Chapter 4

        Kaiyah and Ailurah entered Becky's room after consulting with each other about the idea that they were presented with. And Becky was there to greet them. "Your elated expressions have answered me already." She said.

"Oh really?"

"What made you make up your mind?"

"If Ephraim is willing to take a chance, then so am I."

Becky turned her chin up and hummed. "Well then, shall we go?"

"Why not? But, won't the Republic be watching us?"

"They might." She raised a hand. "Or they might not." Then Becky's fingers sparked. Understanding her point, Kaiyah grinned and nodded.

Kaiyah, Ailurah, and Becky managed to sneak to the speeders, while leaving an inconspicuous trail of hover-camera droids behind them.

"That was easy." Kaiyah said.

"Where were the Jedi? I didn't see any." Ailurah added.

"I'm sure they were around." Becky said playfully as she powered up their speeder.

As the speeder flew off, Becky was asked, "Wait. Where exactly are we going?"

"Ephraim always has a log of his visits; he leaves a copy behind for us to see just in case, uh, anything. . . weird happens."

"Where is it? Is it in a chip?" Kaiyah asked.

"No. I was able to download it and with the help of my powers, I have just uploaded it into the speeder." Becky said, pressing buttons and pulling up the list.

"Well, it's, short." Ailurah said. There were only ten locations on the list.

"These are places visited by our Ephraim. One of these locations helms the answers we seek." Becky said.

"How do you know it was our Ephraim?" Ailurah asked.

"He began keeping a log of his visits since his days of training." Becky replied.

"He's only been ten places in all that time? I strangely find that hard to believe." Ailurah pointed out.

"Ephraim has had two bases: Kashyyyk and Tatooine. He had one log of visits for each base. The-"

"Woah, there are two logs?" Ailurah asked.

"The two logs were compiled." Kaiyah said.

"Still. Only ten?"

"Despite Ephraim's skill set, he hadn't been able to go many places. Even when he joined the Republic, as you can see."

"So where are we going?"

        Jo meditated and asked the force where it would like him to go; the force seemed clear as it gave him an answer. Jo stood and went through one of the cave walls of which he knew Exar or Aang didn't go through.

        Jo walked through that path for a little while, and things became dark. He ignited his lightwhips; but then, the mixed force energy was making his crystals go haywire. His whips were turning on and off, so he simply unignited them and used the force -hoping it would be on his side- to guide his movements.

Once he was a good distance into the cave, he started thinking. He thought of how he had been treated by his teammates.

        'Why?' He thought. 'Why do they do this? Throughout the years I've been with them, they don't involve me with most of their activities; I feel left out. Throughout the years, I've done my best to help and support them, but I get no reciprocation; our friendship feels one-sided to me.'

'Why?'

        'Why do they leave me out? I thought we were getting somewhere when it was brought up at Jho's. But it seems like it went in one ear and out the other the next moment. I feel like I don't matter as much to them as they do each other. Why do they make me feel singled out?'

'Why?'

'Why?'

"WHY?!"

        Jo unknowingly became stressed out and hit the cave wall with his metal hand. He was so into his thoughts, that he was startled when he heard the rocks fall from the wall to the ground. All of a sudden, bad memories invaded his mind, and the feelings along with them. He clutched his stomach as he tried repressing the memories so he could move on. He had to find Aang and Exar.

        Exar dashed into another pathway and looked back. That was the last mistake he made before snapping out of his panicked state; he bumped into the hard cave wall and got his arm bruised a little. He groaned and fell to his knees, grabbing his arm and exhaling loudly. As he slowed his breathing down, he regained awareness.

        He looked up, and looked around. He realized that something was messing with his mind, and was drving him away from his team. "Oh no." He muttered. He got up on his feet then shouted, "Guys! Aang! Jo! Are you there?!" He received no response, and he remained quiet to make sure he could hear any response that might come. As he never received a response, he turned around and looked back where he came from.

"This deep into the cave, and I can still kinda see my way around." Exar said as he activated his eye visor on his mechanical eye. "But just in case."

He slowly and steadily trodded back the last way he knew he came from; he went through one straight walkway for a little while until he stumbled upon another selections of cave "doors."

        "Well," Exar breathed with slight complaint, "This is gonna be tricky. How am I going to find my way ba-" He then heard something. "Hello?" He shouted. He saw a faded light through one of the caves and followed it, slowly. He sneaked around the edge of the wall and looked around the corners; and when the light source was just ahead, he ducked onto the ground and observed from there.

        He looked on, but it faded. He quickly got up and entered the room and looked around. 'Aw no! Did I miss it?' He looked around for it more. 'What was that?' Then he noticed that there were no more pathways in the room he was in; there was just the one behind him. 'A dead end? This could be bad, or it maybe isn't a dead end.' He looked around again, took a deep breath, then sat down.

But no sooner after he sat down did he hear a voice. "Mirtis!"

        The voice made him jump out of his skin. He thought the sith had found him, but then he found himself recognizing the voice as one he was more familiar with. 'It's not the sith. It's definitely one tha...wait a se-hold up!'

"Heceowa!"

It was a moment before the voice spoke again, and said the same thing. "Mirtis!"

"That's not my name anymore."

"Why did you renounce it? Why did you turn away from your true self? Your true destiny?"

"Because that area of my life was a trial of self-discovery. It wasn't me; it was just-"

"You lie to yourself all you want, but you can't run from your destiny."

Exar heard movement behind him, then turned to face him. "I'm not the one lying to myself, Hece... Heceowa?" It was Heceowa, but he certainly looked different.

"What are you?" Exar asked with a sharp, determined look.

"I, am me. This is my full potential. It could be yours."

"Seriously? You look like the decayed village crazy lady."

"Join us, and become one with yourself. Become 'Mirtis.' "

"Or we'll fight? Or I'll die? How much more cliché can you get?"

Heceowa hissed, which made Exar shiver. "Well that's new."

Heceowa hissed again, only his mouth widened more, revealing more fangs.

'Well this should be interesting.' Exar thought.

Suddenly, Heceowa's fingers grew longer and sharper.

'This might actually be tough.' Exar thought, backing up.

        Heceowa ran towards Exar, swinging his claws at him. Exar backflipped away, and landed to Heceowa's side. Heceowa turned his head and hissed. He lingered for a moment; then with a burst of speed, he ran and shoved Exar across the room into the wall.

        Exar propped himself up on his elbows and saw Heceowa dragging his arms on the ground, intimidatingly approaching him like a stalker to its prey. Exar got up and pulled his lightsaber hilt out. He ignited it and they ran towards each other. Exar swung at him, but Heceowa X'd his arms and blocked the lightsaber.

Heceowa grinned, and Exar's face dropped. "This is what you could be. The most powerful, indestructible being in the galaxy."

"Hate to break it to you, but you're not the most powerful; that spot's been taken." Exar said before breaking away. "Why are you here, Heceowa?" He then asked.

Heceowa hissed again and swung his claws at him again. Exar only dodged them, but continued speaking, "You're here for power? Knowledge? What for?"

        Heceowa punched Exar away this time. "You're not using your main features. You don't want to kill me, do you?" Heceowa roared at him this time. "You're trying to get me to reach my full potential." Exar thought for a second. "I sense something else; you're... you're... sad." Heceowa seemed to have frozen. "You don't just want me to reach my full potential don't you? You... just want me back."

Exar saw Heceowa turning back to normal, but he was fighting it; Heceowa was going back and forth, clutching his head and screaming.

"This is not something usually reacted to this way. Or... are you really in anguish?"

        Heceowa continued struggling; Exar approached him and called out his name, "Heceowa." Heceowa stopped, and glared. "Is that what you want?" Heceowa's expression saddened. "I had no idea I meant that much to you. If that's what you want, then I'll come back. Or, maybe you could come with us." Exar held his hand out, and Heceowa hesitantly took it and shook it.

        Exar then could've sworn he saw a tear emerge from Heceowa's eye. "I badly misjudged you. I'm sorry." Heceowa closed his eyes. Exar smiled, then he didn't feel Heceowa's hand. He looked down, and saw Heceowa's arm flaking away. He then witnessed all of him disappear into the wind.

        Exar then looked up and around as small circles began glowing like stars; they were all over the walls. Then, as he was looking up, a bright white glow glared in his eyes. He covered his eyes, but managed to catch a glimpse at the doorway that appeared in front of him. He walked, and entered through the door.

        Rye, Erickson, Bando, and Ephraim followed their invisible friend; Bando kept a hand on his shoulder so they could follow properly. They shortly arrived at a small hut; they entered and sat in a circle in the center of the room.

"Now the one that can help you isn't exactly one you can simply 'go to.' He's someone you have to contact with the force."

"Like a force bond?" Ephraim asked.

"Not really. You see, he isn't exactly, 'here.' "

"But you can contact him?" Rye asked.

"You're force-sensitive?" Bando assumed.

"But I'm not a Jedi, nor am I a sith, or a gray."

'Wait a second. Contact!' Erickson received a thought. "Rye! Our team thinks we're dead; why don't we contact them to let them know we're alright? Then maybe they could tell us where they are."

"It won't work." The invisible man said. "The force is wild there. Much like signals, it can go haywire and it won't go through. You can't reach anything there or from there."

"But signals can be redirected." Rye said.

"Where would it get redirected?" Ephraim asked.

"If you're insinuating what I think you are, then there could be a new unlocked mystery on our hands." The invisible man wondered.

"Is it worth a shot?" Erickson asked them.

"No." Bando answered flatly. "It's dangerous. We need to do what we were originally going to do. We can't afford to risk anything by experimenting."

"Bando." Rye said. "I've only known you for a couple hours, and from what I know about you, your life is a risk."

"You don't understand, Master Jedi. It's dangerous to experiment with the force; it could turn you down a path you don't want to go down."

"Sounds like you speak from experience." Rye said.

"No. Not mine."

"Hey. Could we?" Ephraim suddenly asked.

"Ah yes. What do we do to contact this guy?"

        Aang felt very mentally troubled at the moment. He realized how he had acted towards Jo, and how he didn't try hard enough to keep Exar from leaving. He knew he could've done more to keep Exar from straying, and he took Jo's story into consideration; he knew he should've given Jo some compassion to help ease him.

        There was no turning back now; they had all gone separate ways. Aang knew he had to find his teammates, and when he did, he knew what he had to do. With Jo, yes; but he still hadn't regained his trust in Exar. On one side, he knew Exar and Ephraim and did trust them; on the other hand, they had been leading double lives on both sides, and he was shaken between his belief. Then again, Exar did say that there was a reason for all of it; but it got them here. They were separated and lost in a maze of a cave. And they had no way back.

"What have we done for this? Why did we set down the path to lead us here? Are we to die here? Why the constant war?" Aang asked himself.

" 'Why?' indeed." A voice called, startling Aang.

"Is it a person speaking?" Aang asked.

The voice only chuckled. "Not a person, no. A voice."

"What is it you want? You wouldn't interject with me for no reason. And if you're not a person, who did you used to be?"

"No need worrying about it. I am a guide."

"And why should I trust you?"

"For reasons like this exactly, you need a guide. You are troubled, and you can't work through it on your own."

"What do you want?"

"To help you."

"How can you help? I'm lost. You're probably lost. I don't even know where I am!"

"You know not of the cave of secrets?"

'Oh boy.' Aang thought. 'With a name like that, I'm sure in for a ride.' Then he answered, "I can't say I have."

"Oh, you're in for a ride."

'Mhm.'

"The name speaks for itself. But there's more to it."

"There always is."

        "When people hear of the cave of secrets, they immediately assume that if they find it, they will gain answers to questions they ask themselves their entire lives. Some gain the answers, only to use them for their selfish purposes."

"Others have discovered it?"

        "But only few have left with their lives. As I was saying, those are the simple-minded meanings and takes on the cave. There is much more to it than question answers; for people can not only unlock mysteries to their lives, but also mysteries of themselves. The cave of secrets, is a place of self-discovery."

. . .

"What's the catch?"

"No one fully understands the weight of the answers they seek. They assume they can handle whatever answers they receive, but regret it immediately."

"Why are you telling me this?"

        "For one thing: you must know it is important to know your surroundings; this is obviously no ordinary cave. Second: it is important beforehand to know the functions of your surroundings so you can properly survive."

"Who has discovered this place?"

"Only a handful. Only a fraction of that handful were able to leave; only a fraction of that fraction were able to make it out with their life."

"I heard you say that before. What happened to those who didn't make it? Where did they end up?"

Suddenly, a bright light shone in the distance. Aang ran towards it, but stopped before he reached the end. He saw a group of dead bodies scattered all over the cave room.

"What happened to them?" Aang asked.

"Isn't it obvious? They died."

"How? What caused them all to die conveniently in the same room?"

        "I would hardly call that a convenience. They had all gained a rather disturbing epiphany, and it insanitized them. That, and they couldn't find their way out. They all ended up here and their insanity drove them to death."

"You are telling me this for a reason."

"I am giving you a chance to find your own answers. I sense you have many, many questions."

"The questions I ask myself, don't require mind-scarring answers."

"That may not be for you to know until you find out."

. . .

"Very well. Where do I need to go?"

"Follow me." The voice said.

'How?' Aang was about to ask, but he saw another light glowing from down the cave pathway. 'Oh.' He thought as he strolled along the cave pathway.