𝐕𝐈𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓 ── ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀɴᴅᴀʟᴏʀɪᴀɴ

1.2

As if on cue, I stopped the attack with my palm and squeezed the spider to death. I threw its body onto the ground, its guts covering my skin. I grimaced, grinning at Din weakly.

"And let them pin you up like that?" I scoffed as Din broke free from its web. "I don't think so."

I took out my blaster and shot at all the creatures, but it was proving to be useless. No matter how many Din and I killed, more and more would only get closer to the ship's interior. We both cursed under our breaths.

I stepped into the Razor Crest through the broken hole and grabbed onto Din's hand, pulling him in with me. We hurried up the ladder that led to the upper floor, shooting more spiders on the way.

However, they were a lot faster than they looked.

By the time Din and I had reached the cockpit, they were already scaling towards the entrance. The door was unable to close due to the number of creatures that were attempting to crawl through the open gap.

Din and I were trying our best to close it in on them but it wasn't enough: a couple of the kryknas had already snuck into the room. The both of us were slowly growing more exhausted by the moment -- there were too many of them.

Suddenly, the screams of the child could be heard -- there was a spider on top of his head. Before I could react, a blast had killed the creatures that lurked around him. I turned and faced the owner of the blast.

The frog lady.

"Thanks.." I said. She nodded back in response, the child whining.

I furrowed my eyebrows and peered back at the entrance to the cockpit, the legs of the kryknas scratching at the door. That's when.. an idea popped into my head.

I took a deep breath in and stepped away. Din looked at me with confusion, placing more pressure on the door, "What do you think you're--?"

He stopped himself from finishing his sentence, watching me as I held my hand out in front of me. I gathered up all the energy that was in me and closed my eyelids, focusing only on the..

Force.

I pushed my hand forward and felt a surge of power explode. The Force was strong enough to have sent all the creatures back, the door to the cockpit finally closing.

Just then, my left arm throbbed like there was no tomorrow -- it hurt like hell. It had taken too much of my vigor for something that used to be an easy action in the past. I winced and fell onto my knees, studying my shaking fingertips. I steadied my breathing to calm my nerves, my forehead covered with sweat. But it wasn't helping.. instead, fear enveloped my mind.

'I.. really am weak.' I thought to myself. 'What is wrong with me? I can't even--'

"Adalyn, look at me," Din's voice penetrated the room. He crouched down in front of me, "I'm right here.."

I glanced briefly at his helmet with glossy eyes. I helplessly cleared my throat, ultimately finding warmth in his stare. I got back up on my feet, ignoring the excruciating pain in my limbs, and I took a deep breath in. I clenched my fists, witnessing the spider-like creatures mount the Razor Crest from the outside.

".. Strap yourselves in," I said. "We're getting out of here."

🔹️🔹️🔹️

'This better work.'

Din clicked a couple of buttons on the control panel while the rest of us buckled ourselves into our chairs. He said eagerly, "I've got limited visibility -- it's gonna be a bumpy ride."