Chapter 7: A Life Without Sorrow

He Who Brings the Day and the Night

Two minds that were also one joined in the hallowed halls of their conquest.

Horde Prime stood on the surface of Exalia, the light of the teleportation array fading within seconds. Waiting just in front of the dedicated landing pad was a clone, wearing the insignia of a First Captain.

"Lord Prime," the clone said. His voice was even, but he bore an obvious impatience.

"You said that you wished to inform me of events here," Horde Prime said. "You marked them as the highest priority in your communications."

"Yes, Lord Prime," the captain answered. "If you wish to see why we are so concerned, please come with me."

Horde Prime walked brusquely through the camp, following the Captain. Hordes of soldiers — clones of himself — mingled with aliens of other races. He could see wounded soldiers carried on floating stretchers and quartermasters handing out batteries for laser weapons. The camp was a buzzing hive of activity, but there was a nervous energy permeating it, even as each soldier who saw and recognized him bowed down low.

The captain led Horde Prime to a command platform at the center of camp, a fortified enclosure with biometric scanners and mounted turrets protecting command infrastructure underneath a roof of Athamerite steel.

The captain stepped towards a console, a Nethennar technician jumping out of the way.

The sight of the technician reminded Horde Prime of his irritation at needing lesser beings for his war efforts. Nethennars in particular were invaluable with their vast memories, and he had not yet found a way to replace them. Eventually, though, he was sure he would.

A few taps of the captain's fingers on the console brought a hologram up, depicting a strange being. Long, thin and insectoid, its body pulsated. It had eight legs it walked on, and each step saw a bulge form at one of its joints and travel downwards. Each step was perfectly timed, with the bulge reaching the creature's feet as they hit the ground, and a shockwave emanated with each footfall.

Horde Prime's first thought was one mired in confusion. It was a strange creature, of that there was no doubt, but the urgency seemed disproportionate. But then he saw what the creature was walking amongst.

Buildings. The tall spires of a First Ones city, which didn't reach a quarter of the way up its legs.

"That is a native," said the captain.

"If there were native organisms like that, surely there would be some record."

"No, Lord Prime, an intelligent native."

"This is one of the strange powers they have manifested?"

"In a way. Over the past week, local time, we have witnessed some of their number, individuals who possess these strange abilities, turn into these enormous creatures. Not just soldiers, but any member of the species. They appear feral, but they are still destroying our troops. Nothing short of our orbital weapons has been able to destroy them, and they are appearing in combat zones frequently enough that we can't afford to take the losses needed to destroy them."

The captain pressed more buttons on the console, summoning recordings of the monsters emerging. From the ranks of natives — reptilian bipeds wielding weapons made of hard light — they grew without warning, reaching into the sky. The very tallest Horde Prime was shown was comparable in size to a mountain beside it.

The RDTM software displayed auto-generated combat analysis alongside the images, but it was hardly necessary to emphasize the destructive power of these beings.

It was, indeed, worthy of being called an emergency.

"I wanted you here to see this yourself," said the captain. "I could have sent messages, but I want to impress on you how catastrophic this is. We're losing troops faster than we can handle. Frankly, we are not going to be able to take the planet."

"Are you asking me for permission to retreat?" asked Horde Prime.

"Candidly, yes."

"I know that the First Ones' primary military base had not been captured as of your last report captain. Is this still true?"

"Yes, Lord Prime."

The base that had been manned by the First Ones' military on the planet had stood even in the century since the planet had been abandoned, a local AI and automated defenses, including a large force of their robot spiders, discouraging the natives from taking it.

"I want one last push made for the base. I know that the First Ones stored valuable data there, and I intend to obtain it. Regardless of the outcome, your forces can retreat when the battle is over. We can consider our options then."

The captain stared into Horde Prime's eyes, a flicker of hesitation overwhelmed by a roaring fire of devotion. "Even with targeted orbital attacks, the constant reappearance of these creatures from the native population will make reestablishing a ground presence impossible."

"I'm aware," said Horde Prime.

…

Ranks of the natives had surrounded the First Ones' base as best they could, forming loose, fluid formations around the compound and its central spire. Most bore glowing staffs and shields they formed out of light with some innate ability that predated the empowerment that had forced the First Ones off the planet.

The ranks of the Horde descended upon them. Bots led the way, damaging the natives' formations so the more numerous normal troops could flow through.

From his vantage on a hill removed from the fighting, where long-range lasers fired shots that plowed through the defenders and a teleportation pad had been set up for an emergency, Horde Prime watched the carnage through a mounted scope.

Many of the defenders summoned strange abilities. Some, he could see, were formidable. Many flew above the battlefield, and he watched as one dropped bombs that grew from their fingertips on a cluster of bots and clones. Another created wafer thin walls emanating from their position that perfectly sliced everything in their way as they extended, and then sped at speeds the scope's diagnostic measured as just short of sound along the wall until it vanished.

They cost the Horde troops, but they were not enough. A small number of empowered natives seemed to resist any damage, but were spread too thin to stop the advance into the base.

Horde Prime smiled.

It was then that Horde Prime saw a red glow appear beyond the base. It grew brighter, and he could see cracks cutting through the air from behind the base, reaching into the sky and branching, revealing images of red crystal. Horde Prime felt a moment of panic. Had some enemy come to destroy him? He now had the ability to escape into a body in cryosleep on his command ship via a dedicated relay, but the instinct of fear was a hard one to dispose of.

"What is happening?" he asked the captain.

"I don't know," the captain replied, his voice soft as he stared at the glow.

Horde Prime redirected his gaze to the battlefield, staring through the scope for any hint of the glow's source..

He saw a straggler from the natives who had survived. They stumbled on the ground, and Horde Prime could see a bot turn its attention towards them. He was about to look away when the ground shuddered.

The straggler, before his eyes could process what was happening, grew taller than the spire. Horde Prime removed his eyes from the scope, taking in the sight. The native's body was visibly distorted, its form thin and angular, its torso a narrow rod, and its limbs formed of mesh.

The being swept an arm into the spire as it turned its body. In its wake, the arm left a spindle of what looked like twisted metal floating in the air. As he watched, the spindle grew, the existing mesh growing denser as more material appeared to make it grow outwards. The mesh grew fast enough it met the spire in seconds, glowing white hot and sparking as it tore the structure into chunks.

"You need to leave now, Lord Prime," said the captain. His voice was shaking, the first time it had in Horde Prime's presence.

For a second, Horde Prime considered opening his mouth to say he would stay and help. He banished those thoughts.

Horde Prime stepped towards the teleportation pad, making sure he did not visibly rush or break his stride. He placed himself on the pad, and made sure to meet the captain's eyes.

" Captain, thank you for your service," he said.

The captain nodded. "I am grateful to serve you,"

As a Nethannar technician input the commands for his escape, Horde Prime lifted a handheld scope from his pocket for one last look at the massive beast near the spire. As he watched, a smaller figure appeared alongside it, just large enough he could only hazily make it out with the reduced zoom of the scope, wheeling itself lazily in the sky from the other side of the spire. It looked like a naked member of the native species, but with bladed wings growing out of its body everywhere, not only from near the shoulders, but from the legs, torso and even the head.

The last thing he saw before he reappeared on his ship was the winged being landing on the titanic creature.

Forty-five minutes later, Exalia was gone. The planet had imploded. Right as the red glow had appeared, sensors from the Horde's fleet had detected dimensional fluctuations which had grown stronger with every passing second. The fleet had retreated from the planet once Horde Prime had returned from planetside. Even with their retreat, the explosion had rocked the fleet from millions of miles away.

Eventually, after a nervous wait, the fleet returned to where Exalia had been. Horde Prime had stood at the bridge imperiously, staring at the void of space.

Horde Prime detached his tendril from the module that connected him to his previous body.

Visiting a body of his so ancient had been an unpleasant experience. His thoughts had been naïve and weak and consorting among a Horde that so freely let lesser beings wander among its ranks felt like letting insects crawl unfettered on his skin. Even the manner in which he had let his clones address him should have been worth immediate reconditioning before it merited a lick of praise.

Still, the devastation he had witnessed was foremost on his mind. It would be premature to say this was the same phenomenon, but the dimensional torsion and the winged being made him feel nervous in a way he had not truly remembered until revisiting his memory.

However, despite what he had seen, his goals had not changed. If Etheria really was nearing destruction, then his most urgent goal would stay the same. The Heart would need to be accessed as soon as possible. He would not let it be taken away.

Chris

Chris' form gave him excellent hearing. Sitting against a wall of the cave apart from everyone else, he listened. With slight adjustments of muscle inside his ears, he could change the focus of his hearing, filtering out sounds he wished to ignore, even allowing himself to center his hearing on only the very edge of his earshot. He moved his muscles infinitesimally, listening to each conversation with intense concentration for a short while before moving on to another.

Chevalier and Dinah were huddled in discussion with Adora and Glimmer, Miss Militia and Legend occasionally interjecting.

"Entrapta could probably exchange any information you wanted," said Glimmer.

"Technological compatibility-"

"Won't be a problem in the slightest for her," said Adora.

There was a slight twitch in a muscle linked to the eardrum.

Kenzie was showing Entrapta her technology under the watchful eye of Victoria. Based on her talk about connections to the optical nerve, she had probably pulled it out of her eye. The purple-haired freak seemed enamored with it. Kenzie wouldn't let her touch it, but Chris could see her crouched to Kenzie's height, staring at the rod as closely as she could, her nose an inch short of bumping into it.

Despite the oddity of the situation, things appeared on their face to be calm. The Etherians and heroes mingled, and those who weren't discussing the grim reality facing them were even smiling.

But Chris could see the way things were on edge. The cave didn't afford much privacy, and he could detect a guarded demeanor among everyone there. It was like they were walking on eggshells, afraid everyone else would see them for what they really were if they showed anything other than placid contentment, or businesslike stoicness.

"Break it? I bet you couldn't even scratch it," said Kenzie. She was showing her technology to, ahem, Catra, now.

"I bet you I can at least scratch it," said Catra in response.

"Chevalier's armor?" asked Victoria, at ease with the feline woman. "I'd like to see how much damage you could do. I actually would."

"Not right now," she added after a pause. "Don't tell them I said that."

A few more muscles twitched near the drum, analogous to the tensor tympani, shutting off the sounds from that conversation.

Chris listened for a second to Menaf. He and Standoff were communicating with Shin. Apparently the Mayor wanted to call Chevalier once he was available.

Chris returned to Kenzie and Victoria. He didn't quite know why he did; what they were doing was less important than other conversations he could listen to, but he was drawn to them. As much as Victoria riled a part of him, dredging up memories (memories of someone else) long repressed, he wanted to hear her voice. And that of Kenzie's. And Rain, who he found most pleasant.

"What you did was so cool, Victoria," said Kenzie, her hands miming a two-handed whipping. "You used the crane's hook like a bada- like the coolest person ever."

Entrapta and Perfuma, who had shrunk the plants she had grown to block the portal back into their pots, looked with what Chris could only call wonder. They began to describe fighting Bots, and wondering how they could work together.

Some people were loved by others, as a natural matter of course. All but a select few would fawn over them.

The gushing joy and enthusiasm Victoria received was too much for him. Chris shifted his hearing again. For the first time, he directed it to the ramshackle tent at the back of the cave.

There was a conversation in there. Well, less of a conversation and more Wrong Hordak running his mouth while Amy occasionally managed to squeak in a word edgewise.

Chris took a glance at Victoria, who was showing off her flight.

Lifting himself to a standing position, Chris adjusted his hearing to normal and walked towards the tent.

Miss Militia saw him. She pointed and said something he couldn't make out. Dinah placed her hand on Miss Militia's, pulling it down. Miss Militia glared at Dinah, but Dinah said something to her, and the cluster of leaders returned to their conversation.

Chris arrived at the tent and swept aside the flap. Inside, Amy was sitting on the floor, rather than the bedroll right next to it, staring disinterestedly at the ground. Wrong Hordak stood up, but the low ceiling of the tent made him hunch over to a degree that made Chris almost grudgingly impressed that he possessed the fortitude not to sit down.

Amy's eyes snapped upwards to meet Chris as soon as he entered.

"You're here," she said. "I couldn't clearly hear what was going on from over here, but I thought it might have been… Is Victoria here? I know I heard her. Or someone like her."

Chris gave a look at Wrong Hordak, who had stopped talking as he had entered, staring at him slack jawed.

"Could you give us a minute?" Chris asked.

"O. o . of course I would love to, brother, but I have been given strict orders to keep watch over Amelia."

"You can trust me," Chris said. "Me and Amelia know each other. You can rest assured that nothing will happen to her. Isn't that right, Amelia?"

Amelia didn't respond.

Christ.

"You won't mind if I just fill you in on some updates and let you know what people have been up to. Luis. Amar. Victoria."

The mention of Victoria seemed to energize Amy slightly, and she finally opened her mouth. "Yes, Chris and I know each other. You can wait outside."

Chris was pleasantly surprised when Wrong Hordak sauntered out of the tent with nothing more than a cheery, "Farewell, brothers."

"So Victoria is here then."

"She is, but that isn't why I'm talking to you, Amy."

"Can you tell me if she knows I am here?"

"Amy, listen to me."

"Please just let me know!"

"Keep your voice down a little," Chris growled. "When we're done, okay. Then I can tell you about Victoria."

Amy nodded dejectedly.

"Luis has managed to paper over things for now. Shin is helping out Gimel, and despite one of their officers deciding to hatch a plot to keep the Wardens off his back, he was able to wrangle things back from the brink with Dinah's help. Still, things are tenuous. You still have the usual suspects baying for blood, and the Coalition is split. It may seem all sunshine and rainbows now, but that's going to be looming over our heads. If Shin feels that the Wardens are taking advantage of this situation to sideline them, there are going to be problems."

"I'm not really interested in the political side of things," moped Amy.

"Well, you'd better be," said Chris. "Marquis and Hunter are still in the capitol, and our people have basically been cordoned off. Since we can't deliver Shin the weapons they want anymore, we're stuck in a nasty situation."

"They said we've done so much for them," said Amy. "They're not going to abandon us. Are they really going to throw us into jail because an Endbringer smashed their lab?"

"You of all people should know these aren't perfectly rational actors we're dealing with."

"What's the point, Chris," Amy snapped, standing up. "Do you want to do something about this?"

"It's not much to go on," admitted Chris, "but I overheard Adora and Glimmer talking about something called the Heart of Etheria. Not really sure what it does, but it's some big powerful superweapon. And it's in danger of getting used."

"You want to give it to Shin?"

"Not exactly," Chris said. "The Wardens would let a full-blown war break out before letting Shin grab it if it's even a fraction as powerful as Adora and Glimmer say. But they might be willing to share stewardship. If Luis can keep the governments in hand, that will be acceptable to them. What we need to do is play a role in keeping the Heart out of this Horde Prime's hands. If we want Shin to keep us, we need to be active in this. I can't have you moping in a tent here, Amelia. I'll vouch for you. I'll find you a role if I can. Fortunately, you seem to be on the Etherians' good side."

Amy nodded, but Chris could already see that her attention had been unfocused as he had talked, and it now snapped into place.

"Victoria."

"If you want to know, yes, she's here. Yes, she still hates you. No, you're not getting within twenty feet of her."

Amy shook her head. "I know she won't let me yet. But Chris, I think I've found something that could change her mind."

Chris' mind roiled. After everything that had happened, she was as one-track as ever. Originally, he had assumed this would make her easier to lead around, but it was becoming increasingly clear it was nothing less than a problem. I can't even offer her a clone at this point, so I might as well stop with the carrot and take out the stick.

"Why do you care so much about the approval of someone who hates you?" he asked.

"It's not hate," Amy insisted. "I know she doesn't love me, but if I just-"

"You're always complaining about how unfair it is. How you shouldn't be blamed. Well, she blames you anyway. She blames you with more venom than anyone else. You don't want that. Everytime she says what she thinks of you, it hurts. It's painful to you. But you want nothing more than to cuddle right up alongside her."

"Chris, you know she wasn't always like that."

Chris shook his head with exasperation. "So you're chasing the way she used to be, not how she is now. Is this really what you want to be, Amy? Some dumb bitch-"

"Now that is-"

"Some dumb bitch who who spends her entire life chasing, devotes every waking thought she doesn't need for something else, to someone who genuinely thinks the world would be better with you gone?"

"So you're saying it's not worth it."

"As of right now? Yes, I hope it's clear I fucking am. I'm sure we could sit down and both talk about how Victoria is a judgemental bitch all day, but apparently I'm the only person who thinks that is something I'd rather avoid. I'm worried about our fucking survival, but apparently you can't think of anything but that fantasy! That's what you're all like! Chasing after connections with people who either don't give a shit, or who only think about you to judge. Why don't all of you get a damn clue?"

He had, despite his admonition at Amy raising her voice earlier, shouted the last few sentences. Amy had gone silent, and she lowered herself to the floor again.

"I need your head screwed on tight, Amy. If you care about what happens, let Victoria go, at least for now. After, well-"

"Fine," Amy replied, eyes dark. "I just need some clarity. What you're saying makes sense though."

I'll believe you understand what's happening around you when you show it.

Chris swept out of the tent, where Wrong Hordak stood with a look of shock on his face. He rushed into the tent with haste as soon as Chris had left.

He probably heard some of that, Chris thought. At least he's too much of a dullard to be a problem.

Chris walked back towards his spot against the wall, but he saw that the huddles and conversations of earlier had stopped. The mood had changed somehow. More somber and tense, but also alert and energetic.

Everyone in the cave was standing in front of Dinah, Chevalier and Glimmer.

"Cryptid," said Dinah. "I'm glad you're back. We're about to discuss our next steps."

"So, we've got some plans for action?"

"Yes," she said. "Several members of the Rebellion on Etheria have been taken by a powerful enemy and placed under his control. They have been planning rescue for some time. We are going to help them."

Chris glanced at Victoria, who floated inches above the ground, her attention rapt.

Old times Chris thought, watching her whisper into Sveta's ear. Just like old times.