Star Wars Rebels: Come In, Spectre Six

Part Twelve

The present becomes the past.

As the morning sun rose diligently into the strange sky, the two rebels ventured into the unknown. There weren't many landmarks that Ahsoka recognized, but she could tell they were close to the monastery. She could sense it.

Sabine, however, couldn't help but feel like they were being followed. Every time she turned around, she saw a strange shadow or a whoosh in the grass. After the fifth time of urging Ahsoka to believe her, she turned around and found herself face-to-face with a strange green-and-white-bird. It was sitting on Ahsoka's shoulder, staring at her with big, kind eyes. Ahsoka grinned and scratched the bird under its chin.

"Beautiful, isn't she?" Ahsoka asked.

"That's one way to put it," Sabine mumbled.

The strange bird gave her a sideways glance.

"What is it?" Sabine asked.

"I believe she is the remnant of a good spirit. But the name of her species is called a convor." The bird cooed. "Her name is Morai."

In a single hop, Morai leaped on top of Sabine's head from Ahsoka's shoulder, whacking her face with her long tail and getting bits of fur in Sabine's mouth. Morai leaped back to laughing Ahsoka's shoulder as Sabine spat out the fur.

"Wonderful," Sabine complained, "Will the bird be traveling with us?"

Ahsoka stopped. "I don't know yet."

The bird jerked off her shoulder and hovered in front of her face, swiftly flapping her small wings. Ahsoka held a hand up towards the convor and closed her eyes to concentrate. After a few intense minutes, she opened her eyes again and looked west.

"We're close," she said, darting in the opposite direction they were headed.

Sabine ran after her, trying, and failing, to catch up with Ahsoka's Force-enhanced speed. Suddenly Ahsoka stopped, staring into the distance. Sabine shortly caught up and tried to catch her breath.

"Where..." Sabine wheezed, "are... we?"

"Wherever Ezra is," Ahsoka replied.

Sabine shot straight up and stared at whatever Ahsoka was. A tall monastery, taller than the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, sat perched on top of a mountain. It was covered in rubble and debris, and the top was glistening with shattered glass. Near the top was a balcony. Sabine thought she saw a person there with glowing red eyes, but when she blinked, they had vanished.

Ahsoka hiked down the steep, rocky slope and headed for the entrance. Sabine quickly rushed after her with a hand on Ezra's lightsaber.

"We're going in there?" Sabine asked, gazing into the creepy, dark foyer.

"You want to find Ezra and prove he's alive, don't you?" Ahsoka said in return without looking at Sabine or stopping her quick pace.

With a sigh, Sabine reluctantly kept pace with her Jedi friend, stepping carefully into the dark foyer. Ahsoka activated her white-hot lightsabers so they could see, but also for protection.

Only the dead who watched over them would know what was in here.

There was hardly anything to see. Other than darkness, the only thing visible was the white light of Ahsoka's graceful weapons. After a tripping a few times, Sabine activated her green saber so she could see where she was going.

Ten minutes of eerie silence passed slowly, a light flashed out of nowhere, revealing a staircase and making the rebels jump. Ahsoka closed her eyes and held out her hand, reaching out with her consciousness to see if this was the right way to go.

After a moment, she spoke, "He's this way. I can feel his presence."

"That's good... right?" Sabine said as they started to climb up the steps.

Ahsoka shook her head. "Nothing is as it seems here, my friend. Don't trust anyone, especially Ezra. Who knows what's happened to him since he's been on this crazy planet..."

Sabine sighed. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

They walked the rest of the way in silence, but not a peaceful silence. A silence that seemed to eat them alive from the inside out and tore their brain in all directions as they moved, leaving them to wonder...

What happens next?