Star Wars: The Great Awakening (Book I)

Chapter 16 - The Enemy of My Enemy

The tightly fitted chains around its wrists had dug deep into its skin. The bruises and cuts which marked its face and body were indications of torture and abuse. Blood stained its shirtless skin as well as the ground around it. Despite its condition, the being sat up straight with its eyes fixated on the wall in front of it in a trance-like state.

It's breathing was normal but its eyes had a wild look about them.

"Where did you find this creature?" asked a bewildered Jolis.

Keszen took a step into the makeshift prison which was within a nearby cave system.

"We found him roaming about the perimeter of our camp at a previous location," he replied. "A scout of the enemy."

Jolis studied the creature as he too approached.

"How long have you imprisoned him?"

Keszen snarled. "Not long enough."

As Jolis gazed upon the creature, he noticed it had lighter skin than his own but with several darker markings on its face. Its most prominent physical feature, however, were the numerous horns upon the crown of its head.

Other than that, it looked remarkably similar to the people of Atophis.

What made the creature an enemy, however, was the strange device attached to the base of its neck.

Being the first time he had seen one of these devices up close, Jolis leaned in to examine it. It appeared to dig deep under the skin, possibly internally attaching itself to parts of the creature.

Given all that he'd previously learned about the device from the Master, Jolis viewed it as an abomination. It caused the core of his being to feel disturbed at the thought of the creature in front of him being completely enslaved by such a device.

As Jolis stepped back, he looked into the eyes of the creature. Despite the wild look in his eyes, its pupils remained still almost as if it were keenly focused on something.

"Has the creature said anything since you've captured it?"

"Other than screams of pain, no," replied Keszen. "We have been unsuccessful in breaking him despite employing a number of interrogation techniques."

Jolis suddenly noticed several blood stained tools on the floor around the prisoner. He turned sharply turned to Keszen. "This is not the way. Yes, this is the enemy but it is also unarmed and defenseless. We cannot..."

"Do not lecture me on the horrors of war, Opachi!" Keszen snapped back. "I know it all too well as you should too. This beast would've been our doom had we not captured it. The invaders would have come and finished us off when we were most vulnerable! These savages have no moral compass and therefore must be fought as such."

After a moment, Keszen continued.

"But perhaps you will succeed where we have not, Force Wielder."

Knowing that now wasn't the time to discuss morals with a man who'd been fighting for the survival of his own for the past several years, Jolis turned back towards the creature. Reaching out with the Force, he began probing its mind for anything that resembled any sort of identity. Perhaps an old memory or even information about where it came from.

He found that its mind was clouded, however. Its mental functions, distorted. The very energy surrounding the creature was darkened. As he reached further into the creature's mind, Jolis stumbled upon....

The creature suddenly snapped to awareness and turned its focus on Jolis. With all its might, it lunged towards him as the chains on its wrists which were bound to the stone wall from behind held in place.