The Chosen One: A Reylo Story

Mission to an Abandoned Planet

The smell... the smell was the worst part.

Putrid, like the insides of a jubba left to rot on the hot sands of Jakku, invading her senses, weakening her focus...

Rey breathes in sharply, holding it for a moment before releasing. She can't allow herself to be distracted.

She walks carefully along the damp, uneven ground, her arm extended and her hand stretched open just an inch from the curved, wet surface of the cave walls. Everything around her is shrouded in darkness, but it does not matter to Rey. Her eyes are closed. Her mind is calm. She relaxes her shoulders and lets her head tilt back slightly, feeling The Force course through her...

She moves carefully. One foot forward, and then the next, with her outstretched hand still hovering an inch from the thick, layered rock of the wall.

It's close. She can sense it.

She continues forward methodically, one step at a time. She is determined to find it—she cannot fail. If another artifact falls into the hands of the Knights of Ren...

The Resistance, broken and bereft of allies, had not discovered what the Knights were up to until it was nearly too late. For the past several years, they'd been scouring the galaxy for the most powerful Sith artifacts known to exist, only to hoard them in the First Order archives. But to what end...?

The question has loomed ominously over Resistance leaders since they received the intel. General Leia warned Rey that these artifacts were infused with centuries of dark power and could enhance one's ability to use the Force in a variety of unsettling ways. It's even suspected that some can be used to commune with the dark lords who created them. The possibilities are disquieting...

"Why does he want them so desperately?" Rey wonders.

"Let the past die. Kill it if you have to," the low voice intones in her head. For just a moment, she can see the image so clearly. Gloved hand extending, dark eyes fixed on hers... unwavering... pleading...

She hangs her head instinctively. For a moment, a complex wave of emotions washes over her. Then, her head snaps up. She takes another deep breath and exhales slowly. She must clear her mind and focus on the task at hand.

She steps forward. Then again, and again. With each step, her foot sinks slightly into the cave's muddied floors. The scent of rot lies thick in the air. The cold wind whips through the cave's winding corridors. But Rey feels none of this. She only feels the Force...and through the Force, she senses it... buried deep in the walls, crying out to her like a lost and frightened child.

She takes another step, then stops. Her eyes are still closed; her mind still calm.

It's here.

She adjusts her body to face the wall directly. Her palm tingles as she senses the power of the artifact calling. The wall is hard and thick.

Rey stands, light and unmoving. She senses it all around her, expanding infinitely. The rhythm and hum of life and death, gain and loss, joy and sorrow. She opens herself to the Force, allowing it to flow through her. The artifact reaches out to her through the depths. She hears the faint echoes of screaming in her mind. She channels the Force to tease the artifact towards her, inch by inch. As she does, the screams grow louder, hollow and reverberating.

Closer. Closer. Closer she draws it to her.

Rey snaps back suddenly. The sound of a small avalanche of rocks hitting the cave floor behind her jerks her out of her trance.