The sudden acceleration of the pulse knocks back the brigade of First Order starfighters. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Skor ships fire and destroy the brigade.
Rey opens her eyes again. “I did it,” she whispers.
“You’re clear,” Concave Leader announces, “Let’s bring them home.”
Luke breathes a sign of relief. He can’t believe what just happened. R2 whirls. Luke tells to him, “Two in a row? Maybe I was wrong the entire time.”
A Tau ship approaches the caravan. But just before it can reach it, a ghastly looking ship apparates out of nowhere, and guns the Tau ship down. Inside of the apparition is a phantom assassin.
“The First Order is trying to get the caravans back!” Vector Leader exclaims, “Pilots, protect those ships!”
They struggle to save the existing caravans in Nissdha, but one by one, the phantom assassins pop out and ambush the ships. Stronger, more fortified First Order starfighters charge in and fire wildly. They are led by Hailden and Serei.
Kylo’s voice is now drenched in desperation. “Amp up the attack!” The First Order ships recklessly spew their blasters everywhere, and in their chaotic rampage against the Tau ships, they shatter the surfaces of the tunnels. It begins to crumble. Rey senses a foreboding anxiety, and gasps. Slowly, a darkness seeps into the tunnels. The Resepi begin to flow through.
The tunnels begin to shift now, as if it was an organic creature, and the boundaries crash into ships all around them. Nissidha has become a behemoth of ever-shifting corridors, and Rey narrowly manages to avoid being sandwiched in. Tunnels now boom and bust into big and small passageways. They shoot up and separate ships fighting one another.
The shadows snatch every ship in the way- Tau, Skor and First Order alike- and crush them, dragging them back into the forbidden depths of Nissidha. With each crush, there is a frightening wail; Rey can’t tell if it’s from the pilot or the Resepi. The Tau and Skor do not stand a chance against these new demons. The Resepi draw closer and closer towards the caravans, and the people on board cry out in fear.
“Order your ships to fuse together!” Luke yells out at both the Tau and Skor captains.
Concave Leader yells back, “Do you even know what that takes? Both pilots will have to trust one another in sync! But how could anyone trust the Skor?”
“You say that right after your schemes have been exposed?” Vector Leader bites back.
Luke intervenes, “Just admit it. Both sides are terrible. Now that you both realize that, look around you! The only way to save your people is through fusion!”
The captains hesitate. But when the Resepi finally snatch several caravans, they enact the one order that they swore to never do.
Concave Leader commands his brigade, “Whatever you think about the Skor, forget it. You are not a civilian. You are a soldier. I order you to fuse with the Skor.”
The Skor and Tau ships each find a counterpart, and an aura spirals around them. They begin to fuse.
Rey keeps a close eye on the spirals, and in the next moment, she sees an incredible sight: ships of red and blue, monumental cannons, and wings that rival a Titan. The newly fused ships fire upon the Resepi, who emit a deafening screech and fly away from the caravans. The First Order ghost ships swerve in the new opening, but the fusions fire their blazing hot cannons at them, evaporating the First Order assassins.
“Let’s drive them back!” Luke exclaims. He heads towards a caravan attacked by Resepi. But on his tail is a Tie fighter, piloted by Kylo Ren.
Luke tries to outmaneuver his nephew, but Kylo mirrors his movements with fluidity. “I can predict your every move,” Kylo whispers to himself. “You can’t escape.”
Luke flies through a ring of Resepi, and Kylo follows suit, dodging them. Now the Resepi are encroaching closer and closer onto the caravan. Luke realizes that he has no choice but to go straight as fast as he can and fire upon the monsters.
Kylo knows this too. He flies straight behind Luke. He readies his navigation computer to lock onto the X-wing. “This is the end, ‘Master’.”
But before he can fire, a loud blast quakes his starfighter and pushes him out of Luke’s path, making the Tie Fighter spin out of control. Rey has intercepted Kylo Ren.
“I got him!” Rey exclaims. Luke fires upon the Resepi and saves the caravan.
As his Tie Fighter swirls towards the tunnel’s surfaces, Kylo Ren launches himself out and evacuates. He lands on the surface, and finds that other fighters have, too. He speaks into his transmitter, “Get me a new ship.” He ignites his blade and cuts down anyone who tries to attack him.
Luke breathes a sign of relief. But just as he tries to fly around the caravan, his ship is shot by a piercing beam. The X-wing is going down. Hailden has intervened and shot him.
Luke quickly evacuates and lands on the surface, too. “R2!” he shouts. “Get the X-wing outta here and fix it up!”
Hailden and Serei’s ships close in on the Osprey. Rey tries to outrun them, but they prove to be far faster and more agile. Out of seemingy nowhere, a horde of Resepi rush into Hailden and Serei’s ships. As they’re about to crash, the two generals evacuate and land on the surface. Their lightsabers lash out and they join the brawl.
All four combatants fight their way through the crowd, acrobatically avoiding the Resepi, waiting for their backups ships to arrive. The tunnels shift, and crush many of the fighters in their way. Using the Force, the four manage to hold on and avoid the disaster. Everyone else has fallen through to somewhere else. Luke re-adjusts himself, and claws his way back to a four-sided platform. There, each of them on their own side of the platform’s ends, are Serei, Hailden and Kylo.
They stand there for a moment. Only the hums of their lightsabers are heard. They are all ready to attack. But then, Luke starts walking towards the center, and breaks the silence: “You’ve all grown so much. I wish I could say I was proud.”
Kylo shouts back, “All you did was hold us back!” He runs towards Luke, and his two generals follow suit. They clash lightsabers. Luke duels all three of them at once. He takes a squarely, defensive stance, pushing his former students away with the Force and keeping his distance between them. Hailden is pushed away and slams the ground with a vibration, and Luke jumps up, avoiding it. Serei shoots her hand up in the air and cries out, and the shattered ruins of the tunnels coalesce, then rush into Luke like a flock of bats. He slashes them away, and braces to push himself through, emerging on the other side where Kylo strikes at him. Luke counters, and the two are locked in a stalemate. Luke retracts and protects himself against Serei and Hailden, who attack him on the other side.
Just then, there is a low rumbling. In an instant, a barrier shoots up between Luke and his students, and they all narrowly avoid it, jumping back in different directions. The tunnels are shifting even more erratically now. The four combatants are separated.
Luke regains his composure, and looks up. On the other side of a thin barrier is Serei. She is walking back and forth, as if she was stalking him. Luke tries to speak with her, “You were always my most gifted student. But you were lazy. And had a short attention span.”
“Meditation just wasn’t my thing,” Serei coolly replies.
“You certainly enjoyed the sparring lessons.”
Serei smirks. “I wouldn’t have minded if you gave me more of those.”
“I still can.”
Serei laughs. “Sounds fun. But I know it’d just come with a catch.”
She snaps and flicks her fingers, and Luke rolls out of the way of a piercing jet of metallic, poisonous liquid. He continues dodging it, and finally gets in a position where he can force push the liquid out of the way, back towards Serei. The liquid flows back into Serei’s fingers. Then, the barrier between them abruptly shifts away and Serei strikes down on Luke, who shields himself with his lightsaber. They duel for a brief moment and suddenly, another barrier shifts and Hailden joins the fight. Luke fights them both off, and Serei is separated.
Hailden and Luke stare at one another, but do not attack. Hailden stands his ground in a defensive stance. He speaks up, “I believed in you. You saved us from this war ravaged planet. But you could not live up to be who you claimed you were.”
Luke does not budge. But a regretful sorrow lies upon his face. He replies, “Perhaps it was my fault. I couldn’t be who you wanted.”
“I had time to contemplate. And I realized that wasn’t your mistake. You still cling onto that ideal. But that’s not what reality is. I saw what happened on this planet. I heard of your new apprentice, and what she’s accomplished.”
“We don’t know how this will turn out in the long run.”
“But already, it is more promising than anything you have ever done. When the treaty you proposed was signed, there was only an anxious aminosity. But now Skor are cheering on the streets. Attacks have ceased upon the Tau cities. However, the wrong side has won. The Skor are not fit to govern.”
“You think you can do a better job?”
“We shall see.”
Luke and Hailden walk towards one another, getting faster and faster, and throw their lightsabers down. As they clash, Hailden surprises Luke many times. Luke is taken back, and becomes more defensive than before. Then, the barriers shift again and Luke suddenly feels the Force choking him by his neck; it’s not Hailden, but someone else. He quickly wrangles himself out and points his lightsaber towards Hailden, franctically searching for the new foe. Then, the barriers shift, and Hailden disappears. Luke can see nothing. When the barriers shift again, in Hailden’s place, is Kylo. There is a thin barrier, rushing through with lowly screeching Resepi, separating the master and his former student.
Luke tries to catch his breath. Kylo speaks up, “What have you been doing to Rey?”
“How did you two get so close? How did you two even contact each other?”
Kylo chuckles. “She never told you? I know her better than you. I see her dark side. The part you will never get.”
Luke retaliates and says, “The dark side isn’t natural. It’s not something to embrace. And she knows this.”
“You’re forcing her to think that way! Just like what you did with me! And look what I’ve become!”
“You did that yourself! I did all I could to save you!”
“No... you twisted me, tried to make me into the Skywalker you wanted. I couldn’t escape you; there was no one there to help me. You think that if I became a bounty hunter, that I would do all of this? You let me fall into the wrong hands. You’ll do the same to her!”
“She’s nothing like you.”
“You have no idea how much she IS like me. And I won’t let you take her away!”
Kylo slams his saber down on Luke, and the two duel with intense fury, fighting for their lives.
From above, Rey is flying the Osprey, and sees Luke and Kylo fighting. For a moment, she is lost in her thoughts. It can’t be, she thinks. She is torn, unable to choose between her master and Ben. But in that second of distraction, a horde of Resepi consume the Osprey, destroying its exteriors. Rey snaps back and manages to escape, but the damage is done. Its cannons are gone.
“BB-8, I need you to fly the Osprey away. You need to keep Litha safe with someone else. Come back on another transport ship.”
Rey evacuates and lands on the surface. From far away, she sees Luke and Kylo dueling. In between them is a myriad of First Order soldiers. She ignites her blue lightsaber and parries their shots, slashing through her enemies. But the shifting tunnels make her lose her balance. She regains her composure, and continues to run towards Luke and Kylo.
They’re so close now, she thinks to herself. Then, just before they’re within her reach, a blast pounds her arm, and she drops her lightsaber. The tunnels then shift again, and now Luke and Kylo are out of sight, along with the other soldiers. Rey is alone. She scrambles to find her lightsaber. She spots it, but upon another shift of the tunnels, it falls through a small hole, with a diameter as big as a person. Rey runs towards the hole and jumps into it.
As Luke and Kylo are dueling, the tunnels open up the barriers and Serei and Hailden are now visible. They run towards them, but Luke and Kylo are too far away. They are so concentrated in their duel that they do not realize they are getting deeper and deeper into a tunnel, and that the only entrance out is about to be swallowed up.
“Kylo!” Serei shouts, “We have to get out of here!” Kylo ignores her. The two general leave the entrance, and Luke realizes what’s about to happen.
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Kylo thrusts his lightsaber towards Luke, who jumps up and is now holding onto a ladder of his repaired X-wing. Kylo bellows out and tries to use the Force to bring the ladder down, but the X-wing zooms out of the tunnel entrance. Kylo runs towards it using Force speed, but it’s too late. The only entrance has now closed into a hole the size of a small blaster. Kylo speaks into his transmitter, “Order a ship to my location.”
A ship flies by, but it’s too large to enter the tunnel. It tries shooting at it, but for some reason, the tunnel has been layered and fortified by boundary material many times over, and has hardened to become impenetrable.
“Damn it,” he whispers to himself. “I’ll have to wait.” From faraway, at the ends of the tunnels, he hears dreadful wails. The Resepi are coming. He speaks to the transmitter again, “Send over a small droid. Bring the kyber crystal.”
Rey feverishly tries to search for her lightsaber. She runs through the tunnel, and sees the entrance closing off. She runs towards it, but it’s too late. Due to the shifting tunnels, she and Kylo Ren are trapped in the same location. The barriers move again, and she sees her lightsaber. But before she can pick it up, a black boot stomps down over it. She looks up, and Kylo Ren is standing over her with his cross guard lightsaber ignited. A small droid, carrying a jade kyber crystal, hovers besides him.
“This belongs to me.” He picks up his grandfather’s weapon and exchanges it with the droid’s crystal. The droid, carrying the lightsaber, flies off, leaving Kylo with the crystal. Rey and Kylo lock eyes in hatred.
“Why did you lie to me?” Rey calls out, “You were so close to changing!”
“You wanted me to give up something that was a part of me! You didn’t care for me. Not for who I truly was.”
“Then if this is who you really are, I want nothing to do with it.”
The words stab into Kylo. Then he says, “An swarm of Resepi will be here any moment now. Call your crystal in, and you can ward them away.”
“I’d rather die than risk it falling into the wrong hands.”
“Then come with me. I’m your only means of escape.”
Rey glares at him. “I’ll never go with you.”
The tunnels shift again, separating them. Just then, Rey hears the screeches of the Resepi. She realizes what has just transpired- she told Kylo that she never wanted to see him again. But the thought tears a hole inside of her. She doesn’t know why. But she can’t stand it. As she runs from the incoming screams, she wishes none of this ever happened. She wishes things truly could go back to the way they were.
The fused Tau and Skor ships are close to evacuating the caravans out of Nissidha. Vector Leader announces, “The First Order has been defeated in the major cities. Almost no civilian casualities. All that’s left is getting the caravans out of here.”
Concave Leader replies, “There’s a caravan full of Tau that no one has taken back yet! We have to get to it before one of the First Order guards on it wakes up!”
The X-wing destroys a string of First Order ships. Luke hears the broadcast, and turns around to try to head back into the tunnels. But it’s not easy getting through. Walls of Resepi block his way, and he tries his best to get around them.
As Rey runs through the tunnels to escape the Resepi, she notices that the entrance has re-opened again, and is big enough for a ship to fly through. She runs towards it, but suddenly stops, and sees it: the last caravan. She speaks into a transmitter, “BB-8, I found the last caravan. You have to fly a transport ship to me and drag the caravan away.”
As soon as she finishes, she looks up, and the caravan transport door is opening. Standing there is a First Order officer, and he is pointing a blaster at a kneeling hostage.
“Give up the crystal,” he barks at her.
But just then, the Resepi grab onto the caravan ship. “Close the doors!” the officier shouts. The ships start to close. But it’s too late, and he falls out of the caravan. Just as the kneeling hostage is about to too, the other Tau on the ship grab him, and the doors close. The Resepi swoop down and tear the officer apart, draining him of his life energy until he is a dry corpse.
But now the Resepi try to break apart the caravan ship and drag it away into the depths of Nissidha. She tries to use the Force to drag the caravan towards her, but it’s too heavy; the Resepi are too powerful. She panics, and realizes that there is only one way she can save the people on the ship. She shuts her eyes, and whispers “Come to me.”
She awakens in the darkness, and before her stand the four Watchers. She hears a gentle, but nervous voice call out. “Where are you? We can’t see you!”
“I’m in a sacred expanse. But I have reached out to you.”
Alstaire speaks up, “You seem different. More sincere. Your eyes are starting to open.”
“Please, there are people in danger! I need my power back.”
“We will give you what we can.” Rey feels a surge of power return. She feels as if she is nearly re-invigorated. But not all of it is back. She yells, “Where’s the rest? You’re keeping it away from me!”
“We wish to trust you. But we do not want to be backstabbed again. If we are to give you all of your power, we have to be sure you are on our side. Can we ask something of you?”
“Anything.”
“We sense you wield a terrible weapon. One that is so great, that no one should ever use it. We need it to make sure it does not fall into the wrong hands. You must give us the ruby artifact you possess.”
Rey reaches deep within her soul, grabs the cube, and nearly hands it over. But then, she stops. “I can’t.”
“Please,” Kiyla begs, “You don’t know what terrible powers lie within. They will destroy you!”
“What are you going to do with it?” Rey asks.
“We wish to keep it safe.”
“I don’t trust you.”
“Then you are trying to trick us.”
“No, I’m not! There truly are people in danger! I wish you could see!”
“If there are, then why won’t you trust in us?” Alstaire questions. Rey hesitates. Then, she feels the connection fading away. She yells out, “Don’t go!” But Kiyla shakes her head, and hangs it down with disappointment. Alstaire does the same. The Watchers fade away.
Rey snaps back to the physical world, and she is still pulling the caravan away from the Resepi. She is stronger now, but the power is not nearly enough. The tunnels shift again, and Kylo runs into the scene. The tunnels block him from going any further, but he is able to see what is happening. He witnesses Rey reaching out and trying her hardest to save the people. He is at a loss as to what to do. He doesn’t want to see her in such pain, and wishes to help. But then he stops himself. No, he thinks. I can never go back.
As Rey struggles against the Resepi, she calls out with desperation, and remembers all the Tau on board. With every inch of her determination, she tugs, and miraculously, the caravan slowly starts to be released from the clutches of the Resepi.
Just then, a ship flies through, and fires on the shadow creatures. They screech and are driven away. BB-8 is piloting the ship, and it swoops in to grab the caravan with many strong cables. Straining, BB-8 manages to latch onto the caravan.
“BB-8! Get them out of here!” BB-8 hurries and flies the ship away.
Rey slightly smiles, and tries to catch her breath. She’s used up so much energy, and feels her strength leaving. “They’re saved,” she whispers to herself. But suddenly, she hears the swarm of Resepi rise up again. And then from behind, the monsters grab her and toss her up in the air.
“Rey!” Kylo calls out. The tunnel barriers shift, and Kylo is able to run through. However, it’s too late. Rey tries to use the Force to push the Repesi away, but they overwhelm her. They drag her near the surface of the tunnels, and she is seconds away from the forbidden realm of Nissidha.
Outside Nissidha, the Tau worry for the remaining caravan. “My son is there!” a Tau cries out. Then, a transport ship flies out of Nissidha, holding onto the last caravan. Luke senses BB-8 is on board. “She did it,” he says. The Tau overhear him. “She... saved us?” one of them says, with great surprise.
But suddenly, an emptiness gnaws at Luke. He clutches his heart, and feels like he cannot detect Rey’s life force anymore. “Rey!” he hoarsely shouts. He tries to rush in, but a legion of Resepi block his way, and he cannot move in any further.
As the Resepi pull Rey towards the forbidden realms of Nissidha, Kylo runs after them, clutching the jade green kyber crystal in his hand. Just when Rey sees him, she’s pulled through a portal into the forbidden realms. Kylo immediately jumps in after her.
The world is like a canvas of charcoal; phantoms streak throughout, suffocating every hint of space there is. But all around Kylo is an aura of dark jade light. He feels the pressure choking in, as if he was in the deepest parts of an ocean. He searches around for Rey, mouthing her name, but there is no sound. And then he sees her. She is weakened, her life fragile. She looks him in the eyes, and then he sees it- a grinning Resepi shadow, gripping her shoulders, standing tall and thin above her. It gestures towards Kylo, taunting him to come closer. Kylo pushes himself towards it, and suddenly, the grinning shadow thrusts itself into Rey. She gasps, and calls out, locking her eyes with Kylo. Her eyes are shutting ever faster. Then they finally close.
With tremendous worry, Kylo tries to push himself faster, pushing away the Resepi around him, and finally reaches Rey. The Resepi are flickered away by the warm, jade light. They hover around it, stalking the two with their watchful gaze. Kylo places his gloved hand onto her. He feels no life. He’s in anguish now, not knowing what to do. Then he senses it- the grinning Resepi is still within her. He knows what he has to do now, and there’s no going back. He takes the kyber crystal, and using the Force, he imbues it within Rey.
She senses nothing. She is not in the physical world anymore, nor is she is any place she is familiar with. But there are remnants of things she knows. The carnival- but it is fading. The beach- but she can’t feel the breeze. And then she sees the cliffs, and the haunting darkness in Ben’s world. She steps towards it, and sees the smiling shadow. The darkness grows ever larger, enveloping her whole world until there is nothing left. But then she senses it. A growing, green aura. The smiling shadow protests in rage as it’s exorcised out and dissipated.
Rey wakes up to what looks like a canvas brushed with thick charcoal. She coughs, and looks around her. Resepi are everywhere. But she is surrounded by jade, and no Resepi dares to touch within. Then she feels a hand on her chest. It’s cold, but she knows who it is. She touches his hand, and then sees Kylo, weakened and struggling to hold on, his last remaining shred of life clinging onto Rey. His eyes can hardly open. Resepi are pulling at his feet, grabbing onto his legs, clawing their way up closer and closer to him.
‘Get away from him!’ Rey mouths. There is no sound. She places her hand onto Kylo’s cheek, and he gathers enough strength to look up at her. Suddenly, the aura begins to pulse stronger and stronger. Rey gazes into Kylo’s eyes, and places her fingers over his. An energy is transferred in between them. It channels through Rey, then into Kylo, and then is emitted into the aura. A faint screeching is heard, and it becomes louder. The Resepi fly around erratically, sensing that they’re in danger. Rey grasps onto Key’s hand, and a blinding light explodes out of them, eliminating all the Resepi nearby.
REY, holding onto an unconscious Kylo, has carved a path out the forbidden realms of Nissidha, and has found an exit, far away from everyone else. They’ve escaped Nissidha. She gently places Kylo down, and stands over him. She hesitates for a moment, wondering if she can bring him with her. But she realizes she can’t, and whispers, “You were right. All we’ll do is hurt you again.” She walks away.
Hours pass, and a First Order ship lands near Kylo. Hailden, Serei and Hux step out. Upon seeing Kylo’s unconscious body, Hux rolls his eyes and mutters, “Not again.”
Hailden walks over to the body. “The crystal is gone.”
“What?” Hux exclaims. He shakes his head, furious. “That fool. He messed it all up. How are we ever going to get out of this one...”
Serei walks up next to Hailden and says, “Did you see that? The fusions. I never thought I’d see Skor and Tau working together. I mean, besides us, of course.”
Hailden replies, “This peace will be short-lived. Even if the Skor and Tau try to make a truce again, it will only end in betrayal.”
A CARRIER ship flies through Nissidha, and Rey and BB-8 are inside. She asks BB-8 where the Osprey is, and if Litha is safe. BB-8 whirls. Rey says, “So it’s being repaired by Tau and they’re taking care of Litha? That’s good to hear.” Though it is risky to let people know of her, there’s not much else Rey can do as of now. The Tau and Skor leaders need her to help keep the peace by acting as a shared icon for the people. The ship lands back where all the Tau and Skor are gathered. As one, they cheer and announce that with their combined efforts, they have driven the First Order away.
Rey walks up to a ceremonial platform, and closes her eyes, bringing her hands over her chest. Slowly, one of the twin jade kyber crystals emerges from her body. She motions to BB-8, who hands her the other twin crystal. As she cradles the two together, a pulse resonates, and Rey can feel just how strong it is. Not only does it reach her, but she feels the weaker crystal barriers near her feet resonate in response, too. “A tremendous amount of energy,” she whispers, recalling Drunev’s words. Then she suddenly remembers a passage she read in the Jedi texts, and consults Inimoni seers for confirmation.
A seer gasps, “Yes,” he exclaims, “If these twin crystals vibrate as one, and are present near the smaller set of crystals, they will all work together to generate a legendary energy. One strong enough to not just seal away the Resepi, but to eradicate them all once and for all. Perhaps this was a truth once known by our ancestors, when they worked together as one. And now it has been rediscovered.”
Luke walks up the ceremonial stairs too, and looks at Rey. He tells her, “I know a way to harmonically synchronize their frequencies.” Rey nods.
A montage is seen of Luke instructing Rey on how to forge the twin crystals into a lightsaber. Meanwhile, Tau and Skor work side by side to construct a strange device, following instructions from an ancient scroll. Luke sees the two sides cooperating and remarks, “Looks like they’re finally admitting their past, instead of hiding from it.”
Rey gives off a soft smile. “It looks like I was wrong about the Tau.”
Luke chuckles, “But if the Tau still thought they were holier-than-thou, and their trickery wasn’t exposed, I don’t think they would’ve admitted their faults so easily and worked with the Skor.”
Finally, the new lightsaber is completed. She ignites one side, and then the other. A jade aura emits from its two blades. She stares in awe at her work. She places it inside of the strange device, and it echoes in rhythm with the weaker horde of barrier crystals. The echoes grow louder and stronger, until in a sudden burst, it shines throughout all the land, spreading through all of Inimoni. When Rey can finally see again, she looks towards the direction of Nissidha. The Resepi are gone, and so is Nissidha. There is only barren space where it once was.
Tau and Skor seers approach her. One of them says, “Thank you for helping us realize our roots. Though we do not expect our people to have all of their conflicts solved just yet, we believe it is a step in a new direction. We pray that it will all go well.”
Deep down, Rey wants his words to be true. But an aching voice calls after her. She fights it, telling it to go away. It hides.
“That’s my hope, too” Luke replies. Then he turns to Rey, “There’s something special between you and those crystals. This lightsaber belongs to you now.”
Rey reaches out towards the handle, the jade light illuminating her face. She takes it.
“I sense great potential in it,” the Seer tells her, “If one with incredible power were to wield it in the right way, who knows what magnificient forces it would unleash? You must train yourself to use it wisely. In time, you will discover its true potential.”
Rey and Luke leave the ceremonial temple. Rey remarks to Luke, “You said you’ve been on every planet with a soul object. I think I’m beginning to see why.”
Luke replies, “These places are where the Force vibes the strongest. They’re also the hubs you’d want to break if you were to disrupt the Force. Each time I’ve been sent here, I’ve had to deal with conflicts, too. So not only are they conflicts between people, but they’re conflicts in the Force?”
“Something like that. And now there’s only one of them left- the most important one, the one may be take control away from whoever’s doing all this.” She pauses, and changes the subject. “It was my selfish attachment to Ben that caused all this. I won’t let my attachments stop me from doing the right thing ever again.” She then tries to explain the concept of world bridges to Luke, who has a hard time understanding.
Luke simply nods, and offers his words of advice. “I’ve been thinking about you and Ben. I don’t know how you’re both connected. But maybe it’s best to forget about whatever link that is- it’s done you more harm than good. You’re stuck in a hard place, and have to make hard decisions. Just always keep in mind that you have to do things for the greater good.”
Rey thinks back to her duties, and remembers the Osprey. Finally free from having to act as a savior for Inimoni, she rushes to the location where BB-8 said it was. But standing before her is a massacre. A blazing inferno.
Rey rushes inside the burning building, and sees mechanics who have been slaughtered. The Osprey is gone. She runs up to one who is still clinging onto life.
“Who did this? When?” she cries out to him.
The mechanic weakly answers, “T-Tatoonie mercenaries. When one of us saw them coming, she flew the Osprey away. Before the mercenaries left, they sent scouts to steal parts from us that they n-needed for something, I don’t know. And they... saw her. They took her away.”
THE repaired Osprey lands near Rey, who is now pacing. Luke’s X-wing lands near her, too.
“Luke, Litha’s been captured! We have to go save her!”
Upon hearing the word Tatoonie, Luke exhales, deep in excrutiating thought. Then he replies, “For the longest time, I’ve been trying to run from my home. But we promised we’d protect this girl. It’s time for me to face one of his most regretful mistakes.”