She didn't know why she was here. Not really.
For ten years, Kaelari Vey had followed the Force not the Jedi's version, not the Sith's corruption, but the raw, whispering current that had always called to her. It had led her through warzones, across forgotten moons, into the hearts of dying stars. But never this far.
The Unknown Regions were aptly named. Even the bravest explorers of the Old Republic had only scratched their surface. But something had pulled her deeper an echo, a beacon, a presence untouched by the Force as she knew it. It was ancient. Silent. Waiting.
Her ship, The Emberwake, groaned as it pierced the edge of navigable space. The stars outside her viewport shimmered unnaturally. Then the alarms screamed.
A rift tore open ahead a spiraling vortex of violet and black, like the Force itself had been wounded. She barely had time to reroute power to the shields before the wormhole swallowed her whole.
The descent was chaos. Systems failed. Gravity surged. Her hands flew across the controls, but nothing responded. She was falling no, being dragged toward a blue-green world below. The last thing she saw before impact was a frozen lake rushing up to meet her.
She woke to pain and cold.
Water lapped at her face, seeping into her robes. Her head throbbed. The cockpit was half-submerged, the viewport cracked and frosted. She coughed, groaned, and forced herself upright.
Her ship was dying.
Kaelari reached for her satchel, grabbing what she could her lightsaber, her communicator (if it still worked), a few rations, a thermal cloak. The rest was buried or broken. She hesitated, her hand brushing the console. This ship had been her first forge, her first freedom. Leaving it behind felt like cutting off a limb.
She ignited her saber. The violet blade hissed to life, casting eerie light across the wreckage. With a heavy heart, she carved through the twisted metal, forcing an exit. The hull groaned in protest as she stepped out into the freezing air.
Snow fell in soft sheets. The lake stretched wide and silent, ringed by dark pine forests and jagged peaks. She took a breath, then leapt Force-enhanced high into the air. From her arc, she glimpsed a distant shoreline, a faint plume of smoke curling into the sky.
She landed hard on the ice, knees bending to absorb the shock. Then, turning back to her ship, she reached out with her mind. The Force surged through her, and with a flick of her fingers, The Emberwake groaned and slid beneath the surface, swallowed by the lake's icy depths.
It was done.
Kaelari turned toward the land, her breath misting in the cold. She didn't know where she was. But the Force was here quiet, strange, and ancient. And it was watching.
She walked toward it.