Chapter Thirteen: Beneath the White Moon
976 Words
Echoes Through the Force
Chapter Thirteen: Beneath the White Moon
The vault did not open with violence.
It opened with patience.
Ancient gears, untouched for centuries, ground against one another with a low, resonant hum that echoed across the empty plateau. Dust cascaded from the stone as a narrow gap widened into a doorway large enough for two people to enter side by side.
A breath of cool air escaped from within.
It smelled faintly of rain.
Impossible.
There had been no rain on this moon for a thousand years.
Seris ignited her flashlight.
Kade simply watched the darkness.
“After you,” he said.
She looked sideways at him.
“You’re sending me into the mysterious ancient vault first?”
“I know you’d complain if I didn’t.”
She sighed.
“You know me too well.”
“That concerns me.”
“It should.”
Together, they stepped across the threshold.
---
The corridor beyond was untouched by time.
Smooth walls of pale stone curved overhead, etched with constellations unlike any found on modern star charts. Thin streams of blue light flowed through channels in the floor, awakening one by one as Seris and Kade passed.
The deeper they walked, the quieter the Force became.
For the first time in months, the bond between them dimmed.
Not gone.
Muted.
Seris frowned.
“Do you feel that?”
Kade nodded.
“It’s almost peaceful.”
Neither of them trusted peace.
---
The passage opened into a vast circular chamber.
At its center stood a pool as still as polished glass.
No ripples.
No reflection.
Only darkness.
Around it, twelve stone statues formed a ring.
Each figure wore a pendant like theirs.
Each faced inward.
Each had been carved with one hand outstretched toward the pool.
An inscription ran around the edge.
Seris knelt, tracing the symbols with careful fingers.
“They repeat the same phrase.”
“You can read it?”
“Not exactly.”
“What does it say?”
She closed her eyes.
“The Force is… translating the feeling.”
“And?”
She looked up.
“Truth shared cannot be hidden.”
Kade stared at the black surface of the pool.
“I don’t like the sound of that.”
---
As if answering him, the water moved.
Not with waves.
With images.
The first was Seris.
A child no older than six, wrapped in blankets, crying as a woman pressed the silver pendant into her tiny hands.
“Listen to me,” the woman whispered desperately.
“If they find you, never tell them your real name.”
The child nodded through tears.
The woman kissed her forehead.
Then soldiers burst through the door.
The vision dissolved.
Seris stepped backward, breathing hard.
“She… she was my mother.”
The certainty settled into her bones.
She had never seen the woman’s face before.
Yet somehow she knew.
Kade watched in silence.
Then the water changed again.
This time it showed a boy.
Older than Seris in the first vision.
He stood on a balcony overlooking a burning city, gripping his own pendant so tightly that blood ran between his fingers.
A man’s voice echoed behind him.
“Forget who you were.”
The boy answered without turning.
“I can’t.”
“You must.”
The image shattered.
Kade’s jaw clenched.
“I remember that.”
“You do?”
“Only now.”
Neither had noticed that the statues around them were beginning to glow.
One by one.
Until all twelve shone with pale blue light.
---
A new voice filled the chamber.
Not male.
Not female.
Ancient.
“If memory returns…”
“…so too does choice.”
The pool erupted in light.
The statues moved.
Stone cracked.
Heads turned.
Empty eyes opened.
Seris and Kade reacted instantly.
She drew her blaster.
He stepped in front of her without thinking.
The nearest guardian raised a massive stone arm.
Then… knelt.
One after another, every statue lowered itself before them.
The ancient voice spoke again.
“The Keys have returned.”
“Welcome… Keepers of the Gate.”
Silence followed.
Seris looked at Kade.
He looked at her.
Neither liked the title.
Neither understood it.
Then a hidden compartment opened beneath the central pool.
Resting inside was a crystal sphere no larger than an apple, suspended in threads of golden light.
As Kade reached toward it, Seris caught his wrist.
“Wait.”
He paused.
“You think it’s a trap?”
“I think everything involving us lately has been a trap.”
A ghost of a smile crossed his face.
“A fair assessment.”
Together, they extended their hands.
The moment their fingers touched the crystal at the same time, the chamber exploded with visions.
Stars being born.
Empires collapsing.
Two figures standing back-to-back against impossible odds.
And then—
A face.
The masked woman.
Only this time she wore no mask.
She stood in these very halls decades earlier, speaking to someone hidden in shadow.
Her final words echoed through the vision like a promise:
> “If the Twin Stars ever awaken, destroy one before they remember the truth.”
The light vanished.
The crystal fell dark.
Kade and Seris stumbled apart, shaken.
Neither spoke for several heartbeats.
Finally, Seris whispered the question that had begun to haunt them both.
“Remember… what truth?”
Before Kade could answer, the entire vault shook violently.
Stone rained from the ceiling.
Somewhere outside, engines roared.
They rushed to the entrance just in time to see dozens of ships descending through the moon’s thin atmosphere.
Not Resistance.
Not First Order.
Black hulls.
Black banners.
And emblazoned on each one, glowing like a wound against the night sky—
A black sun.
The enemy had found them.
And this time, they had come with an army.
- Writer
