**Last time on WO: Luke and Ben made it in with only minor difficulties. But that was the easy part. **
"So, how does that thing work?" Ben asked. He eyed his surroundings warily. It was dark and creepy. There were crumbling statues besides the intact, and the force permeated everything. It was the dark side, and Ben wanted to turn and run. Or embrace it. But he tried to shove that down.
"I'm not sure, they are all different," Luke mumbled. He was turning it over in his hands, looking for something. A clue, a keyhole, an "on" switch, Ben did not know.
Ben lit his saber and used it to better examine his surroundings. There were a series of doors, and he hated to think what might happen if they picked the wrong one. There was some sort of inscription between two of them and he went to step closer but heard a click. He looked around frantically. The hair on his arms stood up and he was frozen, not sure what to do. "Luke?" He began, but he only had a second's warning before a volley of arrows came flying at him. He batted them away with the force, careful to aim them away from his uncle who was frozen in place, not even blinking. He heard a whoosh coming from behind him and he twirled around and dodged an axe swinging from a nearby pillar. Another came at him at knee level and he pushed off with the force to clear it, then another at chest level-it would have chopped off the head of anyone shorter- and he dropped to the ground, rolling under it and coming up on his knees. He listened carefully but there didn't seem to be any sign of other weapons trying to kill him. It was such a charming place and they hadn't even made their way out of the entryway.
He glanced over at Luke and noticed that he still wasn't moving. Ben surveyed the floor, not wanting to set off any more pressure plate traps. He didn't see any more but approached carefully regardless. He went to shake Luke but a force field surrounded him, zapping Ben when he came into contact with it. He tried to poke at it with his saber, but that didn't seem to make any difference. He closed his eyes and tried to sense how the force was being used in the room. There was a lot of latent energy and he wanted to leave that alone, afraid of what it may trigger if he were to awaken it. There was a sort of buzzing that felt similar to the force field coming from four square pieces of rock, all equidistance around the room. He examined each one and there were strange markings. Two sides of each one had identical markings but facing different directions, and the other two sides of the squares had differing symbols. Ben looked around to see if he could match any of the symbols, letters maybe in a language he didn't recognize, to anything else in the room.
He crept back over to the door, remembering that he had seen one of the symbols on the plate between the two doors. He deliberately stepped around the pressure plate, not wanting any more nasty surprises. It matched a symbol on one of the squares, but there were markings under it, obviously writing of some sort, but he had to use instinct and the symbols because he couldn't read it. He went back to the pieces of stone and faced the symbol towards the plaque between the doors, with the matching symbol facing in. He walked around the room and found another inscription with yet another symbol, a sort of half circle with squiggles, and he matched that set as well. But he didn't see any more matches when he surveyed the rest of the room. Ben sat with the remaining two stones, trying to figure out their secrets, when he felt an indentation under his thigh. He stood and brushed off the dust and grime to reveal a triangle that wasn't quite connected on one set of angles. He matched those two and surveyed the floor and then the ceiling. Bingo! He lined up a squiggly square and heard a click. Clicking hadn't been good so far, so he raised his saber. He didn't feel anything, hear anything, but the force field still buzzed around Luke. He examined the stones again, still stretching out his senses. He turned them while still keeping them lined up with their twin and suddenly the room was quiet.
"Ben! Watch out," Luke called suddenly. Then he lowered his saber and blinked slowly. Ben had ducked not knowing that Luke sensed, but Luke's eyebrows furrowed. "You were there, how did you get here?"
"There was a mysterious force field but I solved it. You're good," Ben said. He would explain later but he wanted out of this room. "Did you figure anything out with the wayfinder?"
Luke shook his head, and held it up again. He tapped his lightsaber against it and Ben chuckled. That had been his first reaction to the force field. The two were more alike than Ben wanted to acknowledge sometimes. Or maybe that is just what force users do. But Luke had more success with his attempt. The wayfinder lit up briefly, casting shadows around the room.
"Stand here and keep your lightsaber in contact with it," Luke instructed, handing off the wayfinder. Luke looked around the room, following some of the shadows and learning from Ben by stepping lightly. "Here," he said, pointing at one of the doors, the second from the left. Ben nodded and followed his uncle.
They opened the door cautiously and saw another room. This one was brighter, but the darkness was more pressing, making Ben's skin crawl. It was cleaner though and Ben looked for any crevices that hidden weapons might decide to come from and try to kill them. The floor was smooth, so he didn't have to fear triggering a plate. "What do we do in here?" Ben finally asked.
Luke was studying the holocron again and glancing around the room. "I'm not sure," he mumbled.
"There," Ben said. "The ridges near the ceiling. Could that mean something?"
"Maybe," Luke answered. He tried to tap it with his saber, but nothing happened.
"Can I see?" Ben asked, acting on a hunch. Luke handed it over, and Ben felt along the edges of the holocron. The puzzle in the previous room gave him an idea. He held them up to the ridges, and moved the wayfinder around the room until he found a match. He walked straight forward and felt along the wall and floor, but he didn't feel any sort of mechanism to unlock a door. Ben shrugged and handed it back to Luke. With no immediate danger, and no ideas forthcoming, he tried to check the bond between him and Rey. Anger surged in him when he felt the impenetrable shield. It felt like it was boiling his insides, and he raised his saber and thrashed at the smooth wall in front of him. His saber locked into the wall, and it felt like Ben was holding a live wire. Pulses went through him and it was agonizing, but he couldn't let go.
Ben vaguely registered Luke running to his side and jerking him backwards, but Ben and his saber were stuck in the wall.
"What happened?" Luke asked, still pulling on him.
"The bond was blocked and I felt so mad…" Ben said through uneven breaths. The waves of pain didn't stop and it was hard to think straight. "I hit the wall…. Now I'm stuck."
Luke touched the wall all around where Ben's saber was impaled, and he stepped back. He ignited his own saber and drove it into the wall directly beside Ben's. The anger faded along with the pain, and the next thing he knew, he was free falling. He didn't have time to really prepare himself for landing, so he fell hard, his wrist taking most of his weight. It bruised and swelled right away, but Ben's couldn't really spare the time or energy for it. He rolled it and stood up. Luke was on the floor writhing and Ben slowly approached him. "Luke?" he said, putting a hand on his shoulder. Luke's eyes opened but they were out of focus. Ben closed his eyes and assessed Luke, he felt more darkness in him than Ben had ever sensed, churning anger, regret and pride. Ben wondered if their emotions had switched before falling.
But he didn't have time to ponder it much, because he heard a rustling and shadows suddenly rushed at him. He could barely see, but he positioned himself in front of Luke and ignited his saber again. He hacked at them, but they turned to vapor and rematerialized. When they touched him, it was like being dipped into ice water. Soon shivers wracked his body and he couldn't help but worry how Luke felt still dealing with pain, his own darkness and now swarms of shadows.
It felt like they were wrapping around him, covering every part of his body. As more and more emerged, they started tightening ever so slightly where they were latched on. Ben felt a wave of panic, but knew that he needed to think straight. Whispers filled his mind and he tried to ignore them. They were preying on every weakness and insecurity all the while tightening again. Ben screamed and tried to find peace. He thought of Rey, her smile, the warmth of her pressed against him, her laughter, the way she trusts him, and brings out the best in him. Ben always wanted to match her pull to the light and how it filled her so much that it spilled over into others. He thought of how he'd gotten closer to his parents and Luke since Rey had been in his life, giving him perspective on what family is and the need for forgiveness because they did love him and that was really what counted most.
As he filled his head and heart with love and as much light as he could, the shadows started to loosen their hold. They still swarmed him and a quick glance told him they also covered Luke. He focused his mind and sensed around the cavernous room. It took a bit to get past the shadows, and their overwhelming but small pulses of energy. But once he did, Ben felt a larger energy pulsing from the left corner. He honed in on it, and forced his way through the shadows, and as he got closer, they no longer felt like mist, they were getting more solid. It got harder to move, but he kept pressing forward, trying to hold on to the light side of the force and keep track of the place he felt the energy emanate from. He gathered the light and blasted it, and suddenly the shadows disappeared and the room was silent again.
Ben ran back to Luke, who was pushing himself up to sit. "That was unpleasant," he said dryly. Ben just stared at him, since he would describe most things since walking in this force forsaken place. "Well done, Ben, by the way. I could feel the enormity of the light you blasted at that… being? thing? Whatever it was."
Ben blushed at the compliment and shrugged a shoulder. Ben caught a glimpse of the remains and saw something shiny. He knelt and brushed aside ashes, and found two keys.
That could never be a good sign.