Confronting Fear

Ambria

I'll follow you down to the eye of the storm
Don't worry I'll keep you warm
I'll follow you down while we are passing through space
I don't care if we fall from grace
I'll follow you down to where forever lies
Without a doubt I'm on your side
There is no where else I'd rather be
I'm not about to compromise
Give you up to say goodbye
I've got you through the deep
I'll keep you close to me

I'll Follow You - Shinedown

Rey pulled her black cloak tighter around herself as the fierce winds tried to tear it away, grateful for the white mask that protected her face from the worst of it. Ben, a few steps ahead of her had done the same, his head bowed against the wind. He looked menacing as he had on Mustafar, silhouetted against Ambria's angry red skies. A dead world orbiting a dying star.

And it was, truly, a dead world, with no trace of life anywhere. No avians or other animals soared the red skies, no worms or insects made their home in its soils, the top layer the green color of eroding copper. They'd passed several petrified, twisting trees, long dead but perfectly preserved as there were no longer rains or bacteria to break down the dead bark. Instead they stood as a testament to what the world had been long, long ago, before the Dark-Side of the Force ripped through the entire surface, annihilating everything in its wake.

Ben had given her a brief history lesson on the world during the flight, though he admitted much was unknown about the planet. It had been a harsh world even before an ancient Sith sorceress had discovered it. She had enslaved the inhabitants, forcing them over the centuries to build an obelisk infused with the Dark-Side. Once completed, she attempted an unknown ritual, but she had played with powers outside her ability to control causing the destruction of all life on the world. There had been several attempts to restore it, most notably by a powerful Jedi Master who had imprisoned the Dark spirits of the planet's former inhabitants that haunted the world within Lake Natth. He had trained apprentices here and even tried to introduce new species but his attempts failed. It was also believed that Darth Bane had lived and some say even died here hundreds of years ago, but no one knew where or how. None ever bothered to come here because there was no point in doing so. Even Luke had shied away from it.

In short, it was the perfect place to hide something Dark.

She checked her belt again to reassure herself that everything she had prepared was still there, paranoid that something may have blown away. Whether the paranoia was caused by the very real threat of the planet or by the Dark powers radiating from it she didn't know and didn't have the energy to consider it.

Rey had come prepared for war. Both her lightsabers were still on her belt, a blaster strapped to each thigh. Several small pouches hung from her belt containing ration bars, a multi-tool, and several other small items, the most important of which was the remote for the Bright Star. She breathed a sigh of relief upon confirming it was all still there.

Ben had insisted on landing the ship on the other side of a mountain range from the lake and making the trek on foot. Lore held that huge Dark creatures that could barely be counted as "alive" inhabited the area around the lake and Ben did not wish to find out if it was true by having their only means of off-world transportation destroyed by one. Rey had left detailed plans with Leia which included to come looking if they hadn't been heard from in five days. They each also carried a tiny droid that would fly out of the atmosphere and broadcast a distress signal along several frequencies as a last resort if all other communications failed completely.

As a compromise, Rey had programmed a remote operating system into the ship through Deo. With the press of a button the ship could be called to the coordinates of the remote.

Checking again? Ben asked through the Dyad bond, even his mental voice sounded strained. And why shouldn't it? They had been trudging for hours through the foothills of the mountains and they seemed to be no closer to the other side. She had no concept of what time it was in this desolate place but it wouldn't be long before they had to stop.