The stench of rot and rusted filled the air. Even in the star ship the three flew. Cain took off his left eye patch and used the force lights and shatterpoints to find maul. Cain reached out in the force and focused. Cain then noticed Mauls red Force light. It was flickering like a flame. Cain noticed his hate and rage was the only thing keeping him alive
Cain, Anakin, and Derren departed their ship, and stepped carefully through the jagged wreckage of Lotho Minor, where derelict ships, discarded droids, and forgotten weapons were slowly being eaten by a world that thrived on decay.
There was no sun here. it was blocked out from the emission clouds released from all the burning garbage. Only lights from the process facilities. Glows seeping from vents far above, casting everything in hues of dying firelight.
"We're close," Cain murmured, narrowing his golden eyes to the large land scape of garbage.
Anakin nodded. "I can feel him. I can feel his hate and rage."
Cain saw the Force light flickering in the distance. And the shatterpoints of pain and rage clinging to the rusted air like a parasite guide him. But through it, Cain could see the weaknesses, and fracture in reality that only he could see. A world visible weak points came to life. A world made of overlapping lines, they were so long and far reaching, Cain thought the world became one of glass. Then fractures formed around the red force light. But these fractures were pulsing slightly like a heart beating.
"This way," Cain said, pointing toward a collapsed mining rig half-buried in a pile of garbage, and shattered droid frames. They descended into a gaping, metallic wound carved into the bedrock. Broken walls glowed faintly with heat and damp filth. The smell was worse here. Something between burnt metal and rotting corpses.
"How can someone who was split in half survive in a place like this for years?" Derren asked. "I'm surprised he didn't die from a infection first or starvation."
Cain continued to walk forward, but spoke with a sense of distinct dread. "Hate is a powerful feeling. It burns powerful in the force. There was once Sith Lord who survived death through sheer hatred, and control over the Dark Side is Darth Sion. He would get struck down time and time again, but his broken body would keep moving."
Anakin and Derren looked awe struck. "How does someone beat a guy like that?"
Cain halted. Then turned his head slight to the two behind him. His golden eyes glowing in the dark tunnel. "The most straightforward way is to severe his connection to the Force. That is easy in theory but era where not many Jedi were around, or knew how to do it, that was basically impossible."
Then Anakin spoke, thinking he clearly had the easiest solution. "Then you just have to beat him until nothings left, or destroy his body. "
Cain chuckled quietly. " That might have worked but, he was know as the "Lord of Pain." Anakin hearing that had a look of disbelief on his face. "Sounds like he good at dealing it more then taking it."
Cain shook his head. "The exact opposite, but he knew how to deal in death as well. By channeling his agony and hatred into the Dark Side, it allowed him to defy death, and hold his shattered, decomposing body together through sheer willpower and rage, making him effectively immortal until he chose to let go, and the was in constant, excruciating pain, which became the very source of his power and unnatural immortality."
Derren sighed. "Please tell me someone or something beat this guy."
Cain nodded. Showing a faint smile and continued to move forward through the tunnel. "He was defeated by a Jedi exile. She helped convince him to release his grip on his pain and rage. Allowing him to finally die in peace.
Cain then noticed the fractures pulsed more. They wereshallow and erratic. Almost inhuman. The three arrived to corner, a faint light could be seen. That's when they saw shadows moving against the wall. A flicker of motion, and the sound of scraping limbs.
As they prepared themselves hands, the three turned the corner slowly. There hunched in the far off corner like a wounded animal, was a shivering creature. Pieces of scavenged cybernetics and junk clinging to his twisted body like a serpent and a spider mixed into one. Cain new it was Maul.
His horns were jagged and long. His red skin was pale from exhaustion and sickness. His eyes burned with madness and fury. He muttered to himself in shattered tones: " Far above, far below. What was once great is rendered small.…Jin… Jin… Must… Kill…"
Cain crouched behind a broken beam, motioning for silence. "There he is."
Derren exhaled. "That's Maul! I thought he be scarier he barley looks alive or sane." Then he noticed the long centipede like amalgamation of trash, and cybernetics that was his lower body. "I stand corrected, this guy is scary."
Cain nodded. "That hate and madness is what makes him dangerous. He not in his right mind, which means his skills have dulled. But what makes him dangerous is that fact that he's a wild animal that can use the force."
Anakin stared at the huddled form, his hand twitching near his saber hilt. "Is that really the guy that killed Qui-gon?"
Cain saw the look in Anakin's face. The boy who once was afraid of Maul. The same boyed who trained every day fighting a holo program. He built a image of him in his mind. Imagining that moment when he might face the killer that haunted his thoughts. Anakin even took the path of the Jedi Shadow to beat people like Maul. Now he see's him broken, and mad. There is alot of conflict in his his heart.
Cain knew in this moment what needed to be done. "Let's do this," he said, slowly. Derran stepped back. " Yeah I'll climb to high ground and initiate Battle Meditation, or do you think we can all fight him at once? "
Cain and Anakin nodded. "High ground and support. Just be safe." Cain whispered.
"It's me, I'm always safe," Derran replied, as he climbed up the debris wall, and disappeared in the shadows.
Cain turned to Anakin. " Anakin we're not here to kill him."
Anakin's jaw tightened. "I know. Even though killing him like this feel like this would be a mercy for him." His voice was cold and controlled, but then his hand moved close to the hilt of his lightsaber.
Anakin stared at Maul, who still hadn't noticed them still mumbling, eyes unfocused, clawing at the wall like a mad beast. "He scared me," Anakin said softly. "As a kid. I was nine when he murder Qui-Gon, I know there was nothing I could have done. But It… broke hurt to lose the first person who believed in me besides my mother. I pushed myself every day after that, just so I could be strong enough to beat him. To show Qui-Gon wasn't wrong about me."
Cain placed a hand on Anakin's shoulder. " I know Anakin, and he is. But this isn't about vengeance."
"I know," Anakin said his jaw tightening. "But you said you trusted me, so let me try first." Cain studied him. The burning conviction behind his sky blue eyes. And how powerful and grounded he felt in the Force. Cain could see how Anakin's force light didn't just shine. But like a Sun, it enveloped everything around him.
Cain thought it reminded him of Luke and how grounded in the Force he would be in the most important times. Then Cain he stepped back, and gestured to Anakin.
" Go Anakin and strike with truth, but move with purpose. And may the Force be with you. Anakin" Cain said.
Anakin nodded as he walked towards Maul, unclicking his saber hilt from his side.. "Thank you, Cain."
Cain just smiled. As he crossed his arms and leaned against the beam. Maul stirred suddenly hearing Anakin approach him. His head jerked up. Yellow eyes wide and wild.
"JIN!"
The scream was raw enough to shake the rust off the walls. Maul sprang from the corner like a monster from a nightmare, metal legs screeching against the ground and walls. Jagged teeth bared towards Anakin.
Anakin didn't flinch. He stepped forward into the attack lightsaber ignited. The indigo light piercing the eerie dread of the cave.
Cain's felt it through their bond. This was the moment that mattered for Anakin, and Mauls future will be decided by Anakin's choice.