There wasn’t much of a choice but for the Champions to comply with Voldon and Cheriss’ directives, unless they wanted to be left behind in this hellish place; so they gave chase, even though the Champions had long lost sight of their quarry. It would seem Voldon and/or Cheriss had not, however, as they spurred on with the determination of a man possessed. This path seemed to go on forever…the more they ran, the more Aria’s head began to feel muggy with what she could only assume was exhaustion. Fighting off the illusions and that spat with the Faceless girl must have taken more out of her than she thought, for the Champion soon found tendrils of the black mist of unconsciousness drifting in and out of her vision. She batted them away with a growl of annoyance. NOT now. She had to tough it out, keep going...had to catch Soto. They couldn’t let her get away with what she had done! But the more Aria tried to fight it, the more insistent the mist seemed to become that it would have her in its grasp, and the thicker it got until she felt like she was choking on it. She was more than a little grateful when Yerbol stopped as they reached the opening to the cave, though before he could finish the sentence, his voice seemed to fade into the distance.

For a brief moment, the Champion thought she HAD lost consciousness. But then, this had to be the WEIRDEST dream she had ever had, because her partner was still standing in front of her. He was trying to speak, to ask her something, but his mouth was moving and no words were coming out, whatever was being spoken instead drowned out by this incessant buzzing in her head that seemed to fill her entire skull cavity until her head threatened to explode.  She watched in puzzlement as his expression changed from cautious curiosity, to shock. Words became more tangible, but they were muted, as if she were underwater. Her body seemed to be moving of its own accord, her mouth forming words she would have NEVER spoken to him no matter what happened. Aria could feel the sharp pang of betrayal through their bond and she desperately tried to fight against it, to dig her feet in and resist the force that compelled her to attack her partner. 
[i]NO. NO, I would never hurt him! These are lies! I LOVE HIM, STOP![/i] Desperately Aria tried to scream, tried to tell him, and yet the only words that would come out of her mouth were more lies. [i]No, no no...please, Bol this is a lie...this is all a lie! [/i]
It seemed the more she tried to fight, the louder she tried to scream, the worse whatever this….hell was, became. Next thing Aria knew it was all sabers flashing and taunts as she lunged for Yerbol and he desperately tried to fight her off without hurting her. One time too many, her crimson blades came far too close to severing his head, though thankfully her efforts to divert the attacks seemed to work at least once and she instead glanced the blade harmlessly off the tree trunk behind his head; the second time Yerbol threw her backwards with a powerful Force blast. 

Aria kept hoping...no, BEGGING that all of this would stop. That it was all some horrid nightmare and she would wake up at any moment and it would all be over. Thankfully, it seemed help would arrive at precisely that moment. As Aria scrambled to her feet and was forced to make another lunge for her partner, a shimmering silver barrier appeared between them which stopped her in her tracks and held her in place as a vaguely familiar voice proclaimed firmly:
“ENOUGH! Release them!” that black mist returned, swirling violently around her though Aria was helpless to try and push it away this time. 
“Release.Them.” the voice’s owner made herself visible, an orange-skinned Togruta who balanced a saberstaff expertly in one hand while the other extended towards the Champions, dragging the mist aside against its will. “You are not welcome here!” 

That was ridiculous, right? Mist couldn’t move on it’s own….this was all some weird fever dream that must have been brought on by the stress of their situation, they were probably passed out somewhere in some bunker in Voss Ka, right….? Slowly, as her head began to clear, Aria began to realise this was not a dream at all, although she could definitely classify it as a waking nightmare. A nightmare which would soon be over, thanks to their rescuers. With one more flick of her wrist, the Togruta propelled the last of the mist away into the shadows. Eerily, the black fog took on the shape of a person at that point (by which time Aria was convinced she had finally lost her mind and started hallucinating), emitting an inhuman scream as it lunged back towards Aria, red eyes boring into her and drawing her back in.
“Don’t look at it!” 
The Champion tried in vain to snap her head to the side and jerk free of the demon’s grasp, only able to do so when a set of six-inch claws pierced into the apparition and tore it apart, the last wisps more easily thrown aside by the first Force user and dissipating to reveal the towering eight foot creature that stood in its place. 
Certain it was safe to release her, the Togruta released the barrier and Aria dropped to the ground, retching violently as she gulped down lungfuls of air. Her insides felt like they were on fire, her limbs turned to jelly as if she had been drowning and only just been able to come up for air. 

When she finally managed to steady herself, Aria looked up to find the trio crowding around her, faces a mixture of concern and relief (all except for the creature, whom she was sure only ever had ONE expression total: smug disdain). 
“A-Ashara…?” 
“Hey look at that, you remembered what I look like.” the affirmed Ashara smirked as she crouched to help the Champion sit up. “Take it easy kiddo, sit up slowly.”
“Wh-What was that?” Aria coughed, rubbing her throat uncomfortably. 
“The nightmare these lands are named after. What are you two doing out here by yourself, where’s Master Lash?” Ashara frowned, her scolding tone quickly becoming concern as she could see no sign of the Dathomirian. 
“They went into the cave over there. We were gonna follow them, but then...well...” Yerbol awkwardly pointed it out, his gaze not moving from his partner as he took a step towards them. “Ari...are you alright?” 
His concern couldn’t override the horrible realisation Aria had come to. 

She had tried to KILL him. After swearing to stand by his side and care for him unconditionally, she had almost murdered him. 
“D-Don’t touch me.” she squeaked, trying to shrink away from Yerbol in an attempt to protect him. She couldn’t take the chance, not while they were still here and there was a chance it could happen again. 
“A-Ari, I-”
“I SAID DON’T KARKIN’ TOUCH ME!” the Champion screamed, leaping backwards before his hand could make contact with her shoulder. Almost instantly, she felt bad for yelling at him as he flashed her a look of helplessness, amending it with a quieter murmur of: “I-I’m sorry, Bol...I d-don’t wanna hurt you...” 
“You should be fine, kiddo.” the Togruta smiled. “But what’s say we catch up with your Masters and get out of here, ey?” 
“Yeah...yeah, we should.” Yerbol cleared his throat as the Champions tried to turn their minds back to their objective, they would have a lot to talk about when this was over but now wasn’t the time and they both knew that. “Err...thanks….”
“Ashara Zavros.” the Togruta introduced herself, briefly extending a hand towards the Champion. “Former apprentice to Darth Lash, but I guess now you could call me more of a uh...freelance, Force user?” a friendly smile accompanied the statement, Ashara releasing Yerbol’s hand to gesture at the hulking creature that had left them in order to peer inquisitively into the cave mouth in front of them. “The Dashade is Khem Val, he’s er....well, he’s Khem. Got a few screws loose, but makes for good muscle when you need someone to cover your back.”
The Dashade turned to cast a threatening glare at the other three over his shoulder, gravelly voice growling something in an old Sith language Aria knew very few their age would have understood. Ashara claimed it translated as:
“It is impolite to speak of Khem Val as if he is not here. Khem Val can still hear you.”
“Oh, don’t be such a wet blanket, Khem.” Ashara snorted, waving him off dismissively. “We’re not here to argue, we’re here to help them.”
Aria exchanged a wary glance with Yerbol, while she was glad to have more help, she had to wonder how Ashara had known they would be here….had she been following the Qyaari all this time and only just offered her help, or had Cheriss finally reached out to her former apprentice fearing they may have needed further aid? If it was the latter, it would appear the Elder had been right….

____________________________

The cavern provided less light than Cheriss had hoped for, the Dathomirian growling under her breath and reaching for her borrowed saber to create some light of her own, but stopped as Voldon assured her they would arrive in a well-lit chamber soon enough. As Voldon attempted to point out their next move, Cheriss forced him to pause in order to point out that they had lost their faithful Champions who should have been right behind them. 
“Aren’t we forgetting someone, Voldon? We should wait for them, how will they know which path to take?” the pause in their step that the Elders took to consider this fact gave Soto the moment to appear and sneer something about ending the Qyaari once and for all, though Cheriss’ eyes narrowed as she apparently took offence to the “old maid” comment.
“Hey! Who are you calling old, Soto….you’re no spring chicken yourself!” the Dathomirian spat, igniting her lightsaber as her eyes darted from one rendition of Soto to the next, then back to Voldon. It was IMPOSSIBLE to tell which one was the REAL Soto. They would have to kill them all, and hope they got lucky with hitting the actual Soto before she could escape again. 
She caught the other Elder’s gaze and inclined her head towards the Soto directly ahead of them. 
“I say we go straight down the middle, force them to follow us...what we don’t want is for them to back us into a corner or lead us into a trap.”