The Ancient Homeland

20

hAH SORRY JET LAG HURTS LIKE A BEACH ❤️

The breeze ruffled your hair nicely, a fresh aroma filling your lungs as a brilliant smile grew on your face. With the gentle wind the leaves and vines swung, causing the trees to take on the persona of that of a bird ruffling their feathers by the slight change in winds.
You smiled once more as the jungle sounds reached your ears, a sense of freedom rushing up to your head and all the way down to the tips of your toes. In the serenity, a thought sparked inside your mind, the notion swirling with curiosity and excited hesitancy.
  What would it be like to explore?
You thought with a wry smile, and before you were even able to second guess yourself, you pounced on the idea. You stood up, barely flinching at the subtle jab of pain that instantly shot through your lower back.
   Taking in your surroundings you looked around, noticing that a section of trees had been untouched by the Imperial destruction. There you headed, excitement coursing through your veins, and it was surely enough to act as a pain killer.

Before you, a copse of beautiful trees rested, a maze of twisting paths between the intricately old trees lay in wait for you to discover. You stepped onto the 'path', which wasn't even a path. Now it was more of an overgrown path trodden on by wildlife; but by the looks of it, you could tell no large creature of Kashyyyk had ambled their way onto this trail in years.
You continued forward, absorbing the wonderful sights and smells of the fresh forest. A squirrel-like animal occasionally darting across the path in hopes of garnering your attention. You could hear the chatter and song of the many birds above you, never silencing once to the newcomer. As you kept on, turning back every now and then to make sure you were still able to see the Mantis, you realized how warming it felt to be surrounded by wildlife untouched by the cruel Empire. It was something you'd never actually felt, having always been completely enveloped by the oppressing sensation of the Empire's sweltering gaze.
Suddenly, a twig snapped. Enough so to hush the forest canopy. No heartwarming noise encircled you now, the only commotion to reach your ears was the thumping of your heart and quickening pace of your breathing. Your hand twitched to the lightsaber you had at your side, a minor sense of relief blanketing you as you silently thanked yourself for never taking it off.
Another snap of a twig, this time the sound of it felt deafening. In the silence, you felt your ear twitch at the slight sound of a static radio being flickered to life; and then it happened. Within an instant, you ignited your lightsaber with a ferocity unmatched. Just in time too as a blaster bullet was harmlessly deflected to the forest floor. You watched as the bullet ravaged the greenery surrounding it, eating up the best and alive leaves like a plague. It left a charred and grotesque hole in the ground, prompting anger to flicker to life inside you as you peered at the hole a moment longer. Another blaster bullet diverting innocuously off of your lightsaber as you lingered a moment longer on the area before snapping your head upwards.
   From behind the trees, a battalion of stormtroopers emerged, heavy blasters at the ready and invisible smirks radiating off of their obnoxiously white bucket heads.
    As a barrage of bullets were pelted at you, you nearly yawned at the elementary-level basics being thrown at you. The bullets were merely deflected as you spun your lightsaber in continuous circles to thwart the bullets destructive path. The bullets only bounced off, some pivoting back to the original shooter, finishing their fatal route, lodging itself into the stormtrooper's body. You grew vapid as the bullets slowed and the complaints of the enemy arose. You sprinted forward and slashed downward, catching the one trooper off-guard, and before the other two could react you whirled onto them and sliced into the one's side and spiraled into the others stomach.
    As the lifeless enemies fell to the floor, the stillness of the forest vanished. The racket of the birds resumed with a flurry and the life that had left was back with a vibrancy.

    You began slowly making your way back to the Mantis, deciding you'd been gone long enough, as well as having done enough exploring to last you a few days. You took a temporary break though, opting to take in the forest once more before actually leaving. You softly plopped onto a fallen tree stump and took a deep breath. As you inclined onto the tree stump, you basked in the remarkable surroundings one last time. But off in the distance, footsteps trudged lowly towards your position. You didn't notice though, for the forest did not go silent like it once had done. As they neared closer, fear and realization spurred to life inside you, stimulating you to leap up in vengeance. You hastily fumbled to ignite your lightsaber, afraid that your last moments alive were due to your own stupidity.
   But, in front of your eyes was not a stormtrooper, not even a purge trooper. Only an injured Cal stood, a vulnerable and shaky smile painted across his busted lips, his teeth tinged a crimson red from the blood. Concern washed over your anger in a wink as you rushed over to the injured man. Panic and worry smothered your mind as Cal collapsed into your welcoming arms, muttering incoherent words every now and then.