19

                                    

                                          
Lightning swirled and churned up above in the dark, ominous sky.  Luke Skywalker's glowing ghost looked up at the atmosphere, wide-eyed as flashes of electricity poked through the thick clouds. He watched as Rey screamed, her body jerked as if she had been freed of a demon, her limbs went to mush and she collapsed. 
"Rey!" Luke Skywalker's ghost cried out. He ran to her side, a look of deep concern pressing over his apparition. Rey was crumpled uncomfortably in a fetal position. A thick, oozing stream of blood leaked down her nose. Her eyebrows were crunched together in a manner that looked unpleasant, as if she was still exerting effort--still in some silent agony. 
                          
Luke waved a hand over Rey's unconsciously troubled face. The blue light of his ligament casted an eerie hue, as if she was dead, or nearly dead. But she is still alive, Luke reminded himself, she'll make it through.  He knew Rey's outcome, after all. She would make it through, though there was no telling the awful strength it would take. But Luke knew she had that in her to survive. If anyone was willing to venture out into the grievous depths of the dark side, it was Rey. And it would only be Rey who was strong enough to fight off the dark side's deceitful claws. The power she bestowed in the tips of her fingers was more than enough to outwit any devious stronghold. 
                          
The melodious boom of lightning resonated throughout the jungly cove. Luke had been hearing those strident thunderings for hours since he had been with Rey, but there was something different about the way the thunder crackled and spit. It was something designed; something fabricated. Luke craned his neck to peer into the billowing clouds above him, and his prediction had been correct; exactly right above Rey came electric tendrils, pointing directly at her body. More and more grew, pulsing with current, collecting from up within the beamingly voltaic clouds. One by one, more and more electric tendrils came together, clasping around other tendrils like hands intertwining. The pulsing energy grew with width and length, projecting its inevitable course directly at unconscious Rey like a beacon. 
                          
Luke watched with amazement and consternation as the tendrils kept growing, adding onto one another like an electric tornado of power and energy. Something specific, something with purpose. Luke distinguished it was part of the Force. A powerful beacon of energy. The clouds above swirled with throbbing blue light just as the tip of the electric beacon crashed down upon Rey. The current jolted her lifeless body like an explosion of dynamite inside the cavity of her chest. Luke fought the impulse to grab her. Shake her. Anything to wake her up from the anguish--but he knew this was a part of the test; the final step.
Electricity funneled into her heart like a shimmering blue waterfall, and with each wave as it hit her body, she convulsed more violently than the last. 
                          
All of the sudden, as if Rey was too full to absorb any more energy, the beacon connecting her and the clouds, erupted. Luke pulled away, shielding his ghostly eyes from the brilliant blue light that burst in scintillating beams. Even the billowing clouds above exploded with blazing blue energy. It momentarily encapsulated the cove Luke stood in, completely covering Rey from his view. All he could see now was the discharging Force energy. But as soon as it had filled the cove, was as soon as it all dissipated. Within mere seconds, the blueness of it was sucked up into space, like it had never existed--like it never would again. And Luke never knew if he would experience anything like it; he was awestruck, his face buried underneath his shielding hands. 
                          
He cracked open his fingers, allowing his vision to capture his surroundings. Outside, the clouds had all suddenly vanished. Their dark, drooping stomachs nowhere to be seen; the sky above was completely barren. And the sky was permitting light--the softly muted pink light of early dawn. The orange sun was rising in the east, just like any other welcome to a tranquil day. Birds chirped, wildlife stirred amongst the shrubs and banyan limbs. A weird sort of insect even fluttered past Luke, oblivious to any of the outrageous events that had just presented themselves. Rey was still there on the grassy ground, lost in unconscious slumber. Her body still as limp. Still as curled in on itself. 
                          
But there was something different. Off to Rey's right, footsteps resonated and the jungle shrubs slightly quivered from vibrations. Someone was approaching, Luke knew. Someone was calling out Rey's name in alarm. And that voice belonged to a man--a man Luke once knew.