I almost wasn't going to post this week, and not because I couldn't figure out a way to extend the length of this without wrecking the flow. I'd come to terms with that a while ago.

No, my mood has been soured by the events of the past few days, when a mob of people, hopped up on lies, misplaced anger, and their own willful ignorance, stormed the Capital Building in a mad attempt to overturn the results of a free and fair election.

I have nothing but contempt for these people. They have willingly swallowed insane conspiracies and blatant falsehoods, gassed themselves up with outright undemocratic rhetoric disguised as cheap patriotism, and committed acts of sedition and treason against their government. The Capital Building was broken into and sacked, an event that hasn't happened since the War of 1812, and this pack of raving lunatics cheered while committing the greatest act against the government since the days of the Confederacy.

I pray to God that those responsible for this gutless act are held accountable, up to and including the ignoramus who wound them up like tin toys and told them to march on the seat of government when anyone with half a brain could have seen where that would lead to.

I hope any readers living in the DC area are safe and healthy after that night of horror in their backyards, and I hope we, as a country, learns from this and NEVER allows these sorts of ignorant ideals anywhere near positions of power ever again.

We'll get through this, so long as we remember the real truth, and stand firm against those who would destroy it.

God Bless America, and may truth, justice, and the public good reign supreme.

...

Now, let's see if we can have something lighter to enjoy.

I keep imagining Tilda Swinton's voice coming out of the Sorceress' mouth. I mean, I was going for Ancient One vibes, so maybe that's it.

Gold Light, Green Light

Chapter 13

Grayskull

The child wailed as the two soldiers took her away. Shadow Weaver stood shock-still, her only movement the constant billowing of her hair from the cantrip she kept up for intimidation purposes. Her senses were screaming at her, telling her that the infant was important.

"This one is different," she said almost to herself.

She turned to Hordak, who was just getting up from his throne.

"Can't you feel it? She has power!"

Hordak just rubbed his forehead, no doubt trying to will away the headache that had come with the girl's cries.

"Fine, take it! Just get it out of here!"

He brushed past his subordinate and made towards a workbench, muttering about needing some peace. Shadow Weaver took the infant from the soldier. She felt so small and fragile in the sorceress' arms. She gently stroked the girl's cheek, and she calmed at the touch, looking up at Shadow Weaver with innocent eyes.

"Don't worry, little one. We're going to do great things together."

As Shadow Weaver started to walk away, throwing thanks at Hordak as she did so, her lord spoke up again.

"By the by, her name is Adora."

"Sir?" Shadow Weaver asked, looking back at him in confusion.

"It was stitched on the blanket," he replied, then turned back to his tinkering.

Shadow Weaver looked down at the infant, who was looking at her curiously. She noted the strange writing on the blanket's edge, but couldn't decipher it. Deciding to take Hordak's word for it, she did a swift mental realignment of nouns.

"Adora…you know, I can't help but wonder where you came from…"

oOo

The word hit her like a thunderbolt. It bounced around in her head like an echo.

Grayskull. Grayskull. Grayskull.

"For the honor of Grayskull!"

Catra's touch brought her back to the present.

"Grayskull's a place? Grayskull's this place?" Adora gasped.

"Ooo, plot twist," Entrapta murmured.

"Mara, why didn't you say anything?"

"Because it wouldn't have mattered," Mara replied, her holographic form flickering in distress, "I didn't think this place still existed! It's been a thousand years, and the rest of my people clearly died, present company notwithstanding. Even if I had told you about Grayskull, I didn't believe there'd be more than ruins, so what would have been the point? I mean, we all know what good a shape Light Hope was in. She wasn't!"

"You still should have said something!"

"Okay, everyone calm down!" Bow thundered, "It's here, we're here, that's what matters. Mara, what can we expect?"

Mara sighed, then waved her hand to bring up an image. The castle was large and foreboding, the front gate shaped like a massive skull.

"Castle Grayskull. It was the high seat of my people in this system, and later, the main base for a rebellion against their tyranny, a rebellion I was part of. Don't be fooled by the stone exterior, that was just a quirk of the architect. Inside, it's all First Ones' tech. A massive repository of science and sorcery, greater than anything else in the quadrant. Even if a fraction of it is still viable, it'd be a fantastic amount."

Entrapta made a noise like ecstasy.

"Whelp, she's having a joy overload," Scorpia said.

"Do you think the transmission was an automatic response to our presence?" Bow asked.

"If it was just the second sentence, sure, but that bit about the drawbridge makes me think that we'll find someone down there," Mara said.

"And hopefully, someone friendly," Adora said, "Take us in."

oOo

Castle Grayskull loomed before them. It sat at the edge of a massive chasm, the only access point being a small land bridge leading to a lowered drawbridge.

"Easily defensible," Catra muttered.

"A lot grungier than the picture, though," Scorpia said.

"Passage of time, probably," Glimmer replied.

The crept over the drawbridge and into the castle. The stone walls glowed dimly, the air hummed with potential power, and a cool wind whipped around them briefly.

"Anyone else getting a spooked-out feeling?" Catra asked, grabbing her tail and patting the bristled fur down.

Melog growled in agreement, her mane flickering to red.

"Be ready for anything," Adora said, summoning her sword.

They strode down the dim hall until the area opened up into a large room. At the other end was an ornate crystalline throne, and seated on the throne was a woman. She was neither old nor young, but somehow seemed both. White of hair, but with no wrinkles to speak of. Her hands looked delicate, but her posture spoke of strength. The most noteworthy detail was her ornate headdress. Feathers trailed down her back, and the headpiece resembled a bird of prey.

Adora's breath caught in her throat.

"You…you were there…when we beat Prime, you were there!"

The woman smiled.

"Merely an astral projection. Hello, Adora. I've been expecting you."

"Who are you?" Adora breathed.

"My name…that is complicated. Truth be told, I'm unsure you'd be able to pronounce it. You may merely call me by my title, the Sorceress of Castle Grayskull."

There was a peal of thunder through the air, and the visitors jumped. The woman, however, frowned and looked up at the ceiling.

"I thought I turned that off."

She flicked her hand and a spark shot up.

"Sorry about that," she said, rising, "I don't get many visitors, so these things slip, you understand. Come, we have much to discuss."

She casually got up and walked toward the wall to the left. A flick of her hand made the stone shift, a doorway soon appearing. She walked through without missing a beat.

After a moment, she poked her head back out.

"That means follow me."

The visitors snapped out of their stunned stupor and hurried after her.

"Who even are you?" Catra asked, "How are you doing this with an ancient First Ones ruin?"

"I am the castle's steward, as I have been since I was chosen to be so."

"By who?" Glimmer asked.

"You just brought them up. The…First Ones, you call them? My people had a different name for themselves, but I suppose it doesn't matter now, considering I am likely all that is left of them."

Adora stopped dead, then briefly stumbled forward when Scorpia bumped into her from behind.

"You're a First One?" she gasped.

The Sorceress looked back with a smile.

"I look good for my age, don't I?"

She then made a sound like she'd found something, and tapped at the wall. Another doorway appeared, this one letting out into a room much more like the First Ones architecture they were familiar with. The walls were still stone-like, but with veins of crystalline material all throughout. Taking up one wall was a massive collection of crystals, the facets forming a collection of screens. The Sorceress tapped at one facet, and an image appeared. A young woman accepted a familiar feathered headdress from a collection of uniformed men.

"I was much younger then," she said, "I had no idea what was in my future. All I saw was the enormous honor that had been placed on me."

"How are you still alive?" Bow asked.

"My position, of course. I am Castle Grayskull's steward, and so I shall remain until the day I decide to relinquish that position and the power it entails. In the meantime, I enjoy…fringe benefits, let's say. The castle provides, as it always has."

"You say that like it's alive," Glimmer said.

"Not in the traditional sense," the Sorceress demurred, "But…well, all that power and magic coursing through these old stones…it leaves a mark. Deep magic works in mysterious ways. Even those that have studied the mystic arts for a lifetime can still be surprised."

Entrapta quietly squealed and started muttering about various possibilities. The Sorceress smiled at her.

"Yes, perhaps you may discover something new, tinkerer."

She shook herself briefly.

"But we are getting off-track."

She snapped her fingers and the facets projected new images, one with which she told her story.

"The beginning of our relevant story is actually an ending. The ending of a long and bloody civil war that ripped apart a galactic empire. We won't get into the causes now, just know that it had been building for decades, so it was not likely to be resolved quickly. One side of the war began looking for powerful weapons to tip the balance. Things that could achieve incredible destruction in a short time."

She pointed at an image of a planet.

"You're familiar with one, I believe."

"The Heart of Etheria," Adora grimaced, "They turned an entire planet into a weapon."

"And Mara gave everything to stop it," the Sorceress nodded, "That ended up being a flashpoint in the war. Word spread of the superweapon. Fear and anger gripped the galaxy. The side that had built the weapon, the side that Mara and I fought against, suddenly looked like monsters. Opinions turned, hearts and minds changed, and the tide of war drastically shifted."

She sighed.

"And then, in the midst of it all, Horde Prime came."

The Sorceress stared at an image of Prime's armada, a mixture of anger and sadness on her face.

"I still don't know where he came from. I don't think anyone did. But his presence was apocalyptic. The civil war had already ravaged our empire, left it vulnerable. He rolled over us like a storm, slaughtering all in his path. I will be the first to admit, my people had descended into a horrible place…but even as dark as they'd become, they didn't deserve what Prime had done to them."

There was a moment of silence, a dark mood descending.

"Wait, then how did you escape?" Scorpia asked.

The Sorceress' look turned sly.

"The same way Mara did."

Jaws dropped around the room.

"You were in Despondos?" Entrapta gasped.

"Not technically. But from what I gathered, it was just adjacent to Despondos, somewhere between it and what the Kryptonians called the Phantom Zone. It was to this place that I brought Eternia. However, something went wrong…"

"Let me guess," Adora said, "Mara was tapping into the massive magic of the Heart of Etheria when she did her disappearing act. But you didn't have as much power to work with when you did it."

"Got it in one," the Sorceress replied, snapping her fingers in Adora's direction, "Have a cookie."

A cookie appeared in Adora's hand. She stared at it for a moment before shrugging and biting into it.

"As it was, the transition was very rough, to put it mildly. Eternia had already been battered by war, but sending it to another realm was nearly the end. Life clung to its surface by fingertips, the entire biosphere barely holding on."

One screen showed Eternia, a riot of browns and blacks. Then, a wave of greenish-blue washed over it.

"Thankfully, Grayskull had a solution. Using its knowledge, I altered the flow of time outside the castle, seeding the planet with new life and letting it grow at a rapid pace."

Several screens lit up, showing all kinds of life growing and spreading at a rapid pace. Trees grew tall in seconds, animals grew and changed, and buildings rose up. The image of Eternia shifted back to a vibrant blue and green.

"I saw new creatures crawl out of the boiling oceans and stand tall alongside the remaining people. I saw nations rise and fall. I saw the new people of this planet rediscover the magic of Eternia, combining it with machinery in new and fantastic ways. I watched, I guided from afar, and I did my best to atone for the mistakes of my people."

The Sorceress gazed upon the image of Eternia, a sad look on her face.

"They are my children…sometimes, not even in metaphor."

"You have kids?" Bow and Glimmer chorused.

"Several over the millennia. I'm old, not dead."

"I'm sorry, millennia?" Adora asked.

"For Etheria, it's been one thousand years. But for Eternia, it's been more like six."

Catra swore softly.

"Which brings us to the modern day," the Sorceress said, tapping at one screen and changing the image. A line of purpleish-white ripped through the sky, a small ship falling out of it.

"Approximately twenty-five years ago, there was a rip in space and time. An explorer from a far-off planet arrived in Eternia, a victim of an accident with attempted wormhole technology."

She paused, frowning.

"I think she called it Zeta beams? That doesn't matter."

"I respectfully disagree," Entrapta interjected.

"Regardless, her arrival sent a shockwave through local time-space, breaking the mechanisms that had been used to alter time and bringing Eternia's aging back into sync with Etheria and the larger universe. The explorer, with no way home, settled on Eternia, specifically the kingdom that spans most of the globe and had taken on the name of the planet itself."

"The kingdom and the planet are named the same? Weird," Glimmer said.

"It suits them. The explorer eventually met the rising king of Eternia, and fell in love."

The Sorceress then showed images of the happy couple, and Adora stumbled back, eyes wide.

She knew these people, she'd seen them in her deepest dreams. And even if she hadn't, the woman looked painfully familiar.

After all, it was the same face she saw in the mirror every morning.

"These are King Randor and Queen Marlena. They are your parents, Adora."

Adora heard a gasp, probably from Glimmer, but it sounded much further away than it should. Everything else tunneled out. She dropped to her knees, tears in her eyes. She reached for the image, her voice catching.

"M—my…my parents?"

The image changed. The queen was sitting up in bed, holding two bundles close. The king stood next to her, looking proud enough to burst. A tiny hand waved from one bundle.

"From the union was born two. Prince Adam…and Princess Adora."

"Princess? Me? And…I have…a brother? A twin brother?"

The Sorceress entered her field of vision, kneeling down before Adora and looking at her sadly.

"I was there. In recent years, I made myself an ally to the rulers of Eternia. I blessed you and your brother on the day of your birth. One month later, you had vanished in the night. I spent years searching for you with my magic, but when I found you, it was too late. You were beyond my power to bring home."

The Sorceress' breath briefly caught, but she pushed on, speaking with palpable pride.

"I watched you grow from afar. I watched you stumble and I watched you rise. I watched you encounter suffering and I watched you find love. I watched you become a true hero. I watched you become greater than I ever thought possible. I watched you slay Horde Prime, and in my joy, I ended the spell of separation and brought Eternia back, in the hopes that you would find your way back here."

She pulled the weeping Adora into a hug.

"Welcome home, sweet child."

I'm not crying, you're crying!