Playlist:

❶ "Lesson One" 0.30–2.12—The Last Jedi OST

⊘ = Silence

❷ "Tales of a Jedi Knight/Learn About the Force (Medley)"—A New Hope OST

❸ "The Miracle of the Ark" 2.00–6.05—Raiders of the Lost Ark OST

A string of beeps jostled Luke from his meditation as the snub-nosed X-wing transitioned from hyperspace.

"Artoo, I see it. Set an orbital path over the Holy City," he said into the comm. "Hey, when did maintenance say they'd finish the shuttle refit?"

The repair log scrolled down his screen.

"Four weeks, huh? Well, we have to be back by then anyway for the opening of the Senate."

The droid beeped a long string of binary code.

Luke twisted in his seat to stretch his legs. "Just a little cramped in here. X-wings weren't designed for long-distance comfort."

Artoo spurted a chuckle.

The small craft quaked as it passed into the atmosphere. Beads of sweat tickled his brow as the temperature climbed in the cabin. "More power to life support, Artoo."

The astromech droid chirped a query.

"I'm all right. Just a little hot as we cross the atmo barrier." Luke peered outside the canopy at the moon below. "Looks like a bunch of rocks and sand."

The droid spat out a string of beeps and whistles.

"Hey, watch your language. Holy City."

He could have sworn Artoo snorted.

"City mound is coming up fast. Run your scanners. See if there's a safe place to land." Luke banked the X-wing to the left to get a better visual on the objective.

A bright light flashed from the desert floor. "Ah!" He closed his eyes and turned his head away. He jerked the steering yoke, leveling off his approach. "What was that, Artoo?"

A long string of beeps and whirs ensued.

"Glass? The entire city is molten glass?" He hit the console with his fists. "How in the world are we going to get into the temple then?"

The little droid sighed and beeped.

"That's all right, Artoo." Luke inhaled deeply and began a meditation cycle while the X-wing continued its orbital flyover.

A few moments into his ritual, when the surface of Jedha was nothing more than a taupe blur, he felt it.

At first, it was no more than a tug—a pull he could not escape.

Something or someone was calling to him—no—singing to him. A beautiful melody with the clearest soprano voices. He could not distinguish the words or even the syllables, but the haunting tones chilled him.

He flicked a few switches on his console. "Artoo, home in on that singing. There's someone down there. We need to help them."

A snotty reply came from the droid socket.

"No, I'm not imagining things."

A sequence of tweedles chastised him.

"Artoo."

The little droid snickered a question.

"Never mind. Just put it on manual. We're going in."

Artoo chirped a nine-syllable retort that made Luke grin.

"Always the optimist, aren't you?"

"Brree-EEEEEEop."

"I heard that."

❶ Luke shucked his orange flight suit and tossed it into the cockpit before he hopped to the gritty sand. He sighed at the tower of rubble that rose a few hundred meters away.

Artoo squawked at him.

"No, you stay here and guard the ship. Keep her warmed."

Rocking his cylindrical body in the astromech slot, the droid warbled at him in a lower register than normal.

"Thanks. I'm going to need it."

With his silver lightsaber hilt swinging at his hip, he sauntered down the rocky slope. When he reached the heap of boulders, the hazy outline of what might have been a tower at one point rose above it a few meters.

"Master Yoda!" Luke peered around the wreckage. "Master Yoda!"

He wiped the perspiration from his brow and moved toward the faint singing. "Stand back."

The wind swirled a mixture of fine and gritty sand into his eyes, beating him back from the rock fall.

Luke lowered his head and pushed his way through a heavy gust. He clutched at a medium-sized boulder that was perched at his shoulder height. He gritted his teeth as he tugged at the stone.

The wind and dust continued to drive Luke back. He tucked his nose into the crook of his arm and drew in a few filtered breaths. Ten meters down the slope, the wind lessened.

After catching his breath and wiping the dripping sweat from his face, he rose to his full height and planted his feet. He faced the gusts head-on. Closing his eyes, he ranged out with the Force.

The wind stilled.

A large rockfall and remnants of a tower stood before him. Taking a deep breath, he stretched forth his fingers and sent the Force toward the rocks.

He lifted his hands, the boulders in the front group rising a few centimeters. Sweat poured from his head, his face burnishing a bright red.

⊘ The largest rock on the bottom touched down first.

Then another.

And another until they all tumbled.

The earth beneath him shook, tossing him to the ground. He swallowed his fear and sat up as the ground stopped quaking. He crossed his legs and placed his feet on top of his knees and straightening his spine. Luke shook his head as if coming out of a daze. 

Closing his eyes, he took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He repeated this cycle ten times.

❷ When his heart stopped racing, he flicked his hand to the side and removed one boulder from the slide.

Then another.

And another.

After a dozen, he inhaled deeply. You are one with the Force, and the Force is with you. Nothing is impossible with the Force. Open yourself to it. Yoda's teachings echoed in his head.

He let go of his tension and let the Force wash through him. The song he had heard before swelled in his head as the Force bathed his inner being.

When he reached a peace he had not known in ages—a peace he thought he would never attain again—he channeled the Force to a group of boulders. Not just one or two this time, but a collection of rubble exploded into the sky and scattered onto the wasteland behind him.

Then another.

And another.

Soon, musty air hit his olfactory receptors. A few more blasts and an opening emerged in the mountain, a dark chasm daring him to enter.

❸ As he stepped into the cool hollow, sand trickling from above, a wave of déjà vu overwhelmed him. The earthen walls, the metal grates, the darkness pierced by shafts of light from far above. Any minute, a Gamorrean guard is going to come around a corner.

He treaded across the scattered debris inside the entrance. About a hundred meters in, the corpse of a large soldier lay buried beneath some rubble. The body had deteriorated in places, but Luke could still distinguish the remnants of the man's prosthetics and breathing apparatus.

Father wasn't the only one confined by these infirmities. Wonder what happened here. Was this guy unable to get out before the quake?

The haunting song swelled in the corridor, leading him toward a chamber deep within the complex. The cells on either side soon lost their metal grates and doors. Only narrow portals gave entrance.

Luke lit his lightsaber for illumination, holding it low, and peered into one. Wrapped in a coarse shroud, skeletal remainsnestled on a shelf.

Catacombs? But who were these people? And how long ago did they live?

He doused his saber and pressed deeper into the edifice, following the glow toward the end of the tunnel.

The melody surged with each step, leading him ever forward. The music no longer spoke of joy and love but of waiting and anticipation. The steady beat of it captured his full attention.

As he neared the terminus, the light extinguished, casting him into utter darkness. This deep into the mountain, not even a fissure existed.

His heart raced and his breathing increased. The song that had ended so abruptly now burst forth again with words he could not understand. But the pull was there. Touch us. Save us. Take us.

The light returned once more, but this time not as a soft glow. Instead, it erupted in a brilliant flash, blinding him momentarily.

Luke could determine the source this time—large crystals strung in broken cases bleeding their light.

Still, they called to him. Save us.

He stretched forth his hand as a wave of frosty chill passed over his body—no, through his body. He froze his hand centimeters away from the nearest crystal. I've only felt this cold a few times before. The cave on Dagobah, Vader, and ... the Emperor.

"No! I will not give into the dark side. I am a Jedi."

As he hesitated, the music transformed into demonic screeches. The light from the crystals turned from brilliant white to furious scarlet. A hideous cackle overlay the screeches.

Without warning, energy arced from the cracked gems, red streaks of lightning contorting around the chamber. Within seconds, they had cocooned Luke and tossed him to the packed clay.

As he writhed on the floor, he broke into a sweat. The face of the Emperor appeared before his eyes.

"Father! Help me, please!"

Pain shot through every nerve in his body, arching his back and twisting every muscle and fiber.

"Luke, real this is not. Resist it you must." Yoda's voice boomed around him. "Pull the Force in. Let it fill every crevice of your being."

Hyperventilating and writing on the floor, the Jedi opened his soul, focusing on the light within and the Force without. Through his inner sight, he envisaged the light of the Force battling the darkness in this tomb, in the crystals, in his mind.

"I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me." He chanted the mantra as he immersed himself in the light he so craved, finding healing once more from the terrors of the darkness.

Did you know ...

● Luke has learned how to identify the dark side, but it will always be a temptation.

Tell me what you think ...

● Is Yoda doing this or something else?