Star Wars: Duel of the Fates

Chapter 65

Rey felt the energy overwhelming her as the force jolted through every part of her body. Opening her eyes she couldn't see, both of them gleaming brightly with startling light.

Falling to her knees she could feel she was losing control, that she wouldn't be able to contain such power.

"Be with me..." she whispered, her voice barely audible over the lightning storm above her, "Be with me..."

Another wave hit her and she doubled over, her hands braced to the ground.

"...Be with me..." she said as tears streamed down her face.

And then the answer came as a barrage of voices spoke to her, too many to know or recognise.

"These are your final steps, Rey, rise and take them."

Voice after voice called her name.

"Find the light, Rey."

"Alone, never have you been."

"The force surrounds you Rey, feel it flowing through you: let it lift you!"

"Rise!"

"Rey the force will be with you always."

"Rise!"

"Rise!"

Luke's was the last voice of all, "...Rise, Rey..."

She got to her feet still blind but it was as if she could feel everything. It was like the universe that had often felt so empty and complicated had opened up to her, the details and workings of it suddenly made so simple. In that moment it felt like she knew everything, understood everything, could be anything.

The force coursed through her and she felt every living thing in the galaxy: her friends fighting for their lives and freedom; the First Order's militant misunderstanding of the importance of order over liberty; she could see the faces of every being she had ever seen, their lives stretched out before and behind them; the glowing faces of those gifted with the force, hidden throughout a hundred worlds. Everything was so clear.

Reaching her arm up, she stopped every single lightning bolt in its zigzag path. Twisting her hand she began lifting it upwards into the sky and out of sight leaving them in darkness.