Spark of Hope

Chapter V

Walking into her room, Rey immediately knew someone had been in there. Not because the bag and the 'fake' books were gone—they hadn't been touched—but another's presence lingered. Her eyes shot to the Sacred Jedi Texts hiding among the other books on the bookshelf to make sure they were there.

She quickly scanned the room for any differences, but luckily found none. Rey went up to her desk, flipped open the flap on the bag, and pulled out the five random books. They were the ones she had chosen, so whoever had come in hadn't replaced them in hopes of deceiving her as she wanted to do them.

Why had they—whomever it was—come into her room? What had they wanted to gain?

Either her ruse had worked at foiling their plan, or her paranoia was unnecessary... Even though she told herself that, Rey couldn't believe that any of those reasons were entirely true. She'd still keep an eye out.

After emptying her bag and arranging the books like she had been reading through them, Rey walked up to the bookcase where the Texts sat on five different levels, and wondered which one to start with. Her hand reached out to just pick one when she stopped. She had to think like a Jedi—things weren't just random; the Force willed everything to happen as it did.

Pulling her hand back, Rey closed her eyes, released a slow breath, raised a hand, and asked the Force to bring the Text she needed most to her. Before long, her hand closed around a book; she opened her eyes to see the Text in her hand being the one she had originally reached for. Her lips twisted into a smirk—there was no choice; only the Force.

From the years of living on Jakku and not having a chair or desk, Rey ignored them and sat on the floor and began to read.

At first, she couldn't understand the old alphabet, but then, somehow, the letters started to make sense and sentences practically congealed before her eyes. She guessed it had to be the Force again.

That particular Text briefly mentioned the establishing of the first Jedi, stated how midi-chlorians in the blood determined how Force-sensitive a Jedi would be, then went straight into detailing lost Jedi wisdom and different abilities. The latter was what she looked for. But page after page told her what she already knew—telekinesis, Force Hold, Force Push, improved agility and speed, and heightened senses.

Even though Rey carefully read the instructions on performing each ability, she was disappointed the Text didn't hold enlightenment like she had hoped. She returned to the bookshelf to grab all the books and sat them in front of her on the floor.

She flipped through those as well, not finding anything ground-breakingly helpful, but small things that might help her concentrate. Like the Mantra:

Emotion, yet peace.

Ignorance, yet knowledge.

Passion, yet serenity.

Chaos, yet harmony.

Death, yet the Force.

In another—slightly newer—book was a modification to that Mantra. Rey recognized Master Luke Skywalker's handwriting:

Jedi are the guardians of peace in the galaxy.

Jedi use their powers to defend and to protect.

Jedi respect life, in any form.

Jedi serve others rather than ruling over them, for the good of the galaxy.

Jedi seek to improve themselves through knowledge and training.

Like in the second book with the original Mantra, Luke also listed tenets a Jedi must abide by:

Jedi do not marry in order to avoid attachment and so not to create dynasties of those strong in the Force.

If a Jedi ignites his lightsaber, he must be ready to take a life.

A Jedi does not act for personal power.

Jedi must not have wants; self-reliance must be shown.

There were many others, but Rey snapped the book shut in disgust before she read them all. She had already disobeyed half of those tenets. In her defense, she hadn't known about them.

So, was she just fooling herself, thinking she was part of the Light Side when she was actually part of the Dark Side? Do these Texts truly determine who is good or bad?

She put her head in her hands—she had no idea being a Jedi would be so taxing. On one hand, you had to constantly refuse the temptation of the Dark Side, then you had all these things a Jedi could and could not do.

Frantic knocking sounded on her door followed by the cry of her name. The door slid open to show Poe.

"Rey, the Zaveens are attacking the city! If we don't handle this quickly, word can reach the First Order on where we are!"

As she jumped up to grab her staff, Rey used telekinesis to put up the Sacred Jedi Texts back into the bookshelf.

Poe looked awestruck. "Seeing you use the Force will never cease to amaze me."

"I think it'll still catch me by surprise, too," she said as she stopped before him. "Where are we needed the most?"

He quickly turned serious. "The north end of the city; come on."

They ran through the Akiva palace, abuzz with movement of Resistance fighters and palace guards alike. Nearly everyone they passed was armed with a blaster and headed outside or, as in the finely dressed senators, hurried deeper inside for shelter. Already armed with a gun on his hip, Rey and Poe didn't have to stop to grab weapons—they ran out of the palace and headed for Myrra.

As they flew through the emptying streets, blaster-fire filled the air along with cries of pain coming from far before them.

"Sorry, Poe; I can only use it on me!" Rey yelled.

"Use wha—Holy crap!"

She had withdrawn into herself to connect her mind and body with the Force and now shot ahead of him, drawing further and further away.

"I'll catch up... eventually!" Poe called behind her. His voice grew fainter, but she thought he asked her not to kill everything before he got there.

When Rey arrived, she didn't stop to take cover on the defenders' side, she ran straight to the enemy side and slammed the end of staff into a Zaveen's stomach then drove it up into his chin before he realized she was there. Her sudden, quick, and powerful blows sent him into the air; as he fell, she had blazed over to take down the next one in line. She moved so fast the Zaveens were just blobs of blue.

Once three of the Zaveens had fallen, the rest finally realized someone was with them. They at first turned their blasters her way but then received more casualties from their attention being diverted off of the defenders firing at them. Growing smart, some remained firing at the defenders while others tried to shoot her.

Through the Force, Rey maintained her speed, but her agility also increased exponentially with her able to dodge lasers. She also used it to catch a red laser and send it back to the shooter or divert the path of one to hit another enemy. Enemies flew everywhere when she used a Force Push.

Because of Rey, the attack was over in no time. The defenders had received minor injuries while the Zaveens were mostly dead. Now that her heightened speed returned to normal, the dead Zaveens became visible. The blue-skinned mammalians were nose-less, had small foreheads, and black, beady eyes. Seeing one survivor raise a comlink to his lips, Rey shot her hand out; the small device flew out of his grasp and into hers. She crushed the flimsy device as the Zaveen stared on in shock.

A loud huff brought her eyes up to see Poe now reaching them. "Really? You took all the fun! I told you to save me some."

She gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry?"