Confronting Fear

Lake Natth

Rey stood next to Ben on the shale gazing out into the distance of the lake looking for movement of any kind when the Force screamed of danger in her mind, breaking through the haze of Darkness that had enveloped it. In pure instinct she jumped backwards narrowly avoiding the black reptilian head of sharp teeth that emerged from it snapping at the spot she had stood less than a second before.

Ben, was not so lucky.

The creature managed to snare a mouthful of Ben's cape in its jagged teeth, dragging him into the black waters before Rey's wind chapped lips could even form a scream.

Ben took a shallow breath, careful to conserve the small pocket of air trapped inside the helmet as he grounded himself in the Force. Ben would later marvel at how surprisingly clear the water was under the black surface of the lake, but at the moment was too busy fighting for his life. He managed to get a glimpse of the monster dragging him through the water, Darkness permeating its signature. It was reptilian, at least nine feet long and a fucking good swimmer as it dragged him through the water by his cape. His finger found the igniter switch on his lightsaber, the unstable red blade sputtering to life. With a careful flick of his wrist he severed the cape somewhere near the middle of his back, freeing him from the giant man eating lizard.

He'd been so focused on getting free he hadn't heard Rey screaming frantically into his mind until the moment the he was loose.

Rey, hold on.

Rey's screams quieted as his voice sounded through the bond, her relief washing over him. The fight wasn't over yet though, as the beast realized it was dragging around a piece of cloth with no meat attached to it. It circled back towards Ben with its maw opened and taloned feet outstretched to ensnare him. He was so not in the mood for this and there was no fucking way he was going to get killed by a damned lizard. First a spider, now a lizard. A huge lizard imbued with the Dark-Side and a spider with Dark infused venom, but still! Apparently the Maker not only wanted him dead, it wanted to kill him in the most embarrassing way possible; by way of some inferior life-form. Hell, getting shot down by that cocky, loudmouthed Resistance pilot wouldn't be as bad as this.

His Darkness beckoned at the edges of consciousness and he let it through, let it grant him power through his hatred of this abomination that had dared to try and kill him and tried to snare Rey....

Rey.

Ben used the Force to thrust himself forward, with a silent roar he cleaved the beast cleanly in two, from the edge of its pointed snout to the tip of its spiked tail, black blood spilled into the water in a cloud around the two halves of the reptile, blood that would draw anything else living in this fucking lake straight to him. He sucked in the last tiny bit of air he had left as he wrapped the Force around himself, propelling him to the surface.

It was pure luck that he saw it, saw the glimmer through the water. Something, was glowing near one of the black spikes of stone, its red shine barely visible in the distance. He could feel something too, something emanating through the Force from monolith of stone.

Sweet air flooded his lungs in gasps as he broke through the glossy surface like a whale breaching. It was twin to the relief flooding his mind through the bond.

Rey, had spotted him from the shale.

Ben, what do you need me to do?

Hold on, there's something down here.

Ben, what are you doing?

He had realized he could no longer feel the pulse in the Force once he'd surfaced and he had a thought as to why. He let himself be pulled down by the dead weight of his armor and boots until his head was completely submerged. As soon as it was the pulse returned, rippling through the water straight to him, as though beckoning him to come find it. Whatever it was that was there, the water was absorbing its signature before it could break to the surface.