With difficulty choosing the moment when his companions would be busy with their own affairs and stop looking at him, Anakin waited another second, then rushed headlong towards the transparent surface of the lake. He already knew what he would do: he would go to the far corner of the cave, find the most beautiful and rare crystal, and then bring it to Asoka as a token of his love. Among other things, Anakin had read in the holonet about rainbow crystals that grew where no light could penetrate. It would be very lucky to find one. And Skywalker was sure that she would be on his side. After all, it couldn't be otherwise when it came to love. Small but so passionate, coming from the heart. Yes, it was forbidden by the Code, but the Chancellor had told him that there had been cases when the Force itself had commanded two people to be together. He had said very little at the time, and Anakin had no opportunity to ask more, for only Ahsoka had access to the Chancellor among the students, but he felt awkward asking her about it. He had, of course, looked in the library, but even there access was strictly limited, and this information was not available. All that remained was to take Anakin's word for it and continue to cherish the hope in his heart that sooner or later everything would work out the way he wanted it to. However, sitting and waiting was not in this boy's nature, and he decided to prove his love not with words, but with actions, and to do so, he went to the farthest gallery of the cave, which was across the lake. The ice was strong enough, but it was very slippery, and in the end, it took Enakinu several bruises to cross the lake. But this did not stop the brave youngling, and he moved on, until he saw an icy staircase leading to the lower galleries. In general, it was not advisable for younglings to go there, as there was a danger of the entrance being blocked by ice, but this only fuelled Skywalker's excitement. He carefully descended the steps, looking around. In this small corridor, clusters of crystals also grew on the walls and ceiling. But they were not his goal, for they were of the most ordinary colours, just like those he had seen before. Passing through the corridor, Anakin suddenly saw a small, inconspicuous door in the wall, which seemed to have not been opened for a long time. It was covered with a thin layer of ice, and the handle was completely broken off. Anakin had to hit it several times with his heavy boot to break the ice and hook his finger under the doorframe, pulling it towards him with the Force. The door did not give way immediately, but with a loud creak, it swung open, echoing throughout the dungeon. Anakin cautiously peered into the doorway. It was dark, with only a small window, whose purpose in a room underground was unknown, providing a faint light. It was cut into the ceiling and emitted a small glow that penetrated from above. Blinking several times, Anakin was able to make out the room. It was not much different from the galleries above, except that it was smaller and square in shape. And crystals. They did not grow on the walls, but somewhere deep inside. Anakin couldn't see them, but he was sure they were there. For from somewhere, from beneath the earth itself, came a quiet melody that seemed to combine all the beauty that exists in human life. Birds singing in early spring. His mother's lullaby. The quiet laughter of a newborn baby. Everything that can bring a smile to your face, a warm feeling of quiet joy and tears of tenderness. Everything that can bring even a hardened villain back to the light, reminding him of what is most important in the world. Love. Not love-dependence, like an object of desire. Not love-attachment, like a couple in love. But real, pure and primal love, born from the heart itself. This is how a mother loves her child before it is even born. This is how soldiers love their homeland. This is how people love something truly dear and important. This is what the melody flowing from the depths of the heart reminded him of. Anakin heard it, and it made the boy's soul freeze and then follow the call of the crystal. And it called him insistently, as if it wanted the boy not only to find it, but also to listen to what it was saying. It spoke without words, but the meaning flowed into his heart. He didn't even have to concentrate particularly hard to understand this silent call.
"Remind those who stray of this. This is the key to salvation," the words appeared in Anakin's mind as if from nowhere. "The heart will return to the Light as soon as it is touched by love."
Anakin walked further and further until suddenly the ground disappeared from under his feet and he let out a soft cry as he began to fall somewhere down, flying through a narrow, round, dark hole with no steps or ledges. He couldn't even push off the walls with his hands to jump back up. So all he could do was fall, guessing when he would appear and what awaited him there.
"Hopefully, there aren't any sharp rocks," Anakin managed to think. And the crystal's call continued to ring in his ears. It did not stop for all the minutes that the teenager fell, only when his body touched the hard, cold surface did the voice fall silent, but several crystals fell right at his feet, knocked off the rounded bottom of the pit by him. It was as dark as before, with only a faint, almost indistinguishable light coming from above. It did not allow him to see what was around him, but it gave him hope that somewhere out there was another world.
"Excellent," said Anakin aloud, picking up the crystals and putting them in his pocket. "Now lift me back up. I can't get out on my own. Hey, out there, can you hear me?"
But no one answered, only an echo that could repeat his words but not convey them to others. His companions were too far away. Or rather, too high, considering that they were underground. After five minutes, Anakin realised that no one was going to help him. Rescue the drowning... and so on. Well, Jedi often had a hard time, and he had to take what had happened to him as a test of strength. Which is what Anakin tried to do. Of course, after spending almost three years in the Order, he had come to understand that his former illusory view of the life of the Jedi was very different from the reality, but remnants of his former illusions still lived on and now reared their heads. Not at the right time, it must be said. After all, the daylight on Ilum was coming to an end very soon, and realising that there would be no help, Anakin should have started thinking about how to get out of there. He should have entered meditation to find a way out, tried to make the jump he had been taught. But no, he began to imagine colourful pictures of his rescue, of how a group of Masters would arrive, how they would search for him and worry, wondering if he was still alive. This was imprudent, because the situation was actually quite dire — no one had looked in the dungeon for a long time, assuming that there was nothing there that could be of interest to the younglings, but there was much that could be dangerous to them. For example, this well, built who knows when and why, meant certain death if you fell into it, because no one had been here for many years and was unlikely to come. Anakin did not know this and continued to dream, sitting on the cold floor. Now he was seeing something else, that they had found him and Asoka, seeing him alive and unharmed, would follow the Masters and step forward, amazed by his courage, and accept his long-standing proposal of marriage. But gradually his visions began to blur and his eyes darkened. No one appeared, and time passed. It seemed like more than an hour had passed since Anakin had fallen here. He no longer dreamed; his dreams were gradually replaced by panic and the realisation of the harsh reality. The cold was gathering momentum, the fur cloak began to cover with frost and provided less and less protection from the cold. It was warm and kept him warm, but only when he was moving, which was what it was designed for, not for sitting and staring up at the only source of light in the place. And even that was a stretch. Above him, it was more twilight than light. A bad sign. Just awful. Little by little, it was getting scary. And very sad. How hard it is to realise that you are going to die soon. Not in battle, not on a mission, but in a cold dungeon, because of your own stupidity. The cold rose higher, from my feet to my head, silvering my light hair. The first bitter tear rolled down and hit the floor, freezing into a piece of ice. His thoughts became more and more disordered and fragmented. Suddenly, he remembered a kitten that had fallen into a well, run after a butterfly like a fool, and fallen in. The butterfly flew away, and he never got out. He meowed and scratched at the wall all night until he was exhausted. His mother found him in the morning when she was drawing water. She brought him home just as he was — small, shrivelled, with wet fur. He warmed himself by the stove for a long time, then followed his mother around, thanking her for saving him. He still lives with them, now big, large, fluffy, with thick silver fur. He will never see him again. Or his homeland. Or his mother. His heart grew even heavier. A slow but inevitable transformation was taking place from a self-confident daredevil to a little boy who now wanted only one thing: to live. And that was almost impossible. There was almost no heat left in his body, and he had to breathe shallowly to preserve even the pitiful remnants that remained in the corners of his hidden reserves. Soon, even that was gone, and his eyes began to close slowly or freeze shut. His consciousness drifted away somewhere beyond the cave, rolling out with the last two tears, which turned into shiny trails of fresh ice. The teenager's soul slowly rose from the cold floor and flew in the opposite direction through the dark tunnel. To where there was light. To where there was warmth. To where there was new life. To where he met the one he could not achieve in this world. She met him and clapped her hands. How so? Here's how...
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