39 Fear, Pain and Isolation (1/2)

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,