Chapter 6.

The cave

With every step, the mountains grew bigger in front of him. He knew that inside of these mountains he'll find the Jedi and can destroy them once and for all. If the coordinates were right, their base was inside of one of these caves. It's going to be a pleasure to kill them, Maul thought with a wicked grin. Like the ones, he destroyed on his final test. Master made sure to lure those wretched Jedi to their secret planet, where Maul executed them one by one. When he thought about the last Jedi he executed on that day, somehow his heart grew heavier just to think about her. She fought him and died bravely.

"Who was that Jedi?" Kyra asked.

Maul stopped in his tracks and quickly closed his mind. He let that memory slip, and now Kyra saw it and of course wanted to know about it. He needed to be very careful around her, he reminded himself. Otherwise, she'll read him like an open book, and he was not about to give her all his secrets and memories. They were all his and nobody else's.

"She was nobody." He replied through gritted teeth. "Just a Jedi." And then he resumed his pace.

Kyra knew he was not the type of person who would entertain her with his past stories. Maul did not speak much. He only said just enough to get to the point. He was not a small talk kind of person, but he let that memory slip, and she caught it. To her surprise, she noticed he experienced emotional turmoil when he thought about that Jedi. It was like he developed deep remorse toward her after he cut her down. She wished to ask more about her but in the last second, she changed her mind. Then her attention turned to the cave entrance where Maul was waiting.

Kyra stopped and craned her neck up higher, and higher.

The cave was at least thirty feet high and about twenty feet wide. It looked like it could swallow up a smaller spacecraft easily. Suddenly a sharp and vivid memory hit her like a ton of rocks. Feeling dizzy, she had to hold onto the side of the cave before she'll fall.

Then she saw a vision.

Wearing the torn bloody dress, the little raven-haired girl ran past her into the cave, just like in the dream. However, this time, she was not dreaming, or was she?

Quickly, she followed the girl inside the cave. The great darkness within the stone walls started to suffocate her to the point, she was fighting just to take one once of breath. It felt like her lungs were made out of molten lava, incinerating her from the inside. She tried to yell after the girl but couldn't open her mouth. The burning sensation in her chest started to intensify to a higher level, and that's when she noticed the sudden blue brightness bursting out of her chest, just like in the dream. However, this time, there was no lightsaber or pain, but instead, it was a bright blue light mingled with red making a beautiful purple color, like her lightsaber. She lifted her hand and touched it. The flame passed through her fingers like water. It felt nice, it felt like…home.

When Kyra opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Maul's bright yellow eyes looking down on her. Then she looked at her chest where her hands desperately clutched at her tunic. From Kyra's frightful eyes, Maul's eyes traveled to her hand and wrapped his gloved hand over hers. The touch of his hands felt comforting.

"Where is the girl"? Kyra asked while she tried to get up.

As he helped her up he said.

"You passed out."

"I did?" Kyra replied perplexed.

"What did you see?" Maul asked with a suspicious glare. "What kind of girl are you speak of?"

Kyra didn't want him to know about the dream, or at least not yet. So, she just waved it away and motioned for him to get on with the mission.

Maul did not want to press the issue, therefore he turned away from her and walked into the cave.

While Kyra followed, her troubled thoughts were in turmoil.

Suddenly, the darkness of the cave was chased away by a bright red glow coming from Maul's lightsaber. It quickly brightened up the cave with an intense reddish glow. It made it look like they were walking into a huge monster's mouth ready to be swallowed as a whole. Holding her lightsaber, Kyra activated the purple glow. Once both of the sabers were on it grew quite bright within the cave.

Slowly, they kept moving through the wide opening. A steady drip sound somewhere far off the cave caught Kyra's attention. As they pressed further on, the sound of running water was more noticeable. That moment Kyra realized how thirsty she was. While her thoughts were on drinking some water, she nearly collided with Maul, when he suddenly stopped in front of her. Lifting his right arm, he motioned for her to stay quiet and be ready for anything that may come their way.

There was something off about this cave, he felt it. He wasn't sure what it was but he did not like it at all. The strange sensation coming from the opposite side of the cave felt powerful and ancient. When he turned to face her, he knew she felt it too.

Kyra couldn't stand the quietness anymore and whispered to Maul:

"I do not want to go that way, I do not like it at all".

The look Maul gave her at that moment made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Then a sharp, loud cry cut through the darkness. It made a bone-chilling sound, like huge fingernails on a chalkboard. Then out of the dark cavern, a huge lizard-like creature emerged. Its skin, which was covered with pale milk-colored scales, was giving off a strange glow.

The long, narrow head sported a huge mouth where razor-sharp black teeth were waiting to be rip and kill anything or anyone in its way. The eyes like deep black holes were on either side of its face staring at them with hunger. It felt like if you look into them long enough, they would drown you and rip your soul into million pieces. When the creature turned his head downward to charge at them, Kyra noticed in the middle of its forehead was a pulsing glowing light blue crystal.

While Kyra was still in trance, Maul reacted with a lethal speed.

As he sped toward the lizard, his leather boots made almost no sound on the stone floor. The creature was almost on top of Maul when he suddenly stopped, did a backflip, and then jumped onto a broken pillar. Swiftly, he landed on the back of the creature. Sensing Maul on its back, the animal started to shake violently from side to side. While Maul kept holding onto one of the lizard's huge scales with one hand, with his left, he raised his lightsaber and plunged it into the lizard's back.

However, to his surprise, the red laser did not even scratch the surface of the milky pale scales. Maul tried it again but to no avail. This strange animal was unaffected by his weapon, he thought with amazement. Trying to shake the unwanted guest off its back, the lizard kept shaking more violently until Maul couldn't hold on any longer and was thrown off violently. Before Maul hit one of the hanging pillars, a strong force field held him up thus saving his life. Looking toward Kyra, he saw her standing with legs planted firmly in the ground in front of the lizard creature.

With an outstretched arm, Kyra was holding Maul in a grip of her power. In her other hand, she held her lightsaber high. To Maul's amazement, the creature stopped a few feet from Kyra, and from that moment on everything happened so fast he had no time to think. As quick as a cobra, the lizard lunged at Kyra, but before he could sink his razor-sharp black teeth into her pale flesh, she pushed her lightsaber deep into its forehead, where the blue crystal was pulsing fast.

The lizard made a blood-curling sound and then went limp at her feet.

Then a long, black tongue rolled out of its mouth like a snake.

Maul felt the force field around him weakening and then she dropped him to the ground.

With a blank expression, Kyra stared into the lizard's eye. When a hand grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around she shifted her focus on Maul's tattoed face and then a single tear rolled down her face. From Kyra, Maul looked at the creature, which lay dead at their feet. The blue light that ferociously pulsed earlier now turned black just like its eyes. Maul didn't understand what was going on. The only thing he knew that the creature was dead and they were alive. Pulling out of Maul's grip, Kyra walked past the lizard and into the dark cavern from where the creature emerged.

Holding her lightsaber in front, she kept walking until she reached a much bigger room. Mesmerized, she stood at the edge of the entrance and was amazed by the view. Inside the humongous room, the walls were glowing with the same milky pale color as the creature's scales. In the middle of the room was another lizard curled up. Its scales were the same milky white, but on its forehead, there was no blue pulsing light, it was black as the blackest sky. The lizard's eyes were closed, it appeared to be dead.

She approached it slowly. When she got a few feet from its head, she lifted her right hand and touched its forehead where the blue light should have been. It felt warm and familiar at the same time. As tears rolled down her cheeks, Kyra's shoulders shook with sorrow. Somehow she did not want this creature to be dead. When she stabbed the other one it felt like her whole world collapsed in an instant. At that moment, she felt the same burning feeling in her chest, just like in her recent strange dreams. Deep down inside she knew, she had a connection to these creatures and to this planet.

Approaching footsteps shook her out of her trance. With a suspicious look on his face, Maul approached her.

There was a hint of worry on his face, similar to the one he had on the ship when she had her first dream. To her, he did not seem the type of person who would care about anything or anyone but now he looked he cared.

"I'm sorry." Maul said looking at her. "I felt it too." He added.

Kyra wanted nothing more than to run away from this place, but her legs felt like they were stuck to the floor.

Throwing her arms around his shoulders, she fiercely hugged him. As she buried her face into his chest, Maul felt speechless. This emotion coming from her confused him. Reluctantly, Maul lifted his hand and gently stroked the back of her head letting the salty tears soak up the front of his tunic.