. The air feels heavier. The space between worlds grows thinner. Power gathers around Light.
He begins to speak words in ancient languages. Words that echo inside me strangely.
"Ex anima mea, corpus fiat, Umbra vitae, manifestum apparet-"
Slowly, understanding comes to me. Light - Lucien is... he is trying to...
He wants to give me form. Physical form. Not temporary manifestation but permanent, solid existence.
The realization fills me with... too many feelings to name.
Humility.
Unworthiness.
Determination to be worthy of such a gift. Fear that I might somehow fail him even with this blessing.
"Per sanguinem meum, per spiritum meum, Forma ex informi, visibilis ex invisibili."
The ritual pulls at me. Draws my essence toward physical reality. The sensation is strange - painful yet wonderful. Like being born. Like crossing from one world to another.
"Essentia divisa, nunc coniuncta, Surget potentia mea in carne et umbra. Anima divisa, nunc integra."
I feel myself changing. Taking shape according to Lucien's vision of me. The Vader form becoming real - not just imagined but actual.
Bones form where before was only thought. Muscles wrap around those bones. Armor encloses the flesh.
The Originals burst into the room. I notice them only distantly. My awareness focuses on the transformation happening to me.
"Dark knight of flame, my mirror soul, From shadow's depths, I bid you rise whole-"
For the first time, I feel limitation. No longer am I formless consciousness that could be anything. Now I have boundaries. Edges. I exist in one shape only.
Yet with this limitation comes new power - the ability to affect the world directly.
To touch. To move. To protect.
"Transform thyself from ember into might, To guard my path through darkest night."
My form becomes more solid with each word Lucien speaks. Armor plates lock together around my chest. A helmet closes around my head. A cape unfolds from my shoulders.
"Open your black wings wide and soar, Cross through the veil from distant shore. Shroud the heavens with your shadow's pall, And cast your wrath upon them all."
I am nearly complete now. Strength flows through limbs I have never before possessed. Power fills a body shaped by Lucien's will and my desire to serve.
"Unlock the power we both share, As master and shadow, the perfect pair. By Force and will, by blood and bone, Protect what I have claimed as own."
Lucien's voice grows stronger as he speaks the final words:
"Appear now at your master's word, Vader, my Qareen, my shadow guard!"
His hands come together in a thunderous clap. The energies of the ritual collapse inward, condensing into my fully manifested form.
I kneel before my creator.
The position feels right.
Natural.
For the first time, I experience the world through physical senses - the weight of armor against newly formed skin, the sound of breathing through my mask, the sight of the room through the lenses of my helmet.
Everything is different now. Clearer. More defined. Colors are more vivid. Sounds more distinct. Energies more visible.
I see the Originals standing in the doorway. My new instincts immediately assess their threat level to Lucien.
Klaus watches with fascination, calculating new possibilities.
Elijah maintains his composed expression, though tension shows in his slightly raised shoulders.
Rebekah's face reveals surprise and wariness.
Kol seems delighted by the chaos.
Finn stands furthest back, wariness evident in his rigid posture.
I flex my hands, feeling the power they contain. I take my first breath, hearing it amplified through my mask's vocoder.
Khhhh-purrrr. Khhhh-purrrr.
I turn to Lucien, seeing him clearly for the first time with physical eyes. He seems smaller than I had perceived him, yet his inner light burns just as brightly as always.
Gratitude fills me completely.
I remain kneeling before him, acknowledging the proper order of our relationship - he the creator, I the created; he the moon, I merely its reflection in water.
I speak for the first time:
"My Master."
--------------------------
(Author note: Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.
Do tell me how you found it.
In the beginning confusing right?
I wanted that feeling to be had, so that readers could understand how Vader felt, when he came into existence the moment Lucien fully set into the laws of this universe, and remembered his past life.
Well, I am interested in what you think of Vader. Do you think Lucien truly succeeded in having him permanently have physical form, or not?
I hope to see you all later, I'm gonna go to sleep.
Bye!)