Revival- A Star Wars Story

Chapter 22- Inimoni, The Dark

As it's flying, the Osprey cloaks itself and becomes invisible. They've escaped from the city, and are now flying over a vast, abandoned landscape of floating surfaces and buildings. Rey is in the cockpit, navigating the ship. Litha and BB-8 are next to her. Suddenly, she hears a disjointed murmur. It's coming from her inner soul instrument. She speaks into it, "Luke, is that you?"

"Looks like the Tau don't have any information about the crystal, and Skor have just attacked the city, so they're busy at the moment. It looks like we don't have a choice."

"What do you mean?"

"If we're to find this crystal, we're going to have to head over to speak to the leaders in the other hemisphere... it's where the other inhabitants, the Skor, are at." Rey hears Luke sigh over the transmitter. "Maybe they have a lead. Fly out of the planet and meet me at these coordinates on the other side."

But just then, a building below her begins to contort. Startled, Rey tries to speak into the transmitter again, but there is no signal. And then, more buildings begin to contort, and rise up into the sky. The sky darkens, and suddenly, the Osprey begins to feel a force pushing it down from above, dragging it into the ground.

Litha clutches onto Rey, who holds onto her tighter. The young girl is trembling, and Rey reassures her, "If you believe in the Force, it will protect you." She says to BB-8, "We can't leave the atmosphere! We have to find a way out of this Force distortion!"

They soar through the field of twisting buildings and surfaces, which curl into terrifying abominations and are now hurtling through the air at high speeds. The Osprey narrowly avoids several. And then, the soul instrument's signal begins to fade in again. Ahead of them is something which cannot be comprehended or seen, but is felt. It is Nissidha.

"We have head there to escape the distortion!"

Rey tries to comfort Litha, and the Osprey flies into Nissidha. Rey braces herself, preparing for the worst. But when they enter, they're in a immensely wide cavern, glowing faint yet incredibly bright. The ship is a speck of dust in the cavern's mouth. And it is no ordinary cavern- it is as if it is being distorted within a black hole, and light silently screams within it as fails to escape its walls. The landscape is shaped by desert-brown surfaces of all different shades, from khaki to dark umber, sculpting the region into some twisted caricature of tunnels. Outside of the tunnel mouth walls, however, there is only howling void. Flocks of indecipherable creature whip through the bare exterior, almost as if they need to speak, but cannot be heard by those within.

Rey shivers at the ghostly sight. She buries herself in the navigator panel's information sections, attempting to distract herself from the terrors outside. She brings Litha onto her lap, clutching her as the young child shuts her eyes beneath her mask. After turning to BB-8 for familiar reassurence, the scavenger girl tells the droid, "Gravity is weakest in the center where we are; it's as if we're in space. But it's strong on these surfaces around us. I think that if we were to land on them, we could walk around. You can even stand on the ceilings of these tunnels..." She is almost fascinated by the sheer trepidation of the unknown.

As they traverse the barren tunnels, the Osprey's crew encounters enormous expanses, mimicking the empty stretches of outer space. But other passageways are achingly narrow and tight. The huge variation in sizes makes Rey dizzy.

Hours pass, and the Osprey is still traveling through Nissidha. While BB-8 remains vigilant on the lookout, Litha begins to grow weary. She is now huddled in a large chair, but still close to Rey. She is nervous and doesn't want to go to sleep, but can hardly keep her eyes open anymore.

Rey sees her and whispers, "Hey, you don't have to kick yourself awake. I'll watch over everything for you."

Litha nods, and dozes off. Rey thinks to herself, I have to make sure nothing gets to her. I have to do this. Though she strains to keep herself on the lookout with BB-8, eventually, she dozes off, too.