Cruel Destiny | Kylo Ren

Obliterated

I pull my eyes from the highly polished, linoleum floor to catch a glimpse of the hallway that stretches beyond the Dining Hall, to see people beginning to panic or stand beneath its wail confused by its purpose.

I stand from my spot at the table and furrow my brows.

"Are we under attack?" An engineer nearby asks his coworker, the fear radiating off him like a warm flame. It was only a simple question, innocent and bewildered—but it had seemed that a person a couple paces ahead had only heard the last part of it.

"Finalizer's under attack!" He cries, flinging himself over his table and sprinting to the exit. Everyone who had heard him began to panic and fled at once to scurry out of the Dining Hall. Trays crashed to the ground with loud whacks and food spilt to the floor unnoticed as boots endlessly squashed it.

Like a flock of doves scared by the scream of a hawk, the multitude tried their hardest to disperse, but it only became more crowded.

The alarm never stopped as it was a violence to the calm that had been here before, and I can feel the unstoppable rise of panic begin in the pit of my stomach. I cannot concentrate on anything else that I'm doing, for I also throw myself into that swarm—and I couldn't quite tell if it were my own panic I felt, or the multitude of emotions around me.

The crowd is a river of people, everyone moving in the same direction and threatening to trample me if I lose my footing. When I am finally pushed through the doors, I realise the hallway is no different, but now I am faced with the challenge of pushing through the crowd rather than flowing along with it—for Kylo Ren's quarters are in the other direction.

Sirens wailing electronically along the corridors, leaping out from the corners and echoing everywhere. Above, a light began to flash red as a mechanical voice boomed over the alarm.

"Alert. All Engineers, Doctors and Nurses report to the docking station immediately! All other personnel are to remain calm and return to their stations."

Though the voice above never said what was going on, neither confirming or denying an attack on Finalizer: nobody seemed to calm their panic. I try and claw my way through everyone that knocks me out of their way and I begin to feel the claustrophobia take over.

All at once, it felt as if the walls were closing in on me and everyone else, as I forced myself to take a step. And another. And another. I felt like I couldn't breathe—what if I run out of oxygen?

My heart rate began to speed up and so did my breathing. I am almost at the end of the swarming mess of the crowd and I can see empty space in sight.

Breathe. Don't pass out now.

I gasp loudly when I tumble my way out and heave in heavy breaths as if I was drowning. My skin suddenly feels cold as if the air is now cooling my overstressed flesh. Twisting on my heal, I begin to run to the quarters.

I wheeze as my burning lungs gasp for a rest, but I don't stop my footing as I bunch the material of my skirt up over my calves to find more movement.

Twisting around a sudden corner, my heart nearly leaps through my chest as I crash into the hard armour of a StormTrooper... or more-so, four of them.

Crashing onto the ground below their feet they stood unhindered, with their guns pointed to me, "Servant!" One of them declared through their mask, peering down onto me, "Did you listen to the announcement. Get back to your station now!"

The alarm still rings above like the horn of a juggernaut. Blaring. Unceasing. Crippling my thoughts and assaulting my ears. "I-I'm not a servant," I squint, staring above and into the mask, the lights on the ceiling creating twists of hues as they threaten to blind me.