Luke’s X-wing and the Myrioi Osprey are seen flying over clear, gleaming white and blue oceans, scattered with islands and sea life. The sky is turquoise, and there are no clouds, only vast, foggy wisps of silver.

Luke’s voiceover is heard: “Etilma was a place that the New Republic had assigned me to handle just after the Empire fell. It was a peaceful planet, and as such, was tyrannized by greedy warlords looking to enslave their people, the Wotuins, and sell their wildlife. I led a secretive group of soldiers into the warlords’ main base, which we destroyed, leaving them defenseless against New Republic fleets. We provided the Wotuins with a strong defense system afterwards, so that they could protect themselves in the future. Since then, Etilma has prospered, and its wildlife has been slowly returning.”

Rey and Luke land on a tropical island, next to a village. Inside, there is a giant barrack. Murmurs are heard throughout, and one by one, the entire village of humanoid, dinosaur-like beings with spikes on their bodies comes out of their huts. Some of them appear to be soldiers.

“He’s returned!” one of exclaims. They excitedly cheer, and rush out to greet Luke.

Rey smiles, uplifted by the positive energy circulating throughout the island. This is the Luke I had wanted to see, she thinks to herself.

One of the Wotuins speaks, “Luke, we cannot thank you enough for liberating our people. But we must ask, why is it that you have returned?”

Luke replies, “I saw visions that told me that there is a disturbance in the Force, and it has led us here. Has anyone witnessed anything unusual?”

The cheers fall silent. The Wotuin speaks again, “By the great Fortune... yes, there has been. For some reason we cannot explain... we have lost access to our defense system. The technology has not been tampered with, but something else- as if by magic- is hampering us from using it. And as such, our wildlife has started disappearing again. Our people are being captured and enslaved too- so we are hiding out here. When your ship sent out a signal indicating that you were Luke Skywalker, hope returned to us, and we quickly contacted you.”

“What?” Luke softly replies, “When did this happen?”

“When the First Order rose again.”

Rey becomes sorrowful, now in sympathy. Luke remains steadfast. He continues, “I have a feeling that these two events are connected. We will help you and save this planet.”

The Wotuins begin to exhibit expressions of great hope again. One of the younger Wotuins points to Rey and asks, “Who is she?”

Luke tells him, “Her name’s Rey, and she’s my apprentice.”

Rey is taken back for a second time; she looks baffled, and cannot imagine what other surprises this new Luke has up his sleeve.

A Wotuin and the duo are walking towards a large carrier ship. The Wotuin tells them, “We do not know where these rogues are hiding. We will provide you with the last of our Grand Carriers, which can refuel your starfighters and traverse the seas, greatly aiding you in your investigation. But be careful; every one of us who tried to look for the cause has never returned. You will also be able to communicate with us using these transmitters. May the Force be with you.”

A montage of Rey, Luke and their droids, traveling on the Grand Carrier, is seen. They travel through the open sea to large lakes and swamps, stopping on land to find clues in the forests and mountains as to where the disruptions are coming from. They hunt, fish, and camp under the stars. One time, when they’re fishing, Luke is pushed back by a fish who looks up at him; Luke remarks to Rey, “That fish just used the Force!” They seem worried, knowing the Force disruptions are getting worse and worse, but soon laugh it off. Later, Rey and Luke are seen practicing swordplay. Luke also teaches her how to live like a hermit who lives off wild plants.

One day, as torrential rains assault the valleys around the duo, Luke teaches Rey how to create a long pole and how to use it to vault across cliffs. Though Rey stumbles at first, she quickly learns how to do it right, and laughs when she succeeds. Luke nods, congratulating her for her accomplishment. Later, while camping at night, both of them laying down on blankets, Rey points to the sky.

“I’ve gone so far away from my home,” Rey softly says in a hushed tone.

Luke asks her, “Do you miss it?”

“No. Not at all. No plants, no ocean- not like this planet. Too much sand.”

Luke laughs, “Sounds just like my home of Tatoonie. Let me guess what your home was like: moisture farms?”

Rey shakes her head and faintly smiles, “Not even. I was a scavenger.”

“A scavenger? Ha! Sounds like you had a tougher life than I did, kid.”

“I wished every day that I could find some way out. If it wasn’t for the Force, I would have perished.”

“I felt the same way, too.”

Rey suddenly pushes herself from the ground; no one else had ever told her that they saw the Force in the same way. She asks Luke, “You... you do? Sometimes I felt like... the Force has its own soul. Like it was watching over me. Everyone I talk to says it just sounds crazy, but I know they just don’t see it.”

Luke replies, “That’s right. Sometimes it does feel like the Force does have its own soul.” Rey perks up, and Luke continues, “When I was in danger, I would feel a voice call out to me. For a long time, I didn’t know who it was. But then I realized it was Ben- my old master. I realized it wasn’t the Force itself. But the Force had its ways of connecting people together. It wasn’t its own living being- it couldn’t decide to save people and move physical objects by itself. Ha, I mean, that would be nuts, right? If it could, so many problems in the galaxy would be solved.”

Upon hearing that, Rey becomes disheartened again, and realizes that Luke does not see the Force in the same way that she does. She knows that she was not imagining that the Force was, somehow, helping her by physically moving things by itself. She can only reply, “Ah... that’s true...” while having a downtrodden look and biting her lip. But Luke is still looking up at the sky, and not at her.

Luke reassures her, “Not a lot of people see the Force the way we can. I couldn’t talk to a lot of people about this either. But I had old man Ben, and another teacher, Yoda. So don’t worry, kid; I got ya.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Rey tries to smile, and says, “Thank you.”

Luke yawns, “Well, it’s getting late now, so we should be getting to bed.” He heads off into his own tent, leaving Rey outside to look up at the stars, wondering if anyone will ever understand her.

“The Hooded Beast,” Rey whispers into the night sky. But nothing speaks back to her.

THE next day, Rey and Luke are hiking through a tropical forest. Just then, Luke senses something, and stops Rey.

“Do you feel it?” Luke whispers.

Confused, Rey replies, “No... I can hardly even feel the Force.”

“It’s a sacred expanse. We can let down our surrogate here.” Luke points at a canopy of leaves.

Rey is relieved. She’s had her surrogate on for weeks now, and she was beginning to crave to be with the Force again. Luke walks through a canopy of leaves, and Rey follows him. When she emerges, she finds herself in a land of mysterious ruins. Luke closes his eyes and a faint, almost unperceivable light shimmers around them. Rey does the same thing.

“Looks like the perfect place to begin your training with the Force,” Luke says.

A determined look grows on Rey. Luke is training Rey, trying to teach her to how to use the Force to push herself off from the ground to jump, and also how to use it to land from high places. Rey quickly catches on, learning how to use it to hover above the ground when she falls. The two are running through an obstacle of ruins, and come across a wide chasm. Next to it is a bridge, and Luke crosses it. But instead of following him, Rey runs towards the chasm.

“You’re not ready!” Luke shouts at her, “Don’t try it!”

But Rey ignores him, and runs towards the chasm. She uses the Force to push herself off, but she does not get the timing right, and falls into the chasm. Luke uses the Force to catch her from falling to her death, right before she hits the ground. Then he abruptly lets her down and she lands on a loud thud with a face full of dirt.

“Patience! Rey, patience is the key to all this! You gotta cross the smaller chasms over and over before you to the big ones!”

Rey spits the dirt out, and pushes herself up from the ground. Defiantly, she bites back, “Maybe if you believed in me, then I could do it! How am I going to learn to cross the big ones if I don’t try? I don’t see the point of doing so many boring repetitions.”

“Are you kidding me? How many times would you practice a Force ability before you got the hang of it?”

“Usually... just one.”

“One? ONE?” Luke sighs. “You know, when I was younger, I was reckless like you. It took a while for me to learn that I needed to take a step back and stop focusing so narrowly on the goal in front of me, and to look at the bigger picture. Alright then, let’s end this here today.”

“What? You’re giving up on me so quickly?”

“I can’t teach you like this. You need to teach yourself before we can continue.”

Luke leaves. Rey smashes her fist into her palm, and angrily walks away.

THE afternoon passes, and Rey gazes upon the open ocean from a cliff as the wind breezes by, with her satchel, staff, and other supplies resting near her. As she’s thinking, something seems to spark up inside of her. She opens the satchel and takes out the old Jedi texts. She starts reading them again.

She closes her eyes, and follows the story she read on Fortuna, trying to visualize herself in a different state of being. But now, instead of giving up after one try, she tries and tries again. As she does, Luke is also meditating. He opens his eyes, and senses that Rey is learning. He smiles.

Hours pass by, and eventually, Rey finds herself in a different, more abstract world. Ruby surrounds her, but she can’t make out what the shapes around her are.

When she awakens back to reality, her hands are cupped together, and above them floats an etheric, ruby cube. Luke appears behind her, and says, “I felt a strong surge of the Force just now,” he notices the cube in Rey’s hands, and it suddenly disappears. “What was that?” Luke inquiries.

Rey replies, “It was a soul artifact.”

“A... what?”

“I read about them in the Jedi texts. At first I didn’t understand, but now I do- there are Force powers held by ancient creatures throughout the galaxy, hidden away in secret locations. Some of them are destructive, others are controlling. The Jedi sought to take these powers, to stop them from falling into the wrong hands. To do this, they needed capsules- the soul artifacts- to hold these powers. The soul artifacts can hold either powers or information, and materialize them in the physical world. I found out how to craft one! I was able to manifest a physical representation of it, but it can’t last long. It needs to be stored inside of its maker’s soul.”

“So, that thing is inside of you now?”

“I’d say so.”

Luke ponders for a few seconds, then continues, “If these creatures held onto such tremendous powers, then we can guess that The Watchers must have taken their powers from them. These Force disruptions must be where these creatures live. If this is correct, then we have to find a way to heal these disruptions by helping them.”

“The answers must be in the texts. I’ll figure out where they are,” Rey declares with resolve.

“Then let’s get on it. And one more thing, Rey,” Luke says to her just as she picks up the texts again, “This means that we have to be even more careful around The Watchers. Who knows what abilities they have. If we can store the Force powers in the soul artifacts to hide them from the Watchers, then we can’t let them steal those artifacts from you.”

Rey nods. She combs through the texts again, and now is smiling. Still engrossed in her reading, she tells Luke, “Those repetitions still seem drawn out and pointless to me.” Luke sighs and shakes his head as he walks away.

THE next day, Luke and Rey take the Grand Carrier towards a remote island. As they head there, Luke says to her, “How sure are you that the creature’s here?”

“I have a good feeling about it,” Rey quips back.

“If we find the creature here, there’s a good chance we’ll also find out what’s been messing with the defense systems on this planet.”

They reach the island and sneak around. They hear a commotion, and when they look into it, they see a group of Mandalorian soldiers patrolling the area.

Luke whispers, “Looks like Manalorians exiles. What could they possibly be doing here? The cave that the creature is in is heavily guarded; there’s tracking systems everywhere. They’re all controlled by some console nearby.”

“Don’t worry; I got this.” Rey gets up and leaves, and Luke calls after her, “Wait, what are you doing?”

She outruns Luke, and using a rope to climb down a cliff, she steathily is able to sneak past the guards, and dismantles the console. The guards look around confused, and call an emergency- their security systems in that area have been disabled.

Rey rejoins with Luke. As they’re sneaking around to get to the next location, he whispers to her, “Good job, kid. Where’d you learn that?”

“Unkar taught me.”

Luke raises a brow. “The... ugly mean blob guy who you said always tried to sell you off?”

“Well, he didn’t really teach me, it was more like he would run away from the incoming Bullworms when they swarmed us, and would leave me alone on a cliff, so I’d have to figure out how to climb my way out...”

Just then, guards walk past, and the duo scrambles to hide again. Rey tells Luke, “I’ll go find and disable the other tracking systems.” Luke nods, “And I’ll distract the guards to lead them far away from you.”

After the systems are all disabled, Luke speaks to Rey through a transmitter. “Okay, we’re all done here. Now let’s go call in the Wotuins, and let their army handle the Mandalorians. After they’re gone, we’ll be able to get into the cave.”

Rey is in the middle of climbing just above the Mandalorian main base, and she responds, “But I’m right above the main base! I found a way to blow it up and escape. If I take it out right now, I can cause the base to self-destruct. We won’t need any Wotuins to risk their lives.”

“Rey!” Luke sternly says, “You know how many guards are there. It’s too much of a risk.”

“But isn’t that what you did on Etilma all those years ago?”

“Yes, but things are different now.”

“What’s different? Because you’re not the one who has the chance to save the planet now?”

“Rey, this isn’t about that!”

Rey shuts off her transmitter and climbs down. Though she’s able to evade several guards, suddenly, she’s discovered. She shoots at a guard and luckily hits him, but more guards approach. While running away, she loses her blaster. Now she ignites her lightsaber, and tries to fight off a guard, but has trouble doing so. Frustrated, she realizes it’s a lost cause, and scrambles to find a way to escape.

As more and more guards ambush her, it dawns on her that she has no other choice: if she’s to have a fighting chance, she has to let down her surrogate. But just as she does, a guard from behind her knocks her out.