Down in the Dark (Taime)

[Hatoful GM]

The entrance to the site of the trial looked innocuous enough. The front seemed to be the entrance to a ruined temple, nothing immediately marking it as any different from the other ruined temples on the planet. But on second glance, the shadows within the entrance was just a little bit darker. The air was just a little bit colder. Even the smell, the taste of it was just slightly off. And the longer one studied any of these things, the more they would cause a creeping sense of dread. Of fear.

Taime stood in front of that entrance now. Master Chriala stood next to him. She turned to him, smiling gently. She did not speak, but it was easy enough to feel the tenderness in that smile.

[Taime Jorel]

Taime stuffed down the sense of fear slowly rising in him. He knew that doubt would live like a parasite inside him until he did this. He had to know if he had done enough to combat what his family had feared. This...was the only way. To be tempted and to see that which dulled his people and made them separate from each other.

He turned to Master Chriala. "Any last words you would give me, Master?"

[Chriala Hulis]

Smiling, Chriala shook her head. "No. No last words. Only next words."

She reached out, fondly touching his cheek. "May the Force be with you, Taime."

[Taime Jorel]

He looks at her closely, memorizing her face and calling up the memories of his family. He gives her hand a brief touch and says "With you as well Chriala."

Turning away, he took a quiet breath and stepped into the temple entrance.

[Hatoful GM]

As he stepped up to the entrance, Chriala knelt down, her expression serene.

...

It was a sudden thing, like diving into cold water. He stepped into the cave... and suddenly he was somewhere else. Somewhere achingly familiar. Home, back on Nagi. It looked just as he remembered. The sights, the smells, even the stars, visible now in the sky. But, he would realize there was one difference.

It was silent.

[Taime Jorel]

He looked around, almost frantic. "Mama? Baba? Where are you all?"

He began walking quickly, trying to go in the direction he seemed to remember was home.

[Hatoful GM]

The steps seemed familiar. The noise they made was not. In the absence of any of the other sounds that came with civilization, they were almost unnaturally loud.

It wasn't long before Taime was back at his home. Not a living soul had been seen along the way. And now... that home looked cold and empty. Was anyone even there?

[Taime Jorel]

He knocked on the door, hoping this was just a very quiet day or maybe everyone was asleep. But what could make this happen?

[Hatoful GM]

The door slowly swung open.

Inside, it was nearly as dark and cold as it was outside. And, except for the basic shape of the house, there was nothing familiar there. No furniture, no personal items, no old holographs. There was a thin layer of undisturbed dust on the floor. It almost seemed as though everything had been cleaned out, the building then left abandoned.

But for how long?

[Taime Jorel]

He looked around, trying to remember anything about the space. "Mama? Baba? Are you there?"

He felt like a child all over again. Lost out in the world and totally alone. But maybe this was the point. To face his worst fear.

He sat in the center of the floor and waited.

[Hatoful GM]

Taime waited. And waited.

And waited.

It was unclear what had happened to his family. To his people. Perhaps that was the point. He would never know. He was gone from their lives as much as they were gone from this place. He was alone.

Slowly, Taime realized that the floor he was sitting on was not the floor of his family home. It was the floor of a cave. The walls were uncarved stone. It was dark, but not entirely; light shown in from the entrance behind him. It must be the entrance he came in through, however long ago that was.

[Taime Jorel]

The sheer depth of the realization sunk into his bones. For a moment, he knew nothing but paralyzing fear. This....this was the nightmare his father had feared. That by sending him out into the world, they would lose him just as easily.

Who did he have? Chriala? Eir? They would move on to their own lives. Even Eir didn't believe they would stay in touch. What did he know of family? What did he know of relationships? All he knew was duty...And duty felt cold in this cave.

His thoughts sitting like a stone in his belly, he stood and walked toward the entrance, unsure of what he would tell Chriala when he saw her.

[Hatoful GM]

The entrance was only a few steps away. Light washed over Taime's face. For a moment, he could see nothing as he stepped through...

He was back in the large cavern where Chriala had led him. But she wasn't there anymore. He could see the footsteps where they'd both walked... and another set, clearly hers, leading away.

Apparently she hadn't waited after all.

[Taime Jorel]

His stomach dropped a little lower. He'd needed to talk to her most of all after such a vision. But he figured he'd find her. Maybe he had been in there quite a while. He followed her footsteps.

[Hatoful GM]

And follow he did. It was a ways to get back to where the meeting point was, and Taime was alone every step of the way.

When he finally reached it, it was almost empty. Only Chriala was there, sitting in a speeder. She appeared to be reading a datapad in that curious way she did, looking at it without her eyes.

[Taime Jorel]

He ran up to her, ludicrously glad to see another soul. "Master! I cannot tell you how glad I am to see you." He barely restrained hugging her, knowing that this was a serious time, but he really hated the sense of absence that had sunk into him with all that quiet.

[Hatoful GM]

She didn't bother to look up.

"Drive us back, Taime." She said distantly. "I have other matters to attend to."

[Taime Jorel]

The coldness was strange and made him feel as though he were back in the cave somehow. "Of course Master. I am sorry for delaying you."

He sat in the speeder and turned it on. "Have I disappointed you in some way Master?"

[Hatoful GM]

Chriala gave a vague wave of her hand. Actually, it just seemed as though she didn't care.

Perhaps she never had...

THE VISION FADES

Taime suddenly found himself in a shallow cave. The entrance he'd walked through, however long ago it was, was right behind him.

[Taime Jorel]

Seeing he was still in the cave, he put his head into his hands and tried to slow his breathing. It was still too fast though. Was that a dream? Is it true? Is that what's happening? Or just what could happen?

He slowly moved to lay on the floor of the cave, trying to let the coolness of the floor calm his swiftly beating heart.