IN the barracks of the Resistance main ship, a group of Resistance fighters sit around, resting. One of them whispers to another, “Where do you think Rey has gone? None of our scouts can locate her.”

The other replies, “I dunno. Maybe she ran away and gave up on the cause?”

Finn overhears this, and gives him a dirty look. The soldier sees him. “Hey,” the soldier barks at Finn, “This was your fault, wasn’t it? The least you can do is try to find her.”

Finn ignores him. He turns away from them, and closes his eyes. “Rey,” he whispers. He’s tried many times, every day for almost two months, but has never succeeded. He keeps on trying to meditate, trying to replicate what Rey told him. Reach out. Reach out and breathe. Those were the words she learned from Luke. Then, he sees something.

No longer does he feel as if he’s in the Resistance ship. He sees an aquatic world, and dives in. Though he is not actually there, his mind wanders through the sea, and deep down into a strange underwater world. He travels through many of its corridors and chambers. And then, in an isolated room, he sees someone. It’s Rey.

“Rey!” Finn calls out to her. She turns around.

“Finn?”

“Rey, I’ve been looking all over for you!”

Without saying a word, Rey runs up to hug him, but falls right past. Finn is startled. “What just happened?” he asks.

“I don’t know. There’s just so much going on. But you can really use the Force!” Then, Rey realizes what’s going on. “I’m not shrouded in darkness... I’m not in another world... you must have Force projected to where I am.”

“Force projected?”

“It’s a technique I heard about from Luke.”

“Luke is alive and with you?”

“Yes! But Finn, you can’t stay here! If you’re Force projecting yourself, you’re putting a strain on your body. You have to leave before you’re overwhelmed!”

“I... don’t feel any strain?”

Rey is confused. “That’s not possible. It’s even stranger that you can use the technique in the first place. How did you get so much stronger in the Force already?”

Finn thinks for a second, then asks, “Could it be because of the anomaly? Maybe it’s the thing that’s given me the ability to Force project in a different way? Maybe that’s why I’m getting Force powers?”

Rey shakes her head, “It can’t be.”

Finn sighs, “I don’t know what’s happening. But there’s more important things I want to know now. Look, I take back what I said. Something weird has been going on with the Force. What have you been doing? How is Luke still alive?”

Rey explains to Finn what’s been happening. She tells him that she and Luke have retrieved three of the five remaining soul objects, but have no lead on the last two, so she’s tried to find clues using one of the largest libraries in the galaxy. She tells him, “The Jedi texts have these stories that I couldn’t make heads or tails out of. I thought they were just nonsense. But first, I realized they were allegories. And then I was able to find my own ‘soul world’- and I realized it had materialized in a way like those stories.”

“What do they mean?”

“Each one of us sees the Force in a way that others may not understand. That’s why all those stories were written as allegories- the only way the Jedi could describe their personal thoughts about the Force to others was by framing them in ways that were familiar. When I discovered my soul world, I realized it was the only way I could get others to truly understand how I see the Force.”

“How does anyone get to a soul world?”

“I’d figure they’d need the help of a teacher, who also helps them interpret the texts. I can help you find yours!”

“Nope. I’m good.” Finn says, not wanting to get involved in unnecessary meddlings with the unknown. Everything Rey has said is a lot for Finn to take in, and he places a hand over his face, and groans. Now it’s his turn to explain. “A month ago, Poe said he got a message from Leia that suspected General Citho was a traitor.”

“What? Was he?”

“Based on what we found, he wasn’t. But that was because the evidence I found was given to me by someone suspicious. I don’t think she’s telling the truth.”

“How come?” Rey asks.

“She just... something just doesn’t feel right about her. Plus, I’m not done with Citho just yet. You remember those force visions you had about him?”

“So now you believe me.”

“Yeah. I’ve been through some stuff. Is there any way I can see them too?”

Rey thinks for a moment, and replies, “During my meditation sessions, I’ve been seeing those dark rips in time. But I’ve learned to resist them. Maybe we’ll both find the answers we need if we approach them in a different way.”

“How?”

“The dark rips emit a sort of frequency, and I think what they do is allow us to see a certain perspective of the Force. But I found a way to tune this frequency, like on a radio dial, so that it can allow us to see a different perspective of the vision. Without the tuning, we’ll be thrown into that horrible nightmare from my first vision.”

“Then let’s do it.”

Finn watches Rey as she performs a peculiar ritual, and soon, a dark rift in space tears open. She waves her hands around it, and a blue streak withers through. “There,” she says, “Now all we have to do is to reach into it.” She begins to move her hand towards the abrasion.

Finn takes a deep breath. He watches as Rey is reaching out, but he hesitates and feels paralyzed. But he remembers his duty. His responsibility. He reaches his hand out, and in sync with Rey, they both touch the dark rift.

They are in Fortuna. The sky is still dark, but Rey notices it is not as terrifying as before. They pass by an ship, and look inside of it. The devices show the coordinates, date and time: two decades ago, back when Luke was still alive. Next to it is a red pendant inscribed with three fangs, drawn in a unique way that Finn has never seen before. They exit the ship, and see a hooded figure kneeling before an ominous entity. They can’t see who these figures are.

The hooded figure speaks to the entity in a distorted voice. “So, the only way this can work is if the Force is disrupted?”

“Yes,” the entity replies with a ghostly echo, “But we foresee that in the future, he will come investigate this place too, and reverse what we have done. We must be careful to not leave any traces of our ritual performed here.”

Suddenly, the two turn to Rey and Finn’s direction. The terrifying presence that Rey felt begins to loom over them again.

“Finn, we have to get out of here!” Rey shouts, “That thing is about to discover we’re here!” Using all of their combined might, Rey and Finn leave the vision. They are back in the isolated room of the aquatic dome.

“That hooded guy- that has to be Citho!” Finn asserts.

“But we don’t know that. We couldn’t see who he was.”

“You saw Citho in your first vision, right? Who else could it be?”

“It could be anyone!”

Finn scoffs. “Almost no one steps foot in Fortuna. Who else could it be? Luke?”

“I don’t know.”

“You’re... not seriously considering that guy to be Luke, right?”

“I... No! But Luke’s been teaching me to stop jumping to conclusions. We heard that they fear ‘someone’ is going to try to go to Fortuna to stop them. What if that’s Citho? What if he has the answers we need?”

Finn laughs. “There is no way in hell Citho is secretly working to stop the Force disruptions. If anything, he’d be using whatever ritual that was to ruin the Resistance.”

“I just don’t know. We don’t have any more evidence.”

“Then I’ll find it.” Finn thinks for a moment, and then says, “Wait. I’ve got something. Remember that date we saw? Citho’s locations are constantly tracked for his medical issues. If I can get into his medical records, or find out they were tampered with, then I get prove that he was on Fortuna on that date, in that very spot we saw.”

“Finn! You’re asking to break into confidential files! That’s class A treason!”

“Well, they already think I’m a criminal.”

“But the only thing this will do is prove to them that you are one!”

Finn sighs. Then he says, “Rey, you’re not gonna change my mind. Just like I couldn’t change yours. I’m going to do this.”

Rey sighs too, and deep down, she knows there’s nothing she can do. “Then promise me that if you ever need help, you’ll contact me. I’ll be here for you.”

Finn nods. “I’ll keep you updated,” he says. “I’ve gotta go now. I’ve been assigned to clean the barracks.”

“Wait,” Rey says, “Before you go, there’s something I have to give to you. For a while now, I’ve been trying to tap into the links that allow Force users to communicate with one another from far away. Very few know they exist. The anomalies are destabilizing these links, and are causing them to randomly turn on and off. But I’ve been learning from the Jedi texts how to make these crafts called ‘soul instruments’. And after tinkering with them, I think I found a way to stabilize the links.”

“How?”

“By connecting with someone through the Force, I can pass along these soul instruments. The ones I’ll send you act as communication devices. They can even work when someone has their surrogate up. Every one who is sufficiently Force sensitive enough emits a sort of aura, and the texts have taught me a way to calculate coordinates to these auras. I can ping to someone’s coordinates, and if they let me in, I can speak with them. So, I’ve found my own coordinates. I’ve found Luke’s, too. Give me a few seconds, and I can find yours.”

“That means we can contact each other whenever we need to.”

“Yes. There’s three coordinates I want to give you. One is my own. But, in case anything happens to me, I want you to contact Luke.”

“And what’s the third one?”

“I'll... tell you when the time is right. In case Luke and I can’t be contacted, use those third set of coordinates. But just not now.”

“Uh, okay,” Finn says, not questioning any further as he does with a lot of Force-related things Rey talks about, “Thanks.”

“When you are free, I can teach you how to craft soul instruments.” She keeps on trying to speak to him, not wanting him to leave. But she know she’s only prolonging the inevitable. “Stay safe, Finn.”

“I will.”