The Redemption of Fate ~ A Reylo Story

17

Rey's eyes widened with trepidation as she caught sight of a consuming flash fire spreading vigorously in her direction. The fire's giant, encompassing mouth sucked in the atmosphere within milliseconds, like it had a ravaging mind of its own, aware of exactly where to twist and bend and slosh around at. Rey turned to flee from the firestorm in the opposite direction, but it had already outsmarted her competence. Both sides of the wasteland she stood helplessly inside of were chasing her down; fiery torment was her only option. She stood there like a sitting duck, unable to defend herself, and too hopeless to even try. Fire was fire, and it was, in this case, inexorable.

The inferno's sizzling flames were in reaches of Rey and she braced herself. Unaware of what to feel, unaware of what to comprehend. She had absolutely not one conceptualization of what the fire meant. Was it a test? Surely, it had to be. Was it real? No, Rey hoped that if she made it out alive, and the fire was in fact real, that she would still be recognizable despite the gruesome burns. But as the last glimpse of blood red atmosphere was replaced by sweeping blazes, Rey closed her eyes shut, felt fresh tears fall onto her cheeks, and hoped that whatever would happen, happened with her resilience on the line and hope in her heart.

But nothing happened. Unbelievably, there was no pain. There were no burns--craziest of all, there was no death. That same eerie darkness encapsulated her again.
"Ah, dear child," Rey recognized that voice from anywhere--it was Snoke. That fermented voice, that condescending tone, even worse than Palpatine's. Unbelievably worse. "You passed. Maybe from that rebellious spunk you've always had inside--deep in your soul. Is that why my apprentice, Kylo Ren, fell for your cunning ways? I can only imagine. You are so much stronger than him. You would have made a better apprentice. What a pity."
Rey no longer felt terrified. She no longer felt oppressed by the corruptness of the voices echoing inside her brain. Now, all she felt-- even tasted--was vengeance and fury.
"What is it that you want?" Rey spat.

"Finality."
Rey's anger was discontinued by an icy shiver that trailed down her spine. Before she could dig up a response, Snoke continued, "The final test will tell all. Clearly, you were strong enough to surpass the other trials given to you, but this one. . . this one you will not."
"How. . . how would you know?" Rey asked. The flames of hatred inside of her were gradually building back up again. Heat was sizzling her imperceptible cheeks as she floated in a galactic darkness. Only faint, twinkling stars and minuscule planets rotated above her as if she was at the very depths of the universe, looking up at it all glooming before her. There was something so very ominous about the way the stars flickered. It was as if they were dying, taking their last breath. And the glowing planets above her--it was as if they were waiting to drop down onto her.

"Oh, I know." Snoke replied. His horrid, disgusting face was finally beginning to become visible to Rey's vision. His deformed head loomed in an uncomfortably close proximity to Rey's face, and the rest of his grotesque body took up the expanse of her view. Snoke was all she could see now, and Rey couldn't decide what was more terrifying: his all-knowing eyes, or his towering presence. But she forbade herself to show the fear. She swallowed down the panic though she nearly choked on it.
With one quick breath, Rey said, "Do what you need to do."
And that was when the pain began. Sharp and debilitating without any warning, without any restriction.