39 Fear, Pain and Isolation

Loved by her mother, loved by her brothers. Envious of her brothers freedoms, and powerful in the force. Vaylin had always preferred to use the power of the force over the mundane action of physical labour.

According to her mother she had been trouble from the start, even when she was in the womb she had such an affinity with the force, that she moved furniture before she was even birthed. She crippled servants and knights who merely were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Playing with her was a heavy risk which many had to endure or die trying.

Eventually she was given the freedom to spar with Knights of the Eternal Empire. She crippled many at the same time, even lifting them all up at once with the use of telekinesis. She was barely in her teens at the time.

Her father took note of her power. Not only did he begin to believe she could be used against him, that she would be a powerful tool. He wanted to condition her, to the point that she would be weak before him. That she would not be able to resist his powers and cunning plans.

This was why Valyin found herself on the planet of Nathema, a lifeless planet. She was given to an alien scientist named Jarak to have her mentally and physically conditioned. The torture she would begin to endure was only the beginning. She was forcefully subjected to ritual tattooing on her arms until they felt bare and the shaving of her head, stripping her of her gentle blonde identity.

The Nathema Zealots were not kind, she was subject to torture. She was kept in a small, cramped isolated room. It was suffocating. She was subjected to fear, death and torment. She was afraid of pain, afraid of never obtaining her freedom. All she wanted was her mother.

She cried at day, or at night. She knew not the cycle of the world. Light dare not enter her domain, for it could only give her hope. Hope was not something her father, the Emperor of this cherished Empire, wanted.

She believed this to be a punishment. She hated her father. She began to hate her beloved mother who had always been there. Been there to protect her. Why did she begin to hate her? Because she left her here. She didn't come to rescue her when she needed her the most. The atrocities which were committed in front of her and to her were beyond something she could handle alone.

Just as the torture was beginning to become unbearable, warm moist air rushed into her dark and dry cell devoid of furniture and comfort. Her fearful eyes stared forward as she smelled fresh water, a gentle warm breeze. The sound of ships landing, and the smell of sand.

Distant voices called out, not for her, but they were still in excitement. Joy, she felt these feelings through the odd distortion that had appeared only meters away from her. What was this?

'Vaylin,' an unfamiliar voice called out to her in her head. Her eyes shot open and wide as they could. Tears began to run down her face as hope was beginning to well up inside of her.

Her conditioning wasn't complete. She was in pain, she was afraid and she was alone. Yet this voice greeted her lovingly, like her mother once did. The hatred wasn't being washed away, but it wasn't being encouraged either.

Vaylin had been pushed onto a tight rope between the darkness and the light. The darkness was below and the light was above, the rope was about to snap. Yet this anomaly stabilized her in the very center of this mess. Her mind was chaotic, all she could think about was her freedom.

Curled up on the dirty cell floor, her knees to her chest and her arms defensively wrapped around herself. She could feel through the force that the Zealots sensed the change in her emotions. She was regressing from what they had been tasked with.

She found herself moving on auto-pilot, scurrying to her feet and blindly feeling out in front of herself. She knew this distortion was there, and it was there for her. She wanted to leave this place and every inch of her body and instinct was telling her that this was the way to freedom and escape. Or at least that is what it felt like.

'Vaylin,' the voice caressed her mind and allowed her to focus. The voice was clearer, masculine and young. Yet it was also deeper and older than her. As she reached the distortion, she began to see a shimmering white outline of an oval about her height. In the center of this outline was just pitch darkness. Darker than the rest of her cell which was far from abundance in light.

She reached forward slowly, swished her hand through it as if it was water. The temperature on the other side was warm, moist. The sound of gentle waves reached her ears, combined with a soothing hum of an unknown rhythmic song in which she could only imagine the lyrics to.

When the Lyrics actually came to her mind in the form of the young man's voice, her eyes moistened and burned. Sweet sadness, hope and rescue.

'When you are on a golden sea,

You don't need no memory,

Just a place to call your own,

As we drift into the zone,

On an island in the sun,

We'll be playin' an' havin' fun,

And it makes me feel so fine,

I can't control my brain,

We'll run away together,

We'll spend some time forever,

We'll never feel bad anymore~'

Hesitation and her fear were crippled. The Zealots broke open the door as she rushed into the distortion. Disappearing right before their eyes.

She entered the tunnel of darkness, tears of sweet sadness dripped from her jawline. It felt as if she was running underwater. The feeling was suffocating. It was almost as if her consciousness wasn't going to hold, but she wanted to see the other end.

She broke through the darkness, stammering out into the sunlight of an unknown world and met with the same kind warm breeze. Her consciousness had been weakened and she was beginning to stumble in the sudden appearance of sand.

There was a Silhouette of a young masculine figure, taller than herself which could possibly reach the voice in her head. The voice which coerced her through the unknown distortion. Yet her eyes couldn't quite make him out as the were getting heavier and beginning to close. Reaching out she quickly found herself wrapping her arms around the warm figure.

She slumped down to her knees and the being she clung to, followed onto his own knees. She felt a hand grasp the back of her shaven head, pressing her forehead into his collar bone. The other wrapped around her lower waist and kept her upright.

Vaylin could hear the sounds of ships in the distance, talking several meters out of the way and not visible within range due to the trees and landscape which obscured the view.

For the first time, in a long time, she openly wept in the arms of someone else. It was almost uncontrollable. The sand around the two rippled like that of a storm, leaving them on a singular mound of sand surrounded by the fresh ocean water.

Tears would streak down Valad's chest as he held the girl close to him. His eyes looking straight up towards the sky at the Lucrehulk vessel which was in synchronized orbit above their location. He was dressed just like he was several hours ago, in just a muscle shirt and pants.

He could feel her mouth against his chest, as she screamed into him. Using his force resistance, only damage could be seen behind him as several trees were mowed down by a singular force heading in that direction.

Jedi Master Fay immediately came to the location as she felt the strong emotions and destructive use of the force. When she came around from the treeline, she stood there dumbfounded as she'd notice an unknown face and arms hugging into her charge.

He was merely unaffected by the uncontrolled use of the force, heavily guided by the girl's emotions. From what Fay could see, she was around fourteen years old, if not a year younger. Her eyes were a light blue, bloodshot. However they had a corrupting glow to them, she was just mere seconds from snapping the tightrope between the light and the dark. Yet Valad was just that stabilizing factor. She soon came to notice he wasn't using the ability on Vaylin that he had used on the others on the ship. He was genuinely cradling her in his arms, caressing the back of her shaved fuzz covered head.

Valad smiled softly as he would then rest his head on top of hers as her weeping began to slow. Her consciousness would falter, her thoughts incoherent. The warmth she was receiving was a reminder of her family. Yet hatred brewed because of this. The image of her father, the image of Jarak and the Zealots.

Revenge? No, revenge was meaningless. Her hatred would never be of any use. Revenge was fruitless as there was no plan that followed. Warmth began to fill the back of her mind, until it reached her dreams, eradicating her nightmares.

Hours later she opened her eyes once again. The pink hue of the sunset gave a new sight to her eyes. One which she had long forgotten. Yet when she tried to move, she noticed that she and the man from before had been sleeping upon one another. Her eyes locked on his collarbones and the dried tears on his chest, down his shirt. She felt him unconsciously caressing the back of her head. They were both sunburned thanks to their fair skin.

Everything felt stiff, but she quickly noticed that they weren't alone. Landing crafts were still coming down from the ship above them. Everything she saw was of unknown design. She didn't want to move however, the warmth of the embrace was something she could handle, even with the pain of the sunburned skin.

She took in his scent, he smelled of her salty tears and the local flora, with a lingering scent of what seemed to be a machine shop. She immediately noticed the droids walking around, it was clear they were his.

Her eyes narrowed on the three woman who were watching over them, excluding the orange Togruta which was playing in the 'waiting' pool of water which surrounded the mound they were kneeling on.

Slowly she began to close her eyes, pretending to go back to sleep.