Disclaimer I do not own she-ra and the princesses of power and I am not making any money by writing this story. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.
Thoughts will be in Italics
Beast Island
Castaspella felt like she was losing hope. Hope was not an easy thing to keep a hold of when you grew up in the midst of a war. The war with the Horde had been a constant growing up and it still raged during her rule of Mystacor. It had stolen so much from her, her childhood as she was trained to take up the role of leading her people, her brother as he was captured and banished and now even her niece as she watched as they slowly drifted apart without the ability to do anything but speed up the process. It hurts. Why can't I fix things at all? I can't even protect Glimmer and she feels safer in the guardianship of a monster than her own blood.
Being alone left the darker thoughts and emotions of the sorceress queen to fester. Work had kept her mind occupied for the longest time. Castaspella had never really had a chance to mourn the passing or the loss of her family or those she would consider family. Running Mystacor once she became queen, the politics of staying neutral and trying to keep as many mages as possible out of the hands of the Horde not to mention her own lack of sleep and while being mentor, teacher, queen and aunt. So many roles consumed her and now on the island the weight of those roles seemed to be gone and yet that weight had also kept her feeling grounded.
Ever since the Horde started to escalate things forcing Mystacor to break its neutrality and officially side with the rebellion that weight was almost a comfort with the many new and uncomfortable situations she had been forced to deal with. How can I help Glimmer when she wants that monster Shadow Weaver around more than her own blood relative. I want to do something, but I feel like I only end up doing more harm than good when it comes to Glimmer.
The fester darker thoughts brought out a more negative attitude as fear crept into Castaspella's heart as her thoughts turned back onto the remains of the destroyed village she had come across. What if Micah really was dead and the trip turned out to be a waste? What if in the end she only brought Glimmer more pain with the confirmation of the death of her father and hurt herself as well by taking away the phantom promise that her own brother was still alive and force her to face the possibility that he really was dead.
"Oh, Micah please be alive. I don't know what to do and you always knew how to handle the tough things in life." Whispering to herself lonely sorceress prayed that she could find her brother in good health. Time, stress and the war was taking its toll on Castaspella as she felt herself losing a grip on herself and she felt that Shadow Weaver was also pushing her buttons on purpose knowing she didn't have any way to challenge her or push back without alienating Glimmer even more.
Castaspella's hunt for her brother was not a truly altruistic action as she knew the crushing wait of her responsibilities were taking their toll and she wanted her brother back to help support her. She wanted her brother back, more for herself than her niece if anyone got a chance to look into her thoughts on the matter. Sure, having Micah around would make things easier with Glimmer but she just needed the love and support for herself if she wanted to be able to keep moving.
Castaspella would never admit to this darker side of her thoughts as she did love her niece and her kingdom but while she would keep this secret with her to the grave, part of her blamed Angela and the Rebellion for the loss of her brother. it wasn't a fair idea but then fair never accounted for personal emotional baggage.
I should've waited for Adora and Bow to get back from their scouting, but I just can't wait I have to know if he is alive or not. Her impatience has always been an undesirable habit she hadn't been able to get past since her youth. She had managed to tame it, but big things always managed to break through.
While distracted a few of the native creatures made an attempt to jump their distracted prey only to hit an invisible wall as a shield spell blocked their attack. "You know, I'm dealing with a lot of stuff at the moment so thank you for being acceptable targets for me to vent on." The now visible simian creatures just growled back their teeth visible while more and more glowing eyes seemed to join the creatures that had yet to attack in hiding at the edge of the sightline of the trees and the various hiding places and shadows it provided.
The creatures that had hit the shield quickly recovered and tried to claw and punch their way through. The attempts were unsuccessful though the growing number of attackers was a bit worrying, especially as some of the creatures seemed smart enough to stay back and watch the rest of their brethren to learn from their failures.
For a moment the shield fell away causing the attacking creatures to stumble and fall over each other or face first into the ground. The pause in the attacked caused by the dropping of the shield was followed by a massive concussive blast sending the creatures flying. Castaspella followed up with several bolts of lighting paralysing the larger creatures while she then focused on simply blasting away at the creatures surrounding her. She screamed in frustration, anger and the release of emotions she had long kept supressed using the creatures as punching bags to vent.
Her focus distracted she didn't notice the slow crawl of vines behind her. For a moment silence filled the air as the monsters stopped their attack their focus no longer on the strange prey in front of them but rather on what was behind her. A low loud howl came from the largest of the group signalling a retreat. Confused Castaspella moved to pursue her former attackers only to lose her send of equilibrium as she was pulled to the forest floor and then swung around before simply hanging upside down. Trying to get her bearings she noticed the massive amounts of vines moving around towards her. Acting quickly to a stream of fire erupted from her hands that got her free for a moment as she burnt away her bindings though her freedom didn't last long as she felt a pinch on the back of her leg and saw one of the vines with a large needle like stinger dripping with small glints of red.
A numbness took over as Castaspella felt herself faltering and the fire she was unleashing shrinking and more and more vines creeping towards her. The numbness was followed with a sound she couldn't place that seemed to come from all around her as her strength faded and even her will to try and fight. The whining buzz seemed to steal her will to fight as she struggled to continue her fight only for more pricks and numbness to follow as her defences fell away bit by bit until the fire died out and all that surrounded her was the vines swallowing her up and the few creatures that had attacked her that had been unable to escape fast enough or hadn't recovered from her attacks on them.
The light in her eyes slowly faded as an apathy set in as she stopped struggling. She watched emotionless as the vines seemed to be draining away at the creatures that had attack her. The needle like protrusions stuck into them and drained away like a child with a juice box. As the creatures wasted away, she felt several pricks all over her body. A strange acceptance filled her as she felt her life about to be siphoned away before a sudden chill filled the air and a strange inhuman shrieking filled the air as the felt the vines surrounding her either pull away or snap as they froze over.
She felt herself being picked up as people covered in thick robes dragged her out of her organic tomb. Feeling unconsciousness claiming her as her ordeal started to catch up to her body, she caught a glimpse of a face she thought she would never see again. "Micah?" it was weak and rather pitiful as it was not only a question but carried a sense of begging as Castaspella wondered if she was dead and her brother had come to great her. As she blacked out a sense of relief warmed her numb core as she heard her name being called in surprise.
"Castaspella?"
