The opening to the Jedi temple was an ancient door cut by skilled hands thousands of years before. The relic entryway stood undisturbed at the north side of the mountain's overshadowing face. The ancient Jedi emblem-two upward stretched wings, with a star at the center shone on its face. There were no cleavages in the stone door to show where its joints were for the opening. It was just a twenty-foot tall rock wall, about ten feet wide. By each side, two conical sculptures framed the door, with an overhanging rock ledge at the top.
Rey and Luke stood on a level platform before the door. Each stood within a circle carved into the ground.
"The Jedi temple was fashioned so two Jedi are needed to open its doors. A master and a Padawan," Luke said.
Rey looked expectantly at the door, pregnant with anticipation, then to Luke, waiting for instruction.
"Together," he ordered.
Rey and Luke both held out their right hands and closed their eyes. Rey furrowed her brow. Luke tilted his head slightly.
A few pebbles dislodged from the top of the door as it jostled. The earth vibrated as rock began to grind on rock, the door lifting slowly and angling back into the mountain overhead. It elevated smoothly until it disappeared into the rock.
Rey and Luke held it in place as they walked slowly through the doorway into the dusty obscurity of the temple. Once there, they released their hold on the door, and it slid back into place behind them with a loud, granular thud. They were closed in.
The stale air was broken with the movement of the slab door; but from small openings in the vaulted ceiling, there emitted some thin rays of light that lit the floating dust and flakes in the air; tiny points of light in the dark vastness. There was enough light to see three passageways open before them. Four pillars once stood framing each passage-huge pillars that were fifteen feet in diameter and would have risen to the top of the mountain had they not fallen long ago. The rubble of their fall was present all around. Luke and Rey stood in a foyer room. However, they were not alone. Scattered throughout, there sat many bodies; skeletons, clothed in robes. Some were human-many were not, but obviously humanoid. A few were still sitting, legs crossed as if meditating. Others had fallen over, and others were almost dust.
"Who are these people?" Rey asked.
"Old Jedi Masters," Luke answered.
"Did they come here to die?" Rey asked trying to make sense of it.
"They died, waiting for their Padawans to return," Luke said. "Two Jedi are needed to open the door. A master and a Padawan." He gestured to the closed door.
Rey realized the gravity of the situation.
"What must I do here?" she inquired.
"That is different for everyone. The Force will guide you."
She looked to the three passageways, a choice before her, she could sense it: life and death and uncertainty.
"What is down there?" she asked.
"Only what you bring in. Anger, fear, peace, hope."
"Which way do I go?"
"Let the Force guide you. Which passage is drawing you?" Luke answered.
Rey stood and looked at each door, reaching out with the Force. She focused her energy over each passage, allowing her Force to reach into the twilight of each. The passages each gave a faint cold glow, the walls containing some kind of phosphorescent mineral. She narrowed her search and focused with the Force down the center passage and began to walk.
"Your lightsaber," Luke said. She had been training with Anakin's old lightsaber and it was attached to her belt. "You will not need it."
Rey thought about it. Looking at the skeletons scattered around Luke, she thought otherwise.
"Something happened to those Padawans. If I don't return, you will be like one of these skeletons."
Luke did not say a word. Rey took his silence as permission to keep the lightsaber.
She proceeded down the center passage. It was cold but not damp as she would have expected. The passage wound downward irregularly. There were no other openings, just a path downward. She walked a long time before coming to a fork. She stopped, uncertain which way to go. Reaching into the Force again she tried to seek guidance.
Nothing. Frustrated with the effort she tried again. No use. She squinted her eyes to look down both passages. There were no obvious differences between them.
Then she heard it.
"Rey." It was a woman's voice. One she recognized, but she could not identify.
"Rey." It was coming from the path to the right. She followed.
The voice kept calling. She moved faster. The passage opened into an open cavern with a small subterranean lake. She looked around to locate the source of the voice, but the voice had ceased.
She noticed across the lake a brightly glowing crystal in the rock on the other side. It shone brighter than anything else she had seen in the cave; a light in the darkness, a hope. It was impossible to ignore the Force calling her to it.
"That must be the reason I was to come here," she thought to herself. She stepped into the water.
"I'll have to wade," she thought. She began to take off her lightsaber and outer robe.
"REY!" The same voice crashed through the silence behind her.
She spun around. There before her, was a large black container, with armored doors. The doors cracked and gasped as they opened on their own to reveal a woman imprisoned in this portable cell. Rey had not noticed this container when she had walked into the cavern. The woman inside was of medium build, middle-aged, with dark hair and eyes. The resemblance to Rey was unmistakable.
"My daughter! Rey, come to me quickly." She called.
Rey ran to her mother, a sudden longing arising within her; one she had pushed down for years.
"Mom! Mom!" Rey cried.
"Yes, dear."
Rey ran to the bars and reached her arms in to touch her mother. "Is it really you?" Rey murmured. They embraced through the bars as best they could. The arms were real. She grasped them and tried to lean into the bars as much as she could.
"How can I get you out?" Rey started to study the cell, but could not find any lock or opening. She kept a hand through the bars, not wanting to miss a moment of contact with her mother while searching.
"They put me here. They don't ever want me to get out," her mother said.
"Who? Who put you here?"
Her mother was about to say when a red glow lit up her face; her face suddenly wincing in pain. A red lightsaber had exited her torso and then drew back in. Her mother's face shriveled and became a pale green as her body fell to the floor. Standing behind her, unmasked, was Kylo Ren.
Rey, for a moment, was stunned, not knowing what had just happened. She stepped back. Then seeing her mother dead at Kylo Ren's feet, rage filled her form. She activated Anakin's lightsaber and held it up ready, its deadly blade illuminating her deadly face.
Kylo Ren sliced the bars with his saber, melting them away and stepped out.
"You killed her!" Rey shouted and raised her lightsaber to lay a heavy downward blow.
Kylo Ren whipped his saber to block and deflect, pushing her aside.
She came again with a side strike, then stab. He deflected and side-stepped aptly. Kylo Ren laughed taunting her.
Tears filled her eyes. She could not say anything, only swing.
Kylo Ren Force-pushed her into the cavern wall, throwing her twenty feet in the air. She gasped at the impact; but she stood back up, took a deep breath, and charged back. Kylo Ren attacked this time, swinging high. Rey ducked and Force-pushed Kylo Ren into the air.
He landed off balance a dozen yards away, but Rey was already on him slashing her blue-hot blade down. He blocked, but the move made his footing more unstable and he fell backward. Rey grabbed the lightsaber with both hands and swung wildly. Kylo Ren blocked with desperate parries. He reached out his hand with contorted fingers.
Rey stopped suddenly, her body encased in an invisible Force. She tried to swallow; tried to breathe but was unable. She struggled against the Force to grasp her neck with a free hand as Kylo Ren choked her.
Kylo Ren stood up holding her at bay and backed up about ten feet.
"Do you feel helpless? Unable to get one simple breath." he chided her. "A lot like your father was when I killed him."
Rey straightened and closed her eyes, focusing. She stopped trying to breathe and drew power from within.
"A shame you waited for so long. Waiting for a family that would never return."
Rey could sense her consciousness fading, her throat beginning to crush. She fought to reach her hand toward Kylo Ren, feeling the Force.
In one movement, using the Force she pulled him in. Her lightsaber ignited. He rushed onto her lightsaber, his chest skewered by the fateful blade. His face, wide-eyed, shown the shock he felt. The blue glow of the lightsaber emitted behind him.
She kicked him to the ground and stood over him, panting.
Somewhere in the cave, she heard a short restrained laugh. She looked around to see, who else was there. There was nothing. When she turned back to look on Kylo Ren he was gone. Not only him, her mother, and the cell were gone too. Her eyes darted around searching for anyone, anything; but nothing was there. She was alone. She fell to her knees and wept.
Luke waited in a meditation stance, fighting fear. It had been too long, he thought. He had not been into this temple before, but he knew the kind of thing Rey would be experiencing. He himself had entered a place strong in the Force in the Dagobah system when training with Yoda. Things appeared in places like that. There he had see Darth Vader. They were more than hallucinations; they were real. This temple was built over one of those places. Luke tried to suppress his anxiety at what Rey was confronting. What she saw may be true or false. He could sense the struggles she was having, wavering between fear, love, and anger . . . and hope. His own struggles mirrored those emotions. She was not alone in her trial.
Rey emerged from the tunnel, her clothes wet.
Luke smiled seeing her return, his fear melting for a moment.
Rey did not say anything. She did not know what to say. She simply held out a crystal.
Luke gazed, his eyes wide. His aging legs shifted uncomfortably.
"How did you find that?" he asked.
"It kind of called to me," Rey answered. She did not want to talk about the details of her mother calling. "What is it?"
"It is a kyber crystal. A rare crystal used to focus Force energy for lightsabers." Luke could not hide his concern, as he pushed back the hair from his forehead.
"What's wrong?" she inquired.
"It's just that everything is different." Luke was distant, almost talking to himself. "The Force is leading you to make your lightsaber."
Rey beamed with astonishment. "That's great!"
But Luke was not excited. Rey was a little disheartened by his cold response.
"Is it not great?" she asked.
"That crystal that called to you is extremely rare."
She looked carefully at the small crystal. It was black and diamond shaped, no bigger than a fingernail.
"One of that kind has not called to a Jedi in over a thousand years. Not since the Old Republic."
Rey stared in wonder at the crystal and rolled it in her fingers, studying its geometry.
"What does that mean?" she asked.
"I don't know," Luke answered. "The path we are on is uncertain, and the future is clouded in this matter. More than that, I dare not say. I must seek guidance before we go any further. Let's get out of here."
He held his hand out toward the door. Rey was frustrated realizing the conversation was over for now. She raised her hand, fingers together toward the door. She could not wait to start working on her lightsaber. The door slowly opened. She did not notice that the massive pillars behind her that had been destroyed when she entered the passage were now returned to their places.