The Guardians of The Whills

~from Lyra Erso

Tear tracks glistened on her face, shining through the layer of soot and grime that had settled on it  over the past few days. The Temple…she couldn’t leave it behind. She’d hidden in the caverns below for days trying to protect what lay within as best she could while protecting herself. This was her duty, no matter what.

The Jedi were gone, but she never thought that any being with its soul still intact would ever dare to mount a siege on a scared place such as this. Her people hat protected the Kyber for generations. She’d heard all the stories of plunderers and thieves who attacked every so often. She’s faced several herself years ago during the Clone War, and many more after. While the Jedi were off fighting for who knows what and then disappearing from the galaxy altogether, the outlaws and criminals of the galaxy gained confidence, but most often lost it upon entering the Temples. But this time it was different…

The Guardians of the Whills were no lame group of monks. They were warriors and protectors. True believers of the Force…but now…nothing more than a memory.

These men who’d arrived mere days ago had already taken all they could but still refused to leave. They could not see the crystals so they had scooped up the very ground to collect them.

Rage burned inside her. She wanted shout out and attack them. The rock-lion within her could not stand by and watch as these monsters with no honour or shame took the lives of her people and destroyed their homes out of greed. And with those crystals, they would surely only inflict more destruction. They would reign across the galaxy brandishing their new prize and walk right over those who stood in their way.

These men did not deserve what they had just stolen from her. She cursed the force for ever creating beings such as these…but then she remembered…the first lesson her mother had taught her…“Patrona”, she had said, “There will always be two kinds of people in the galaxy. Those who preserve and those who raze. That balance must remain, and you, your job is to protect that balance…defend it at all costs, or we are left with nothing.”

Gasping for breath as she ran up the endless flights of stairs from the vaults, these words rang in her ears. She clutched the crystal to her heart. She had to leave this planet, leave her name, and start a new life. One day, a new hope would emerge. She was…Lyra now…and instrument, no longer a guardian. Nobody could know her secret, but she would pass on what she had learned. That was the way. The will of the Force. These men, the destroyers, she promised herself that they would never win.

Photo Credits: Rogue One A Star Wars Story