#a part of what made the emperor's death so agonizing for mara was that she's never really had a reference

[maraelia]

[themysticorder]

The Child of the Dark Crystal Chapter 8 “Saviour”

DISCLAIMER

I do not own the Dark Crystal or Winx Club and its Characters, all rights go to their rightful owners. I do however own Mara and her story.

Rated E for Graphic Depictions of Violence and Rape/non-con (E Chapters will be announced and only posted on Ao3)

Chapter 8 “Saviour”

The shadow slowly approached the woman laying on the floor, her body trembled in shock, and she could not prevent the uncontrolled sobs from escaping her lips. She breathed heavily through her nose as the figure knelt beside her, the sound of his steady breathing reaching her ears as he bent over her. Mara closed her eyes, pressing the eyelids together tightly in fear of another assault on her exposed body. But none of it happened, instead she was surprised by a sudden feeling of relief as the shackles around her wrists and ankles where ripped open and fell to the ground with a loud rattling sound that made her wince. Now that her extremities were freed, she curled up into a ball and wrapped her arms around her upper body to cover her exposed chest.

The rustling sound of fabric reached her ears and shortly after she felt how something warm was wrapped around her body. Next thing she knew were the pair of strong arms that were wrapped around her body and lifted her into the air, carrying her out of the dark room that she never wished to set a foot in again after this day. Mara could not see the face of the being that carried her through the hallways of the castle, as they were drowned in darkness. Whether he was her Saviour, or just another cruel soul that wanted to take advantage of her weakened state, she couldn’t tell. But no matter the case, she was to weak to fight, her legs felt like Jello and her ind was still in a state of shock.

She was carried through the hallways for quite some time, none of the corridors that they crossed seemed familiar to her. She had never been this deep beneath the Castle and the further her rescuer, or whatever he was. Walked, the colder and darker it seemed to get. Eventually he stopped, in front of them a huge wooden double door engraved with strange symbols that she had never seen before. With a creaking sound it swung open, revealing a dimly lit room. He stepped inside and walked towards a divan chair, which was lined with fabric of a crimson color, and gently placed her down onto the seat. Mara immediately grabbed the blanket that was wrapped around her body and pulled it up under her chin , only her head remaining visible. Her gaze slowly wandered over towards the figure, that walked towards a small alcove on the other side of the room. It was lined with large wooden shelves that kept glass bottles of different shapes and sizes that where filled with strange looking liquids. Another Shelve was filled with glass jars that stored all kinds of dried herbs, plants and mushrooms. A stone hearth stood in between the shelves, a fire crackling inside of it, heating up the iron pot that hung above it.

She observed him as he grabbed a few of the jars from the shelves and placed them on a small counter that stood in the center of the alcove. His claws reached inside the containers, pulling out a few of the dried ingredients before he placed them inside of a small bag of thin fabric, that he tied up with a piece of twine. With the help of the wooden ladle he poured some of the boiling water from the kettle inside of a small wooden cup and placed the bag of herbs inside of it.

“Who are you?” realizing to late, that she had actually spoken the words out loud, she covered her mouth with her hands, her fingers still clinging to the blanket, pulling it over her mouth. Her eyes went wide with fear as he approacher her again, his long robe dragging over the floor behind him, the steaming cup of Tea sitting between his claws.

He was one of them, a Skeksis, which she could tell by the long snout protruding from his face, but he looked so much different than the others of his Kin. He was tall, taller then all of the other Skeksis in the Castle and his body wasn’t bony or lanky like theirs. He had broad shoulders and his chest was muscular as she could see through the fabric of his robes that where clinging tightly to his torso. His clothes mostly consisted of white and blue shades with golden accents, which where quite unusual colors for a Skeks. His face too wasn’t as bony, his facial features smoother, making him look less morose and agonizing, almost benevolent. A full set of grayish-silver hair decorated his head, and was tied together in a loose braid, that ran down his back. But it where his bright turquoise eyes that caught her attention the most, they reminded her of the waters of the silver sea or the sky on a warm summer day. He was the most beautiful Skeksis she had ever seen.

He came to a halt in front of the divan, his claws reaching out to her, which made her wince and push herself against the Sofa, trying to get away from him. “Please don’t hurt me.” These words made him stop, slowly pulling back his arm “I wont” he assured her, his voice deep, melodic almost, not as raspy and shrill like those from the others of his kin. He placed the cup of tea on a small table next to the divan, knowing very well that she carefully observed each of his steps. “You should drink this, it will help you calm your nerves.”

“Who are you?” she asked the Skeks again, who was again wandering towards the alcove. Her voice was shaky and barely above a whisper, but it was loud enough to reach his ears.

He lightly turned his head in her direction “The ones I used to call my brethren gave me the name SkekVazur, the Alchemist, but I prefer to just be called Vazur now”

She swallowed hard before forming her next question “What are you doing with me now?”

Upon hearing the fear in her voice he turned towards her completely, his face showing no trace of evil or mischief “Nothing, I just wanted to bring you to a place where they will not find you, you are safe here, but you are free to leave, if that is your wish.”

Her gaze wandered over to the wooden door, what would happen if she left the room? A wave of different emotions ran through her mind, each connected to the many thoughts that did not allow her to calm down. SkekUng wouldn't stay unconscious forever. Maybe he would start searching for her, try to finish what he had started in the cold dusty chamber. Maybe he would kill her so the others would never hear of his assault on her. She wasn’t safe in the Castle anymore, not with SkekUng as the Emperor. But would she be save anywhere else? What would SkekEkt do if she would never return to her? She hadn’t seen her foster mother a lot after she had moved to the lower chambers of the Castle, but she had still visited her as often as her duties allowed her to, gifting some new gowns and Jewelry to Mara. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath in, one of her arms came crawling out from underneath the blanket and grabbed the cup of tea that still sat on the wooden table. She brought it to her nose and immediately her nostrils were filled with the lovely floral scent of the concoction. Her lips closed around the rim of the cup, leaving a wide enough gab for her to let the liquid flood her mouth and play around with her taste buds. Valerian Root, Honeymoss and Hogweed, all these Aromas mixed together into a symphony of flavors.

She immediately felt the soothing effect of the brew, her thoughts calmed down and her body stopped shacking. When she opened her eyes, Vazur stood in front of her, a folded piece of clothing in his hand “Here, you can put these on” he said and turned around, giving her some privacy while she dressed in the robes, that were way to big for her, but they would have to do for now. “I have never seen you in the Castle before, why are you not with the others Skeksis?”

His brows furrowed slightly “I….left them a long time ago, I do not exactly feel of them as my brethren anymore?”

She draped the robes over her body and sat down on the chair again, taking another sip of the tea “I can tell that you are not like them, there is something different about you, who are you”

“I told you already, my name Is Vazur.”

A weak smile formed on her lips “You told me your name, but that still does not tell me who you are, please, I only want to know who my Saviour is.”

A soft sigh escaped his lips before he turned around and sat on the far end of the Divan “Do you now the story about the Urskeks and the Great Division?

She nodded in response, SkekEkt had told her everything about it, The UrSkeks were beings that had been banished from their home planet and came to Thra, they sought to purify themselves to get back to their Home world through the Crystal during the second great conjunction. But instead of being sent home, each of the fallen UrSkeks were inadvertently divided into two separate beings, the Evil and violent Skeksis, and the gentle and contemplative UrRu. They were however still connected to one another, if one part of them died, the other would do so as well.

“Good” he said and continued to explain “I was there too, during the Great division, but something went wrong, the personalities of me and my UrRu self got exchanged, UrJellak got the evil and destructive soul that was originally intended for me, while his was planted inside my body. The others living in the Castle soon realized that I was different, where they sought immortality and power, I searched for answers, answers that would allow us to return to our former selves. But they would not listen to me, their greed turned them into incorrigible beings, lead by the fear of death. And even though they keep the Crystal of truth as their slave, it is them that have become slaves to the Crystal.”

As he continued to tell her the story she realized how few she actually new about the Skeksis, there were a lot of things she didn’t new about them and their plans for Thra. But then it did not really surprise her, as she was never allowed to leave the Castle. All that she knew about the outside world she had heard from the stories SkekEkt had told her when she had been a child but she had never seen it herself. They had always told her that they were trying to rule over it to bring back order and justice but their real intentions were to drain the Essence of the Gelflings to turn themselves immortal and now there were only two Gelflings left, fighting for existence. She didn't know how to feel about all these newly achieved information, it was to much to process for one day, especially after what happened earlier. But sadly the bad news wouldn’t stop there.

“What happened then? Why are you down here?” Mara asked.

“They first started their unethical experiments on me, trying to exchange the soul of me and my UrRu self but things didn’t go as planned so they banished me into the lower floors of the Castle to prevent me from disturbing their experiments and crossing their plans. That's when I realized that hope for them is lost, they wont turn from their plans, even if it means to banish the ones of their own kind.”

Mara sighed, her heart felt Heavy and her soul crushed “I cant imagine they are this cruel, they experimented on me as well, but it was just to save my life, I would be dead if it wasn’t for them, well some of them.”

A small chuckle escaped Vazur’s snout “Do you really think they tried to keep you alive because they care for you? They saved you so that your powers could serve them in the future, you are nothing but a tool to them, a tool that they used to hunt down the Gelflings and bring the Garthim to life, it is the Darkening that has destroyed a lot of Thra, and will still continue to do so as long as the Skeksis keep misusing the Crystal.”

Was that true, this they really use her own powers without her consent? Did SkekEkt knew about this? Had she lied to her all these years? No this couldn't be, it couldn't it just…

“Do you want to see it?”

His deep voice ripped her from her thoughts “What?”

“Do you wish to see the outside, see for yourself what the Darkening has caused?” for a moment she thought he had ost his patience with her, bot he stayed calm and collected, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Yes”