Ben Solo stood with the other older padawans, listening intently as Master Luke explained their upcoming trial.
"Today, you will embark on your journey to Ilum," Luke said, his eyes scanning the eager faces before him. "There, you will face your greatest fears and, if you prove worthy, claim your kyber crystals. This is not a test of strength, but of character."
Ben felt a mixture of excitement and apprehension swirl in his stomach. He had been waiting for this moment for years. A quick glance around showed similar emotions on his fellow padawans' faces - Tai looked determined, Hennix nervous, and Voe...well, Voe looked like she always did when Ben was involved: annoyed.
"Remember," Luke continued, "the crystal is not a weapon. It is an extension of yourself"
The time of departure arrived with a bitter chill in the air. Outside the temple hangar, a small transport ship was being prepared for the journey to Ilum. Ben stood with the other older padawans—Tai, Hennix, and Voe—as they loaded their cold weather gear aboard, while Lor San Tekka oversaw their preparations with stern attention to detail.
Kira sat on a supply crate, her small shoulders hunched as she watched Ben pack his things. She hadn't spoken all morning, but her Force signature radiated waves of sadness so strong that even the least sensitive padawans could feel it.
"It's only for two weeks, sunshine," Ben said softly, pausing in his preparations to kneel before her crate. "Just enough time to find our crystals and return."
"Two weeks is forever," Kira muttered, scuffing her boot against the crate. "And Ilum is dangerous. Master Luke said there are ice caves and storms and—"
"And that's exactly why you're staying here," Luke interrupted gently, approaching the pair. "The Crystal Caves of Ilum are a rite of passage that each padawan must face when they're ready. Your time will come, young one."
Kira's lower lip trembled. "But what if something happens to Ben? What if he needs me?"
Voe, passing by with a crate of supplies, rolled her eyes. "He managed just fine before you came along, you know."
"Voe," Luke warned, but Ben was already standing, positioning himself between Kira and the older girl.
He turned back to Kira, pulling something from his tunic—a small leather cord with a polished river stone hanging from it. "Here. I was going to wait until later, but..."
"Ben," Luke started, "you know attachment—"
"The stone is for focusing her meditation," Ben answered calmly, though his jaw tightened slightly. "Nothing more."
Lor San Tekka watched the exchange with disapproving eyes but remained silent as he checked the ship's manifests.
"This stone is Force-sensitive," Ben explained to Kira, who was touching it with wonder. "I found it last year by the lake , I'v channeled my force signature into it. When I'm away, you can hold it, and it'll help you feel me through the Force."
"A Like an anchor. Something part of you" Kira whispered, understanding immediately.
"Exactly." Ben smiled. "And when I return with my crystal..."
"You'll teach me everything you learned," Kira finished, a weak smile finally breaking through. "You promise?"
"Have I ever broken a promise to you?"
Kira shook her head, then suddenly launched herself off the crate into his arms. Ben caught her easily, as he always did, letting her bury her face in his neck.
"It's time to depart," Lor San Tekka announced, his voice carrying across the hangar. "The weather window for crossing Ilum's atmosphere won't last long."
Kira's arms tightened around Ben's neck. "Don't go," she whispered, so quietly that only he could hear.
For a moment, something dark flickered in Ben's eyes—the temptation to stay, to refuse the journey, to keep his little shadow safe and close. But then Kira pulled back, straightening her shoulders with a determination far beyond her years.
"Go," she said firmly, though her eyes were bright with unshed tears. "Get the most amazing crystal in the whole cave. Show them all how strong you are."
Ben set her down gently, then pressed his forehead to hers in their familiar gesture of comfort. "Take care of yourself, sunshine. Mind Master Luke, and—"
"And no swimming in the lake alone," Kira waved her hands at him. "I know, I know."
"That's my girl."
Ben boarded the transport with the others, Kira went to beside Luke, her small hand clutching the river stone. Through their bond, Ben felt a wave of love and pride from her, pushing back against the sadness.
I'll be right here, her Force signature seemed to say. Always.
"Remember, young Solo," Lor San Tekka said as Ben passed him to board, "a Jedi must be focused solely on the task ahead. Distractions can be... dangerous in the caves."
Ben met the older man's gaze steadily but said nothing as he took his seat.
The ship lifted off, and Luke placed a gentle hand on Kira's shoulder. "Come, young one. While Ben is gone, perhaps it's time you learned some new Force techniques of your own. Perhaps i'll teach you about astral projection, Ben was always the best at it, he might be happy to learn another person can project themselves like he can too."
Kira nodded, but didn't move until the ship had disappeared into the clouds. Only then did she let a single tear fall, quickly wiped away.
"Master Luke?" she asked, turning to him with fierce determination. "When will I be old enough to get my crystal?"
Luke looked down at his youngest student, seeing in her eyes the same fire he'd once seen in his own. "That depends, little one, on how hard you're willing to work while Ben is away."
Kira's grip tightened on her stone. "Then we better start now. I have two weeks to get stronger."
As Luke led her back to the temple, he smiled to himself. Somehow, he suspected that when Ben returned, he'd find his little shadow had grown brighter than ever.
Far above the temple, Ben sat quietly in the transport, one hand pressed to his chest where the river stone he gave Kira used to be. Through their bond, he felt Kira's determination flare like a small sun.
"She'll be fine," Tai said softly from the seat beside him. "She's stronger than any of us were at her age."
"I know," Ben replied, a proud smile tugging at his lips. "That's what worries me."
The first few days without Ben were the hardest. Kira threw herself into training with a ferocity that surprised even Luke, practicing her Force techniques until her small hands trembled with exhaustion. Each night, she curled up in her own bed instead of sneaking to Ben's quarters, clutching the river stone until her knuckles turned white.
Through their bond, she could feel him—distant but steady, like a star on the horizon. Sometimes, late at night, she'd catch glimpses: the bite of Ilum's cold, the echo of footsteps in crystal caves, the weight of something heavy on his mind that she couldn't quite understand.
I'm here, she'd project into their bond. Sometimes she felt a warm pulse in return, like a hand squeezing hers.
During the day, she avoided the other young padawans. They'd never understood her anyway, whispering behind their hands about the "feral child" who followed Ben Solo around like a lost tooka cat. Now their whispers grew bolder in his absence.
"She doesn't even know how to play normal games," she overheard one girl say during meal time. "All she does is train and climb things."
"My master says she's too wild," another added. "That's why she only gets along with Ben Solo. They're both... different."
Kira ate alone by the lake after that, practicing lifting pebbles between bites of her food. Master Luke found her there on the fourth day, perched in her favorite tree.
"You know," he said, settling at the base of the trunk, "there are more comfortable places to eat lunch."
"I like it here," Kira replied, not looking down. "I can see the whole valley. Ben showed me how to—" She stopped, her throat tight.
Luke was quiet for a moment. "You've made remarkable progress this week. Your Force control is getting stronger every day."
"I have to get stronger," Kira said fiercely. "So next time I can go too."
"Kira," Luke's voice was gentle. "Come down. Please."
She descended reluctantly, dropping to sit cross-legged beside him.
"The bond you share with Ben," Luke began carefully, "it's unusual. Most Force bonds take years to develop such strength. But you must learn to stand on your own as well."
"I can stand on my own," Kira protested. "I just... prefer not to."
Luke smiled sadly, but before he could respond, Kira gasped. Her hand flew to the river stone around her neck.
"What's wrong?"
"Ben," she whispered. "He feels... cold. Different." Her eyes widened with panic. "I can barely feel him!"
"The caves of Ilum are strong with the Force," Luke explained. "They can interfere with bonds, create illusions—"
But Kira wasn't listening. She closed her eyes, reaching desperately through their connection. Where Ben's presence usually burned bright and warm, she found only a dim, flickering light, wrapped in shadows she didn't understand.
Ben? she called through their bond. Ben, please...
Nothing.
The next week passed in a blur of training and sleepless nights. Kira practiced until her muscles ached, determined to show Ben how much stronger she'd grown when he returned. But their bond remained distant, muffled, like trying to hear a whisper through a storm.
The other padawans gave her an even wider berth now, unsettled by her intense focus and the dark circles under her eyes. Only Luke seemed to understand, quietly adjusting her training to channel her worry into constructive lessons.
"Your Force sensitivity is growing," he noted one evening, watching her levitate multiple objects at once. "But you must be careful not to let your emotions control you."
Kira let the objects clatter to the ground. "Something's wrong with him. I can feel it. Why won't you let me—"
"The journey to find one's kyber crystal is deeply personal," Luke interrupted firmly. "Whatever Ben is facing, he must face it alone."
That night, curled around her river stone, Kira felt a sudden spike through their bond—fear, anger, confusion, all tangled together. Then, just as quickly, it was gone, leaving only that strange, cold distance.
I'll wait, she promised into the void where Ben's warmth should be. I'll always wait for you.
Somewhere in the icy caves of Ilum, Ben Solo stood before a wall of crystals, hearing a voice that wasn't Kira's whisper of power and destiny. His hand trembled as he reached for a crystal that pulsed with an energy he didn't fully understand.
The voice that had haunted his dreams grew stronger, drowning out the faint echo of Kira's presence in his mind. Soon, it promised, he would understand his true path.
Back at the temple, Kira jolted awake from another nightmare, her river stone cold against her skin. One more week, she told herself. Just one more week.
But somehow, she knew that when Ben returned, something would be different. She just hoped their bond would be strong enough to weather whatever storm was coming.
In the darkness of her room, the stone flickered briefly with a reddish light before going dark once more.
The transport landed on Ilum's frozen surface as howling winds whipped snow around them in angry spirals. Ben pulled his thermal cloak tighter as he helped Tai and Hennix set up the base camp at the mouth of the ancient temple that led to the crystal caves. The temperature was dropping rapidly as the planet's brief sun began to set.
"Remember," Lor San Tekka called over the wind, "we have only a few hours before the temple entrance freezes over completely. Each of you must face the caves alone."
Voe was already checking her climbing gear, a smug smile playing on her lips. "Some of us have been preparing for this our whole lives," she said, loud enough for Ben to hear. "Not just playing around with younglings by lakes."
Ben's hands stilled on the tent supports. "Is there something you want to say to me directly, Voe?"
"Only that some of us take our training seriously," she turned to face him fully. "We don't need special treatment because of who our parents are, or hide behind the worship of little girls to mask our weaknesses."
"You don't know anything about Kira," Ben growled, the tent support crumpling slightly under his grip. "Or me."
"I know you're distracted," Voe shot back. "Even now, you're probably trying to reach her through your precious bond instead of focusing on the task ahead. How can you possibly face the caves when half your mind is back at the temple?"
The temperature seemed to drop even further as Ben took a step toward her. "My focus is exactly where it needs to be."
"Is it?" Voe's eyes glinted. "Then why can I feel you reaching out even now? Searching for her like a lost child? It's pathetic, Ben. You're supposed to be this prodigy everyone whispers about, but you can't even—"
The snow around them suddenly swirled violently as Ben's Force signature flared dark and cold. "You're jealous," he said quietly, dangerously. "You always have been. Not of my name, but of my power. And now you're jealous that Kira, a child half your age, has already surpassed you in—"
"Enough!" Lor San Tekka's voice cut through the rising storm. He stepped between them, his weathered face stern. "This is sacred ground. Your petty rivalries have no place here."
"She started—" Ben began, but Lor San Tekka held up a hand.
"You, Ben Solo, should know better. Your attachment to the girl clouds your judgment, makes you quick to anger. These are paths to the dark side."
Tai and Hennix exchanged worried glances as they finished securing the last tent.
"The caves will test each of you differently," Lor San Tekka continued. "But if you cannot master your emotions now, you risk far more than failure." He fixed Ben with a particularly stern look. "Remember why you are here. A kyber crystal responds to clarity of purpose, not to anger or pride."
Ben's jaw clenched, but he nodded stiffly. Through the Force, he felt a distant pulse of warmth—Kira, reaching for him across the stars. He started to reach back, then stopped, remembering Lor San Tekka's words. With effort, he drew back, pulling his Force signature in tight around himself.
"The sun is setting," Hennix observed quietly. "We should prepare to enter."
"Take your positions," Lor San Tekka instructed. "When the light hits the crystal focus above the temple, the entrance will open. You will each have until sunrise to find your crystal and return. After that, the temple will seal again."
As they lined up before the ancient entrance, Tai touched Ben's arm lightly. "Don't let Voe get to you," he murmured. "She doesn't understand."
"No," Ben agreed, his voice hollow. "She doesn't."
But as they waited for the light to align, a whisper that wasn't Kira's slithered through his mind: But I understand, young Solo. I understand everything you could become, if only you'd let go of this... compassion.
A week passes during their camping by ilum, waiting for the cave to open up.
The sun's rays finally struck the crystal focus, and the cave entrance began to crack open with a sound like breaking ice. As they prepared to enter, Lor San Tekka's final words echoed off the frozen walls:
"Remember, young ones—what you find in these caves will shape not just your weapons, but your destinies. Choose wisely."
Yes, the voice in Ben's head agreed. Choose wisely indeed.
The ancient cave swallowed them one by one. Lor San Tekka remained at the entrance as each padawan chose a different tunnel, their glowrods casting long shadows on the crystalline walls. The bitter cold seemed to seep into their bones, carrying whispers of trials faced by countless Jedi before them.
Ben took the leftmost passage, his boots crunching on the ice-covered ground. The tunnel twisted deeper into the mountain, and with each step, the warmth against his chest grew fainter. He could hear Voe's footsteps echoing from another passage, then Tai's, then Hennix's—until suddenly, he couldn't hear anything at all.
The silence was absolute.
"This is where the trial begins," he muttered to himself, his breath visible in the frigid air.
'Indeed it does,' came the familiar voice in his head—the one that had been with him since childhood suddenly louder than it has been the past few years. 'But are you ready for what it will show you?'
The tunnel opened into a vast chamber, its walls lined with countless crystals. None called to him. Ben moved deeper, remembering Luke's teachings about how a kyber crystal chooses its Jedi as much as the Jedi chooses it.
A child's laughter echoed through the chamber.
Ben spun around, his glowrod illuminating a small figure that couldn't possibly be there. "Kira?"
But it wasn't Kira—not exactly. The figure was translucent, like a memory given form. She was older, perhaps fourteen or thirteen, practicing with a training saber. As Ben watched, another figure joined her—himself, but older too, teaching her the forms with patient guidance.
"This isn't real," Ben said firmly.
The scene shifted. Now he saw Kira again, but different—older, no longer a child but a woman. She wielded a blue lightsaber, her eyes full of pain and betrayal. 'You're the one who left me,' this version of her accused. 'You chose power over me.'
"Stop it," Ben growled, turning away only to face another vision.
This time he saw himself, standing before a towering figure in gold. Power radiated from him—not the carefully controlled Force sensitivity of the Jedi, but something raw and unfettered. In this vision, he was free from all constraints, all expectations, in this version he was pure dark, no conflict, no light.
This is your true path, the voice whispered. The girl holds you back. Your fellow padawans, your master, they all hold you back. But I see your potential.
"Get out of my head!" Ben's shout echoed off the crystal walls. His glowrod flickered and died, leaving him in darkness broken only by the faint glow of the crystals around him.
In another part of the caves, Voe faced her own trials. She stood before a wall of ice that reflected not her image, but her deepest fears—always second best, never quite good enough, watching Ben Solo succeed effortlessly where she struggled.
Tai wandered through a maze of crystalline mirrors, each showing a different possible future, trying to discern which path led to truth.
Hennix found himself in a chamber where mathematical equations carved themselves into the ice, promising answers to questions he hadn't yet thought to ask.
But in Ben's chamber, the darkness grew thicker. The voice grew stronger.
'Think of what you could become,' it urged. 'The power you could wield. The legacy you could build. All you have to do is reach out and take it.'
A crystal high on the wall began to pulse with a deep, resonant energy. It called to him with promises of strength beyond measure. Ben's hand rose toward it almost involuntarily.
'Yes,' the voice purred. 'This one understands you. It knows your true nature.'
But as his fingers neared the crystal, he felt the river stone pulse once against his chest ,'that's odd' he thinks, he isn't wearing it, it should have been with Kira—a distant warmth in the consuming cold. For a moment, he heard Kira's voice, so faint he might have imagined it:
I'll wait. I'll always wait for you.
The crystal's glow turned red then blue over and over.
Ben's hand trembled in the air between light and shadow, between warmth and cold, between the girl who believed in him and the voice that promised him greatness.
In the entrance chamber, Lor San Tekka felt a disturbance in the Force so powerful it made the very ice beneath his feet shudder, he wasnt too sensitive over the force like Luke but the force is in everyone and everything and he could feel something sinister. He looked down the dark tunnel where Ben had disappeared, his weathered face grave with concern.
"What have you found in the darkness, young Solo?" he whispered to the echoing caves. "And more importantly—what has found you?"
The first rays of Ilum's brief sunrise painted the ice in shades of pale gold when Voe emerged from the temple entrance. Her face was drawn with exhaustion, but triumph blazed in her eyes as she opened her palm to show Lor San Tekka the crystal she'd claimed—clear as water and humming with pure energy.
"Well done," he nodded approvingly. "The first to return."
Minutes later, Hennix appeared, his usually jovial expression replaced by something more contemplative. His crystal pulsed with a subtle blue tint as he held it up to the light.
"The caves," he said quietly, "they showed me things. Equations I never imagined. Patterns in the Force itself."
Tai was the last of the three to emerge, snow dusting his shoulders. His crystal gleamed with a gentle green light. "The path was not what I expected," he admitted, glancing back at the dark entrance. "But the crystal... it spoke to me."
As the sun climbed higher, Lor San Tekka's expression grew increasingly troubled. The temple entrance would soon begin to seal, and there was still no sign of Ben Solo.
"Perhaps we should—" Tai began, but Voe cut him off.
"He knew the time limit," she said sharply, though concern flickered across her face. "If he let himself get distracted—"
A low rumble echoed from deep within the temple. The remaining ice around the entrance began to crack and shift, preparing to seal until the next alignment.
"Ben!" Tai called into the darkness. "Ben, you have to come out now!"
Hennix stepped forward, calculating. "We have approximately three minutes before—"
"Wait," Lor San Tekka held up a hand, his eyes fixed on the entrance. "Something's wrong."
The temperature around them plummeted suddenly, unnaturally. Frost crept across their thermal gear, and their breath froze in the air. From within the temple came the sound of ice cracking, of crystals singing in dissonant harmonies.
Then... nothing.
The entrance sealed with a final, thunderous crack, leaving no sign it had ever been there.
"He's still inside," Tai whispered, horror dawning on his face. "We have to—"
"The temple cannot be forced," Lor San Tekka said grimly. "Not by any power we possess. It will not open again until the next alignment."
"That's days away!" Hennix protested. "He'll freeze to death!"
But Voe was staring at the sealed entrance with growing dread. "Did you feel it?" she asked quietly. "At the end, that cold... it wasn't from Ilum."
Lor San Tekka's weathered face was grave. "No," he agreed. "It was not."
"What do we do?" Tai demanded, already pulling out his climbing gear. "We can't just leave him!"
"Set up the emergency shelter," Lor San Tekka ordered. "Prepare the heating units. When that entrance opens again, Ben Solo will need immediate medical attention." His voice dropped so low the padawans barely heard him add, "If he survives what's happening in there."
As the others rushed to follow his instructions, Lor San Tekka reached for his emergency communicator. This was beyond his authority now. Luke needed to be informed immediately.
Luke was observing the youngest padawans' morning meditation when his communicator chimed with the emergency frequency. His heart tightened—he'd given that code only to Lor San Tekka for the Ilum expedition.
"Continue your breathing exercises," he instructed the class quietly, noting how Kira's head snapped up at the sound, her eyes wide with an anxiety she'd been poorly hiding for days.
He stepped into the temple corridor, activating the comm. "What's happened?"
"Master Skywalker," Lor San Tekka's voice crackled through, strained with urgency. "We have a situation. The other padawans have emerged successfully, but Ben..."
Luke's chest constricted. "Go on."
"He's still inside. The temple has sealed, and—" Static interrupted the transmission for a moment. "—something happened in there, Luke. Something dark. The temperature dropped unnaturally. The Force itself seemed to... recoil."
Luke pressed his free hand against the ancient temple wall, steadying himself. "Did he find a crystal?"
"We don't know. But that's not all." Lor San Tekka's voice dropped lower. "The voices he's mentioned hearing... I fear they may have—"
A sudden crash from the meditation room interrupted them. Luke spun around to see Kira sprawled on the floor, her small body trembling as she clutched the river stone around her neck. The other young padawans backed away from her in alarm as the training sabers on the wall began to rattle.
"I have to go," Luke said quickly into the comm. "Keep him warm when you get him out. I'm sending a medical transport. And Lor San Tekka? Don't let anyone else near him until I arrive."
He rushed back into the meditation room just as the stone in Kira's hands split with a sound like breaking ice. She screamed—not with her voice, but through the Force—a cry of such anguish that several of the younger padawans began to cry.
"Everyone out," Luke ordered the class. "Now."
As the room emptied, he knelt beside Kira, who was curled into herself, still clutching the cracked stone. "Kira," he said gently. "Kira, look at me."
"He's lost," she whispered, her voice raw. "He's so cold, Master Luke. I can't reach him anymore. I can't—" Her words dissolved into silent sobs.
Luke gathered her small form into his arms, feeling her shake with a cold that had nothing to do with temperature. Through the Force, he could sense her desperately trying to reach across their bond, only to find something dark and impenetrable where Ben's warm presence should be.
"Listen to me," he said firmly, taking her face in his hands. "Ben is strong. Whatever he's facing in there—"
"It's not him facing it alone," Kira interrupted, her hazel eyes suddenly fierce through her tears. "The voice... it's with him. The bad one. The one he pretends not to hear."
Luke's blood ran cold. "What do you know about this voice?"
"I feel it sometimes, through our bond. Like a shadow watching him. He thinks I don't know, but..." She looked down at the broken stone in her hands. "It's stronger now. It's trying to take him away."
Luke stood, decision made. "I'm going to Ilum. I'll bring him back, Kira. I promise."
"Take me with you," she pleaded, scrambling to her feet. "I can help! I can—"
"No." Luke's tone left no room for argument. "You must stay here where it's safe. Whatever's happening to Ben... I won't risk it touching you too."
Kira's face crumpled, but she straightened her small shoulders with that familiar determination that always reminded Luke so much of himself at that age. "Then promise me something else?"
"What?"
"Promise you won't give up on him." She held out the broken pieces of her stone that fell off. "No matter how cold it gets."
Luke took the stone fragments, feeling the residual warmth of Ben and Kira's bond still pulsing faintly within them. "I promise," he said softly. "Now go to your quarters and rest. That's an order."
As he strode toward the hangar to prepare his X-wing, Luke's mind raced. He should have seen this coming. Should have recognized the signs. The voice Kira mentioned... could it be the same dark presence he'd sensed hovering around Ben since his birth?
The same presence his sister had felt, all those years ago, reaching for her unborn son?
Behind him, Kira watched him go, her small hands clenched into fists. She waited until he disappeared around the corner before slipping away toward the temple archives. If she couldn't go to Ben, she would find another way to help him.
After all, she had made a promise too.
I'll wait, she projected into their cold, silent bond. But hurry back, Ben. Please hurry back.
Inside the sealed temple, in darkness absolute, Ben Solo knelt in a chamber of shattered crystals. Ice crystalized on his cheeks where tears had frozen. Before him hovered a single kyber crystal, pulsing with an energy that was neither light nor dark, but something in between—something uncertain, unstable.
The voice in his head had fallen silent, but its promises echoed in the chamber like trapped birds.
And somewhere across the stars, a little girl clutching her stone as it cracked straight down the middle some more.
Luke's X-wing descended through Ilum's turbulent atmosphere, ice immediately forming on the wings. The planet's brief sun had set again, leaving the surface in its characteristic darkness. Below, he could make out the emergency lights of the base camp, a small cluster of warmth in the vast white wasteland.
Lor San Tekka was waiting as Luke landed, his face weathered with exhaustion and worry. The other padawans huddled near the heating units of their shelter, their newly acquired crystals casting faint glows through their closed fists. Only Tai stepped forward, concern etched on his features.
"Any change?" Luke asked, pulling his thermal gear tighter against the bitter wind.
"None," Lor San Tekka replied grimly. "The entrance remains sealed. We've been monitoring for any signs of..." He hesitated. "The cold comes and goes. Unnatural cold. The kind that has nothing to do with Ilum's weather."
Luke approached the sealed temple entrance, placing his hand against the ancient ice. Through the Force, he reached out, searching for his nephew's presence. What he found made him recoil.
"Master Luke?" Tai asked, noticing his reaction.
"There's darkness in there," Luke said quietly. "But also... conflict. Pain." He closed his eyes, concentrating harder. "Ben's alive, but he's not alone."
"The voice," Voe spoke up unexpectedly from near the shelter. "Before he went in, I heard him talking to something. Someone." She looked down, guilt crossing her face. "I thought he was just distracted, but now..."
"How long until the entrance opens again?" Luke asked, though he already knew the answer.
"Two days," Hennix supplied. "We've calculated the exact—"
"We don't have two days," Luke interrupted. He pulled out the broken pieces of Kira's river stone. "His connection to the light is fading. Whatever's in there with him... it's winning."
Lor San Tekka stepped closer, lowering his voice. "The ancient texts speak of Force users who could command the elements themselves. Perhaps you could—"
"No." Luke's voice was firm. "The temple's sealed entrance is sacred. Breaking in would destroy something precious... and might trap Ben in there forever." He looked up at the massive ice structure. "But there might be another way."
He settled into a meditative pose before the sealed entrance, the broken stone pieces arranged before him.
"Master?" Tai asked hesitantly.
"Maintain the camp," Luke instructed. "Keep the heating units ready. And whatever you hear... whatever happens... don't try to reach me."
As the padawans retreated to the shelter, Luke closed his eyes and reached out through the Force. Past the ice, through the twisted tunnels, following the trail of his nephew's pain like a thread in darkness.
Ben, he called silently. Show me where you are.
The response wasn't from Ben, but from something else—something ancient and cold that seemed to laugh at his efforts. Memories flooded Luke's mind: Ben as a toddler, crying out in his sleep. Leia's voice, worried: "Something's wrong, Luke. Something's watching him." His own younger self, dismissing her fears: "It's just nightmares. He'll grow out of them."
How wrong he had been.
In the distance, a child's voice echoed—Kira, though she wasn't really there: "Promise you won't give up on him."
Luke's jaw set with determination. He wouldn't fail Ben. Not like this.
The wind howled around him as he sank deeper into meditation, following his nephew's fractured Force signature into the heart of Ilum's darkness. Whatever was trying to take Ben, whatever had been poisoning his dreams all these years, would have to face a Jedi Master first.
Inside the temple, in a chamber of broken crystals, Ben Solo lifted his head as if hearing a distant call. The crystal before him pulsed with uncertain light, still waiting for his choice.
'Choose now,' the dark voice commanded. 'Before your uncle interferes. Before he tries to hold you back, just like all the others.'
Ben's frozen fingers tightened around the crystal. Through their fading bond, he felt a ghost of Kira's presence, growing dimmer by the moment.
The temple grounds fell silent as Luke's transport descended through the evening air. Word had spread quickly among the padawans—Master Luke was returning with Ben Solo, and something had gone terribly wrong on Ilum.
Medical droids waited at the landing pad with a hover-stretcher and portable bacta equipment. the younger students were away, but couldn't stop watching from the temple windows. Among them, pressing her small hands against the glass, was Kira—her face pale and drawn from two days of sleepless waiting.
The transport's ramp lowered with a hydraulic hiss. Lor San Tekka emerged first, followed by Tai and Hennix supporting between them a frighteningly still form wrapped in thermal blankets. Ben's face was ghostly white, his lips tinged blue despite the heating units they'd used during the journey. Frost still clung to his dark hair.
"Get him to the medical bay," Luke ordered, his voice tight with urgency. "His core temperature is dangerously low."
As they rushed past with the hoverstretcher, Kira broke away from the window and ran toward them. "Ben!" she cried out, reaching for his hand.
"Stop her," Luke commanded quietly. Voe caught the girl before she could reach the stretcher, holding her back as she struggled.
"Let me go!" Kira fought against Voe's grip. "He needs me! I can feel him, he's so cold, please—"
"Kira." Luke's tone was gentle but firm. "Not now. The medical droids need to work."
She went still in Voe's arms, tears streaming down her face as she watched them take Ben away. Through their bond, she reached desperately for any sign of his presence, but found only that same terrible coldness that had haunted her for days.
In the medical bay, the droids worked efficiently to stabilize Ben's condition. They cut away his frozen robes, revealing skin mottled with patches of frostbite. A bacta tank was being prepared, its healing fluid already warming to the precise temperature needed.
"Master Luke," one of the medical droids reported, "his vital signs are weak but stable. However, we're detecting unusual neural patterns. It's as if his mind is still... somewhere else."
Luke stood at the foot of the medical bed, watching as they prepared his nephew for the bacta treatment. "What happened in there, Ben?" he whispered. "What did you see?"
The answer lay clutched in Ben's frozen hand—a kyber crystal that pulsed with an unstable energy, neither fully light nor dark. When they finally managed to pry his fingers open, the crystal's glow was weak and uncertain, like a candle flickering in a cold wind.
Hours later, Ben floated suspended in bacta, monitoring wires attached to his pale form. Luke stood watch, his face reflected in the tank's curved surface. Behind him, the medical bay door slid open.
"You should be in bed," he said without turning.
Kira padded forward on bare feet, her river stone—now crudely tied back together with string—clutched in her small hand. "I can't sleep. He's having nightmares."
Luke looked down at her sharply. "You can feel that?"
She nodded, reaching out to touch the tank. "The voice is still with him. Even in there. It's angry that he's here." Her lower lip trembled. "Why won't it leave him alone?"
Luke had no answer for her. Instead, he watched as she pressed her forehead against the cool surface of the tank, her eyes closed in concentration. For a moment, the monitors showed a slight stabilization in Ben's neural patterns.
"You can't stay here all night," Luke said finally.
"I promised I'd wait for him." Kira's voice was small but determined. "No matter how cold it gets."
Luke sighed, then pulled up a chair next to the tank. "One hour," he conceded. "Then back to bed."
As Kira curled up in the chair, her hand still touching the tank's surface, Luke studied his nephew's floating form. Whatever battle Ben had fought in those crystal caves wasn't over. The darkness that had stalked him since childhood hadn't released its grip—it had only changed its approach.
And somehow, this small girl with her broken stone and unshakeable devotion might be Ben's strongest tether to the light.
In the bacta tank, Ben's fingers twitched, as if reaching for something only he could see. The monitors recorded a spike in neural activity, then settled back into their disturbing pattern.
The war for Ben Solo's soul was far from over. It had only just begun.