Disclaimer: We ( zazabelle and draksisreborn) own nothing but our OCs. Star Wars belongs to Lucasfilm and Disney. Please review and enjoy this latest installment.
The Force had called, so I answered.
Or at least, that's what I reassured myself of as I crept down the dark, dank hallway where I'd sensed the woman named Ooni had disappeared down.
My hand trailed along the smooth stone walls as I trekked further into the dark, recalling and wishing for the glowing veins of kyber in the walls of my temple home. It felt so much darker in this hallway while under the mask I still had strapped to my face, but taking it off felt like a bad idea. Held in n my other hand, I held the lightsaber I'd brought along not daring to ignite it in the quiet of the chasm. The "hallway" I found myself in was actually a tunnel carved out of the stone canyon. The stone was rough beneath my touch and I felt a slight breeze pulsating from the depths of the shaft as my guide pulled me along.
The song of the kyber coming from the lightsaber had quieted some once we had landed on Iego, but for some reason, the moment the woman called Ooni had spoken, the little crystal's song hummed to life and I was almost sure that Ooni could hear it too. I knew I was severely endangering myself, and Nek, and BX, but the Force called so everything would turn out alright… Right?
Up ahead, lights shone from under doorways that were dug into the stone walls. My guide had already raced ahead and filled each room. As usual, I couldn't tell what was in the rooms, only that there were rooms with things inside. If they were living or not was hard to tell, especially if they weren't moving.
'Cenden really needs to teach me how to sense living things because obviously, that is not one of my strong suits.' I thought to myself as I felt my heart racing in my chest.
Half the time I had problems distinguishing if it was the Force or just my intuition that I gathered my information from. Obviously, if there were doors, there were rooms, and in rooms, there were things and sometimes people. Didn't exactly take a mystical Force to figure that out.
But then I heard it.
I froze in my tracks as I heard the singing.
Kyber.
And not just one piece of it like in the lightsaber I was holding. Though the little crystal within the saber's hilt was carrying on it's tune.
This song bellowed and vibrated. It was so clear I could almost distinguish words coming from within its melody… I could almost sing along.
My heart pounding, I began to hum the song.
Quietly, it resonated in my chest and I felt the kyber hum back, almost as if it was whispering so as not to be caught.
Continuing to inch forward, I heard the song coming from the first door on the right. In my hand, the little crystal's song, nearly drown out by the sound of the first, grew louder.
'Ooni may also be in that room. Or at least nearby.'
Ok. So. Here's the plan: I sneak in there and find the big song crystal and… What then? What am I doing? Do I give Ooni the saber? Do I take the big crystal? Was that what I was meant to find?
'Nek will be needing me back soon, so I better not die.' The thought was meant to be a joke, but the realization made me shiver.
It was so cold down here.
Approaching the door, I pressed the button and the door slid open. Quickly ducking in as I'd seen some of my crewmates do, I stayed low and pressed my back against storage crates that were stacked near the door.
Continuing to peer through the slits in the mask, the room looked more earthy toned than the cavernous tunnel. In fact, it had a more homey feel to it than the bar upstairs. I noticed a rug on the floor, a desk near the edge of the room, and even a bed placed within a dugout in the wall.
'Is this where people get to stay when they're stationed here? Why not just stay on the ship?' I wondered as I crept forward.
The room itself was empty, but from the kyber's song in the lightsaber, Ooni had to be close by. That's when I noticed the second door near the back of the room. The two rooms on the right side of the wall were apparently conjoined.
My heart fluttered in my chest as my attention suddenly snapped to a shelf just to the right of the door. Sitting on top of it was a large case from within bellowed the song. I walked hesitant towards it, the song so loud it made my eardrums pound with the residual beat.
It went along to a pattern, like someone repeating the same words over and over again.
Touching the comlink on my wrist, I whispered into it, "Nek, Chol, I'm in the first door on the right of the passage. I found something…" I hoped that was quiet enough that the others around Nek wouldn't hear.
Reaching forward, my guide suddenly opened the small locked crate on its own. Stumbling back in surprise, a green light burst from inside the crate along with a chorus of voices.
It was a kyber crystal.
The biggest one I'd ever seen.
It was a light green hue, and its surface seemed to have been cut and shaped into a hexagonal form. Within the crate, it sat on a small cushion that actually helped muffle the sound of its bellowing. With the case open, I was nearly tempted to cover my ears to block out some of the sounds. Instead, I took a breath and closed my eyes. I reached out and sent my guide swirling into the Force flowing through the crystal, and focused.
It wasn't just a song.
It was ideas.
It was emotions.
It was memories.
"What-" My eyes shot open, "Who are you?!"
I blinked in surprise as in the light of the holocron, the shape of a person, a man, had been burned into the back of my eyes. Everywhere I looked I could see him standing.
My heart began to race in my chest as panic started taking over. Everywhere I looked I could see the shadow, and ever blink the form of the shadow made one step closer.
My guide only seemed eager to push me forward, so, "sucking it up" as Cenden had so often instructed me to do, I reached my hand out.
I saw the freckles on my arm began to shift to a similar green color as the crystal; green mist began to rise from the crystal's surface and memories stored within began intertwining with my own. It was a similar feel to when I "play pretend" and could act out the past of people I've met… But this was different. This was a clear, crisp set of memories. This wasn't just what someone was experiencing, this was someone's mind.
The adjacent door suddenly shot open.
I gasped and ignited the lightsaber, severing the connection I was making to the crystal.
The little crystal in the lightsaber yelped in some song of recognition as, who could only be Ooni, now stood in the doorway, my light-blade held up to her throat.
She looked more disgusted than surprised, but I could sense her confusion.
Ooni was a Tholothian woman with the characteristic half-dozen pods hanging from the back of her head. Her scaled skull seemed to have been tattooed with intricate patterns and designs. She wore a simple variation of what most of the pirates wore in the bar above them: a white and dust-stained tank top with brown trousers, high-rise boosts, and a blaster holt strapped to her hip… And a blaster in her hand. Aimed at me. The blue light of the saber completely enveloped her features and glowed in her similarly blue colored eyes.
"I didn't think it was possible. I wanted to see what you would do," Ooni explained in a harsh tone. Her voice had a nasal-tone to it that Vis hadn't heard earlier when she'd been barking at her men, "Who are you, what do you want, and where'd you steal the saber from?'
I blinked in surprise at the rapid-fire questions, "Uuuuuhhhhhhh. I'm Vis, I don't know, and Tiss'sharl," I tried to deepen my voice a touch to at least sound a little older than I was, not sure if it was any good, "My turn. Who is that?" I asked, nodding towards the large kyber that was still humming loudly,
"Who? What do you mean, "who"?" Ooni questioned back.
"There's a mind of some sort in that crystal, I could hear it… see it. Why do you have it?"
Ooni shifted, studying her. She seemed to be gazing at my neck, then my hands… Was she looking at my freckles?
'Oh please don't move any closer to the blade I don't want to burn you.' I thought pleadingly as her neck shifted a little closer to the blade's tip, and I wished I could use my guide to nudge her back a little.
Ooni shot forward, my hand jerked backward, fearing it'd burn her.
Her hand was around my wrist and before I could react I was screaming in pain as my arm was twisted behind my back. The lightsaber dropped from my grip.
Ooni twisted, kicking the back of my knees causing me to drop to the ground. I cried out as it felt like my shoulder was about to pop out of the socket.
I heard the blaster click behind my head.
My guide swirled around in a panic, and I could only feel the Force around Ooni very dimly, like how'd it had felt around Cenden when I'd first met him. But she didn't feel cold inside, she didn't feel corrupted as he'd been. I could only feel her intent. Focused confidence.
"Wait! The lightsaber! Isn't it yours!?" I yelled, unable to turn my head around to look at her, "The kyber sings for you! Isn't it yours!?"
I felt her intent twinge a little before she refocused herself, "It is. I just don't like negotiations with my neck on the other end of a lightsaber."
"I wasn't going to kill you! Ow ow ow ow!" I tried to explain as she twisted my arm a little further.
"Shut up. You can't play innocent. I know they sent you to steal the crystal, little Diathim." she spat, "As I told you people when I brought you the crystal, it's not mine. I don't want it. You people wouldn't help me, so I'll leave. But you can't HAVE IT." she twisted my arm a little further and I screamed, this time a shrill tone that came from deep within as tears sprung to my eyes.
The large green crystal suddenly shuttered to life, green mist rising off of it. I could barely see out of my peripherals due to the mask, but I could sense Ooni turn to look at it as light burst off of it.
I reached out to the person within the crystal, my guide drawing them out. The connection to the crystal suddenly washed over me; through me. Ooni released my arm but I still screamed in pain as the light filled the room.
I lay on the ground, dazed, and feeling sick.
Every time I blinked I saw flashes of someone else's memories crammed and jumbled within my own.
A human man with long white hair seemed to be gazing down at me, his eyes filled with the same green smoke that rose off the crystal. He smiled and walked away as enormous droids filled with the same green smoke began to lumber towards me. I couldn't move to look around me, but I knew I was in a temple. The light of the green smoke turned red as I heard voices, the voices of children, screaming in agony.
I tried to move, I tried to turn to look at them, but all I could do was watch as one of the enormous droids grabbed hold of my arms and began dragging me away.
Somewhere in this horrible vision, I heard the screaming shift. It turned into the sound of singing.
Breathing heavily, I tried to squeeze my eyes shut. This wasn't real. But when I opened my eyes, I was still stuck in the vision, except this time the man with the white hair was replaced with a beautiful creature glowing and shifting in colors beneath the hood she wore. She gazed at me with large, black eyes before she reached out and touched my forehead, and the world melted into darkness.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
The singing grew louder.
It reverted through every fiber of my being, and I felt my whole body begin to shake. Then I felt my body hit the floor and the dragging sensation ceased.
My mind snapped to attention with the click of a blaster and I realized it wasn't me shaking, it was the ground.
"What did you do?" I heard the woman Ooni ask as I tried to shake the fog out of my head.
Laying on the ground, I twisted my head and saw the crowded pirate band and what looked to be Nek standing near the doorway. I must've been dragged back up into the bar.
Nek wasn't holding a blaster, only his hands raised in the air defensively. BX was nowhere to be seen through my swirling vision.
"What do you mean?" Nek asked hesitantly.
"Don't play dumb," Ooni cooly answered back, "There were plenty of other valuable things in my quarters but she didn't touch any of them, she went right for the artifact I'm transporting. Plus she had the Temple-guard mask and this," I saw the white flash of light bounce from the kyber-orb out of the corner of my eye, but no lightsaber, "I've done some research on this 'Beebs' and she doesn't deal in artifact trade."
I felt another tremor pass through the earth.
"You're not one of the Diathim, too ugly," she began, now directed towards me, "What're you after?"
Before I could open my mouth, the Florum man from earlier suddenly piped up, "Maybe it's those Force-wielders."
"I think we all mostly assumed that, genius." Ooni spat back.
"You're not gettin' it! We could trade her over to the red-blades in exchange for Hondo!"
"That," She glared at him, "Was not the deal."
"Some loyalty you 'ave! The only reason we had to set up on Iego again was because of thos' crazies wantin' ya to get those savages that live underground to do some magic to that stupid crystal. They wouldn't help you and if those assassins come back an' find you failed they might kill the Capin'!"
"You really think they're going to let me live? They're only using me, turning this kid over won't do anything to help us. Hondo's a big boy, he can take care of himself. He's probably already escaped knowing him." Ooni negotiated. The ground again shook below our feet, "We don't want to be involved with them any more than we have to, and whatever this kid did has made the Diathim and Maelibi angry."
She looked down at me and gave a nod for the door, "Get out of here."
Another blaster suddenly clicked, "You ungrateful little traitor. Hondo is the only reason you're still alive and you'd betray him!?" Roff barked, "The kid is not goin' anywhere, and when that red-blade comes back I'm personally tellin' him that you tried to make off with the kyber."
I groaned inwardly as I felt tension spike through the room like a crack of thunder. Blasters clicked to life all around us as the mountain continued to rumble beneath our feet.
Nek also now held his blaster aimed at Roff as Ooni and the half the room stood faced off against the other half.
My freckles turned bright yellow and a very not-Jedi squeak escaped my throat as I put my hands up defensively in front of my face. Through my fingers, I saw my mask… and the orb. The mask was clipped to Ooni's belt but the orb she clutched in her hand.
The earth rumbled again beneath us as I tried to reach out to the Force to rip the object from her hand.
A feeling of shock pulsed through me as she didn't just dismiss the Force, she sent it writhing back into me. I gasped and coughed at the sheer pain of the shock, like I'd been plunged into icy water.
"I think I'll be holding onto this." She replied coldly, putting her foot on my chest.
"HEY!" Nek called, "DON'T TOUCH HER!"
All attention was shot over to Nek.
I jumped as I felt something cold enveloped my ankles and I squeaked again as I was suddenly yanked out from under Ooni. BX pulled me into his chest and I saw that he'd also grabbed the guard mask. With a clunk, the helmet was suddenly on my head as the tension broked, and the room burst with blaster fire.
BX's body created a dome over my own as shot after shot exploded over him.
I screamed as the earth gave one final, mighty shake before suddenly exploding.
The pounding of the rumbling song beneath us reached a tipping point. The ground cracked and buckled beneath the pirate's outpost, but it seemed BX had been ready for this. Leaping forward through the confusion, some continued to fire while others ran for cover or for the door.
Twisting his body around as he reached Nek, BX grabbed the engineer by his shirt and pulled him in. I felt Nek's body hit mine as BX hugged us close and pushed off backward with his legs, ramming his back into the door, shattering it with the force of the collision.
We were tumbling for moments.
And then we were running.
The whole earth continued to shake and the bridge between canyons now below our feet moved like waves. I gathered my Force around me as I ran in panic, trying only to sustain the forward motion but every half-glance towards the undulating bridge below my feet also gave way to the ground hundreds of feet below.
Blaster fire began again as I half-heard Ooni yelling something from the other side of the canyon.
Nek and BX reached the other side of the canyon when it hit me:
'My orb.' The idea pierced through the panic. 'BX didn't have the orb!'
I stumbled to a halt on the waving bridge and turned to face Ooni, extending my hand to summon the orb-
My breath caught in my throat.
Before my mind could even register what was happening, I felt the weightlessness below me as the shot rang through the crumbling canyons. The sniper on the roof had shot out the bridge.
Everything moved in slow motion, and in that moment, I could fly. I felt the piercing wind tunneling through my coat, I heard Nek yell in terror, saw BX reaching to grab me, a look of horror on Ooni's face, and the freckles on my own hands in front of my face shifting from colors of fear to confusion.
All of this hit me like a tsunami and in that moment, I cried out a piercing sound that echoed from deep within my chest and a flash of white light came shooting towards me.
I felt my hand envelop the crystal orb and I curled my body around the object as I ceased to fly.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I don't remember the fall.
I don't remember hitting the ground.
I don't remember the people, only the voices.
I don't remember the light, only the song.
I barely remember sitting up, but I do remember opening my eyes.
It was dark and cold. Above, I could hear the wind whistling, but down here, all was still. The walls of the ravine stretched up around me. The colors of the rock down here shifted in deep purples and blues. The minerals wove around each other like clouds paralyzed in time. The air was cold and damp, it reminded me of the tunnels beneath my temple home.
Suddenly, it dawned on me I wasn't viewing the world through slits and looked around for my lost helmet. I saw it resting a few meters away from me, and fear suddenly shot up my legs as I saw that it was resting at the mouth of an enormous cave opening.
I instinctively backed away from the gaping maw of darkness and jumped out of my skin as a loud "Beep!" suddenly rang out next to me. The sound echoed around the canyon walls and I realized too late that it was just the commlink Nek had given me. It was letting me know that someone was trying to reach me and before I could stop myself a sob broke out of my chest as I became fully aware of what had happened.
"hello?" I choked out into the wrist-comm.
I heard Nek's voice full of fear and mixed relief, "VIS! You're alive!"
'I fell off the bridge.'
"Are you ok!?" Nek continued.
'I should be dead.'
"Where are you!?" Nek asked.
'Am I dying and just don't know it yet?'
"Vis? V- Answer me- coming through?" The transmission began to become garbled.
'What if I look down and see that I'm covered in blood and my legs are backward? Oh my guide I don't want backward legs!' I started hyperventilating as tears poured out of my eyes.
"Nek? I'm scared." I finally responded back through sobs, "I'm sorry I'm trying not to be scared but what if I have backwards legs!?"
"We- re- try- to find you! Chol- only see some static! You're- ok! You're going to- ok?" The comm turned to static after his last words came through and I curled up, feeling the weight of fear press in on me.
Against my stomach, I felt something cold and imagined that it was likely a big bloody hole in my tummy before realizing it was my orb.
Sitting before the great, dark cave, I felt my guide settle around me. Curling up, I started to sing a song that to my kyber orb. In the darkness, the orb flickered its white light to the sound of my voice. My whole body shook and I couldn't think straight, but I didn't feel any pain anywhere. How had I survived the fall? What if I was already dead?
I remembered my vision. The clawing darkness in the caverns below. And here I was, stuck under the weight of fear and too mindless to do anything but comfort myself. I would let fear envelop me, and when something came to eat me, I wouldn't fight back because I didn't want to feel that fear anymore.
'I get it now Lerti… Maybe if I'm quiet and hide the fear won't find me.'
But I didn't go quiet, I kept singing because I liked the feeling of the light that pulsated from within the orb. Iego… I was on Iego. Planet of a thousand moons. And I wasn't dead.
I sang louder, pushing my voice deeper into the kyber and light from within the orb became brighter. It illuminated the cave before me, and my fear melted away with the intensity of the glow; ha! It could be shooed away!
As soon as the fear melted, I felt my guide return to me, and something else. My guide came bearing a sound, a song, coming from within the cavernous tunnel that stretched before me.
I stood and held the orb aloft in my hands as my singing continued. The kyber floated a bit off my hand as I urged its light forward into the tunnel. The song didn't mirror my own but harmonized with it. From within the cavern, something was able to match my "song-that-didn't-exist".
Entranced, my guide pushed me forward and I broke into a run. Leaping over the temple guard mask, I dove into the cave, the songs continuing to resonate from within my chest and the light of the white kyber in my hands.