Terror gripped me, shaking and trembling as I struggled to get up and climb out onto the rocky bank of the shallow water I had miraculously washed up upon, but no sooner had I lifted my head, I came face to face with a colossal beast with salivating jaws, black tongue, and a strong sense that it wanted to eat me. I screamed, causing it to lunge for me so I reacted instinctively, throwing it over my head and into the river where it then squealed and thrashed at the rapids, floating away as I then took off running. This part of the planet looked entirely different from the jungle area we had landed upon, it was dry, hot and barren, with only a distant mountain range in sight and this one source of water which was undrinkable due to the large salt content. "Master!" Calling out for him, I could only hope that he was still searching for me. "Master! Please! Master come find me!"
But my voice fell upon emptiness, with nothing more than an echo to answer me before the long howls of distant beasts began to awaken, stirring another panic which trembled throughout my entire frame. I had no idea what to do, no idea how to survive this planet, especially without a weapon. At the thought of my destroyed lightsaber, my hand quickly darted into my belt pouch where I immediately felt the cool kyber crystal against my hand. It was a small relief, but a relief all the same. If there was civilisation on this planet somewhere, someone more advanced than that of the feline race, then perhaps they could provide materials to reconstruct a temporary lightsaber for me and send out a distress signal.
Those explorers had managed to send out a beacon from their ship, if I could just find where it was, then I could reactivate it. Someone will come, and then I will be rescued. Master Bondara must be so worried about me, I'm certain he can't be far. All I need to do is follow the river back, back to the jungle region and then somehow find that ship. It's a start, a directive, a focus. It was all I had to keep me from descending fully into terror as the howls suddenly sounded once again, so I took off at a run in a bid to keep them from finding me. At the very least from all my training, I was exceedingly fit.
I ran for hours, however as the sun began to set I realised that this planet was not all that it first appeared. In fact, as the night continued to wear on, frost and ice began to spread upon the ground, freezing every water molecule it could grasp until even the river was reduced to a freezing mass, making me wonder how I could have survived in such temperatures with little oxygen. I knew that my people were used to the cold, but this…I need shelter and warmth, a means to survive the night and food would not go amiss either. Soon my breaths were appearing in pearly clouds as I shivered, bearing with the cold as best as I was able. What worried me was the position of this planet in comparison to the sun in this particular system.
It meant for searing hot days and long, glacial nights. Staggering around, I searched for a means of shelter and warmth but found very little, meaning that my only option was to keep moving. Movement generated body heat, and it was all I had until I could find a better place to take rest for the night. My hopes fast dwindled into nothing, feeling nothing but lost and alone in this unforgiveable world, all the more aware that there were still those beasts out there, though they sounded far distant every time one howled. I soon lost count of the hours as I walked, my steps now reduced to a meagre shuffle as I began to think that I would die in this endless night, the temperatures continuing to drop until I finally spotted a mound like shape with a small opening.
Diving for it, I barely had the mind to sense for any living thing within but found nothing, not a single creature, so I pressed myself into the narrow opening, barely wide enough for me to fit through and quickly began to make room for myself so that I could sit down. I had no other materials with me to keep me warm other than the clothes on my back, which had thankfully dried out in the heat of the day, so I began to search for a means to endure. I only had to make it through until the morning, then I could begin anew and find another way to survive this place.
Meditating, my mind found itself reaching back into my earliest memories where I learned as a youngling with Master Yoda, whom I had always thought of as funny since even the smallest youngling was often taller than him. His teachings began to flow through my mind until I recalled a particular lesson in deep meditation, where a Jedi could slow their heart rate and breathing to the absolute bare minimum in order to survive all kinds of environments and situations, including extreme cold and lack of oxygen.
This seemed my only chance for now, so I drew upon the Force as best as I was able, sinking further into a trance in order to have it blanket itself around me, like my only shield against the cold outside which soon became completely unliveable. It was a wonder anything lived or survived on this planet, and I had a sinking feeling that I was going to have to learn to adapt by any means necessary if I was going to survive until someone rescued me. Taking a deep breath, I found myself repeating Master Bondara's words which he had so often spoken to me during our meditational practices. Be one with the Force. Be one with the Light. Be one with the Universe. All connected, never separated. Trust in your instincts, and the Force will be your guide. If there was anything I needed most of all now, it was a guide.
"Guide me." I whispered, icy breath forming a cloud before me. "Guide me…I am one with the Force. The Force is with me. Be one with the Light. The Light is with me. Be one with the Universe. The Universe is with me. Guide me…show me…show me the way…" But no matter how much I pleaded, the Force did not answer. It took a great deal of time to even be able to fully let go of my mind, to reach the point where everything within slowed down to the point of pausing, like the hesitation taken before a plunge, the last moment of being broken before being fixed. It was all I had, but it was enough, and when I eventually felt the warm rays of sunlight breathing through the odd mound I had taken as my shelter, I opened my eyes to see the sun rising and the ice beginning to melt.
I could not stay, I knew that much. I had to continue moving forwards and make the best of daylight, but now that I had taken time to calm myself and think rationally, I was now able to be practical. As I moved, I remained on the lookout for anything that could possibly be useful, and scrounging the wasteland by the banks of the river, I was able to collect materials to make a functional slingshot and used stones as my ammunition, filling up one of the pouches on my belt and slipped the slingshot into the hook where my lightsaber used to be.
It wasn't much, but it was something. Something to make me feel at least a little better as I moved forwards once more, knowing that sooner or later I would have to defend myself, and as my master always said. A stone that first falls could be the predecessor of an entire mountain crumbling. I just hope these stones I carried were enough to bring down a predator before I could be eaten.