He was awoken from a jolt of movement followed by rattling. His armor, gone and his weapons, gone.
What happened?
Where am I?
Flashes of memories surface in his mind. A fight, but not with him, no. He was curled onto the floor reliving…
Shade?
She tried to fight him, but then she just…let him go? After she promised?
The dryness in his throat caused him to cough, but he could not open his mouth. A heavy device had forced his jaws closed, and all he could see was black. No lights, no figures. Another heavy object was strapped over his eyes. His hands jolted upwards to remove these things, hindering his senses, only for heavy chains to hold his hands down into his lap.
“Careful troops. This one's dangerous”
Footsteps approached him from afar as the figure approached.
“We handle rabid animals now.”
He laughed as Varin heard some object he had picked up.
“What do we do with animals that don’t behave?”
Varin sat still, breathing slowly, uncaring of what was being said to him, unflinching of the approach or what was being pulled out.
“We give them attitude adjustments.”
Without skipping a beat the object was jammed into his side, a cold metal bar that radiated pain into the bones of his ribs, knocking the wind out of him. Then came the shock. A burst of electrical energy erupted from the object coursing through Varin’s body. A muffled yell erupting from his throat to which he could not open his mouth to release, the bar held to his side for several grueling seconds as another wave erupted into his side causing his body to jolt and contort, before a familiar voice echoed through the chamber.
“Toying with the prisoner already?”
Allan Alhune , his cold voice sliced through the ragged breathing and groans of Varin’s body as he slumped to the side, the chains pulled taught over his ankles and wrists.
Ignati?
He let out a struggled groan as he slowly pulled himself up.
Ignati? Where are you?
Silence…..
No response to the being who so always loved to make his presence known to him. The being that gave him power.
Answer me!
His breathing grew harsher as he reached into the confines of his mind, but it felt…empty…
His heart thudded in his chest as he weakly sat upon his knees.
The guard that had prodded Varin spoke.
“Lord Alhune, We are approaching The Box now as we speak.”
Allan pulled his arms behind the small of his back, crossing over each other.
“Good.”
His gaze fell on Varin, to which he could feel, like ice cold daggers cutting through his body. Varin’s grip tightened over the chains that suppressed him from the Force.
“Prep him. It’s going to be wet out there.”
The drop ramp opened to an environment of chaotic winds, lightning storms and rain. Heavy rain. Waves crashed all around him as he was forced to walk down the path. Cold rain trickled over his body, the thin prison clothes he wore now soaked through completely. He shivered.
“Cold boy? It’s only going to get worse for you.”
The guard laughed as he slammed the nightstick into the spot just above his kidneys causing Varin to yell in pain and collapse forward into the cold pooling water.
“Get up!”
They grabbed his hair and shoulders forcing him back up as he struggled to breathe, they shoved him forward causing him to stumble over his steps but he caught himself.
“A prison that houses only one prisoner. Why would he specially make a prison for something like this?”
Varin could not see him but he could only assume that he was speaking of him as he stepped forward. A hand reached to his chest stopping him.
“Hold still.”
The next voice stopped him from moving as they pulled out a device that beeped and hissed as it scanned him. A needle buried itself into his neck causing him to tense in his shoulders.
“To prevent infections. We don’t need you dying here. Just contained.”
Varin looked in his direction as a form of defiance seemed to overcome him. Then another impact just behind his knees caused him to grunt again and fall forward.
“Eyes down boy!”
Their arms hooked beneath his dragging him into the building. The first area full of security checkpoints as he was carried through walk-in machines, examining his body, taking in his bodily statistics. Blood type, Medichlorian count, temperature and various brain functions. They were taking these to generalize his normal functions. He’d assume to understand whenever he would have a spike in activity, warranting correction.
They passed through a heavy door into a small chamber that hissed. The door behind them closed then the next one opened releasing frigid air. The guards were suited up in cold gear for it. But Varin was still in his soaked prison clothes. His body instantly stiffened.
“Minus twenty five degrees celsius, boy. You’re going to feel it.”
The guard chuckled as he forced him forward.
Something about the injection…made him feel strange. Wobbly…woozy…
He fell to the side onto the cold wall, the wet cloth sticking to the cold metal as he coughed. A guard pulled him off the wall, tearing the shirt.
“Keep moving!”
Varin caught his balance as he stopped, his head looking back in their direction for a moment, before he looked forward and silently kept walking.
A sudden presence in front of him forced him to stop.
Allan spoke.
“Welcome to The Box, Varin. I told you I would take you home and this is it. Feel free to get comfortable.”
They forced him to his knees once again, unhooking the chains to pull his arms to his sides, positioning him for more stationary shackles. Varin jerked his arm from one guard and slammed his elbow into the man’s jaw, a wet crunch followed as the man screamed.
“My jaw! He shattered my jaw!”
Allan’s hand grabbed Varin’s chin, pulling his attention to him. He stared through Varin, taking in his fault lines, before he grinned letting him go. Slowly he walked behind Varin.
“We can’t have you lashing out, Varin. I will have to fix that.”
In an instant Allan grabbed his wrists from behind and placed his boot over Varin’s upper back and violently jerked back with two simultaneous pops. Varin let out a loud groaned yell as his arms were pulled from their sockets, the hung loosely at his sides, as he breathed rapidly.
“Shackle him down now. He shouldn’t be as fighty now.”
The cold burned over his skin, more so when the next set of shackles locked over his wrists, then pierced through the bones, interlocking into itself. Another yell left him as blood poured from his hands, hissing to the floor in a cloud of steam.
“Feeding tubes.”
Allan spoke softly as the guards prepped the needles, stabbing them into Varin’s forearms. One for hydration, the other for nutrients. He did not register that pain, it was merely a pinch. Two more shackles locked over his ankles to the floor and finally a bigger collar locked him into a kneeling position with his arms outstretched to the sides. The pain radiated from his shoulders.
Allan knelt close to Varin, his hand on his shoulder, adding light pressure causing Varin to wince.
“You will not be fed, you will not be given water here. We do not want you to be strong enough to fight back, so we will only give you the bare minimum your body needs to keep you alive.”
He leaned in closer and whispered into his ear.
“Welcome home, Lord Mortifer.”
He chuckled as he stood and walked away, several footsteps following behind him, along with the whimpering guard Varin had just broken, as several heavy durasteel doors closed behind them.
Time passed imperceptibly to Varin. The injection slowly worked through his system. It was not for infections, he soon learned.
Ignati?
He thought in his mind.
Master Revna…?
His heart thudded in his chest as he shivered, his knees burning from the cold metal floor beneath him.
Lysander…?
His fists tightened weakly as the shackles prevented him from balling his fists, then a slow tear fell down his cheek.
...Seren?
His breathing weakened and broke as a shudder left him.
...anyone…?
Varin could not see, but he felt someone with him. A familiar presence…a powerful one…one he had not felt since…
Mother?
Varin’s eyes widened within the device over his eyes as a tremble shook his body from cold and shame. The figure materializing in the room.
Her voice came to him, a voice he had forgotten.
“Varin? What did they do to you, my child?”
Her hand gently placed on his cheek.
Varin did not answer.
“You left us…and found a new family…You forgot us…”
Her voice trembled as her nail cut into his cheek, a small droplet of blood dripping to the floor.
No…I did not…I could never!
She stood up.
“We gave you everything, and you even replaced your sister with…a brother? What would she say?!”
Varin shook his head.
No…no I did not, mother…please!
“Varin.”
Another voice spoke. Younger.
Nier?
He froze.
She did not speak, but he could feel what she wanted to say as another tear dripped down his cheek.
...I’m so sorry…
Another presence entered the room. This one, more noticeable than Lady Ravnika or Nier. A larger figure, that felt different.
“Son…”
Varin’s head whipped into the direction of the voice.
...Father…
Lord Mortifer stepped into the room, footsteps echoing over the frigid air.
“Your senses lie…”
Varin’s breath held as the figure seemed to wave a hand, dismissing the ghosts of his past so it was only Varin and Lord Mortifer.
“Look at what's become of you, son.”
The figure stopped just before him, he couldn’t see, but he could feel the presence, like a stone wall separating a vast ocean of force. Power radiated from this person.
“Caged like some animal to be viewed like some mocking display, shackled like some rabid beast, and neglected like some sick creature.”
His voice hissed as he spoke to Varin, his fingers running down the chains that bound into his wrists, slowly a finger slide up his arm and shoulder to his cheekbone and gently curled under his chin, lifting his weak head up to him as Varin struggled to breathe.
“The galaxy has not been kind to you, has it Varin?”
His voice was calm, calculating, quiet. But it held fury, it held anger and it held the weight of someone who would sacrifice legions of ships for a change of outcome.
Varin took a few struggled gulps of air as the frigid air dug into his bones, his breath plooming with steam as he shivered, then spoke weakly in a broken voice.
On the contrary, Father, I think the galaxy has been too kind to me.
The figure pulled his finger back, then gently placed his hands upon Varin's injured shoulders.
“My son. This is the reality of the galaxy. Beauty is only temporary. Held in a fragile hand that delays with time.”
Varin slowly picked his head up, his body straining to move from the pain.
What…what would you have me do? Father.
Lord Mortifer took a deep breath.
“I would have you break your chains!”
His voice was low.
“Shatter your bindings.”
Lord Mortifer glared towards the doorway of Varin's cell.
“They sit behind closed doors, behind their screens and data. Watching you in their comfort and safety, scared!”
His breathing started to quicken and deepen.
“Frightened of what we, you! Are capable of. They sit and waste away, decaying and they try to drag you down with them. Arise son! That is what I tell you to do!.”
He knelt in front of Varin placing his hand upon his head.
“But you are slowly dying, while they desperately try to keep you alive. Alone.”
His voice became softer.
“I bring you a gift my son. The last of myself.”
Varin felt a sharp pain in his mid ribs as an exhale of breath escaped him, pain slowly digging into his side. He holds his breath to refuse a scream of pain as this feeling tears through his muscle to his internal structure.
“I give you the last of me, my son. My last gift. To hold your head up longer. To keep going, keep pushing.”
A pause.
“To live…you will have company soon, I promise you.”
Varin's consciousness begins to fade as blood runs down his side, black ichor stretches from the wound sewing up the flesh, cauterizing the blood.
