The fine white sand tickles against the soles of her bare feet as Rey shifts forward nervously. The day is comfortably warm, even here, and a soft wind murmurs invitingly from the dense forest behind her. Before her is a vast stretch of clear water, peacefully reflecting blue sky above them. This place is enchanting, deceptively gorgeous- just as Skywalker had warned her it might be.
"The Dark Side will not always take an ugly form," her Master tells her, his hand automatically reaching out to stroke his returned weapon. "The Darkness has many faces, and some of them will be beautiful. It will try to tempt you, seduce you." Rey remembers the face of Kylo Ren; young, ordinary, with compassionate eyes. But she also remembers his madness, his viciousness.
Rey looks at him quizzically. "I know the dark side from the light. I can stay strong against it Master. I have not faltered."
He turns the lightsaber around in his hand, and avoids her gaze as he says quietly, "Sooner or later, everyone falters." Then with a final, almost longing look at the still-pristine weapon, he raises his head to lock her in a piercing stare. "The light is everywhere in this planet. The island where you have trained is saturated in the Light Side. It is easy to remember the strength of the light, when you are surrounded by it. More difficult when you are surrounded by darkness. And the darkness will promise you many wondrous things.
"There is a place," he continues. "A place where the Dark Side holds sway. You will go to this place, and mediate there. And if you are strong enough- you will find the light within yourself."
Rey nods in silent agreement. But then, overcome by a sudden curiosity, she asks "Master, the promises you say the darkness makes- it is just a lie, isn't it?"
Skywalker gives a grim smile under his beard, and his eyes sparkle with something too cold to be amusement. "If only, child. The Dark Side makes good on its promises. But they always come with a cost…"
Her Master was not lying, Rey notes as she settles into a comfortable mediation position on the sand. The Force is just as strong here as it is anywhere else on the island but…something is different. There is an exotic strangeness to the air, a taut electric crackle of power she can almost hear when she closes her eyes. She reaches out with her senses, opening herself to the darkness that permeates everything in this place. With an eager hiss, it swarms into her with overwhelming force.
For a brief second she understands the allure of the Dark Side. It is power condensed in its purest form, and it settles heavy in the back of her tongue. There is an undercurrent that whispers promises of forbidden pleasures, and secrets and powers beyond her most feverish dreams.
No.
Rey pulls her thoughts inward. She does not need the darkness. She focuses on the kindness in Master Skywalker's blue eyes, the wisdom she has found there. She remembers the ancient deserts of Jakku, how she would go to find serenity under the stars. The Dark Side offers enormous power, but it does not offer the cool tranquility of the light. It can never give her what she wants, she reminds herself. It can never give her peace. Never give her purpose. It will never bring back her family.
The Dark Side roils around her, taking on a nasty edge. The silky allure vanishes in an instant, replaced by a violent heat. A charge shoots through it, and Rey's senses sharpen. She opens her eyes.
She is not on the island. There is no sea in front of her. This is a barren land, a bone dry desert that has long forgotten the cool touch of water. Is it no longer day either, night has long fallen. And there is something wrong with the night. She looks up towards the sky, and finds it is chillingly black. There is not a single cloud in sight and yet, every star has vanished. Above her is only darkness, absolute.
A fire sparks to life before her. From the shadows it casts steps a familiar figure. She fights the impulse to jump to her feet and grab at a weapon that is not there.
"You are not Kylo Ren," she snarls. In response, black eyes glitter with eagerness.
The creature in the shape of Kylo Ren contorts its lips into a smile as it sits down in front of her. "Who are you?" the Dark Side asks in Kylo Ren's voice.
Her chin lifts in defiance. "I am Rey."
The darkness laughs at her. "I don't care about your name." Kylo Ren's face twists with exasperation at her confusion. "So many poor fools in the universe who need a name to understand themselves. You would exist with or without a name."
"I know your name," Rey spits out, not at the darkness but at the mask it wears. "Ben Solo." The darkness seethes in fury, rumbling a warning.
Kylo Ren lunges forward, twisting his hands into her hair. He presses a cold, hateful kiss into her lips, and his skin has the warmth of a corpse. Rey shoves him away, and with a taunting laugh he stumbles back. When he has regained his balance, he wears a new face. It is hers.
Not-Rey flashes a brilliant, icy smile. Her eyes are black and empty, the void of the space between the stars. Her lips do not move as she speaks. "I can give you a thousand worlds. I can give you an empire that will outlast the death of stars. I can offer you a legacy that will be etched into the fabrics of the universe itself.
"You will never be alone," the darkness murmurs. "You will be feared, and beloved. Never would you die as a forgotten scavenger, swallowed by the sands."
Rey silences the pang in her heart. She closes her eyes to the illusion before her, and remembers who she is. The person, long after her name is lost, the cosmic force will remember her as. "I am a Jedi."
When she opens her eyes again, it is night, but the stars have reappeared. The lake and the sands surround her. And the gentle hum of the darkness no longer seems quite as tempting. She stands and walks away to rejoin the light.