Padawan
The canyon did not welcome them. Instead it loomed; vast and indifferent, it's jagged walls rising like the ribs of some ancient, long-dead beast. Wind moved through it in uneven currents, not constant but pulsing; like breath drawn and released by something unseen. Dust whispered along the stone, catching in the fractured remains of the transport where it had carved its way down into the depths.
The descent had not been natural. Lumiya became aware of that before she became aware of anything else. Not through sight. Not through sound. But through absence. Consciousness returned to her in measured increments: controlled and deliberate. Pain followed, distant and catalogued rather than felt. The sharp edge of it dulled beneath discipline, filed neatly into something manageable, something irrelevant. She did not move immediately. Instead, she listened.
The transport groaned around her, it's ruined frame settling in slow, reluctant shifts. Somewhere nearby, a system sparked; irregular and unstable. Beyond that, the wind....though even that seemed inconsistent. It rose, then fell, not with any natural rhythm that she could place.
Her eyes fluttered open. Smoke drifted through the fractured interior, thin and wavering, pulled toward the broken hull where light bled in from above. The angle of it told her enough. They were deep - far deeper than any controlled descent would have allowed.
Memory soon followed. A stable flight. Clear trajectory. No external interference. And then - A pause. Not in the engines. But in the Force. The recollection settled into place with quiet precision. The pilot had faltered - yes. Slumped forward, life slipping without warning. But that alone did not account for the way the moment had felt. The subtle disruption. The absence where there should have been presence. As though something had….withdrawn.
Or been taken.
Lumiya exhaled slowly, her breath steady despite the lingering haze. Now, she moved. Metal protested softly as she shifted, extricating herself from the contorted remnants of her surroundings. Each motion was efficient, economical and untouched by panic. There was no place for it here. Only assessment. Only control.
Beyond the fractured hull, the canyon stretched in both directions. It was endless, uneven, and exposed. No immediate path upward. No clear signal of rescue. Isolation, then. But not emptiness.
Her gaze lifted slightly, not searching the wreckage now; but the space beyond it. The unseen. The intangible. That same absence lingered at the edges of her awareness. It was faint. Elusive. And wrong.
For a moment, she stilled completely. Then, almost imperceptibly she reached for it.
Somewhere within the shattered transport, a faint sound broke the stillness. Movement.
Survivors...
Tag:
Xuko Pagoi
The descent had not been natural. Lumiya became aware of that before she became aware of anything else. Not through sight. Not through sound. But through absence. Consciousness returned to her in measured increments: controlled and deliberate. Pain followed, distant and catalogued rather than felt. The sharp edge of it dulled beneath discipline, filed neatly into something manageable, something irrelevant. She did not move immediately. Instead, she listened.
The transport groaned around her, it's ruined frame settling in slow, reluctant shifts. Somewhere nearby, a system sparked; irregular and unstable. Beyond that, the wind....though even that seemed inconsistent. It rose, then fell, not with any natural rhythm that she could place.
Her eyes fluttered open. Smoke drifted through the fractured interior, thin and wavering, pulled toward the broken hull where light bled in from above. The angle of it told her enough. They were deep - far deeper than any controlled descent would have allowed.
Memory soon followed. A stable flight. Clear trajectory. No external interference. And then - A pause. Not in the engines. But in the Force. The recollection settled into place with quiet precision. The pilot had faltered - yes. Slumped forward, life slipping without warning. But that alone did not account for the way the moment had felt. The subtle disruption. The absence where there should have been presence. As though something had….withdrawn.
Or been taken.
Lumiya exhaled slowly, her breath steady despite the lingering haze. Now, she moved. Metal protested softly as she shifted, extricating herself from the contorted remnants of her surroundings. Each motion was efficient, economical and untouched by panic. There was no place for it here. Only assessment. Only control.
Beyond the fractured hull, the canyon stretched in both directions. It was endless, uneven, and exposed. No immediate path upward. No clear signal of rescue. Isolation, then. But not emptiness.
Her gaze lifted slightly, not searching the wreckage now; but the space beyond it. The unseen. The intangible. That same absence lingered at the edges of her awareness. It was faint. Elusive. And wrong.
For a moment, she stilled completely. Then, almost imperceptibly she reached for it.
Somewhere within the shattered transport, a faint sound broke the stillness. Movement.
Survivors...
Tag:
Xuko Pagoi