Laying upon a slab of stone Vithar's body moved his eyes closed but contorted in a grimace as cold sweat beaded up on his body. When Vithar opened his eyes he sat on the slab of stone he had only a few days earlier but with Kanida in front of him. "Mother?" The young half-zeltron said in excitement. Filled with joy of seeing his mother again Vithar tried to embrace her.
"I did not raise a monster!" Kanida said looking at her son with what could only be anger and hatred. "I raised you better!" Pushing her son away Kanida stood and began running. His heart sinking Vithar felt the situation degenerating into what it had before.
"No!" Vithar shouted as his mother ran, and no matter how much he tried to catch up he just couldn't till it was to late. He arrived just in time to see her screaming in pain and reaching out for him. However before he could move to help the chamber she was in collapsed. "Vithar!" Her words screamed out as she was crushed under tons of rock.
"See... You even let your own mother die." Said Lorin walking into Vithar's sight. "You're a monster just like me.
"I will never be like you!" Vithar shouted at the man who had enslaved him his entire life. Who's operations had been the cause for his mothers death. "I'll kill you!" Vithar yelled running at Lorin fist raised, but when he tried to punch the figure it evaporated into mist.
"Don't you realize... You're already like me." The voice said a sick cackle in its voice as it enjoyed Vithar's struggle.
"Why didn't you save me Vithar?" Said a sickly voice from behind him in a harsh whisper. Vithar dreaded what he would see, but he still turned and what greeted him was worse than what he had been expecting. On the ground lay Kanida's broken and battered body. Limbs bent at unnatural angles and bones could be seen poking out the skin. Kanida's skin was now a chalk white and her face was bruised, but her eyes were missing. "Did you not love me?" Kanida asked her eyeless face examining her son.
"NO! I loved you." Vithar said collapsing to his feet and holding his head.
"If you did you would have saved me... You're a monster!" Kanida said.
"NOOOOOOO!" Vithar screamed. His throat became raw and the cave around them shook and slowly everything around him began to collapse inwards.
Jerking awake Vithar coughed loudly his mouth dry and lips chapped from dehydration. His eyes watered while his vision cleared. Soon enough his nose was assaulted by a scent that smelt of stew. His mouth watered and he bolted upright scooping the bowl up. Vithar's stomach growled in satisfaction as the young man set to work on the stew gulping it down. It was Taras-Chi stew. Nowhere as good as when Kanida made it but taste mattered little when one was starving. In mere seconds the bowl was empty. Before him sat a whole pot of the bubbling stew above a fire. The fire cast a dim glow around Vithar and the general area but outside of it everything else was pitch black. "The soup you enjoy I see." Said a frail voice from across the fire.
Vithar hadn't even noticed the small figure at first but after making its presence known he could see a short green skinned figure sitting on a pillar of stone. The being held a bowl in its tridactly hands. "Eat you must... Need regain strength you do." The small creature said taking a sip from its own bowl.
"Whe-... Where am I?" Vithar asked looking around at the small camp. Last he remembered he had been knocked unconscious by Lorin.
"Within the belly of Kessel we are. Long forgotten it is. Worry need you not. Safe we be." The creature didn't even open its eyes as it talked. "You be who?"
"What about the energy spiders?!" Vithar shouted looking around in anticipation as finally he could hear the sounds of skittering coming from the darkness that surrounded them.
"No danger are we in... Who be you?" The creature said as its pointed green ears raised.
"I'm... Vithar. Did you save me?" Vithar asked his head swimming from what was happening. Just how had someone so small brought him this deep into the planet.
"Matter of perspective that is. Save you did I?" the creature said continuing in its idiosyncratic speech patterns that did not help the headache forming in Vithar's mind.
Scooping a few more scoops of stew into his bowl Vithar ate thinking over his next question as the creature seemed to answer a question with another question. "What are you?" He asked taking a chance. Vithar had never heard of or seen a species like the one that sat before him.
"I am what I am. You be what?"
"I am a Zeltron and human hybrid." Vithar said being honest about his birth. "What can I call you?"
"Call me Master Yizar you will." Yizar said his small face spreading into a smile as he stretched out his bowl for Vithar to refill.
Filling the bowl was the least Vithar could do after the creature had saved him. So while filling up the bowl he felt his heart pounding in his chest. Only jedi used the designation master. "Are you a jedi?!" Vithar exclaimed handing the bowl back to Yizar.
Chuckling at the question Yizar shook his head. "Jedi I am not. More I am. For the weak I once fought. Toppled the strong I did."
Staring in wonderment at the small creature Vithar had forgotten about eating. Many stories were told of beings doing extraordinary feats with the force. Taking on individuals while outnumbered, being faster than the eye could see and having reflexes in spades when compared to regular humanoids. So Yizar's claims to having stood against the strong weren't to hard to believe if he was actually a master. "If not a jedi... What are you?! Did you come to save Kessel?"
"Grandmaster of the Twilight Disciples I am..." Yizar said. The look of confusion on Vithar's face was common. Not many heard of the Disciples of twilight, they worked from the shadows protecting and aiding the weak wherever they could. Though at the question of did he come to save Kessel, Yizar's ears lowered. "Save them I can not. Old I am, frail my body be."
Yizar's words brought Vithar's hopes crumbling down as though knocking over a tower of building blocks. "Then what are you here for if not to help us? What are we supposed to do?"
"For you I am here... Help no longer I can. Replace me you must." Yizar said before his body was racked by a fit of coughs a bit of spittle landing on the ground before him. "Sick I be." Yizar said.
"Wait me?! I'm no jedi! I'm not a master." Vithar hesitated feeling a twinge of guilt for trying to force his problems onto the elderly creature.
"Master you are not... Train you I will." Yizar said looking into Vithar's red eyes.
Shaking his head Vithar backed away a step out of pure shock at the statement. He seemed to choke on something which prevented him from speaking. "Powerful the force is with you... Greater than with me it is."
"That's impossible..." Vithar said suddenly feeling a bit woozy. Vithar began to stumble before collapsing back onto the slab of stone he had once laid.
"Impossible nothing is with the force. The truth I shall show you."
"You poisoned me." Vithar said as his body gave out on him. He laid on the stone limp incapable of moving. In the corners of his vision swam darkness and as they closed in on him all he could see was Yizar a faint grin on his green face.