Quitetly, Quiggly stepped into the darkness as he stealthily approached and steeled himself for the fight that loomed ahead. Quiggly heard something move behind him and instinctively twisted to face it. A low growl rumbled in his throat as he prepared to strike a blow. Suddenly, an explosion of white light blinded his eyes and made his ears pop. Quiggly's body felt as if it had been torn apart as he was flung through the air. * * * A roar of triumph came from the darkness as the creature known as Quiggly was thrown against the bars of the cubby hole that was his cage. Blood sprayed from his head, his mouth, and every other orifice. He was unable to see or hear as he rolled in pain on the floor of his cage. His flesh was torn from his bones. Blood and bits of his body were splattered on the walls, ceiling, and floor of his cubby hole. Even the air in the room had an acrid smell of burned flesh as the smell of death surrounded him. The force of the shockwave had blown him against the bars of the cubby hole. When Quiggly felt himself start to fall, he realized that he had been picked up by the shockwave and flung into the cage. In a last desperate effort, he had tried to turn his body at the last second so that the force of the shockwave would not hit him so hard. His reflexes, which usually allowed him to use the Force to propel himself through the air, had not worked in this instance. Now Quiggly, along with much of his internal organs, lay in a puddle of blood on the floor of his cage. He was sure that he had a broken rib, and he could not feel his legs. The creature known as Quiggly was not dead, but he had been badly injured. He no longer had use of his legs or arms. For an instant he prayed that he would pass out and die, but instead, a horrible burning and bubbling sensation set in as he watched in terror as the skin from his leg fell to the floor in chunks. The creature known as Quiggly screamed in pain as he slowly died. With no legs to support himself, he collapsed onto the floor, and slid into the darkness. His screams for mercy echoed in his ears as the blood that dripped from his empty eye sockets splashed down onto the bones of his face. It flowed into his mouth, and as his mind faded, a feeling of blackness enveloped his thoughts. He hoped he would see death, but instead, he saw nothing. The creature known as Quiggly felt a chill as he saw himself lying on the floor of his cage. He turned his head toward where he remembered his cage to be, but all he saw were bones, broken and broken, and blood everywhere. For the first time since the Battle of Yavin, he had no control over himself. He felt helpless as he looked around his surroundings and realized that he was lying in a pool of his own blood. With no arms or legs, and barely the strength to speak, he called out in a hoarse whisper. "Mom? Mom?" Quiggly tried to swallow. "Mom?" He opened his mouth wide and tried to gasp for breath, but there was no air to come into his lungs. With every breath, he struggled to say the words again, and again he tried. "Mom. Mom." In his mind, he could almost hear the voice of his mother from the time she would play with him as a child. _He's crying. Mom, his eyes are full of tears,_ she would whisper, _and he needs my help. Can you hear him?_ And he always did. * * * The young woman in the dark robes, Quiggly's mother, knelt beside him in the cell. She touched his arm and felt the warmth that it radiated. She touched his face and felt the warmth that flowed from his pores. She stared into his eyes, which were blue and had been green before they had changed, and saw the soul that they once held. She could feel that he was still there, and she prayed silently to the force that guided her actions. _I cannot let him die_ , she told the force, which would eventually become the force known as the Force. _I have to help him, but how? I don't have any training and no one in the Order has told me what to do._ Quiggly was no longer aware of her presence. His mind had retreated deep inside his body and he could feel his hands shaking in the darkness. His vision was blurry and his nose burned from the odor of blood and feces that surrounded him. Even the sound of his own tears did not reach his ears. Quiggly, his head bandaged, rolled over onto his side and tried to open his eyes. A wave of terror shot through his body as he saw the dark eyes of his tormentor staring at him. In his mind, the black void of his last moments of terror returned to him and he cried out in his mind in a scream so loud that it echoed through the sky. Then, as quickly as the terror had come, it disappeared and the young woman he knew as his mother lifted him gently and guided him out of his cubby hole and back into his bedroom. He barely registered what was happening. His mind had been in shock, but as she laid him down, he felt the cool air of the night breeze, and heard the rustle of a bird's wings from a nearby bush. He opened his eyes, expecting to see her, but she was nowhere to be found. It was then that he smelled the strong odor of burned flesh that came from the wounds on his back. The scent was so powerful it made him vomit, and he felt as if he was going to be sick. Then the fear came back. He looked around the room and saw the other monsters in his bed. Even in his daze, he knew who they were and wondered why his mother had not warned him to stay away from them. Suddenly, he felt the cold bite of steel around his wrist, and in a moment of clarity, he knew that his mother had no choice but to chain him to the bed to keep him from getting away from her. The creature known as Quiggly closed his eyes and began to cry as he remembered his long-dead parents and the last conversation he had had with them. * * * The creature known as Quiggly was no more. The eyes, lungs, heart, skin, bones, and every other bodily system of the monster known as Quiggly had been broken to bits, ripped from his body and scattered in the streets of the city. The man who had found him, the woman who saw him, and the men who captured him believed that he was dead. Quiggly was taken to an underground room where he was laid on a metal table. In the center of the room a massive generator took energy from the lights of a massive city, and an antennae antennae grew from the generator. The two were connected by wires, and the light from the city powered the generator, which provided the source of energy for the Jedi temple. Soon after he was taken to the temple, a man appeared at his bedside. He wore a large black coat and dark sunglasses. The man's name was Yarael Poof, and he was the leader of the Clan. As he spoke to Quiggly, he held his long and slender hands above his head, and he slowly moved them as if he were casting a spell. The creature known as Quiggly was paralyzed, and he felt as if he was trapped in a room where he could not breathe and there was no air to breathe. The creature known as Quiggly was being controlled by the Clan, and he knew that the Jedi were no longer of any use. The Clan was taking control of the galaxy. The Jedi were no longer in control of the Force. Quiggly was placed in a cell and left alone. He spent the rest of his days in darkness, chained to a bed, unable to move, unable to speak, unable to see. And to what end? The Clan would be victorious over the Alliance and live on to rebuild their galaxy. Quiggly was no longer of use to them. The Clan had used him, and now he was a slave, just like the Jedi. ## THE GARGOYLE * * * _Once, many years ago, the Jedi were in charge of the_ _galaxy and they ruled with complete control and a firm hand._ _Some say it was before the destruction of their temple at_ _Mand'alor in which the Clawdite people came and ruined their way of_ _life. Although this cannot be proven, the destruction of the temple_ _might have occurred before the events of_ _the Great Hyperspace War. Regardless, the Clawdites were seen_ _as barbarians who did not understand the laws of the Order, and,_ _therefore, they were seen as a major threat to the peace of the_ _galaxy._ _The Clawdites once ruled a vast empire that covered half of the_ _galaxy. They conquered worlds, stole treasure, and slaughtered_ _monsters and droids until the Jedi tracked them down